September 2023
Metro United Way Impact Tracker
This impact tracker is updated on a monthly basis to share highlights of the work that we do every day to help make our community better for everyone!
There’s nothing more important than making sure our community’s children have what they need to thrive. LEARN MORE
- In collaboration with local and state partners, our public policy team continues to have direct conversations with legislative leadership in both Kentucky and Indiana on the importance of investing in child care to meet the needs of families and increase labor force participation.
- Metro United Way continues to serve on Mayor Greenberg’s Early Learning Action Group, tasked with developing an implementation plan to expand early learning opportunities to all three- and four-year-olds in Jefferson County.
- MUW’s early childhood team continues to build and strengthen partnerships in Bullitt, Oldham, and Shelby counties with early childhood partners to better inform our work and meet the unique need of children and families in those areas including joining the Early Childhood Regional Collaboratives for each county.
- We have secured $393,000 on behalf of Early Learning Indiana. This grant will used to grow the Ages and Stages program in Southern Indiana and is projected to launch first quarter 2024. To learn about the Ages and Stages, visit Metro United Way’s Ages & Stages Developmental Screening Hub – Metro United Way.
- Our Ages & Stages (ASQ) Development team is The Hub is building its capacity to serve Spanish-speaking families to ensure all communications and materials are culturally responsive and meet the needs of our Spanish-speaking community.
- 35 families have been referred to our ASQ Hub through our pediatric outreach pilot with Norton Healthcare.
- Just in the past month, our team has screened 59 children with the ASQ Questionnaires. 17 of the families that completed a Questionnaire were referred to services to support their education, basic or parental needs. To support early literacy, more than 100 books were distributed to our community this month as well.
- 270 children received a Kindergarten Countdown Calendar. This month’s tips for transitioning to kindergarten included information on choosing the right school for their child and links to the JCPS’s School Choice Guide.
- All four early childhood projects from the recent American Rescue Plan (ARP) investments have are in the initial stages of work. This will include expanding access to developmental screening, building 12 natural playscapes, and preparing child care educators and families for kindergarten, including expanding our Ages & Stages (ASQ) developmental tool to Spanish-speaking families.
- Check out our Manager of Education, Melissa Nelson, leading a listening session with JCPS parents and students.
- We recently hosted our annual school year kickoff event with 106 community partners in attendance to highlight our menu of supports we are providing to our Youth Success partners. This network has grown to more than 140 youth-serving organizations, representing nearly all seven counties in our region.
- We are finalizing a strategy and will be launching Young Men United which will create barrier-free pathways for young Black men to reach their academic and career goals by bringing wrap-around supports to youth in our community to and through college graduation.
When we have strong households, we are creating pathways out of poverty to prosperity, which is a win for us all. LEARN MORE
- We have received the first round of annual reports from organizations that received investments from our inaugural “Safety Net” RFP in 2022, representing $1.5 million in investments to 34 organizations over the first 12 months. Data from these reports will be compiled and shared with our community to highlight the impact MUW and its partners are having in the community around providing basic needs like housing, utility assistance, food/meals, clothing/personal/household needs, healthcare, transportation, income support/assistance, legal and public safety services, and mental health/addiction services. The second year of funding – totaling another $1.5 million – has already commenced.
- Our policy team is continuing to work alongside our housing partners to support increasing the supply of affordable housing through local and state policy vehicles.
- Our first FundBlackFounders cohort has launched their crowdfunding campaigns to help bring their ideas to life and grow their businesses. Learn more and help us support local entrepreneurs.
- Since 2020 in Southern Indiana, our food, clothing, and shelter providers have experienced a 30-35% increase in requests for services. There are no current indicators that point towards a change in this trend. For our upcoming fiscal year, we have invested more than 40% of available funds to assist in meeting the needs in this region.
- Phase II of our housing pilot in Southern Indiana will begin before the end of this year and serve an additional 30 families. In 2022, the initial phase included 30 households that resulted in one family becoming first-time homeowners and five additional families receiving financial pre-approval and are currently shopping for their dream home.
- Over the first half of this year, we have served 316 families comprised of 655 total children and 518 school aged children and has achieved the following results through our partnership around homelessness and school instability with Siemer:
- 85% of families have reached a level of income stability
- 89% have achieved a level of housing stability
- Less than 1% of families have had to make an unplanned or unsupported move during the school year.
- We have enrolled 61 individuals in financial coaching with partners. These individuals are working towards goals in areas such as establishing savings, increasing income, decreasing debt, and gaining financial assets.
- Our United Community platform now has a network of 490 different organizations with close to 6,000 users and more than 700 programs. To date over 13,000 individuals have been served with more than 48,000 referrals.
- We continue to lead volunteer projects to help individuals and families in our community with their basic needs.
- This month:
- 1,000 backpacks provided through Aetna Volunteer Project to 11 nonprofit partners across our region.
- 200 healthy snack kits as part of Humana’s Waterside Centennial Celebration.
- Tie knot blankets by another team at Humana.
- Learn more about our Generation Work which is a collaborative initiative that connects young adults of color with local employers to promote learning and ultimately to advance welcoming workplace environments. Three employers that are participating so far: Norton Healthcare, Republic Bank, and UPS.
- 16 completed applications have been received from community-based organizations serving Bullitt County seeking investments from MUW in 2023. Eight of those are from organizations that haven’t historically been invested in by MUW and are proposing new partnership opportunities. Awards will be announced at the end of October after a team of volunteers review and score the applications.
- $175,554 in additional investments has been approved for investment in Shelby County. More details to come on the needs these investments will address.
We envision the Greater Louisville region as a place where zip code doesn’t determine destiny and everyone has the opportunity to live up to their full potential. LEARN MORE
- Alongside the Louisville Nonprofit Network, our public policy team met with Congressmen McGarvey to discuss the vital role that nonprofits play in our community. Projecting the rights of nonprofits is vital to creating more equitable communities.
- We finalized our strategy around United Neighborhoods that is a place-based approach focused on specific neighborhoods within our 7-county region. Our neighborhood model prioritizes resident-driven priorities, strategies and solutions for investment, and understands that sustained neighborhood change requires listening to residents, authentic relationship-building, significant investment, and a long-term commitment.
- Our internal diversity, equity, and inclusions council (DEIC) which is a cross-functional team began a project called Local WorldChanger (LWC) with UofL designed to make a distinct and measurable difference with regards to an issue by a specific deadline. Our project will involve enhancements to our internal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic plan and awareness of the Black L.O.V.E. Philanthropic Partnership. UofL Athletics is also participating in this project alongside MUW.
- Our Racial Wealth Gap Simulation continues to be an informative and impactful community engagement tool. The Girls Coalition of Indiana will participate in a simulation this month along with Best Buy, Inc. leadership.
Events