United Way Aligns with Community Needs

United Way of Portage County has a successful history of improving lives within our community. We have been able to do this by working closely with our partner programs, business partners, and community volunteers. 

After three years and thousands of hours of involvement with community volunteers and partner agencies, we are expanding beyond our traditional view of community needs and addressing the root cause of problems. Our work with our 34 direct service program partners will continue to be our foundation to improving the lives of people in Portage County. 

We are working  with partners across Portage County to not only provide short term, immediate help to those in need, but also to achieve lasting changes that will ensure better income stability, healthier lifestyles and academic progress for children and youth. Once we tackle the root cause to a problem, we are much more likely to ensure long-term change and to make a lasting impact.

We are calling our new approach to this process Community Impact. Like every process at United Way, the creation of a new vision was led by volunteers. The United Way Board of Directors initiated the transformation to focus on results and solutions to reduce or eliminate root cause problems that exist in our community.

Through our Community Impact initiatives, we are working to advance the common good by focusing on the building blocks of a good quality life – education, income and health. These are United Way’s three impact areas and all of our partner programs align within these areas.

There are three teams of volunteers called Community Investment Teams that have been organized around each impact area. Together these teams consist of more than 50 volunteers. These Community Investment Teams become experts in their area. Each team will meet year round on a monthly basis and meetings will include:

• Site visits to the funded programs
• Training in each impact area – Education, Income & Health
• Forums and discussions on issues relating to their impact area

In addition to making funding recommendations these teams will help identify future community impact initiatives to address root cause problems.  Everyone involved in this process is excited about the new focus for United Way of Portage County and the possibilities for improvement in our community.

We have listened to our donors and the community and have stepped up to the challenge to reduce or eliminate root causes of problems within our community. 

We invite you to join us and be part of the change. You can give, you can advocate and you can volunteer – you can do one, or all – just do something. That’s what it means to LIVE UNITED.