United Way of Erie County Community Impact Strategy

REDUCING POVERTY IN ERIE COUNTY

UNITED WAY OF ERIE COUNTY

COMMUNITY

IMPACT STRATEGY GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER.

United Way of Erie County unitedwayerie.org

TOGETHER, WE CAN DO MORE. Food or gas. Heat or clothing. Daycare or the doctor. These are choices no one should have to make. Yet nearly one in four of us in Erie County struggle to meet our basic needs. And those numbers become even more unacceptable when we look at our children: 15,142 children in our region live in poverty.

In Erie County, we care and know we can do better. That’s why United Way of Erie County is declaring a bold, long-term challenge to reduce poverty in our region. The Community Impact Strategy you are now reading lays out our plan for making that vision a reality.

We fully understand we cannot achieve these results alone. We are convening people from business, labor, government, educational institutions, faith-based groups and other nonprofits to reach clear goals in Education, Income and Health.

So let’s roll up our sleeves and help people move out of poverty one by one, family by family, neighborhood by neighborhood. That’s what it means to LIVE UNITED.

Bill Jackson President

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James W. Martin Chair, Community Building Committee

United Way of Erie County

15,142 CHILDREN IN ERIE COUNTY LIVE IN POVERTY.

HELP US CHANGE THAT. Too many families in our region are forced to forgo one basic need over another - such as housing, healthcare, childcare or food - due to lack of income. According to some estimates, a typical family of four needs to earn as much as two and a half times the federal poverty level ($22,050) to be able to survive without any form of public and private assistance. In 2010, approximately 30,000 Erie County families were below this selfsufficiency benchmark.

United Way of Erie County’s Bold Challenge to the Community: Reduce the number of families struggling to meet their basic needs by one-third before 2025.

We have embarked on a bold journey: one that links solid, research-based community strategies to the resources needed to implement them. By connecting families to the building blocks of economic stability - Education, Income, and Health - United Way and our partners will ensure people have the tools they need to thrive.

United Way’s work goes well beyond our historical role of funding strong nonprofit partners. Today we are mobilizing all our assets: funding, volunteers, legislative advocacy, technology, in-kind resources and corporate partnerships to deliver transformative, measurable results.

Community Impact Strategy

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REDUCING POVERTY BY INVESTING IN EDUCATION

To achieve our goal of 10,000 more self-sufficient families by 2025, we as a community need to significantly increase the number of prepared high school graduates.

According to 2010 data from Erie Vital Signs, 41% of 18-24 year olds in Erie County had no more than a high school diploma and only 10% had a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Research shows that a strong educational foundation leads to better employment opportunities and a more competitive workforce. Higher educational attainment is a direct corollary to higher income, better health, and a host of other factors that make individuals, and communities, more productive.

By 2025, United Way challenges the community to prepare at least two-thirds of our high school graduates to succeed in education after high school.

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United Way of Erie County

To accomplish that, our community must transform the educational environment by working to ensure that these key milestones are met: • Children are prepared socially, emotionally, physically, and intellectually for Kindergarten • Children are proficient in literacy by the end of third grade • Students are engaged in school and hopeful about their futures • Students of all ages articulate age-appropriate career paths • Students graduate from high school on time with a career plan and the skills necessary to be successful in post-secondary education The next step in this process will be to identify the agencies and programs in Erie County working to address these five key milestones for Education. To do this, we will release a request for information (RFI) to all qualifying organizations over the next few months, including all agencies currently receiving program funding from United Way. Based on the results of this RFI, a restructured allocations process will be developed for the Education Impact Area to align our investments with those organizations specifically and effectively addressing one or more of the milestones for Education.

But we need to do more...

In addition to this bold goal for Education, United Way of Erie County is convening panels of experts in the areas of Income and Health to develop community goals for household economic stability and physical & mental health which will be announced at a later date.

And across Erie County, we will continue to answer the immediate critical needs of over 40,000 people every year by supporting Crisis and Essential Services.

Accomplishing our goals will take a broad movement of people leveraging our time, our collective voice, and our resources. Together we have the opportunity to change the lives of thousands of people across our region, generating a ripple effect of economic growth and stability.

Community Impact Strategy

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BREAKTHROUGH OPPORTUNITIES

TO HELP REDUCE POVERTY. At United Way, we realize more is accomplished collectively than individually. Change can only happen when the entire community joins together to confront an issue. That’s why United Way of Erie County is involved with three breakthrough opportunities that can advance the common good and help reduce poverty in our region.

Erie Together, the region-wide initiative to reduce poverty, is finding new and different ways to work together. Hundreds of local residents and organizations have come together to join Action Teams working to align resources and address outcomes necessary to achieve the community aspiration “to make the Erie region a community of opportunity where everyone can learn, work and thrive.”

The results coming out of Erie Together have played - and will continue to play - a large role in United Way’s work to reduce poverty. Learn more by visiting www.ErieTogether.org.

United Way, in collaboration with Erie Together, The Erie Community Foundation, The Nonprofit Partnership, and the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, is utilizing Erie Vital Signs to monitor community progress in major topical areas for the next decade. The goals set by United Way in Education, Income and Health will be measured against objective data obtained through Erie Vital Signs to maintain focus and achieve lasting results to create a better tomorrow. Learn more by visiting www.ErieVitalSigns.org.

However, much of our work depends upon people knowing how to get help when they need it. Every hour of every day, hundreds of people need essential human services - they are looking for training, employment, food pantries, affordable housing options, support groups and ways of becoming part of their community.

Across the nation, 2-1-1 is changing the way Americans find and give help. It is an easy to remember telephone number that United Way is working to make a reality in Erie County.

Once in operation, it will connect people with important community services and volunteer opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.UnitedWayErie.org/211.

Erie Together, Erie Vital Signs and 2-1-1 represent unprecedented breakthrough opportunities that are bringing the community together to inspire hope and create real, lasting change.

These efforts will be critical as we work to reduce poverty in Erie County.

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United Way of Erie County

ACCOUNTABILITY We earn your trust through the transparent way we operate our organization, as evidenced by meeting and exceeding national standards for governance and financial accountability, as well as our volunteer-based method of allocating and disbursing funds to meet community needs.

We utilize local experts to identify pressing needs and best practices in the areas of Education, Income, and Health. Panels of trained volunteers then review program applications to allocate dollars based on effectiveness and efficiency.

Finally, these programs are tracked throughout their three-year funding cycle to ensure ongoing success in achieving desired outcomes.

COMMUNITY BUILDING COMMITTEE James W. Martin

Lance L. Barclay

Chair, Community Building Committee Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield

County of Erie (Retired)

Charlotte A. Berringer

Custom Engineering

Chair, Health Impact Council Erie County Department of Health

Danny Jones Chair, Education Impact Council The School District of the City of Erie

James B. Ohrn Bruce Skolnick Edinboro University

Gwendolyn White Erie Insurance

Jennifer L. Schade Chair, Income Impact Council First Niagara Financial Group

Community Impact Strategy

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NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE

PAID

ERIE, PA PERMIT NO. 370 420 West 6th Street, Suite 200 Erie, PA 16507 (814) 456-2937 UnitedWayErie.org

Community Invests $5.9 Million in United Way To Help Reduce Poverty

THANK

YOU!

100,000+

...people in Erie County were touched by a program or initiative funded by United Way of Erie County last year

14,000+

...investors supported United Way during the 2011 Campaign.

330+

...organizations in Erie County made a corporate donation to United Way.

Want more information? The most recent complete auditied financial report for United Way of Erie County is available at UnitedWayErie.org/about/accountability