IMPACT REPORT 2016
SWIMMING IN THE SAME DIRECTION In 2016, United Way of Erie County partnered with other community leaders to launch game-changing programs and initiatives focused on preventing and reducing poverty by making more families financially stable and self-sufficient. This report details the strategy, highlights important activities and outlines how we are going to track progress as we work toward helping more become self-sufficient in Erie County. The results can be seen across the community, as other nonprofits, businesses, educational institutions, and local government officials step up to see how they can play a role in helping raise the level of self-sufficiency in Erie County. Success will be achieved. Together, we will make this community a better place for everyone. Seven years ago, we partnered with GECAC and the Mercyhurst University Civic Institute to launch Erie Together, the region’s anti-poverty collective impact movement. We are now finding ways to utilize the collective impact approach in more of our work. In the Pixar film “Finding Nemo,” there is a scene where a fishing boat has caught hundreds of fish in its net, including Nemo’s friend Dory. As the haul is being lifted from the bottom of the sea, young Nemo realizes that if he can get all of the fish in the net to swim down, they will be able to break the net away from the boat. So, little Nemo scurries into the net and spreads the word. The other fish need a bit of coaxing, but once they understand, they start to swim down, working together towards the same goal. As soon as ALL of them are swimming in the same direction, they force the net free of the boat and escape! Our community is caught in the net of poverty. But, through the power of collective impact, United Way is playing the part of Nemo and encouraging the “fish” - local social service agencies, business, government, the faith community and individuals - to swim together in the same direction and break the cycle of poverty. If we, as a community, keep working the way we have in the past, we will continue to see only isolated impact and scattered results. But we know how to work differently - collectively - to break the net of poverty. All it takes is the will to change. So we ask you … can we count you in?
Janel Bonsell Board Chair
Bill Jackson President
Isolated support of programs and services working toward individual goals and outcomes will not have the impact necessary to drive transformational change for the region.
WITH COLLECTIVE IMPACT, WE’RE ALL SWIMMING IN THE SAME DIRECTION.
Common Agenda
Shared Measurement
Mutually Reinforced Activities
IMPROVED COMMUNITY CONDITIONS
Continuous Communication
BIRTH
COLLECTIVE IMPACT
ADULTHOOD
THE SELF-SUFFICIENCY CONTINUUM Emergency and Basic Needs Met The foundation of the continuum encompasses a wide range of basic needs including food, clothing and shelter, support for senior citizens and assistance for victims of violence and individuals with disabilities. In lieu of benchmarks, the effectiveness of funded programs is closely monitored using output measurements such as number of people served, beds provided, individuals assisted and pounds of food distributed, among others. This is due to the critical nature of these programs. Born and Stay Healthy Infant mortality rates, number of low-birth weight babies and rates of obesity are commonly used to gauge the overall health of children and the community. These indicators monitor our community’s status, based on input from partners at the Erie County Department of Health. Enter Kindergarten Ready In previous generations, parents sent children to kindergarten to be ready to learn in first grade. Today, it is recognized that children need high quality early education to be ready to learn in kindergarten. The indicator for this work underscores the importance of pre-K education to individual and community success in today’s highly competitive global economy. Read at 3rd Grade Level Children focus on learning to read through third grade. After third grade, they are reading to learn. Research shows this vitally important indicator is a reliable predictor of success in life as a self-sufficient adult. Succeed in Middle School The stage between childhood and the teen years is challenging for most students. Proficiency in English Language Arts, Math and Science are widely used to measure student achievement and engagement in grades 6, 7 and 8. Research has shown that an engaged student is more likely to stay on track academically and graduate high school on time. Graduate High School Although four-year high school graduation rates in Erie County are higher than the state (85.3%) and national averages (82%), other communities are closing the gap quickly. Continuous improvement in on-time graduation rates locally is an essential step in increasing individual self-sufficiency and our community’s competitiveness in the nation and world. Be Career Ready Students need to understand the link between careers and life as a self-sufficient adult. The benchmark data is generated by a program unique to Erie County called Career Street that connects employers to schools in an effort to increase job and career awareness among our students. Data is collected each year through surveys of 8th graders across Erie County. Secure and Maintain Employment Although many external factors impact individual financial stability, per capita income and poverty and unemployment rates directly reflect the level of selfsufficiency among residents. These indicators were selected in consultation with our partners at the Economic Research Institute of Erie in the Black School of Business at Penn State Behrend.
SECURE & MAINTAIN EMPLOYMENT
BE CAREER READY GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL SUCCEED IN MIDDLE SCHOOL READ AT 3rd GRADE LEVEL ENTER KINDERGARTEN READY BORN & STAY HEALTHY EMERGENCY & BASIC NEEDS MET United Way is mobilizing partners across Erie County to improve community conditions for all. In this report, we present key indicators and relevant data for each step of the Self-Sufficiency Continuum pertaining to student success. The data on the facing page provide a benchmark against which student achievement – and our community’s progress – can be measured in successive years. We will communicate progress in increasing student success on an annual basis. The changes in the data from year to year provide both a snapshot in time of our community and a basis for continued, expanded efforts to increase self-sufficiency among Erie County residents.
ERIE COUNTY COMMUNITY BENCHMARKS SECURE & MAINTAIN EMPLOYMENT
Per capita income .................................................................................................. Annual unemployment rate ................................................................................... Poverty rate City of Erie ......................................................................................................... Erie County ........................................................................................................
BE CAREER READY
No. of student career experiences (school year 2015-16) ............................................. % of 8 graders with 3 or more career experiences (school year 2015-16) ................. th
GRADUATE HIGH Graduation rate for Erie County .............................................................................. SCHOOL
BORN & STAY HEALTHY
26.9% 17.5% 8,700 43.0% 86.6%
% of 8th grade students scoring below proficient in English Language Arts ........
42.7%
grade students scoring below proficient in Math .....................................
% of 8th grade students scoring below proficient in Science ................................
64.3% 40.4%
% of 3rd graders reading below proficient on PSSA reading test .......................
44.9%
% of children participating in publicly funded quality early education programs ..................................................................................
43.4%
Infant mortality rate ...........................................................................................
5.4% 8.3% 53.8%
SUCCEED IN MIDDLE SCHOOL % of 8 READ AT 3rd GRADE LEVEL ENTER KINDERGARTEN READY
$40,425 6.7%
th
Low birth weight babies ..................................................................................... Grades K-6 overweight or obese.........................................................................
Please visit UnitedWayErie.org/Benchmarks for data sources and comparative data.
2016 HIGHLIGHTS
In addition to the highlights below, your United Way invested $3 million in direct service programs at local nonprofit organizations which touched the lives of more than 100,000 Erie County residents.
UNIFIED ERIE
Thanks to an unprecedented collaboration between United Way and The Erie Community Foundation, a grant of $1.2 million was awarded to the Greater Erie Community Action Committee (GECAC) today to address community violence and help create a safer future for all people in the Erie region. The three-year grant will be used by GECAC to implement the Unified Erie plan for a community call-in strategy and provide significant levels of assistance to at-risk youth and ex-offenders interested in reentering civil society.
$1,000,000+ raised
5 Corporate Partners 5 Lead Partners 5 Pilot Locations
COMMUNITY SCHOOLS FOR ERIE COUNTY
Community Schools are a strategy for organizing school and community resources around student success. Each Community School is both a place and a set of partnerships between the school and other community resources. Its integrated focus on academics, services, supports and opportunities leads to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities. Schools become centers of the community, open to everyone, all day, every day, evenings and weekends. Community Schools represent a strategy, not a program.
United Way’s first collective impact effort, Erie Together was co-founded by United Way, GECAC and Mercyhurst University as the region’s anti-poverty movement.
Some major accomplishments: • Created Career Street in 2014, which has since provided more than 16,000 career exploration experiences for Erie County students • Facilitated the development of Unified Erie’s comprehensive reentry invested strategy to assist “transitioning clients” returning from incarceration and/ programs or reentering a law-abiding life from criminal network involvement • Expanded the More Caps &numbers Gowns and Block By Block initiatives, and held here. the first Youth Civic Engagement Symposium, all aimed at preparing our youth to become productive citizens • Convened leaders of broad community efforts including Emerge 2040, Unified Erie, Erie Refocused, the Community Health Improvement Plan and others to develop synergies and work together on major community priorities
$500,000 40
5,943 number of claims $205,238 savings for 2015 $34.35 avg. savings per claim
A free resource to lower the cost of prescriptions by an average of 35% for those with no insurance or for medicine not covered by insurance, Medicare or other benefit plans.
A carefully selected, high-quality book is mailed each month directly to the child’s home starting from birth until age five through this free United Way program.
112,244 books mailed in 2016 3,153 new children registered 2,093 children graduated in 2016 15,752 children served since 2013 351,644 books mailed since program inception
6,560 tax returns filed $10.13M returned to filers $1.63M tax filer savings A program established to help eligible low to moderate income wage earners claim the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, a cash refund, by providing free tax preparation and filing services at volunteer tax sites countywide.
Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PA I D Erie, PA Permit No. 370
In 2016, United Way of Erie County worked with the following organizations and initiatives to mobilize the community. Achievement Center American Red Cross, Greater Erie County Chapter Barber National Institute Bayfront Maritime Center Bayfront NATO, Inc. / Martin Luther King Jr. Center Bethesda Children’s Home / Trinity Center Booker T. Washington Center Boys & Girls Club of Erie Career Street Catholic Charities Community Resources for Independence Community Shelter Services Crime Victim Center of Erie County Eagle’s Nest Leadership Corporation Early Connections The Erie Community Foundation Erie FREE Taxes Erie Playhouse Erie Together Family Services of NW PA First Presbyterian Church of Girard Gannon University Get Connected Greater Erie Community Action Committee Home Team of Erie County Imagination Library Iroquois School District John F. Kennedy Center
LifeWorks Erie Meals on Wheels Erie Mercyhurst University Multi-Cultural Health Evaluation Delivery System NAMI of Erie County National Night Out Newspaper in Education The Nonprofit Partnership Northwestern PA Cleft Palate Institute Partnership for Erie’s Public Schools (PEPS) Penn State Erie-The Behrend College, C.O.R.E Positive Youth Development, Penn State ErieThe Behrend College Project Blueprint Reading Buddies Safe Journey SafeNet The Salvation Army-Erie Service Unit The Salvation Army-Erie Temple Corps The Sight Center of Northwest PA Sisters of St. Joseph Neighborhood Network St. Martin Center St. Paul’s Neighborhood Free Clinic UECDC / Quality of Life Learning Center Unified Erie Union City Family Support Center USCRI / International Institute of Erie Venango Training and Development Center Visiting Nursing Association of Erie County YMCA of Greater Erie
420 West 6th Street, Suite 200 Erie, PA 16507 www.unitedwayerie.org
WITH COLLECTIVE IMPACT, WE’RE ALL SWIMMING IN THE SAME DIRECTION. The data in this report was the most recent available at the time of printing. Please visit UnitedWayErie.org for the most up to date information.