United Way Of Kenosha County

Programs: Community impactat united way of kenosha county (uwkc) we believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve a good life. The basic building blocks needed to achieve a good life are; a quality education, access to healthcare and financial stability. Uwkc is committed to supporting programs and initiatives that provide community solutions and deliver measurable results. Our goals are determined via an annual community snapshot that analyzes the areas of greatest need within our community. Uwkc is also a participant/leader of foresight 20/20, a community visioning process that identifies key county-wide priorities. Uwkc is guided by diverse groups of volunteers who are responsible for governance, overseeing operations and the annual community investment process. The key focus areas for uwkc, both locally and nationally are education, health and financial stability. Uwkc addresses these areas in the following ways:educationhelping children and youth achieve their potentialgoals:- children/youth improve academic achievement. - children/youth demonstrate positive engagement at school and in their community. Education is the cornerstone of individual and community success. But with more than 1. 2 million children dropping out each year, america faces an education crisis. What is the cost of this alarming trend? The answer, more than $312 billion in lost wages, taxes and productivity over their lifetimes. These trends are reversible, but only when communities and public, private and nonprofit sectors work together. Uwkc works to achieve education goals by taking a leadership role in:youth as resources (yar)kenosha county youth as resources (yar) is a grant-giving program which funds youth-designed, youth-led community service projects in kenosha county. Youth, with guidance from adults, determine the project they believe will address a need in their community. Youth groups may apply to yar for small grants of up to $500 which may be used to purchase supplies for the project, but may not be used to pay for volunteer time. The yar board reads all applications and invites youth groups to present their proposals directly to the board. Yar was developed out of a need - a need to make the youth of kenosha county feel more connected to their community. According to results from a 2010 search institute survey of kenosha county youth, only 27% feel that they are given useful roles in the community. An even lower 25% of youth feel that adults value them. Yar is a program of uwkc in partnership with kenosha county university of wisconsin - extension. During the 2016-2017 program year, yar funded 15 grants, distributed $5,045 and had 681 youth participants. Readers are leaders programeach year as part of the national "read across america" event that celebrates the birthday of dr. Seuss in march, uwkc organizes "readers are leaders" to share the joy of reading with local elementary school students. In 2017, the eighth year of the program, 235 local community leaders volunteered their time to read at 27 elementary schools, in 239 classrooms across kenosha county, impacting 10,500 children. Mckinley tutoring programthe mckinley tutoring program is an early grade reading initiative that helps children build the critical reading skills needed to succeed in school and life. Through this tutoring program, we recruit, train and place community volunteers in the schools. The tutor works one-on-one with kindergarten through third grade students during the school day to supplement the work they are doing in the classroom. During the 2016-2017 school year; 74 volunteer tutors worked with 40 students, for an average of 68 tutoring sessions a week, or 886 hours of tutoring. Students participating in the program collectively improved 150 reading levels. Additionally, through a volunteer-led review process, uwkc invests in programs such as: boys and girls club's youth empowerment program big brothers/big sisters mentoring program elca outreach's youth summer program kenosha achievement center's hanen program girl scouts of wisconsin southeast's urban outreach initiativeshealthimproving people's healthgoals:- individuals demonstrate skills for healthy living. - individuals access health and safety resources. Whether it is a neighbor without health insurance, a victim of abuse or someone struggling with mental illness or an addiction, uwkc is working to ensure everyone has access to affordable and quality care. Uwkc works to achieve health goals by taking a leadership role in:familywize discount prescription programnearly 1,000 united ways are partnered with familywize in all 50 states to lower the cost of medicine by distributing free familywize prescription drug discount cards. These free discount cards are for all employees, as well as their family, friends and neighbors in our community and across the country. The discount card doesn't make the medicine free, but with savings up to 75%, it's real help, right now. More than 13,000 individuals had used the card since 2007 and we reached savings over $1. 5 million in kenosha county. Health resources united way of kenosha county works in partnership with the kenosha county division of health to share the resources available in our community: nursing services, clinic information, flu information, mental health resources, environmental health services, suicide prevention, counseling services and affordable care act information in kenosha county and family and child health programs (prenatal care coordination, safe sleep, wic, car seat safety). Additionally, through a volunteer-led review process, uwkc invests in programs such as: aids resource center of wisconsin's hiv health care services boys and girls club's youth empowerment program catholic charities behavioral health and counseling services children's hospital - community services child and family counseling program elca outreach western kenosha county prescription program kenosha achievement center's hanen program kenosha area family & aging services' meals on wheels program kenosha human development services' juvenile crisis intervention lutheran social services' s. C. A. N. Program racine kenosha community action agency's father involvement program shalom center's inns program the sharing center nutrition program women and children's horizons' legal advocacy and children's servicesfinancial stabilityhelping families save for their futuregoals:- individuals improve living and employability skills- individuals demonstrate management and acquisition of assetsapproximately one-third of working americans do not earn enough money to meet their basic needs. Wages have not kept pace with the rising cost of housing, healthcare, and education and currently, 40 million americans are working in low-paying jobs without basic health and retirement benefits. For families walking a financial tightrope, unable to save for college, a home, or retirement, uwkc is here to help. Uwkc works to achieve income goals by taking a leadership role in:volunteer income tax assistance program (vita)in an effort to promote financial stability and asset building in our community, the kenosha vita coalition (uwkc, the kenosha county job center, gateway technical college, carthage college, and the irs. Together with irs-certified volunteers are providing free income tax preparation assistance to low-to-moderate income families. Program goals:1. To help low-to-moderate income families (up to $54,000) with tax preparation. Taxpayers are assisted with receiving tax credits such as the earned income tax credit (eitc), a commonly-overlooked credit that may add more than a month's worth of salary to the individual or family's annual income. 2. To provide financial literacy education to kenosha county residents to promote self-sufficiency through wealth building and debt-reduction outreach programs for those outside the financial mainstream. Assets give people a stake in their future and in their community. In 2017 (the 2016 tax season) the kenosha county vita program engaged 78 individuals as tax preparers, helped file 2,835 tax returns, and helped residents obtain $1. 9 million in refunds. See page 45 for continuation of program service accomplishment

community services and volunteerismin addition to leading initiatives and supporting programs through the investment process, uwkc plays a role in ensuring that community members are also able to utilize their time and talents to make a difference. We do so in the following ways: volunteer centeruwkc is committed to helping kenosha county residents find alternative ways of giving in the community. Uwkc utilizes volunteers throughout the organization and values and realizes how important the gift of time can be to any non-profit organization. In 2013 united way launched get connected, a web-based platform that allows agencies to post volunteer opportunities, in-kind needs, employment opportunities and upcoming events. It is a place where individuals and families can easily search and find opportunities to utilize their individual talents and meet their interests. Since the website went public, over 80 local agencies/organizations have registered to post volunteer opportunities, and over 2,500 community members have signed up on the website. In addition to fostering year-round volunteerism through get connected, uwkc organizes several large-scale volunteer efforts each year to help connect individuals and employees with the local community and local nonprofit organizations. Day of caringcorporate partners, families and individuals are invited to join us for one saturday in september that helps connect hundreds of volunteers to the key needs of local nonprofit organizations. This event offers volunteer opportunities that range from working with seniors, to painting or landscaping. On september 17, 2016,160 volunteers worked at 24 different project sites and 196 volunteers also packaged 50,000 meals that were distributed to 4 local food pantries for families in need. Days of action - playground power-up projectsthis project brings community volunteers to kenosha county schools throughout the summer months to add both educational components and action stencils to promote physical activity. Created in partnership with fuel up to play60, the stencils that volunteers will be painting inspire kids to learn and move while creating games around the stencils. Research finds that elementary school children spend more of their recess and activity time in active play when schoolyards are enhanced with playground markings. One school playground was completed in summer 2017 and more than 40 volunteers participated. Community servicesthe community services component of uwkc is in place to meet united way's strategic goals and to help address community needs. Uwkc works hand in hand with kenosha county's dislocated workers program to assist workers who have been laid off or displaced from their unemployment. Uwkc is actively engaged with the kenosha emergency services network to stay up-to-date on the services available in the county and acts as a referral source to many needing help in our community. Uwkc also funds impact, inc. 's 2-1-1 confidential helpline and online resource directory. Community convenerone powerful thing about uwkc is the formed relationships with local businesses, education, faith and community-based organizations, philanthropic institutions, civic leaders, local government and institutions. Uwkc continues to collaborate with university of wisconsin - extension to quantify and publicize services being offered in western kenosha county.

we processed $113,260 in donor-designated funds. Donor designated funds are contributions specifically directed by the donor to be forwarded to other nonprofit organizations, so united way acts simply as an agent that collects, processes and disburses the funds. We provide this service as a convenience to our donors. Designated agencies must complete and return an anti-terrorist compliance measures form and a copy of their irs determination letter must be on file in order for them to receive funds designated to them by uwkc donors during our annual fundraising campaign.

building our future initiative is an educational "cradle to career" initiative that requires communities to work collectively by identifying areas of weakness, marshalling resources to solve problems and using data to drive action and decision making to improve outcomes for students of all ages.