How our Bold Goals lift families out of poverty
When you think of the word “poverty” what images come to your mind? An older man on a sidewalk with a sign looking for money? Or maybe a child in another country sitting alone with a bowl of food? While we all have a picture of poverty in our own minds, most of us may be surprised to know that right here in our community, one in nine people live in poverty, which is defined as a family of four living on less than $26,200 a year. Locally, this equates to 30,000 of our neighbors who struggle to support their families. Poverty is even more common in children under five, with one in seven in our community living in poverty.
Every day, United Way works to lift families out of poverty and the way we do that is through strategic Bold Goals.
Our Bold Goals
When you invest in United Way, together with our Community Partners we can make measurable progress in our Bold Goals to:
- Prevent hunger and homelessness
- Prepare children to succeed
- Strengthen families
Our Bold Goals are interconnected – if a student is hungry, he or she will have little hope to be successful in school and if a family is homeless, it is unlikely they will be able to be independent and thrive. Together, these goals will collectively help to lift families out of poverty.
How do we choose our Bold Goals?
United Way is dedicated to understanding national and local research as well as best practices in the areas of family stability and components of what makes a healthy person, family and community. This research has allowed us to reexamine our Bold Goals and work to become even more focused and strategic on the specific areas and services that have proven to create lasting social change and help families to reach their full potential. Because of our focus on community data and close relationships with Community Partners, we know that our Bold Goals will help people in ways that will maximize investments from our community and ultimately lift families out of poverty, impacting our community, and all of us, for generations to come.
You can learn more about the research and strategy behind each of our Bold Goals here:
Learn more about the state of hunger and homelessness in our community and our work to reduce it
Learn more about poverty in our community, workforce and our work to strengthen families
Who is impacted by our Bold Goals?
Every day, local moms, dads, and children are helped by the work we do together at United Way. Each story is unique and inspiring in its own way and we encourage you to watch more stories here.
- When we achieve our Bold Goals, we can prevent homelessness for local families like this one – watch their story to see the power behind preventing homelessness before is starts.
- When we focus on ensuring students have all they need to be successful, more of our communities’ students have a chance to grow up to be successful adults. Watch to see how we’re helping local students right here in our community.
- When we provide opportunities for job training and support toward employment, we can help women like Jamie transform their lives – watch her story. And we can empower Career Coaches like Ashley to help local people gain careers that can support their families – watch Ashley’s story here. We’re all connected and that connection is powerful when it comes to ensuring we have enough people to fill the jobs our community depends on every day – watch to see how.
What do United Way’s Bold Goals mean for all of us?
We recognize we are currently going through an unprecedented time. We may not yet know the full scope of the long-lasting impact this will have on our community and individual families. It will take all of us, working together, to overcome new barriers as we work together toward a better tomorrow for all of us.
While we are in a time of great uncertainly, United Way’s focus on our Bold Goals is more important than ever.
Together we can put opportunity in the hands of our neighbors in Cass and Clay counties and lift people out of poverty. We all win when less people are hungry and experiencing homelessness. Our schools and the classrooms our children share with others are stronger when more children are succeeding. The future of our local economy and workplaces are better when more parents have jobs that can support themselves and their children and more people are independent and thriving. That’s what United Way’s Bold Goals are all about. When you get involved and give, you have a direct impact on lifting families out of poverty. That’s the power of community.
For more information or questions we encourage you to reach out to our team at unitedway@unitedwaydcassclay.org or 701-237-5050. We always love to hear from our community.