LIVE UNITED Y’All!

By Christopher Locke

Wow, it’s that time of the year again! A time when young people of all ages have visions of cartoon-covered backpacks, reams of three-hole, loose leaf paper and bounties of yellow Number 2 pencils dancing in their heads… Which means it’s indeed time for school! With the return to school and visions in mind, I’m reminded of a Henry David Thoreau quote that says “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

And while most parents and adults in the community are expectedly looking at purchasing items like sports and band uniforms, instruments, or even lab supplies to support their children’s education success in the classroom and school– a lot of well-meaning and caring adults have been spending a lot of time creating a compelling child-centered, community-based vision for young people to be successful outside the classroom and school. These caring adults and young people were callers, conveners and participants in a community effort called the Youth Vision. It was exciting to participate and witness the process of developing a vision that the community can be proud of that will also mobilize us to action.

The community response to an invitation from a group of youth development and education experts convened by Metro United Way to come and share their thoughts on youth success was overwhelming. When all the conversations were complete, 36 community conversations had taken place with residents from 30 of the 32 zip codes in the Louisville Metro area, from 11 other Kentucky zip codes and from 3 Southern Indiana County zip codes. The participant demographics revealed that the conversations had attracted broad and diverse participation from community residents interested in young people.

And as Thoreau said, they looked at some things. In fact, the participants looked at a long list of depressing challenges that often impede many young people’s paths to educational success.

• 1 in 4 freshman entering 9^th grade in JCPS don’t graduate on time and in four years with their peers.
• 65% of JCPS students are on free and reduced lunch.
• Worse still, last year JCPS reports that 10,500 students were classified as homeless.

In all three cases, a disproportionate number of the students are African American and Latino.

But again, like Thoreau wisely recommended, the community residents participating in the youth vision conversations did not get mired in pessimism. No, instead, this spirited group, led by Metro United Way and Metro Government, decided that the callers and the residents see what matters. So the optimists flipped the deficit-based reality that many of our students and families deal with everyday on its head and decided to engage resident voices in the process by asking three strengths or asset-based questions.

• Think about a young person in your life…What are your hopes and wishes for their success?
• What helps a young person be successful?
• If you could waive a magic wand, how would our community look different if ALL youth were succeeding?

After over 500 people had answered, the compelling Youth Vision emerged.

Louisville Youth…

• Have the skills and education to be self reliant, healthy, engaged and economically thriving.
• Have hope and show strength of character to achieve their goals, follow their dreams, respect others and contribute to bettering their community and world.
• Live in a caring community where everyone values, supports, invests in and fights for their success.

It sounds  pretty compelling to me, and we hope you agree! What are some of your ideas for our community’s youth? Would you be willing to act in creative ways to bring this vision to life in the community? How?

Advocacy, Education, General back to school, Children, Community, Education, future, High School Graduation, kindergarten, making a difference, Metro United Way, opportunity, parenting, Southern Indiana, students, success, youth, youth development, Youth Vision

by Mary Ann Steutermann

I’ll admit it – I have few domestic skills. In particular, I absolutely, positively do not cook because 1) I don’t enjoy it and 2) previous attempts have resulted in blaring smoke alarms and upset stomachs. Fortunately for me, I am married to a great cook who both enjoys the process of creating a fine meal and actually produces dishes that people find not only edible but downright delicious. Over the years, I have watched him in the kitchen preparing a meal, and I’ve learned his secret to success – preparation.

The Right Ingredients

I was surprised to learn that most of my husband’s culinary efforts go into selecting the best ingredients and then spending quite a bit of time cutting, chopping, dicing, and seasoning them. In fact, he probably spends at least twice as much time preparing the ingredients as he does actually heating something on the stove or baking it in the over. Similarly, Metro United Way has been hard at work preparing to develop a strategy map that will guide our efforts in the coming years as we work to ensure that all of our children arrive at kindergarten ready to be successful and that at least 87% of them complete high school by earning their diplomas.

Just as it’s tempting to jump right into to turning up the heat on the stove without taking the time to chop and season the ingredients first, it’s tempting for an organization to jump too quickly to decisions about its future work without doing the necessary leg work in preparation. But we won’t make that common mistake. In fact, we’ve been hard at work in the kitchen for several months now.

Engaging the Community

Before settling on our specific strategies in support of educational progress, we have been doing a lot of homework. An essential part of this has been engaging the community in various ways in order to make sure we have all of the data and information needed to make good decisions. We have been working with various groups to get their feedback on our emerging role as leaders in community support of educational progress. So far we have engaged the community through:
• Donor conversations
• Colleague discussions
• CEO calls
• CSC committee discussions
• Council of Agency Executives discussions
• CI Cabinet conversations

Another major engagement opportunity we have embarked upon is an Education Research Project in conjunction with Kentucky Youth Advocates. In addition to providing the latest research on how to promote high school graduation and reporting on essential quantitative data by county, the project has also engaged superintendents, principals, government officials, business persons, faith-based leaders, parent organization leaders, service providers, and various other community movers and shakers on their perceptions of both strengths as well as perceived needs. This will allow us to not only identify what is going on in each county in each of the 5 “tipping points” of the UWW education framework (kindergarten readiness, 4th grade reading, middle school transition, high school graduation, and college/career), but it will also let us also know what the community feels they most need to see improvement in educational attainment.

We are in the process of planning community forums in each county to discuss the results and get further input during October and November. We’ll keep you posted on this!

Lessons Learned

Without a doubt, I will never cook a sumptuous meal that meets with the praise (and shock) of my family and friends. But lots of us at MUW have been hard at work in the kitchen doing the prep work on another masterpiece – a framework for moving forward as community leaders in support of greater educational attainment. Watching my husband prepare a wonderful meal has taught me that an ideal result to any creative endeavor takes patience, preparation, and persistence. Even though the thought of applying these traits in a real live kitchen gives me hives, I’m thrilled to be applying them to our emerging plan for helping our community meet its educational goals.

Advocacy, Education, General advocate, Children, Community, Education, engagement, future, Louisville, making a difference, Metro United Way, research, strategic planning, youth

With school having just started back, education seems to be on everyone’s mind.  Getting over the anxieties and challenges of starting a new school year can be a big hurdle – especially if your child is entering kindergarten or a new school.  This year, my son is a 5^th grader at a school that he has attended since pre-school, but my daughter started at a new school as an incoming 6^th grader entering middle school.  At orientation, she remarked “This place is BIG!”  As a parent putting myself in her shoes, I couldn’t have agreed more.

When children have a supportive family and a stable home environment, doing well in school can still be a significant challenge.  Keeping up with all of their subjects, text books, assignment sheets, daily reading, and long-term projects can be a tall task!  However, there are much greater challenges being faced by large numbers of children in our community.

Last year, 10,555 students in Jefferson County Schools were homeless at some point during the year.  To me, that number is staggering, both in terms of volume, as well as impact for each child.  I think about how difficult it must be to try to focus on academics when you may not know where you are going to eat or sleep.  Even if you’re staying with another family, sleeping on a couch in the living room is a far cry from sleeping in the comfort of your own bed in a private space.  It’s also painful to think about the many situations which may have caused the unstable housing to begin with – the loss of a job, a serious illness or death in the family, a lack of financial resources, chemical dependency, mental illness, domestic violence.  Every situation is unique.

Fortunately for us, our community is thinking about some of these most challenged students and how we can support them to make sure they have a fighting chance in school.  Organizations like the Metropolitan Housing Coalition, the Coalition for the Homeless and systems like Jefferson County Public Schools, our Kentucky’s Department of Community Based Services (child welfare), and Family Courts are teaming up to discuss how we can better support homeless children and their families, and how all of our systems can work together to ensure all children have every chance to be successful, by addressing their holistic needs.  When organizations and individuals come together around common goals, amazing things can happen.

I invite you to consider what it would be like to be in a homeless child’s shoes trying to learn in the classroom.  What images does this evoke for you?  How could taking on this perspective help us all as a community to better support these children’s academic success and long-term stability? 

Education, General Add new tag, Children, Coalition for the Homeless, Education, future, homeless, Jefferson County Public Schools, Live United, Louisville, making a difference, Metro United Way, Metropolitan Housing Coalition, parenting, youth

by Natalie Harris

Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid - click for link

Oh, the iPhone.  In my house, it made an appearance just a few months ago.

Boy. has it ever.

My husband really can justify having one (he runs his own business, has no assistant, and is out visiting sites all over the city throughout the day),  but as his attachment to this lovely little device grows and grows, so does my level of frustration.

“But look at all that it helps me do!” he says.  He can send e-mail while at a jobsite!  He can get directions!  He can check prices!  He can take photos!  He can miss conversations!  He can forget to talk to our toddler!  He can help our teenager tune out even more by handing it to him at family functions!

Harrumph.

So when I came across this New York Times article yesterday, The Risks of Parenting While Plugged In, did I ever get excited.  Proof!  Validation of my recent tirades in black and white!  Sudden reason to examine my commitment to my laptop!  Wait — uh-oh.

As I overheard a friend of mine saying last night, “It’s hard being married to a righteous man.”  Ouch.  Turns out I’m the righteous one in the family, and the problem with all that righteousness is that you start to become blind to your own flaws;  I am just as guilty of distraction by way of e-mail, facebook, or, irony of ironies, The New York Times website.

I know that in this world where everyone –work, family and friends – expects us to be accessible all the time that it’s incredibly difficult to turn off all that distraction.  But as the article above points out, this constant need to stay connected electronically gets in the way of the meaningful connections in our lives, especially with our children.

Young children, in particular, need that connection to us.  They need it to develop language skills, to build their social skills, and to simply engage and learn about the world around them.  When we’re tuned into the smartphone at the playground, or even at the grocery store, we’re missing critical opportunities for learning.

As part of our Success By 6 work, one of the major initiatives here at Metro United Way, we’ve connected to a nationwide program called Born Learning.  Born Learning promotes using everyday life as a learning opportunity, and offers lots of guidance and suggestions on how to make it happen.  For many of us, this may seem intuitive, but I know I could definitely use a refresher, and to remember to turn off the computer between the hours of 5:00pm-9:00pm ( AND to hide that iPhone).

Education, General Children, early childhood, Education, parenting, reading, Success By 6, youth

by Gil Betz

“… I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep…” Robert Frost, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Promises are very important statements. A promise is a commitment by someone to do or not do something. Promises come in many forms-  affirmations, vows, oaths and the all too familiar “election promises.”

Reflect in your own life about promises. My kids would “promise” to clean their rooms, or get their homework done or wash their hair. And I have promised many times to take out the garbage. Some promises I made years ago, I have kept. Some promises I have not kept. There is great satisfaction when I know I have kept my promise.

I subscribe to the Agitator. The Agitator is a daily blog discussing funding strategies and trends for nonprofit organizations. What follows is an article from the May 12^th 2010 edition of the Agitator. The article is about the importance and value nonprofits can accrue by making “promises” and keeping them.

Go ahead, make a commitment!

That’s the advice of David Kravinchuk at the FLA Group, a Canadian fundraising consultancy.

David argues that few donors these days give out of a sense of duty or obligation or blind trust, as older generations did.

Today’s donors want to see results. If you want their contributions, your nonprofit must promise — then deliver — some kind of results.

And so that leads to David’s advice:

1. When you solicit a gift, promise a specific return on the donor’s investment.
2. When you thank the donor for the gift, re-commit to delivering on the promise.
3. Finally, show the ROI being delivered in as many ways as you can. In your newsletters. On your web site. With email messages. In your next appeal (before you ask again).

He adds: “Promises that are kept build trust, just as they do in your own friend and family relationships. Trust is the first step to loyalty. And in today’s charitable economy, loyalty is the key to your charity’s financial ROI.”

That’s pretty sound advice.

Sure, you can’t promise to cure cancer or end global warming in 90 days. But what can you promise that would represent progress? That you can deliver upon. That signals your willingness to be held accountable for how effectively you will use your donor’s contribution.

What promise is your nonprofit able and willing to make?

So what promise is Metro United Way able and willing to make and keep?

Here are some promises that one of our staff members provided when asked that question:

• We promise to use your donation effectively and efficiently.
• We promise to make your investment go further than any other non-profit can by bringing in over $50 million in resources to our community, investing in 50 programs and services that touch 300,000 people in our community, connecting 60,000 individuals to find the help they need through 2-1-1, feeding 150,000 hungry people, engaging 10,000 volunteers, and advocating for public policies that have a positive impact in providing a better life for all.
• We promise, by 2018, to make sure that all the children in our community arrive in kindergarten ready to succeed AND to improve our community’s high school graduation rate from 73% to 87%.

Now it is your turn. Please respond to this post by suggesting promises you believe Metro United Way should make and keep.

Education, General, Giving Agencies, Children, Community, making a difference, promises

By Sommer Lally

The first day of Spring is tomorrow and I don’t know about you but, for me, it can’t get here soon enough!  Maybe it has something to do with my name but I hate cold weather like a cat hates water so, the arrival of Spring is always something I look forward to.  But this year I am especially excited.  You see, I bought my first house last fall and I’ve not yet been able to enjoy basking in the sunshine in my new yard. 

My husband and I already purchased and assembled (okay, okay, he assembled) a grill and have plans in the works for patio furniture.  Even better, I’ve talked him into making improvements to our landscaping.  As you can see, right now the landscaping leaves (no pun intended) a little to be desired.

I’m thinking some nice evergreen shrubs and some leafy bushes might do the trick.  There’s just one little catch.  As I’ve been reading up on landscaping tips, it has become clear – much to my chagrin – that we won’t reap the benefits immediately.  It will take years for the shrubs and bushes we plant this spring to grow and mature into the beautiful landscape of my dreams.  Slowly but surely, it will get there.  I just have to be patient, which is not my strong suit.

When I think about it, landscaping is kind of like the work around community change that we’re doing here at Metro United Way.  Community change doesn’t happen over night, it takes years to see the results of the work you’re putting in today.  But you better believe when 2018 rolls around and all of the children in our community are prepared to enter kindergarten and half as many high students are dropping out, we will know that our efforts were worth it.

What about those of us who need to see the immediate results?  I would put myself into this category which is where the grill and patio furniture come in.  They’ll allow me to enjoy my yard immediately, albeit in a different way.  The same is true for our focus on basic needs here at Metro United Way.  Our investments in early childhood education and drop-out prevention will pay-off in the future while those in basic needs help the community right now. 

It helps me to think of our work in this way.  How do you think of Metro United Way’s work?  What helps you to better understand and communicate to others what we do?

Education, General Children, community change, early childhood, making a difference, Metro United Way

By David Caldwell

I’ve never been a big fan of New Year’s resolutions. I always figured that if you really want to make a change in your life you should just do it – don’t wait for a “special” day to make it happen. That changed for me last year.

Since college I’ve been a non-smoker…sort of. I’ve always been that guy who might have a pack of cigarettes in his truck while he tells you he doesn’t smoke. I know how horrible the habit is for your health – I saw the black lung in science class too. I know how addictive the practice is – my dad smoked for 30 plus years. None of that ever stopped me from “kinda” smoking. I justified it to myself because I wasn’t a “real” smoker. I just smoked when I drank, or was really stressed, or it was Tuesday – you know, just a little. I was the familiar stranger in the smokers’ circle.

As the ball drops this year, I’ll be kissing my sweetheart with smoke-free breath, and celebrating 365 days without a cigarette. My goal is a lot more years of the same, but for now I’ll celebrate the first one.

So what are you resolving to do this year? If you haven’t quite decided, let me make a suggestion. Make a resolution to make a difference in the life of a child.

You could donate some books to the child care center down the street. You could volunteer to teach an art activity at your child’s school. You could find a way to be a role model for the kids across town and across the street that need a few more caring adults in their lives. You could write a check to your favorite child focused agency. You could call your legislator and tell them to make children more of a priority when they make decisions.

Think about all you’ll have to celebrate after a year of working to improve the life of a child. If you want to give, advocate, or volunteer, you can visit our website. If you want a few more ideas or some help in making your resolution a reality, let me know. Have a wonderful holiday, and ring in the New Year in a meaningful way!

Photo Credit: maxxtraffic

Advocacy, Giving, Volunteering Children, Live United, making a difference, opportunity, Volunteer

I recently helped my daughter move back into the dorm for her third year of college.  As we loaded up the truck with her belongings early in the morning, the next door neighbors were all waiting anxiously on the front porch for the school bus to come.  It seemed it was not only my daughter’s first day back for the semester, but also the first day of preschool for the four year old next door. 

As I watched one of the cutest little boys I have ever met excitedly climb aboard for his first day of ‘big school’, as he calls it, with the whole family there to cheer him on and wave goodbye, I couldn’t help but think back to when that was me tearing up as my own daughter went off to face the world without me.

I thought about the first day of child care, how I was a mess and she was fine, and how on the first day of kindergarten, my tiny little five year old climbed aboard the school bus without even looking back.  She was fine.  I was not.  In thinking back, I realized that I was always the one who was not ok.  She was always fearless and charging forward.

I thought about the slumber parties growing up, overnight field trips in elementary and middle school to Gatlinburg and Space Camp in Alabama, long hours at band competitions and week long trips out of state to perform in high school.  I thought about moving her into the dorm for the first time and the panic attack I had when she called to say she was going to the Bahamas to stay on a sail boat for a week and scuba dive the reefs as part of her last short term class.  Again, she was always excited and ready to embark on a new adventure.  I was the one having a hard time letting go. 

Then I realized.  That’s my job.  It is my job to do my best to prepare her and then to let go.  I will always worry and I will always be there just in case, but I know in my heart she will flourish.  It is hard, very hard sometimes, but it is my job and I will always find a way to let go so she can fly.  I know there will be more times when I will need to let go in the future and they will always be difficult, but they will also be worth the reward as I see her succeed.  I will be the best parent I can be.  I will let go.

General Children, parenting

By David Caldwell

Think back to when you started kindergarten. If you didn’t go to kindergarten just think back to when you were a little kid. If you’re my dad, find someone who remembers when you were a little kid and ask them to remind you.

What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a paleontologist. I thought dinosaurs were the coolest things ever, and I wanted to dig up their bones. Over the years, my career aspirations have changed, but my desire to be something awesome has not. (I still think dinosaurs are just about the coolest things ever by the way.)

This year in Kentuckiana about 12,000 kids will begin kindergarten. How do you think they would answer that question? Probably the same way we did. Astronaut. Teacher. Fire Fighter. Rock Star. Doctor. President.

I bet that none of them said they wanted to be a drug dealer, or a prostitute, or living on the streets, or in jail. The reality is that some of them will end up in those situations and many more that we all would consider equally as horrible.

We can change that. We can turn those horrible realities into wonderful possibilities. We can give children hope. We can make them believe in themselves. We can give them the tools they need to be successful.

How? That’s what Metro United Way Success By 6 is working on. Our goal is that by 2018, all children will enter kindergarten prepared to be successful in school and life.

We need your help. What ideas do you have? What are you willing to work on? What support do you need? Let us know. Visit the website, give me a call (502-292-6157). Let’s make this happen – together!!!

Photo Credit: boynumber1

Advocacy, Education Children, make change, making a difference, Success By 6

I recently found myself sitting with the question, “what I have I really done to make a difference for kids lately?” I work for a non-profit agency. I direct an early childhood initiative. In theory, I do things everyday that help make the world a better place, but what have I REALLY done lately?

Just as I was getting really down on myself, I saw a thank you note from a preschool class that I have hanging on my office wall. It thanks me for reading to them. I remembered that experience, and it made me smile. The most important thing it did was remind me that it is the small things we do for individuals that probably makes the most difference.

Last week I volunteered to accompany a dozen 12 and 13 year-olds on a field trip to the pool. It seemed like an easy gig; go the pool, play around, eat a grilled cheese sandwich. The next morning my neck revealed to me that maybe it wasn’t such a relaxing time. Apparently the hours of “Let’s dunk that tall guy” (the official name of the game) that I played took a little bit of a toll.

The week before that, my friend Charles took his nephew and crew to Cedar Point for the day. Again, it seemed like another excuse to have fun, ride a few roller coasters, eat some funnel cake, and take a few funny pictures…no problem. I think he slept for 24 hours straight when he got back.

What’s the point of these stories? Well, I think that Charles and I have the same goals in mind – we want these young people to know that they have people in their lives who care about them…people who are willing to sacrifice their time (and bodies) to do what they want to do.  We know that’s one of the things kids need.

So I have done something to make a difference lately. What have you done lately to make a difference? Here are 150 ways to show kids you care. I challenge you to pick something off the list. Find a young person, and make it happen (make sure get their parent or guardian’s permission).

Tell me about your experience. Let’s share the stories so we all feel good. What other ideas do you have to make a difference for young people?

Photo credit: Gary Simmons

Advocacy, General Children, Common good, Community, Live United, making a difference, youth