Helping young people stay active can increase their academic acheivement.
One of our long-standing focuses has been on raising student achievement across the Bay Area. One of the ways we’ve done this is through our Community School model which integrates multiple support services like mentoring and parenting programs, with school activities in low-income neighborhoods. This has yielded significant results for students including reduced violence, better attendance and higher academic achievement.
United Way is also working with partners like the NFL who are focused on children’s health and encourage young people to be more active both within school and in their everyday lives.
Well according to recent survey of elementary school principals this seems to be a winning solution. As reported by Tonic “giving kids the opportunity to play at recess every day helps them listen better, stay more focused and develop socially.”
“The survey, sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, National Association of Elementary School Principals and Playworks, assessed the opinions of 2,000 principals around the country, revealed that heads of schools are convinced that recess helps kids both in academics and in life. Four out of five of those surveyed reported that recess positively impacts students’ learning, two-thirds stated that students listen better after they’ve run around outside, and just about all see recess as having a positive effect on kids’ social development and general well-being.”
Recently Kelly Batson, Regional Director of Earn It! Keep It! Save It! was featured on Comcast talking about her love of taxes, and more importantly, helping low income families get the largest refund possible. It’s their money, they earned it! Watch the video and let your friends and family know about Earn It! Keep It! Save It! today!
Send a Valentine’s Day Card to your honey and help United Way earn some money! Target, a long time United Way supporter has created Super Love Sender which lets you send a quirky Valentine’s Day, football-inspired video card to friends and family all while raising funds for United Way.
For each card the online community sends, a vote is cast to decide how Target divides $1 million dollars between five national charities to fund educational programs. You can send up to 10 cards per computer, per day. The total number of votes determines the percentage of the funds United Way Worldwide receives.
Vote today by sending these customizable e-cards and enable United Way to raise important funds to support national education programs that help children enter school ready to learn, read proficiently by 4th grade and graduate on time. Super Love Sender will run through February 14 combining football and love just in time for Super Bowl XLIV and Valentine’s Day.
The Bay Area is blessed with access to some pristine water sources. In fact the water in the Hecth Hetchy reservoir in the Yosemite was good enough to be bottled and sold to the public. But transporting water from its source requires pipes that can easily be damaged or disrupted during a disaster. Not just earthquakes but ice storms and even power outages can leave you without access to clean drinking water – which is why ensuring you have a good supply of water on hand is so important.
So for February’s Do One Thing disaster preparedness the subject is water and the goal is to have at least 72 hours of drinking water on hand. This means having at least 3 gallons of water per person in your household. A good way to do this is to throw a case of water in with your next big grocery store run. Often times they’re on sale and you can get a big discount. The more adventurous can use water collecting barrels to catch and store rainwater. Just be sure you sanitize the water before drinking.
Pro tip: You can keep some of your extra water supply in the freezer which has the added bonus of keeping your food cold in the event of a power outage.
Last month, United Way and our 2-1-1 Alameda partner, Eden I&R, participated in the New United Motor Manufacturing, Inc. Education Fair, where they educated hundreds of NUMMI employees about how to connect with support services in the community, as they prepare to lose their jobs when the Fremont plant shuts down on March 31.
Representatives from United Way’s Earn It! Keep It! Save It! free tax program and 2-1-1 Alameda/Eden I&R spoke with hundreds of workers at the fair. Earn It! Keep It! Save It! informed workers that they can receive free tax filing assistance if they earned less than $52,000 last year. 2-1-1 encouraged workers to call the community information line, which can help them connect with the social services they need, manage limited financial resources and know their rights during this difficult transition.
In addition, Susan McDonough, United Way’s Labor Liaison for Alameda County has been working with the county’s Workforce Investment Board (WIB). At the event, they shared information with NUMMI employees about the Trade Adjustment Act, Unemployment Insurance and other information that is part of WIB’s “Rapid Response” workshops.
“It is heart-wrenching to see more people about to become unemployed. We are working diligently to lend our support to not only the NUMMI employees, but also the other thousands that will lose their livelihood when NUMMI closes,” said Anne Wilson, United Way of the Bay Area CEO. “Our United Way team is collaborating with others to lend our support in the most meaningful way possible.”
This is kind of a perfect storm. You have a school district with the largest achievement gap in the state, a district out of compliance with English-language learners, and a district out of compliance with special education. Resources need to shift to address these deep-rooted, long-standing issues. It’s also a shift in paradigm. We have to think about how we deliver services, not just what we deliver.”
–Victor Diaz, principal of Berkeley Technology Academy
Do you know someone who’s making a difference by volunteering in your community? As part of their celebration of National Volunteer Week, United Way partners the Volunteer Center recognizes outstanding volunteers, nonprofits and businesses. The nominations are currently being accepted until March 9th, and cover six areas from favorite nonprofits to outstanding efforts by a board member. To find out where and how to submit your entries visit the Volunteer Center.
There’s no reason to fear the census and every reason to take part. By law, census takers do not share their work with other agencies. And hard-pressed state and city governments need every dime a full count will bring in federal money.”
Last year, Earn It! Keep It! Save It! volunteer helped more than 47,000 low-income taxpayers in the Bay Area file their taxes for free!
In a time of layoffs and foreclosures, there’s some good news for low-income taxpayers in the Bay Area: instead of spending up to $360 on commercial tax preparation services, households that earned less than $52,000 in 2009 can have their taxes prepared for free by Earn It! Keep It! Save It!, the Bay Area’s largest free tax assistance program. The program, led by United Way, will operate more than 180 free tax sites throughout the Bay Area from mid-January through April 15.
“During these tough economic times, saving up to $360 on tax preparation fees, check cashing and costly ‘instant refund’ loans is significant for low-income families,” said United Way Chief Community Investment Officer Carole Watson. “That money can be used to pay for rent, groceries or utility bills. Low-income taxpayers can receive their refunds – every cent! — by going to one of the Earn It! Keep It! Save It! sites, where they will get free, high-quality tax help from an IRS-certified volunteer preparer.”
Earn It! Keep It! Save It! continues to build awareness about the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the nation’s largest benefits program for working families. The EITC, which can boost the annual income of a low-wage worker by as much as 10%, was created in 1975 to offset the burden of Social Security taxes on low-wage workers and provide an incentive to work. This credit is often overlooked by commercial tax preparers, but Earn It! Keep It! Save It! volunteers are trained to identify eligible taxpayers. Over the last several years, the EITC benefit has grown significantly, from just over $4,000 to $5,657, the maximum possible credit for Tax Year 2009.
All Bay Area households that earned less than $52,000 in 2009 are eligible for free tax preparation service and e-filing. EITC eligibility depends on family income and size. Earn It! Keep It! Save It! operates sites in Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma Counties. For times and locations, call 2-1-1 or 800-358-8832 or visit www.EarnItKeepItSaveIt.org.
Read the Earn It! Keep It! Save It! 2010 press release.
RYSE Center, a United Way grantee, is a safe and welcoming place for West Contra Costa County youth, that is building and empowering the next generation. They have a number of programs based around social justice, harm reduction, and youth leadership. The organization was born out of the community response to a particularly violent incident in 2000. Their website is packed full of goodies including this video.
