A Year Later

If there’s one thing 2020 made clear, it’s the power of community. This timeline starts in March 2020 and shares a lot of things that happened along the way that addressed the dual pandemics - COVID and racial equity - that we experienced. A year later, we reflect on how far we've come and the work still to do. We're confident that our best and brightest days are ahead!

2020
Mar 12
Metro United Way offices closed for “two weeks”

Metro United Way offices closed for “two weeks”

Mar 13
Ready by 21 Conference Canceled

Ready by 21 Conference Canceled

Louisville was to be the host of the national event

Mar 17
First confirmed COVID case in Jefferson County

First confirmed COVID case in Jefferson County

Mar 20

  • Released $2.2 million agency allocation funding early
  • Invested $37,500 in early education teacher salary enhancements early
  • Invested more than $400K of emergency funding available to provide support across our seven-county service area
  • Ensured United Community and 2-1-1 equipped to manage community need and inquiries
  • Expanded no charge Lyft rides through Ride United to support non-emergency transport for individuals
  • Repurposed 6,192 personal hygiene items, 325 thermometers and 6,720 diapers for donation to nonprofits on front lines
  • Opened our Volunteer Connection online portal to agencies to request volunteer needs and donation requests
  • Connected volunteers to deliver 600+ food bundles to JCPS sites
  • Created COVID response page that is updated every day with resources for parents, individuals age 60+, volunteer opportunities, facts about the virus, resources for small businesses and nonprofits, and more. You can also text COVIDHELP to 51555 to receive this link.
  • Delivered urgent Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) funding recommendation letters to Kentucky legislators leading state budget negotiations and the Ready for K Alliance
  • Lobbied Kentucky’s Congressional delegation for critical nonprofit supports in the federal CARES Act (passed 3/27)
  • Joined One Louisville: COVID-19 Response Fund working with Community Foundation and Metro Government to deploy emergency funding.
Apr 02
Virtual Volunteering & Sharing Compassion

Virtual Volunteering & Sharing Compassion

Apr 09

Released more COVID-19 relief funding to 27 nonprofits

Apr 13
Louisville Business First Op-Ed by MUW President & CEO, Theresa Reno-Weber

Louisville Business First Op-Ed by MUW President & CEO, Theresa Reno-Weber

Read the full article HERE.

Apr 16

  • Continued to advocate for the Louisville Metro Council to operationalize emergency funding to deploy $2.7 million 
  • Federal advocacy priorities include temporarily increasing the basic Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit, securing additional Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funds for nonprofits, shoring up the sustainability of the childcare sector with an additional significant emergency appropriation, and ensuring frontline nonprofit and childcare workers receive compensation supports for essential personnel 
  • Our volunteer connection site served as the hub for all Louisville Metro Emergency Operations Center service opportunities.  
Apr 20
Census Facebook Live DJ Parties

Census Facebook Live DJ Parties

Census Facebook Live DJ Parties with Louisville Urban League, Rajon Rondo Foundation, Russell Place of Promise, Cities United, our city government, and others to lift up communities that were undercounted in our past Census and celebrate them with daily, virtual events

Apr 21

$1.4 Million Grant Awarded to Metro United Way by Lilly Endowment

Metro United Way announced they would receive a $1.4 million grant that will be used to support COVID-19 relief efforts by organizations in Clark, Floyd and Harrison counties in Indiana. The grant is awarded by Lilly Endowment, in partnership with Indiana United Ways.

Apr 22

Southern Indiana supports local healthcare workers with care packages

Apr 23

  • Procured and deployed FIVE PALLETS – more than 2,000 pounds! – of urgently-needed cleaning supplies and paper products across our seven-county region to help keep facilities safe and meal service operational. 
  • 2-1-1 call volume remained above normal this week, and operators are working diligently to provide appropriate and accurate referrals and information to the increased volume of callers.  
May 05
Giving Tuesday Now

Giving Tuesday Now

Giving Tuesday Now – “Spreading Love. Not COVID-19” Raised $115,000 for COVID relief in just 24 hours to invest in our seven-county region. 

 

May 14

  • Staff Live United video released
  • Opened RFP for emergency COVID funding in Shelby, Oldham, Bullitt Counties.  
  • Recommended to utilize the 20% of the Jefferson County unrestricted pool to provide strategic investments that both help our community recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and align with the impact areas that emerged as most pressing from our rigorous analyses conducted as part of our redesign efforts – closing the wealth gap and closing the education gap.  
  • LINC Virtual Party event
May 21

  • Louisville recognized as #1 across the nation in filling out the Census!
  • COVID response page added to resources page that outlines MUW’s response during the pandemic 
Jun 02
Racial Equity Protests

Racial Equity Protests

Jun 04

Supply drop-off for Peaceful Protests

Jun 08
Launched Facebook Live Conversations Series with Funded Partner Nonprofits

Launched Facebook Live Conversations Series with Funded Partner Nonprofits

Watch the partner conversions here!

Jun 11

Supply Drop-Off for Peaceful Protests

Jun 15
Kevin Nolan, president and CEO of GE Appliances, announced as MUW’s 2020 community investment chair

Kevin Nolan, president and CEO of GE Appliances, announced as MUW’s 2020 community investment chair

Jun 18
2-1-1 hits 1,000,000 connections mark!

2-1-1 hits 1,000,000 connections mark!

Jun 28

Another round of emergency COVID funding released to 17 nonprofits in our seven-county region. 

Total emergency funding released to date exceeds $1,000,000. You can see all COVID relief investments, a list of nonprofits, programs, and areas served throughout our seven-county region HERE. 

Jul 02

Impact and Innovation RFP opened

Jul 08

What Now? Video Released

Jul 09

Awarded 32 COVID relief grants to 28 organizations totaling $468,174 in Southern Indiana. COVID response efforts coupled with our annual allocations results in a total investment of $1,330,000 in nonprofit partners across Clark, Floyd, and Harrison counties.

Jul 16

  • Our staff filled 2,500 backpacks for rising kindergarteners as part of the Transition to Kindergarten Initiative in partnership with JCPS and PNC Bank.  
  • Provided 750 kindergarten books to Louisville Free Public Library. 
  • Signature programs AcceLOUrate Savings and Advancing Cities initiatives deliverables remain unchanged, but pivoted some of their usual activities in order to be more responsive to the emerging and increasing needs of individuals.
Jul 23

Jul 29

Southern Indiana students return to on-campus learning

  • Metro United Way assisted with acquiring and distributing PPE for some schools
Jul 30

Distributed more than 4,000 books to combat summer reading loss through a partnership with Scholastic Books. 

Aug 03

Partnered with the Emerging Tocqueville Leadership Committee to host a Back-to-School supply drive August 3-7. This year we received over twice the number of requests for backpacks and school supplies than last year, with more than 25 nonprofit partners requesting over 3,000 backpacks filled with supplies.

Aug 05

Launched the Eviction Prevention Coordination Center

Launched the Eviction Prevention Coordination Center along with The Association of Community Ministries (ACM) in an effort to address the expected increase in evictions in the coming weeks and months. Used our United Community platform as the public access point to help connect 600 families during the first two weeks. 2-1-1 helped connect individuals and families to other critical resources.

Aug 06

Participated in a drive-thru Kindergarten Kick-Off event in partnership with the Louisville Free Public Library. Over 600 “I’m Going to Kindergarten” bags, t-shirts and books were distributed to families at the South Central Regional Library.

Aug 07

Breaking Barriers to Home Ownership created in Shelby County

Metro United Way and CUB Bank worked together to create the Breaking Barriers to Home Ownership program to help Shelby County residents gain access to several classes that are geared to helping first-time homebuyers unfamiliar with the process navigate the challenges of finding a place to call their own.

Aug 13

  • Advocated for a fair and accurate Census throughout 2020 with a campaign to target individuals that historically didn’t respond.
  • Joined the Louisville Urban League, Evolve502, Metro Parks and many other community partners to support plans to launch a network of Community Learning Hubs (CLHs) to serve young people throughout the community during the pandemic while virtual learning takes place.
  • Partnered with Humana to create 2,000 healthy snack kits to help fight food insecurity across our community!
Aug 13
Beyond Buzzwords Event featuring author Tim Wise

Beyond Buzzwords Event featuring author Tim Wise

Aug 17
Partner Facebook Live Series

Partner Facebook Live Series

Our own President and CEO, Theresa Reno-Weber and Chief Impact Officer Adria Johnson led a second round of informative conversations about how other organizations have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis and the call for systemic racial justice across our community.

Watch the series here!

Aug 18

Celebrated the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment: “100 Years Later: The Collective Power of Women” in an event hosted by MUW and The Muhammad Ali Center.

Aug 20

BLOCS Virtual Event – “Compassion Over Compliance”

Aug 20
Metro United Way’s New Volunteer Connection Site Launch

Metro United Way’s New Volunteer Connection Site Launch

Migrated Metro United Way’s Volunteer Connection website from our current platform to a new and improved volunteer management system with a user-friendly platform providing individuals with enhanced volunteer opportunity posting features, volunteer management, engagement, communication and reporting tools.

Aug 25
<a href="https://metrounitedway.org/we-need-to-be-united-now-more-than-ever/">2020 impact and fundraising page launched</a>

2020 impact and fundraising page launched

View the page HERE

Aug 26

Tiffany’s Story Premiere

Tiffany Johnson enrolled in Metro United Way’s AcceLOUrate Savings program, powered by the Humana Foundation, hoping to get her budget right so she could chase her dreams of owning her own business. Now “Tiffany’s Cleaning Service” is up and running and AcceLOUrate Savings has helped lay the groundwork for Tiffany’s financial empowerment.

Aug 26
Financial Navigation Simulation launch

Financial Navigation Simulation launch

This virtual Financial Navigation Simulation will force you to make some difficult economic and budgetary decisions that many of our community members face every day.

Aug 27

Distributed a total of $68,000 in equity-focused mini-grants to 54 BLOCS partner organizations to support their continued programming and re-opening efforts during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Sep 03

  • Celebrated the 10th anniversary of Bank On Louisville, a program that helps families and individuals with low to moderate incomes achieve financial stability and success.
  • Financial empowerment series on WHAS
Sep 03

Stop and Listen video series launched

Watch more videos from the series HERE

Sep 10

Sep 16
Inaugural Community Impact “Immies” Awards!

Inaugural Community Impact “Immies” Awards!

Sep 17
Black L.O.V.E. Initiative Launched

Black L.O.V.E. Initiative Launched

Black L.O.V.E. (Live. Own. Vote. Excel) initiative launched to strengthen Black-led social institutions in Louisville, will work with Black leaders and philanthropic partners to invest in areas recommended by the Black Social Change Funders Network.  

Sep 17

Ready 4 K Alliance Fall Quarterly Meeting  

Sep 20
Transitioned Racial Wealth Gap simulations to virtual

Transitioned Racial Wealth Gap simulations to virtual

Sep 24
Courier-Journal Op-Ed by MUW President & CEO, Theresa Reno-Weber

Courier-Journal Op-Ed by MUW President & CEO, Theresa Reno-Weber

Read the full article HERE.

Oct 01

Director of Black Male Achievement, Yvette Gentry appointed to Interim Chief of Police at Louisville Metro Police Department.

Oct 13

Beyond Buzzwords Event Featuring Dr. Michael Eric Dyson

Oct 15

  • Worked with the Louisville Department of Public Health and Wellness and Community Coordinated Child Care (4-C) to deploy locally received CARES Act COVID-19 relief dollars to support the urgent needs of child care providers in Jefferson County.
  • Endorsed Yes4JCPS
Oct 16

Day of Action

25 volunteer projects in seven counties during our annual DAY OF ACTION!

Oct 31
2020 Census Deadline

2020 Census Deadline

Nov 05

  • New JCPS 360 Student and Family Support Center at Humana is opened.
Nov 05

United Community Expansion to Harrison County, IN

Nov 12
Liberation Identification Campaign & Video Series Launched

Liberation Identification Campaign & Video Series Launched

  • Liberation Identification – A movement to implement a statewide program providing state-issued photo identification to all people leaving incarceration in Kentucky.
Nov 19

  • Invested funding into 19 nonprofit organizations through Impact and Innovation Initiative
  • Three pallets of school supplies from Meijer donated to support students across our seven-county service area! Together, we are ensuring that kids have what they need to succeed!
Nov 26

“2020 Was The Year” Released

They say hindsight is 20/20 and they were right. 2020 didn’t go as planned, but it did bring our community needs more into focus and it’s clear the time to do something bold is now.

Dec 01

Giving Tuesday raised $160,000 for five different initiatives in our community to build a better and brighter future for all.

Dec 03

  • 2020 Community Research Expo held on Thursday, December 3 with findings of five outstanding community research reports that have been impacted by housing injustice and the racial wealth gap.
  • Distributed $307,966 in federal funding from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)/Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program to supplement emergency food and shelter programs.
  • Deployed SIX PALLETS of PPE including masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies, and more! These supplies were distributed to 12 non-profit agencies across our seven-county service area. Thank you, GEA! We truly are #bettertogether!
Dec 03

Ready 4 K Alliance report released

Dec 08
Build-a-Bed pivots from December 2020 to March 2021

Build-a-Bed pivots from December 2020 to March 2021

Dec 10
Courier-Journal Op-Ed by MUW President & CEO, Theresa Reno-Weber

Courier-Journal Op-Ed by MUW President & CEO, Theresa Reno-Weber

Read the article HERE

Dec 15

2020 Rewind Video Release

2020 may be a year to forget, but with YOUR help Metro United Way rose to the occasion and made an impact across our communities.

Dec 16
$20 Million gift from Billionaire Philanthropist, Mackenzie Scott!

$20 Million gift from Billionaire Philanthropist, Mackenzie Scott!

Read more about the gift here.

National Press Coverage:
New York Times (Link)
CBS News (Link)
USA Today (Link)
Forbes (Link)

Dec 17

Liberation Identification Mini-Doc Release/Event

This mini-documentary illuminates the barriers Kentuckians face when leaving incarceration without the most basic tool needed for success—a photo ID.

Dec 23

Boxes of Love packed thousands of meals for families across Greater Louisville!

2021
Jan 07

Awarded technical assistance from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to promote emergency savings. Louisville was one of seven communities across the nation that received support in areas such as best practices, tools, and messaging to promote savings.

Jan 08
Louisville Business First Op-Ed by MUW Chief Equity Officer, Daryle Unseld

Louisville Business First Op-Ed by MUW Chief Equity Officer, Daryle Unseld

Read the full article HERE.

Jan 17

The Greatest Give Back 2021 Virtual Event

The Greatest Give Back looked a lot different in 2021, but that didn’t stop you from making a huge impact in the community.

Feb 11

February 11 = 2-1-1- Day. What is 2-1-1? It’s where ANYONE at ANY TIME can FIND HELP in our community simply by calling 2-1-1 or texting your zip code to 898211. Open 365 days, 24/7 and totally confidential! Learn More

Feb 17

Eviction Prevention Response Initiative launched in Southern Indiana

This initiative launched in partnership with the Southern Indiana Homeless Coalition and is a collaborative effort with community service providers who are addressing the eviction crisis by working proactively to meet the housing needs of individuals and families in Clark, Floyd, and Harrison Counties in Indiana. United Community is being leveraged to connect providers that can meet the rent assistance needs in a streamlined and expedited manner.

Feb 24

Beyond Buzzwords – White Fragility with Dr. Robin DiAngelo

Feb 25
LINC Trivia Night

LINC Trivia Night

Mar 02
(Virtual) Live United Day at the Capitol

(Virtual) Live United Day at the Capitol

 

In addition to annual allocations to nonprofit partners, MUW helped bring close to $5 million to our community to invest in COVID relief and recovery.

 

See all press coverage HERE

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