LIVE UNITED Y’All!

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 Kelly Hutchinson, Donor Relationship Manager

I will admit that I love how Hank can bellow….Are you ready for some FOOTBALL? And, I am. I am ready and excited about the hiring of Coach Charlie Strong for the University of Louisville so I will attribute this seemingly football inspired United Way blog to this fact. The recent press conference introducing the new Coach won me over when he shared his heart and emotion over the joy of attaining his career dream of a head coaching position and the opportunity to lead a program. It was so easy to feel his sincerity when he spoke and now it will be even easier to pull for his success both on the field and in the community.

It continues to be an exciting time of year in NFL football also as the Indianapolis Colts and the Cincinnati Bengals continue to rack up the W’s. While these two teams are perhaps the closest we have in our region to a home NFL team, it doesn’t matter whether you are a Colts fan or on the “Who-Dey” train right now, the NFL is deserving of recognition for the longstanding partnership and support of the United Way movement. Did you know that for 35 years, thispartnership has been a shining example of the tangible good that can be leveraged into a powerful vehicle for real change in people’s lives and the community?  Check out how the NFL LIVES UNITED and see if you can find one of your team’s favorite players too!

Yes, Tis the season for football and also for giving thanks and sharing. The words THANK YOU are two of the most powerful words you can speak, share and that you can hear. Thank you for helping make our community a better place to live and work.  If you gave in your campaign at work for United Way, thank you for caring and sharing to help change the lives of those who pass by you every day. The change we strive to create at Metro United Way doesn’t happen without you. Don’t just take my word for it….take a quick look at our recent field trip. It was a LIVE UNITED thank you tour. Check it out and you will see how we surprised a few loyal donors while they were working. I think you can imagine their surprise and you can also see the strong feelings created with an in-person and heartfelt thank you.

Advocacy, Events, General, Giving, Volunteering Charlie Strong, Common good, community change, Football, Live United, Louisville, NFL, passion, thank you, United Way

This week is Earth Week and as we all know, the Kentucky Derby Festival is now in full swing.  Thunder has rocked the city, balloons will soon be glowing along the waterfront, and several of my colleagues will be running in the mini-marathon this weekend.  The most famous 2 minutes in racing is right around the corner along with the biggest party of the year.

We all know what comes with all this fun and celebration… a lot of visitors to our hometown.  We need to make sure that our visitors see what a vital and caring community we live in.  In order to do this, we should all remember to take the time to make sure that our streets are clean and our community meeting places are in tip-top shape, not just for the festivities, but for everyday.

Get together with your community members for a weekend of picking up litter from the streets in your neighborhood and let’s spruce up our community. Throw a community wide yard sale.  Attendance might be great with all the visitors in town.  Afterwards, carpool out to the Derby Festivities to celebrate a job well done or relax by using some of the proceeds to throw a potluck dinner party and watch the Festivities at your local community center.  You can donate any leftover proceeds to a local charity.

What are you doing to help make Louisville the ultimate hometown?

Photo credit: kartografia

General Community, environment, green, Louisville

A recent survey of Metro United Way agencies indicated that many people in our community are struggling for a basic necessity- food. Our agencies that provide food assistance have seen a 40% increase in “first-timers” or people who have never sought food assistance before.

The statistics are astounding, but what really makes my heart ache is seeing how this affects so many people in our community- three children splitting one “happy” meal at the local fast food restaurant, seeing an elderly man dig through a garbage can on my commute home from work, hearing that a family friend lost his job, then his house, and ultimately his ability to feed his family of five. Its easier to read faceless statistics than to remember that this isn’t about numbers-its about people, right here in our community who don’t have enough to eat, and I’m sure you will agree that even one child in our community going to bed hungry is one too many…

You may be wondering, what can I do to make a difference?

Volunteer

In an effort to provide more food to more people, Metro United Way has partnered with Dare to Care to supply volunteers for additional Dare to Care Mobile Food Pantries around town. We are looking for groups of 10-12 to help distribute food at local Dare to Care mobile food pantry sites- please visit our website to sign up your company, church group or club.

Speaking of, the first pantry as a result of this partnership is happening today!! A big thank you to Youth Build and D.D Williamson & Co. for volunteering!

Advocate

Do you know someone who is struggling to feed his/her family? Whether it is food assistance or foreclosure advice, tell them to dial 2-1-1 for Metro United Way’s free, confidential health and human service assistance line. Help is available 24/7 in over 100 languages.

Give

To help families in our community who are in crisis, please consider a donation to Metro United Way. Did you know that a donation of $5.00 per week will provide one hundred warm meals to individuals at the Salvation Army Louisville Center for Hope?

For more information on how you can Live United please visit metrounitedway.org.

Photo by petit plat by sk_

Advocacy, Events, Giving, Income, Volunteering 2-1-1, advocate, Common good, Community, Giving, Live United, Louisville, Metro United Way, Volunteer

Remember the fabulous group of people who volunteered in September 2008 to assist the elderly, homebound and disabled remove storm debris due to “Hurricane Ike” in September 2008?  They were called the “Wind Warriors” and the handled over 900 phone calls and assisted over 623 households.  They were true “hometown heroes!”

Well, we need to assemble a team of “Ice Warrior” volunteers due to the recent ice storm.

Phone Bank Volunteers Needed

In partnership with Metro Government, KY VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster), Metro United Way has been asked to coordinate a Storm Debris Assistance phone bank.  The phone bank will receive two types of calls:

• For individuals/teams who want to volunteer to assist in storm debris removal
• For elderly, homebound or disabled to call in to request help in clearing their yards from the ice storm tree damage.

Volunteers are needed to answer phones & help with other duties:

• Time: 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. (or whenever you can arrive until 8:00 p.m.)
• Days: Tuesday, February 10th; Wednesday, February 11th; Thursday, February 12th
• Location: Metro United Way, 334 E. Broadway - Corner of Preston and Broadway; Parking behind the building
• Task: Follow script and fill in simple form from those who need help or those who want to help.
• To volunteer to answer calls, please contact Mary Sullivan at 502.292.6154.

Debris Clean Up Volunteers

If you can’t help on the calls, but would like to form a team to help in the clean up, we need you as well.

Volunteers will not be removing tree limbs from roofs or removing tree limbs hanging in trees. You will be cleaning tree limbs and branches from the ground and moving them to the curb or other appropriate locations. Volunteer your help.

I want to Donate to help.

Metro United Way is making a special request for donations in support of the additional emergency food, shelter, transportation and medical needs that have surfaced as a result of the ice storm.

Click this link to donate now.

Photo credit: sixsteps

Giving, Volunteering Community, community service, emergency, ice storm, KY VOAD, Louisville, recovery, Volunteer

If you were to close your eyes and think about your ideal place to live, what would come to mind?  For some of us, it would be a cottage on a beach where it was warm all year long.  For others, it would be living in the mountains or on several acres out in the country.  But let’s think about living here in the Louisville area.  We’ve already got a lot of things that make living here good: museums and the arts, sports, beautiful parks, entertainment, top-notch health care, plenty of shopping and restaurants, the Ohio River, colleges and universities, and the Derby, to name a few. 

But let’s dare to dream even bigger.  What other things would we want in our ideal metropolitan area?  How about if every child was wanted and loved, kept safe, and was given every chance to develop his/her mind and talents?  What if marriages were strong and loving and couples received the coaching and guidance they needed to make their marriage healthy and vibrant?  What if every older adult was loved and given the resources he/she needed to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible?  And when that was no longer possible, that they would be assured of having people around them who cared well for them and helped them to maintain their dignity.

Wouldn’t it be great to live in a community where people who have physical and mental disabilities were accepted as equals and where their human worth would be valued?  Imagine a place where animals were cared for and wouldn’t live their lives chained or caged or neglected or abused.  How about living in a place where people took seriously their responsibility to tread lightly on the earth so that future generations would have a healthy and beautiful place to live?  Would you like to live in a place where everyone who wanted to further their education had the ability to do so?  What if we lived in a place where everyone who wanted a job had one, and that job paid a living wage so that everyone could afford decent housing and could provide a reasonable standard of living for themselves and their family?

To quote John Lennon, “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one.”  Together, we can bring this city and the surrounding area closer to our ideal vision.  But in order to build a place that better suits the needs of everyone, we need everyone’s voice and everyone’s help.  So speak up.  What does your ideal community look like?

Advocacy, Education, Health, Income Advocacy, Community, Education, Health, Income, Louisville, opportunity

Do you know what I love about Louisville? It goes by many names that invoke progress, community, and tradition: Derby City, River City, City of Possibilities, The Place to Live, Work and Play, The Gateway to the South, The ‘Ville, Falls City and Kentuckiana.

I also love that Louisville is a place where people stick together. As we move into 2009, I wonder what new challenges will lie ahead. How will we overcome? I invite you to think about how to Live United in the New Year. Sign up for payroll deduction, volunteer your free time or find your voice on important issue affecting the community. Get some friends to help at a local school, non-profit agency or just at your neighbor’s house.

Here’s the newest idea I have seen that speaks to the post-holiday season – Recycle your old cell phone or donate it to an organization that will reuse it such as The Center for Women and Families.

Why recycle or reuse old cell phones?

• Cell phones contain lead, arsenic, beryllium and other hazardous toxins that leach into our environment through our landfills.
• One cell phone, if thrown away, can pollute 40,000 gallons of ground water.
• Continued recycling and reuse of cell phones substantially reduces the number of phones manufactured globally every year.
• The most eco-friendly thing you can do with an old phone is to reuse it.
• Recycling cell phones reduces the demand for precious metals collected through environmentally destructive mineral mining.
• Recycling the phones ensures that the toxic materials in cell phones don’t end up in our landfills.

Santa did not bring me an iPhone, but if you upgraded during the holiday season consider doing something great with your old one.

Advocacy, Giving Giving, Louisville, recycling, The Center for Women and Families