LIVE UNITED Y’All!

By Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

Talk about pomp and circumstance! One can only imagine what a great and inspiring commencement address students and proud family members would hear if President Barack Obama delivers the graduation address message to the Eagles at Eastern, the Yellow Jackets at Central High School or some lucky Bulldogs at New Albany High School. I am sure any school in our region would never be the same.  

Well if you haven’t heard yet…this could really happen thanks to an exciting contest that is underway and dubbed as The Race to the Top High School Challenge. The “Race” as I will call it, encourages schools to share how they are making strides on personal responsibility, academic excellence and college readiness.

What a great opportunity to spread the word and encourage your favorite school or student you know to check it out, enter the contest and GO FOR IT!  Don’t delay as the deadline is fast approaching for March 15^th and President Obama will select the winner of the contest from the entries who make it as finalists. The application has four essay questions that focus on demonstrating how your school is helping prepare students to meet the President’s 2020 goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

Regardless of your political views, we can all agree that we all win in our community when children succeed in school, graduate on time and continue to college or gain technical skills for employment in today’s economy.

As a proud member of the EHS class of 1982…I do not remember who spoke in the hot gym at graduation. I bet if it had been the President of the United States of America I would have!  To learn more visit     http://www.whitehouse.gov/commencement

Education, Events, General Cental High School, Eastern High School, Graduation Commencement, New Albany High School, President Obama, Race to the Top, School Contest

By Angie Ditsler

Photo by guldfisken - click on photo for link

Russ told me once that his earliest memories as a child are of his mom walking him to the Crescent Hill Library every week to read to him and let him pick out books to take home. He told me that even as an adult he still vividly remembers the smell of the books in that library, and they conjure up fond memories for him every time he drives past it to this day.

Needless to say, this has led to ongoing jokes in our family about “smelling books.” Whenever I can’t decide which book to pick up next to read, Russ’ typical response to me is usually something like “Well, which one smells better?”

On a more serious note though, we’re both grateful to have been instilled with a love for reading in our childhood. Evening routines for us usually involve a glass of wine and a good book, and one of our favorite things to do on Sundays is to peruse the aisles of Books-a-Million or Barnes and Noble then relax and read until the store closes.

An aspiring writer himself, my husband devours books at about twice the rate I do. Russ accomplished a long-time goal of his when he recently published his first novel, a political thriller called Agent of Influence. He spent six years researching and writing his book, and the past year and a half has really been a team effort as we’ve worked together revising, editing, and trying to get it published. Being exposed to books at an early age has really inspired us and honed our talents in different ways: I always remind Russ that he is the creative genius in the family, while I have eye for detail.

Now that I get to work on various Success By 6 initiatives in my professional life, the importance of exposing young children to positive and healthy experiences early on like reading really hits home for me. One thing that my husband and I agree on is that when we have children of our own some day, we want them to grow up smelling books the same way we did. Who knew that a memory like the smell of a book could have such an impact on someone’s life?

Education, General Agent of Influence, books, reading, Success By 6

By Kerri Cokeley

In my work with the youth in our community, one thing is staggeringly clear: the majority of adults are not good role models in the eyes of our young people. In a recent survey of Southern Indiana high-schoolers, only 19% of students report having parents and other adults in their life that model positive, responsible behavior.

At Metro United Way, we are working with students to learn more about what they expect of us, their elders (among many other things we are learning.) In the meantime, I think there are some obvious issues that could be addressed. Here is my list of reasons for adults to be better role models, inspired by what I have learned from listening to young people and from observing the behaviors of some adults I know.

*When reading this please remember, I am not a psychologist, a sociologist, a child development specialist, a parent, nor a perfect person for that matter. I am simply a person that experienced a challenging childhood and tries to be empathetic and helpful for the younger generation.

10 Reasons To Be a Better Role Model

10. We are imperfect people. We need to acknowledge that and be more aware of our actions and words.

9. Children start their lives respecting adults; let’s be deserving of that respect.

8. Young people are capable of achieving great things. They want adults to encourage them to do well and hold them accountable when they should be doing better.

7. Research has shown that children have higher success rates as adults when they have 5 caring adults in their life outside of their parents during childhood. Do you have young people in your life that you should be more “present” for?

6. Communication is one of the biggest areas of concern for Southern Indiana high school students. In fact, they say that adults communicate expectations, but then don’t follow up with the results. (In a way, kids are telling us they wish parents would ground them when they break the rules and that schools would dole out punishment more consistently.)

5. The majority of youth report that they don’t have adults in their life who consistently engage them in good conversation, listen to them, and care about their concerns. I know there are times when a child’s opinion isn’t relevant to a decision, but they do deserve to have their thoughts and feelings acknowledged.

4. We need to quit saying one thing and then doing another. Children catch on to this, and it sends a very confusing message on how to act and make decisions.

3. Playing together is a great way to build caring relationships with young children in your life. As that child grows, they will think of you as someone who enjoys time with them and will be more likely to come to you for advice when they are faced with tough situations.

2. Let’s be honest with young people. When appropriate, it is good to share mistakes you have made in the past. We don’t have to give every gory detail, but to share our missteps, the repercussions, and ways that we could have handled the situation better provides information that can help them become better decision makers.

1. In all the student survey results we have collected, we see things that are shocking and sadly true. But one stat that gives us great hope is that the majority of students report having a positive view of their future. I believe we owe it to the next generation to help them turn this positive view into the best future possible.

In closing, I can’t imagine a more meaningful contribution I can make for the future of our community than being a person that helps young people reach their fullest potential. We all interact with young people in some way- some of us more than others. As adults, we shape these interactions, and I think we can do better! Don’t you?

Education developmental assets, youth

By Howard Mason

The LIVE UNITED Social Innovation prize, presented by Ernst & Young, was designed for change makers in Kentuckiana who are prepared to put their ideas into action. The winners were picked by the public making credit card contributions to the eight finalists. Contributions were accepted through November 10, 2009.

Here are the finalists and their totals:

The competition closed at 9:00 a.m., November 10, 15 hours earlier than expected, due to an issue with the web donation technology.  Because the totals of the innovators in fourth and fifth place were virtually the same and it is not known what amounts would have been donated in the last 15 hours, fourth place was determined to be a tie and the award split among the two.

And the winners are…

The prize recipients and the amounts awarded will be:

1^st Place         $10,000 Grand Prize — Breaking New Grounds

2^nd Place        $5,000 Prize — Weber Gallery

3^rd Place         $5,000 Prize — Steward’s Staff

4^th Place         $5,000 Prize — Tie

• $2,500 Prize — Americana Family Literacy for Immigrants
• $2,500 Prize — Muscle Mover Clinic

Next steps:

December - Convene winners and finalists to launch learning community. Assess needs for support, learning, incubation.

January through June - Conduct monthly meetings of learning community with mentoring/education activities selected by participants.

Read about the finalists and their innovations at liveunitedyall.org/innovation

Education, General, Giving, Income Social Entrepreneur, Social Innovation, Social Innovation Prize

If there is one thing that working with Success By 6 has confirmed for me it is to instill a love of reading in my child. We read everyday at our house. In fact, Luke has made up a new game to play called “naptime.” He tells his dad and me to “go take your nap.” He tucks us into his bed, reads us a story, gives us our kisses, says goodnight and closes the door to his room. My husband actually finds this to be a very cruel game, because just as we are feeling nice and relaxed, Luke will burst into the room, turn on the lights and loudly say, “Time to wake up!” My favorite part of naptime is when Luke reads our bedtime story. He usually chooses one of his favorite books. So, he knows most of the words or uses the pictures to make up what is happening in the story. I think that it is very cool that reading a story has to be a part of “naptime.”

Luke has many favorite books, including the Clifford the Big Red Dog series. One of the reasons that he loves Clifford books so much is that there are pictures of the covers of other Clifford books on the back of each book. He likes to go through all of the pictures and find the pictures of the books that he has in his collection. Sometimes, this can lead to reading six books in a row, but I don’t mind. My bigger issue is that I can’t walk into a book store without checking out which Clifford books they have. I am constantly trying to find as many of the books featured on the back of the covers that I can. In fact, this morning I ordered a set of six Clifford books– three that we already have – from the Scholastic book order that came home from school just so I could add to Luke’s Clifford collection.

As I placed my order this morning, I thought about all of the children who do not have fifteen Clifford books in their collections or entire bookcases full of beautiful children’s books. It made me sad. But I couldn’t be sad for too long because my next thought was of the boxes and boxes of books that we just received from the Borders book drive.

This summer, for the third year in a row, Borders provided its customers with the opportunity to give a book to a young child who may not otherwise have one. And again this year, I was overwhelmed by the generosity of our community.  When I spoke with my Borders contacts about halfway through the drive they told me that it seemed like the donations were going to be down this year because of the economy. We have not yet sorted and counted the books to know for sure how many books there are, but by the looks of the boxes stacked in our basement, our community once again showed its caring power and gave even if it hurt. There will be hundreds and hundreds of small children who will receive a book to take home. I wonder if any of them will tell their mommies and daddies that it is time for a nap, read them a book and put them to bed.

Education, Giving Borders, early childhood, reading, Success By 6

Thank a Youth Worker Day

November 5, 2009

By: Kerri Cokeley

I’m sure that we can all think back to our childhood and recall youth workers who positively impacted our lives. Teachers, coaches, counselors, and lunch ladies (and lunch men) are just a few examples of the people who work fulltime tending to our youth. Far too often their hard work goes unnoticed.

This Thursday 11/5 is a special day set aside for us all to say “thank you” to the people making a difference in the lives children. Whether it is someone who is working with your children today, or someone who influenced you in childhood, can you take a couple minutes to let them know how important they are?

For more information on this national effort, visit www.thankayouthworkerday.org.

Education making a difference, thanks, youth, Youth Worker

My original plan for this month was to spend time with some orphaned puppies…but I didn’t plan well enough (imagine that).  I, me, Volunteer Coordinator, of all people, should know that volunteering requires some planning!  Anyhow, as a backup plan, I will tell you about my regular volunteer gig – weekly tutoring at Brooklawn Child & Family Services.  

For those of you who don’t know, Brooklawn is a residential treatment facility for girls ages 6-11 and boys ages 6-18. Many of the residents of Brooklawn suffer from behavioral and emotional disorders caused by the trauma of abuse or neglect…most times at the hands of someone close to them.  For a lot of these kiddos, Brooklawn is only one of many placements they have experienced in their short lives.  Moving from placement to placement can also mean moving from school to school.  As you can imagine, this is a difficult transition and can take weeks or even months to get acclimated.   Many crucial learning opportunities are missed during this transition time and can result in severely low reading and math skills.  This is where tutors come in. 

Tutors are needed during school in the classrooms and for the after-school tutoring program.  I go every Thursday after work and meet with my student, we’ll call him “Malcolm” to respect his privacy.  Malcolm is in 5^th grade and struggling with both math and reading.  Malcolm has trouble concentrating in school and is easily frustrated by his assignments.  Many times he will misbehave to get out of doing classwork.  Unfortunately, this only puts him further behind.  His teacher comments that Malcolm does well with one-on-one assistance, but this is nearly impossible for teachers to give when dealing with a full classroom.  So, I visit Brooklawn each week to give Malcolm that attention that he so desperately needs. 

The sessions are easy…his teacher created a packet of assignments for us to work on.  Now we are writing a Halloween story!  He is so proud of his work and wants to share his story with everyone at Brooklawn…I’m trying to get him to wait until we’re finished, but he’s too excited!  I have to admit…I’m a bit of a pushover…he’s just so darn cute!  But don’t worry, I keep him focused and make sure to complete our lessons each week. 

I have to say, this might be the most rewarding experience I have ever had volunteering.  I know that I’m making a difference; I see the results week to week.  I get to witness his excitement when he spells a word correctly without my help.  I hear him say “thank you” each time we’re finished.  I feel personally invested in his success and can’t help but be proud when he accomplishes something. 

I suppose, however, that I should offer a fair warning. Visiting Brooklawn can be difficult….emotionally.  Getting to know these kids and then imaging what they have experienced in their lives is tough.  I guess I should also tell you that I spent 3 years working at Brooklawn, so I do know more than the average volunteer.  Either way, it can be difficult.  Here’s an example…

When I first started tutoring Malcolm, he was excited to see me because he remembered me from working there. On our first visit, he said “what are you doing here, I thought you left?”  And I replied that I have a different job now, but I never completely left.  He looked confused and said, “huh, most people don’t come back here.”  Then when I came back for my second visit, he said “You’re back!  I didn’t know you’d come back!”  I said, “I told you last week that I would be back.”  He said, “yeah, but most times when people say that that they don’t really mean it.”  Heart-breaking.  I wanted to cry right there, but I held it together, smiled, and we started our lesson. 

I can honestly say to you, that Brooklawn has imprinted my heart.  I’m not sure that I will ever be able to completely leave that place.  If you are looking for a truly fulfilling volunteer opportunity, look no further!  If tutoring isn’t your thing…there are many other opportunities to get involved with the children of Brooklawn. For more information, visit their website at www.brooklawn.net or contact their volunteer department at 515-0474. 

Advocacy, Education, General, Volunteering

By: Kerri Cokeley

In an effort to help reduce America’s high school dropout rates, America’s Promise Alliance is supporting more than 100 state and local Dropout Prevention Summits across the country.

On September 25^th I attended the first Indiana Dropout Prevention Leadership Summit. I participated in this meeting with a group of education professionals and concerned citizens from Clark County, a local workgroup convened by Landon Samuels of State Farm. There were hundreds of folks in attendance at this statewide conference, including some from Floyd and Harrison Counties as well.

The luncheon keynote speaker was Bill Milliken. Bill has been a tireless advocate for disenfranchised youth and one of the foremost pioneers in the movement to connect schools with community resources to help troubled students graduate and succeed in life. In 1977, he and others developed a model organization, now known as Communities In Schools.

The Communities In Schools model believes that each child needs and deserves the “5 Basics:”

1. A one-on-one relationship with a caring adult

2. A safe place to learn and grow

3. A healthy start and a healthy future

4. A marketable skill to use upon graduation

5. A chance to give back to peers and community

Each of these “5 Basics” makes so much sense to me as I think back to my childhood and what helped me get to where I am today. When thinking about how to help the students falling through the cracks of society today, it’s hard to keep from getting overwhelmed.

Something that Bill Milliken said as he was speaking resonated with me deeply, “America doesn’t have a youth problem. America has an adult problem.” I couldn’t agree more.

This leaves me with a question for you: What are we, the adults, going to do to help make sure the young ones in our life, and in our community, have the support they need to be successful?

P.S. The Evening News did a great job of capturing the essence of the statewide event (click here to see the article.)

Advocacy, Education, General America's Promise, Education, graduation rates, State Farm

By Howard Mason

In May of this year, Metro United Way announced the LIVE UNITED Social Innovation Prize presented by Ernst & Young and opened the competition for submissions. A total of 46 completed submissions were received by the entry deadline, July 8, 2009. Metro United Way Community Change Incubator volunteers reviewed these submissions and found 18 to be ineligible for judging, primarily due to not being aligned with our Education, Income or Health Building Block(s) and/or not sufficiently innovative.

The remaining 28 proposals were scored by three-judge panels, using an online survey scoring tool. The average score of all judges for each proposal was determined for these items:

• Statement of issue/problem
• Innovation and benefits connected to selected Education, Income, Health Building Block(s)
• Finances and implementation
• Ability to grow, sustain and contribute learning
• Overall attractiveness

Judges also recommended whether to advance a submission to finalist.

Eight innovations emerged as the clear leaders and were selected as the finalists. See them on liveunitedyall.org/innovation.

I had the pleasure of calling each finalist to let them know that they had been selected to advance in the competition. I also asked them to come to a meeting at Metro United Way to meet the Community Change Incubator volunteers and social innovation prize judges, tell their story, hear about the plan for creating a learning community, and get briefed on the deliverables that were required of finalists.

It was a great meeting and everyone was touched and energized by the passion and creativity of the innovations. Most of the finalists were at least a little intimidated by the deliverables.

Each finalist had three weeks to provide:

1.      Innovation name or title.

2.      Innovator name.

3.      Still photo.

4.      Resume for individual innovator or organizational description, contact information and three references.

5.      Headline description of the innovation.

6.      Description of the innovation with a one-sentence summary, a paragraph on how the innovation is unique, and another paragraph on how it would work.

7.      A short video pitching the Social Innovation.

8.      An account to receive credit card donations.

This was a tall order, but these are the kind of things our volunteers have learned were first steps to go from idea and discussion, to action and accomplishment.

To be a successful social innovator, it takes a burning idea that has magnetism-that draws excitement, people, resources to it. It also takes the energy and commitment to dig in and do the work that is needed to make the idea come to life.

Now it’s up to YOU to vote on which innovations will win. You cast your vote by making a contribution in any amount up to a maximum of $250 from any individual donor through the innovation’s ChipIn widget, displayed on the innovation’s web page on this site: liveunitedyall.org/innovation.

No matter how much money each finalist receives in this competition, it will not completely fund their innovation. The work they did to prepare for the finalist round of the LIVE UNITED Social Innovation Prize will help them be more effective by getting them recognition, opening doors, and practicing the skills to become the magnet.

Next steps for the LIVE UNITED Social Innovation Prize:

November–Announce winners and award prizes.

December–Convene winners and finalists to launch a Community of Social Innovation. Assess needs for support, learning, incubation.

January through June–Conduct monthly meetings of the Community of Social Innovation with mentoring/education activities selected by participants.

Special thanks to the Community Change Incubator volunteers whose efforts made the prize happen: Doug Lowry, Deborah Boyer, Michelle Wyrick, Rob Kaplan, Merv Antonio, Jud Hendrix, and David Allgood.

Many thanks to Lynn Smith for organizing the entries and the surveys-a huge task with many tight deadlines.

And extra special thanks to Erin McMahon for her tireless work and unflagging enthusiasm and good nature in developing the web sites.

Don’t forget to donate to your favorite and encourage others to do the same!

Education, General, Giving, Health, Income Add new tag, Social Entrepreneur, Social Innovation, Social Innovation Prize

By Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

I have been thinking a lot about the upcoming annual campaign in our community. It is what I do…think, plan, connect, encourage, communicate, review, explore, inquire, inspire, discuss and consider what will make a difference this year in someone’s workplace campaign. What is important to an individual donor? How can I demonstrate appreciation for the good works made possible by our Metro United Way corporate partners, donors and volunteers? I am also leaning into my work and trying to look at things a little bit differently this year. Quite frankly we must. You have heard it before right? If you continue to do things the same as in the past and you continue to get the same results then why does it surprise you?

My list will be kept short, but I hope you will join my conversation and share some of your idea’s on what you think is HOT and what you think is NOT.

What’s HOT:
• Making sure all children are safe, nurtured and prepared to succeed in school ( learn more about Success by 6)
• Making plans in your workplace to educate and build awareness for the work the work of United Way in our community and to Ask for participation in a company campaign where you work…WOW that’s hot!
• Serving as a volunteer Employee Coordinator for a United Way campaign and recruiting some co-worker friends to join you and help make it a success…sizzlin’!
• Sharing stories about your personal experience with United Way or how someone you work with whose life has been touched (meet someone you have helped here)
• Identifying the root causes of problems and providing solutions and support so that people can avoid some problems in the first-place…yep, it’s HOT
• Partnering with schools, service providers and community groups to improve high school graduation rates
• Saying YES when you are invited to join the United Way campaign and following up your giving by volunteering to get closer to the work you make possible and the lives you touch
Did you hear fire trucks?
• Being able to laugh at yourself and have fun while helping create opportunities for a brighter tomorrow
NOT HOT:
• There are nearly 9,000 children in JCPS who are homeless
• There are senior citizens in our community who live in fear of going outside or don’t have enough income for prescriptions and food…so they make choices
• Ice storms, wind storms, flash flooding that destroys peoples property and depletes their savings ( sign up with our volunteer center)
• An increase of nearly 40% of first time callers to 2-1-1 for assistance with basic human needs for food, clothing, shelter and necessities…a term I am hearing called “new poor” in our community
• Too many employees feel like United Way only comes around once a year when it’s time to ask for a donation. That’s not hot. There are endless possibilities and creative fun ways you can stay involved, thank loyal donors and contributors in your work and help employees understand they are making a difference 365 days a year
• Not planning ahead, setting goals or stretching yourself to do better in all that you do. Because if you don’t aim for something then you can’t be surprised when you miss the mark
• Seeing your coworkers dress up like Elvis and sing Viva Las Vegas… not hot…but a great way we added some fun to our employee campaign at Metro United Way and we are all looking forward to see who on our executive team will be donning a polyester jumpsuit next

Tried to keep it short…what’s hot where you work and what’s not?

Advocacy, Education, General, Giving, Health, Income, Volunteering campaign, Common good, community service, how to, recovery, Success By 6