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

Stakeholder Relationship Team shows what's important to them!

I remember as a kid there always seemed to be someone on my block who would always tell  my mother or father what I did or did not do.  That individual was called a tattle tale.  Tattle taling is passing information through “word of mouth.” The saying goes that a person will tell at least 10 other people about a good or bad experience they had with a company, organization or an individual. And more often than not, those 10 people may tell at least 10 other people. I know I have experienced both giving and receiving that type of information.

Think for a moment about “word of mouth” or WOM. The simple act of conversing with another is a powerful way to spread a message. 

The June 23, 2010 edition of The Agitator discussed how WOM is a powerful way for non-profits to spread their message and build relationships. 

 Here’s a report from Online Media Daily on an interesting Yahoo study that has attempted to drill into WOM behavior. It notes that 76% of all WOM still occurs face-to-face … however, increasingly it just might be that two individuals are sitting side-by-side talking about something they are viewing on their respective smartphones! The study says that 38% of all WOM conversations, however they occur, are informed by internet-derived content.

No one’s really examined WOM specifically as it works in the nonprofit space, but there’s no reason to expect the underlying principles would differ. In our own DonorTrends surveys, we’ve seen that 15-20% of donors self-identify themselves as individuals who have recommended a specific charity or cause group to someone else.

In building relationships we know that personal contact is the best way to increase the depth of the relationship. In today’s world of social media, i-phones, i-pads, email and yes, the old standby face-to-face conversations, their are unlimited  opportunities to talk about experiences, causes, ideas and really almost anything. 

How do we utilize our WOM opportunities to connect with people we know, meet with, talk on the phone with, Facebook with, are LinkedIn with to spread our Metro United Way message? In this past week there were at least two opportunities to WOM with others about helping others. First is the opportunity to Adopt Camp Kindergarten Schools and the second is the need for Volunteers to Drive Cancer Patients to Treatments. What wonderful opportunities to use the power of WOM.

What is the power of WOM. I think the power of WOM is best described by doing the math. We can use the earleir reference about one person telling 10 other people about an experience, idea, opportunity to calculate the power of WOM.

I tell 10 people about opportunities to adopt Camp Kindergarten classrooms and the need for volunteers to drive cancer patients. If those 10 people will tell 10 other people, we now have 111 people WOMing about these opportunities. If the last 10 we  WOM with tell another 10 we are up to 211 WOMers. This is the power of WOM and the power of 10.

As Metro United Way works to forge lasting relationships with our stakeholders, let’s use the simple act of WOMing to Change People’s Lives.  Give, Advocate, Volunteer! Be a WOMer today!

General Community, future, give, Live United, making a difference, Volunteer, 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 Angela Champion

As I write this blog, I realize I have a hard time finding my voice. As a fundraiser, I like seeing results and love to cross things off a list. As our team of staff and volunteers are gearing up this time of year to run the 2010 Campaign for the community, the slate is clean. We are working every angle now to realize growth in giving for the fall and the coming year. We are hopeful and single-minded.  However, I don’t day to day always see the thousands of ways people are improving their lives through the work that is done with those funds. But I know the need is real.

As I have been watching the History Channel’s new series, America: The Story of Us, I have been inspired as to what the American people accomplish - sometimes a few do great things but many times it’s hundreds of people contributing to an ultimate goal.

The most inspiring example for me is of how the Statue of Liberty was funded and erected to be where and what it is today: a symbol of hope and freedom. When France gave the United States the statue in 1885, it was in 350 pieces and there was no pedestal or funding for completing this massive engineering and architectural project of enormous meaning.

Joseph Pulitzer, owner of The New York World, stepped up and issued a call to action for people to give what they could to fund the effort.  Pulitzer found his voice and urged others to take part however they could - many sent in pennies, nickels and dimes.  The final sum amounted to $101,091 ($2,380,980 in today’s dollars), and over 120,000 people had donated. These figures are a testament to the masses of people who gave what they could, and to the persistence of Joseph Pulitzer.

A poem by Emma Lazarus won a contest in the newspaper and has adorned the pedestal ever since.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses
yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your
teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed,
to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”

— Emma Lazarus, 1883, written to help raise funds for construction of the pedestal.

During this fall’s campaign, I hope you will find your voice through giving, advocating and volunteering. If you don’t know where to start, please ask someone at Metro United Way. If you have a poem that you think would inspire us to give and give some ideas to why helping others is important, please share!

Giving campaign, Community, finding your voice, making a difference

By John Nevitt

We’ve all faced difficult circumstances in our lives at one time or another for ourselves or our loved ones – perhaps it was the loss of a close friend or family member, facing a severe financial hardship, dealing with chemical dependency, living with an illness or disability, or countless other types of circumstances. Though the details are as different as each one of us, there are many common thoughts and emotions that frequently surface such as – what am I going to do, who can I turn to for help, how will I keep everything together? In difficult times, we all need someone we can count on.

I always know who my true friends are when such situations arise because they are the ones who stand beside me and offer support. Good friends transcend the circumstances of everyday life. However, when experts are needed, it’s good to know that there are caring professionals just a phone call away – Metro United Way’s network of health and human service organizations.

Though I had been a donor to Metro United Way for many years, I hadn’t thought I would be a part of the two-in-three people in our regional community who access Metro United Way supported services in my lifetime.

However, in recent years, I have been the beneficiary of these compassionate agencies and programs on several occasions, with each interaction bringing home their value in no uncertain terms.

Several years ago, when my mom began showing signs of progressive dementia, I turned to GuardiaCare Services for guidance. Not only did I get a list of personal care and housing options to consider, I also had the support of an empathetic professional who, through her exceptional listening skills, understood what I was thinking, how I was feeling, and what I needed, in addition to the pertinent and timely information that was given to me. In short, I felt like I was treated as a whole person, not just as someone who had a specific need to be fulfilled.

Each year, MUW funds over 80 organizations and 150 programs, like Guardia Care Services, which provides a variety of services for fragile seniors and others. When times get tough, it’s good to know that we have a vital network of Metro United Way participating agencies that give us the guidance we need while tending to us as whole persons. I salute the staff of our participating agencies and programs who so capably represent the caring power of our community.<

Giving, Health Agencies, donor, human needs, making a difference

by John Sands

So I was sitting at the reception desk this Monday processing incoming mail and thinking to myself, ”I have got to come up with something spectacular to write about for my next blog post.”  Mind you,  my deadline was fast approaching, and I really had nothing.  I’m wrapping up the last of the mail and someone hits the call button at our front door.  I decide to hang around because in the regular scope of my job, I help people who come in looking for assistance or referrals for assistance.

As I listen to the story of the young woman now standing in front of me, I find out that she is seeking assistance for her boyfriend.  He suffers from seizures and ran out of medicine the day before.  Up to this point, they have been to a few places seeking help, with no luck.  My first thought is to refer her to Metro United Way 2-1-1 assistance line.  I could not really think of an agency or program to refer her.  So I escort the young lady over to the office near the reception desk and dial 2-1-1 for her.  I held on the line until I was able to brief the counselor on the young lady’s situation.  I then left the room to give her some privacy.

When she re-emerged from the room, she had a couple of questions that I politely answered, and then she advised me that she indeed had set up a meeting with a program that would be able to help.  We talked a little while longer, as she was a little apprehensive about some of the questions she was asked.  I reassured her that any questions or concerns she might have, she should discuss openly when she meets with them.

As she walked out the door she thanked me and said this was the most help she had gotten in quite awhile.  And I thought to myself, “All I did was listen and then respond to her need”.  Really my part was so very simple.  I just dialed 3 digits (2-1-1) and let our community network do what it is there to do.

I never came up with anything “spectacular” to write about.  But with this one interaction I was reminded, that it is often not the “spectacular” that makes the greatest impact on people’s lives.

If you know of someone that is struggling and needs access to resources to begin to turn their situation around, Metro United Way 2-1-1 is an excellent resource.  It’s available 24-7!

General 2-1-1, assistance, get help, making a difference, service

By John Sands

It’s the weekend and you may be thinking it is time to get your “party” on.  There are so many options to choose from in our great city and certainly many that will provide you with great entertainment.  But what better way to party, than to party with a purpose? 

Tomorrow night the Louisville Urban League will host it’s annual Diversity Soirêe in the Galt House East Ballroom at 6pm.  In addition to honoring two men who have dedicated their lives and careers to community involvement and impact, they are also honoring E.-ON U.S.  for it’s commitment to diversity and inclusion in all aspects of it’s operations. 

The event is being sponsored by Fifth Third Bank.   I don’t know if you caught this, but we have one of Metro United Way’s largest contributors sponsoring an event by a member agency (LUL) and honoring another outstanding contributor to Metro United Way (E.ON U.S.).  How exciting is that? 

The League has an exciting evening planned with an ecclectic mix of entertainment that ranges from Irish/Celtic and Flemenco dancing to Salsa and Gospel music.  Too fun!  And where could you find all of this in one evening? 

You’ll dance the night away with great music and other fine entertainment.  All the while knowing your ticket contributions will go toward helping the Louisville Urban League continue it’s work of building strong, economically stable families and successful school-aged children.

For more information on this great event and how you may purchase tickets, check out the League’s website at www.lul.org

So go ahead and get your “Soirêe” on!

Events, General Agencies, Live United, making a difference

By Mary Sullivan

What do wide eyes and laughter have in common?  Let me go a little further in my explanation. Recently 240 students from Holy Cross High School spent the day volunteering. Two of the sites I visited were Iroquois Child Care Center and California Area Family Development Center. I heard laughter from both children and students as they were bouncing balls up into the air. Children were wrapped around the legs of these students, and in another room three little girls wanted to show their dolls to one of the boys.

Today, we often read or hear about how young people aren’t engaged, but in one day Holy Cross students volunteered at nine different organizations, provided 1320 service hours, and gave back $27,522.00 of in-kind service to our community. Holy Cross High School certainly isn’t the only school that does volunteer work. So far this school year, Metro United Way has coordinated volunteer projects for Barret Middle School, Moore Middle School, Spalding University, Bellarmine University, IUS and U of L.

Metro United Way has been supportive of youth volunteering for many years, and for 22 years, Metro United Way has recognized a high school senior for their volunteer effort by awarding a $3,000 scholarship.  In fact, Volunteer Engagement Center origins began from a partnership with U of L School of Recreation, the Junior League of Louisville and Metro United Way (Community Chest). Since the 1930’s until today, helping youth map out their career choices or exploring interests through volunteering has always been part of what we do. So if you a student or a group looking to do something this summer, need to do community service hours for school or your faith based organization, want to meet interesting people, or just have fun, please contact the Volunteer Engagement Center’s website at metrounitedway.org/volunteer.

Education, Volunteering community change, early childhood, future, making a difference, Metro United Way, scholarship, youth