Finding stability amidst adversity: How Metro United Way improves families’ futures

Alexis grew up with learning disabilities that kept her from graduating high school. Without a diploma, she faced a long struggle with unemployment and homelessness.

She gave birth to three children and had to raise them on her own. Even though she experienced years of hardship and poverty, she did not give up.

Alexis wanted better for herself and her children, so she began meeting with a family support case manager twice a week. Now, her constant effort is paying off!

In the past six months, Alexis gained her high school diploma and became a certified nursing assistant (CNA). She’s moved her three children into a stable home and is pursuing a career in nursing.

She’s also learned communication and cooking skills and is well on her way to self-sufficiency.

Her success is possible because of the Pathway of Hope program at the Salvation Army of Southern Indiana, a program that seeks to break the generational cycle of poverty. It is supported by Metro United Way and our decade-long partnership with The Siemer Institute.

Overcoming adversity to find stability, like Alexis did, is what building strong households looks like. And that’s something Metro United Way helps people do every day.

A community of strong households is one where families never have to worry about where they’re going to sleep, or what they’re going to feed their children. Where they don’t have to worry about debt collectors or a sudden emergency they would barely afford to survive. It’s a place where seeking better education and skills doesn’t come at the cost of one’s wellbeing.

We want that place to be here.

But this kind of help doesn’t come from quick interactions. It comes from months, and sometimes years, of support that considers not only financial needs, but the holistic needs of a family.

The Siemer Institute invests $250,000 a year to enable Metro United Way, through long-term coaching and case management with local partners, to help families stabilize income, housing, and education.

In 2023, we served 377 families with 778 children. Throughout the year, 76% of those families achieved income stability, 82% achieved housing stability, and 98% avoided having to make an unplanned, unsupported school move.

Program participants have continued to experience a great deal of success in recent months.

 

We work every day to reach more people with this program because we know behind every one of these numbers, there is a person who can, and will, do better for themselves—like Alexis.

Or like the Louisville mother who was experiencing abuse and needed mental health and financial support to navigate a nasty divorce and regain her independence.

Or the family who experienced a sudden illness and faced eviction, but with support overcame those challenges, bettered their finances, learned new skills, and bought their very first home.

We will never give up on people, because we believe in their resiliency.

Metro United Way wants to thank The Siemer Institute for its partnership and continued investment. We also extend our deepest gratitude to our direct program providers: Americana Community Center, Family Scholar House, Jewish Family and Career Services, and Salvation Army of Louisville in Jefferson County; Turnaround Resource Center in Bullitt County, and Salvation Army of Southern Indiana in Floyd County.

 

*A previous version of this story used “Sarah” as a pseudonym for Alexis. We have since been given permission to use her real name.

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