United Way Of Greater Battle Creek Inc

Programs: United way of greater battle creek advances the common good by creating opportunities for a better life for all. Our focus is on education, income and health the building blocks for a good quality of life. The common good builds on the premise that we all have a stake in creating a healthy, prosperous community and by improving conditions for even one has an effect on us all. Under this strategic model programs are funded in three priority areas: education (helping children and youth achieve their potential), income (helping families become financially independent) and health (improving peoples health through increased access to health care and basic needs). United way also serves as a community catalyst and convener, recruiting people and organizations that bring the passion, expertise and resources needed to get things done. Together, through collaboration with community partners, united way of greater battle creek is making lasting change. Collaborationunited way of greater battle creek realized it could not make change real by itself so it began collaborating with more community organizations and groups and found itself at many community tables, serving in a variety of capacities. Building blocks to a good quality of life: education, income and healthinfluence the condition of all community impact fundthrough the generous, undesignated gifts from donors united way invests in essential services and also supports comprehensive and innovative approaches that address the underlying causes of problems. Utilizing public knowledge, combined with expert knowledge, united way of greater battle creek has brought together volunteers to help develop each of the investment pillars. Each pillar has a vision council made up of knowledgeable volunteers that determine the specific focus areas that would have the greatest impact in improving indicators with united way resources. Request for funding proposals (rfp's) for agencies interested in applying for funding under health, education and income are released once a year, respectively, in three-year cycles. Investment teams for each pillar dedicate time to reviewing funding requests and determining which programs they believe best fit the comprehensive, focus-nature of the work that united way of greater battle creek intends to do and can provide the evidence for community change being made through their program. Recommendations are then made to the planning and investment committee and ultimately to the board of directors for final approval. Each level of the investment process is lead by community volunteers with support from united way staff. All funded programs are carefully monitored to ensure they meet stated goals and are improving the indicators on some of our community's most pressing issues. Healthfocus areas:access to health carebasic health needshealthy lifestylesmaternal & infant healthfunding for programs approved under the health pillar began july 1, 2010. Educationfocus areas:mentoring for families and childrenschool readinesssupport for adolescent developmentsuccess by third gradefunding for programs approved under the education pillar began july 1, 2011. Education mobilizationin 2009, united way of greater battle creek was selected as one of 10 united way's around the country to participate in united way worldwide's education mobilization work. This select group of united way's is part of a pilot-project to develop and implement an education plan to help increase high school graduation rates. Battle creek was selected, in large part, due to the strong collaborative work already being done in the community around creating greater educational opportunities for the community's youth. Among other things, being part of the mobilization group will help bring additional training resources and support to united ways education core team which is made up of united way of greater battle creek's entire leadership team along with three community volunteers. It then becomes the core team's responsibility to share this information and expertise with their board, staff, and community partners. The battle creek education core team also received training from the harwood institute, a leader in training individuals and organizations to think outwardly rather than inwardly. One way this happens is by sparking community change through the engagement of community members in authentic conversations. Turning outwardutilizing the framework of the harwood institute, united way of greater battle creek has been very intentional about turning outward, gathering input on what matters most from a deliberately diverse cross-section of the community through community conversations. Through these conversations united way of greater battle creek listens to community members to find out what their hopes and aspirations are for greater battle creek. The information is then organized into common themes, called public knowledge, and shared with community partners to determine the best plan of action to mobilize the community to make the aspirations a reality. We are particularly pleased with the results of a collaborative pilot program developed after we implemented the transforming principles of turning outward, which produced amazing results, and for which we were recognized as one of seven education finalists in the 2012 united way worldwide's common good awards at community leaders conference. Verona elementary school had the worst kindergarten assessment in battle creek in 2011 - only 5% of verona kindergarteners were assessed as grade-proficient at the end of the year. At the end of the 2012 school year, 71% of verona kindergarteners were assessed to be proficient or better - a 1,320% improvement. Incomethe income focus areas, to be created in 2011, will have a primary focus of helping families become financially independent. The request for funding proposals was released to agencies in fall 2011 with funding for approved programs beginning july 1, 2012. Community engagementthrough community engagement united way of greater battle creek seeks to get to know more about members of the community including: donors, volunteers and other community members so that they can be engaged in the area(s) of work that most interest them. By building stronger relationships united way of greater battle creek can continue to be a catalyst to making the battle creek area the best possible place to live and work by affording everyone the opportunities necessary for a good quality of life. When you give, advocate, volunteer you live united!

community initiatives - united way plans and provides for various focus areas within the community. Volunteers and united way staff work to develop plans for funding and improvement of such initiatives. Most recently, because of the national financial downturn and local economic conditions, united way has intentionally targeted basic needs in the form of emergency assistance. United way supports the 211 call center, which reports monthly results of local information and referral contacts. Those and other reports identified several growing needs. United way has leveraged its funds and worked with other community partners to address those needs in the areas of food, shelter, and access to healthcare, resulting in approximately $350,000 and $290,000 of emergency assistance during the years ended june 30, 2011 and 2012, respectively.