United Way in Action

• Preparing Children to Achieve in School and in Life
• Building Self-Sufficiency for Adults and Families
• Keeping Seniors Healthy and Safe at Home

Preparing Children to Achieve in School and in Life

• United Way’s Early Education initiatives have brought research-based methods of quality improvement to early childhood centers serving more than 2,500 young children. As of June, 2006, fifty percent of these centers have earned accreditation from the National Association for the Education of Young Children – a rate of accreditation five times the national average. This year, United Way will more than double the number of participating centers.
  
  
• United Way is joining with the Pennsylvania Economy League and The Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce to create a strategy for educating employees throughout the region about the importance of quality early learning and how to access it for their children.
  
  
• Large-scale social progress is needed to meet the need for access to high quality early learning in the region. With our networks in the business, nonprofit, and government sectors, United Way is uniquely positioned to initiate a campaign to generate the broad-based and active community support necessary to bring about this progress. United Way will undertake this effort in the coming year.
  
  
• United Way collaborated with the Philadelphia Department of Human Services on standards for effective parenting education programs. Such programs build parenting knowledge and skills including promoting healthy social and emotional development, supporting emergent literacy skills, and partnering successfully with schools and teachers.
  
  
• Quality after-school and summer programs boost academic achievement and promote school attendance. The Center for Youth Development at United Way improves the quality of more than 500 out-of-school time programs each year through customized staff training and targeted, practical assistance.
  
  
• Mentored youth are more likely to have positive attitudes about and to attend school, and less likely to have behavior problems while in school. United Way funds mentoring programs that serve nearly 5,000 youth each year, and our Campaign for Mentors advises more than 85 additional programs and trains hundreds of mentors and program leaders.
  
  

Building Self-Sufficiency for Adults and Families

• The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) puts money in the pockets of low-income wage earners for tuition, savings, debt repayment, improved housing and transportation, and living expenses. As a partner in the Campaign for Working Families, United Way recruits hundreds of volunteers and participates in training them in tax preparation and the EITC. In the first four years of the Campaign, volunteers have generated more than $65.7 million in EITC and refund dollars for working families.
  
  
• United Way’s Home Savings Plus Individual Development Account program adds $2 to every $1 saved by low-income working individuals, until a total of up to $6000 has been banked towards a down payment on a home. In addition to multiplying their savings, the program helps participants succeed as homeowners by providing financial counseling and education.
  
  
• United Way is expanding its Individual Development Account (IDA) program substantially. The United Way Scholarship Challenge IDA will provide matching funds to high school students and adults saving for college or other post-secondary education. The Enterprise Philadelphia IDA will assist participants in workforce development programs, to launch “micro businesses” costing less than $25,000 to establish.
  
  
• United Way supports a wide network of community-based organizations that work with low-income and dependent individuals to build their capacity for self-sufficiency. During the past year, United Way funded programs provided:
  • Workplace training and job search programs for 3,500 low-income individuals.
  • Basic education instruction and GED preparation to more than 2,900 adults.
  • English as a Second Language classes to 2,725 adults.
  • Financial counseling to more than 2,000 individuals.

Keeping Seniors Healthy and Safe at Home

• Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORC) Supportive Services Projects coordinate the delivery of social services to seniors living in their own homes in neighborhoods with a high percentage of older residents. The Rhawhurst NORC project is providing home repair and maintenance, transportation to medical appointments, referrals, opportunities for socialization, and other services to extend the ability of 400 seniors in a section of Northeast Philadelphia to remain safely in their own homes. In the coming year, United Way will help to establish NORC in several additional communities in the four-county region.
  
  
• The best senior centers are key resources for seniors in the community, providing health screenings, continuing education classes, exercise facilities, social activities, recreational opportunities, and connection to needed services. The United Way Senior Center Accreditation Project is bringing senior centers in the United Way network up to nationally-recognized standards of excellence. Of the 15 centers accredited in Pennsylvania, 13 are members of the United Way network. Only 126 centers are accredited nationwide.
  
  
• Confusion and lack of information about the availability of home and community-based services for older Pennsylvanians has been recognized as a barrier to seniors’ ability to remain at home. United Way is leading a coalition advocating for the establishment of a statewide or regional “2-1-1” information line, a centralized one-stop hotline seniors and their families could turn to for information and referrals. 2-1-1 is currently available to approximately 169 million Americans in 39 other states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.