Live United

Earlier this month, United Way of the Bay Area officially kicked-off of its 2010/11 fundraising campaign at a gathering of business and community leaders in the Fisher Auditorium on the Mission Bay UCSF campus.

The theme of this year’s campaign, “Change the Odds,” is a call to action to Bay Area residents to join United Way in pursuit of our goal to cut in half the number of local families who live in poverty by the year 2020.  Currently, one in five families in our region does not earn enough to cover its basic needs, according to United Way’s “Making Ends Meet in the Bay Area” report.

At the kick-off, United Way announced that three volunteers will co-chair the 2010/11 campaign:

• Kenneth McNeely, President, External Affairs, AT&T California
• Connie Moore, President & CEO, BRE Properties, Inc.
• Ron Peyton, CEO, Callan Associates

This team will work closely with the United Way board, staff and volunteers to engage and inspire donors. Their main focus will be to generate support for the expansion of United Way’s SparkPoint Centers, 211 and Earn It! Keep It! Save It! programs, as well as our other poverty-fighting investments.

Last year, our Bay Area campaign raised $34.9 million for the Bay Area under the leadership of Campaign Chair Janet Lamkin, President of Bank of America California.

“Through Earn It! Keep It! Save It! United Way gave back more than $57 million in tax dollars to more than 51,000 Bay Area residents and three new SparkPoint Centers were opened with five more in the works,” said Lamkin. “These are just two highlights of the valuable  work we are doing to reduce poverty in the Bay Area. As you can see, we are making difference. Thank you!”

United Way of the Bay Area is one of five nonprofits in the United States that was recently awarded a $200,000 grant from The Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency that leads President Obama’s national call-to-service initiative, United We Serve .

United Way will use the “capacity-building” grant to continue to improve our SparkPoint Centers, which are family-friendly places where hard-working, low-income people can access a full range of services to help them get out of poverty and achieve long-term financial stability.

SparkPoint Coach Jessie Berringer meets with a client at the SparkPoint Oakland Center

Each SparkPoint Center brings together the most effective nonprofit and government partners to deliver integrated services as a single entity.  The grant will support United Way’s ongoing efforts to improve how SparkPoint partners work together, particularly in the area of tracking and evaluating the progress of SparkPoint clients.

“We at United Way are so pleased that our SparkPoint Centers are gaining national attention for their innovative approach to tackling poverty,” said Anne Wilson, CEO of United Way of the Bay Area.  “This grant will help us continue to improve our SparkPoint Centers, enhancing both the experience and success rates for our clients.”

Read the Corporation for National and Community Service press release.

1 in 5 families in the Bay Area is living in poverty. With your help we can cut that number in half by 2020

Anne Wilson is Chief Executive Officer of United Way of the Bay Area. She joined the organization in 1980, and was named the first female CEO in 2000. Under her leadership, United Way has transformed into a community-impact organization that brings together resources, expertise and creativity to tackle poverty in the Bay Area.

Today, one in five hard-working families in the Bay Area lives in poverty. United Way’s goal is to cut that number in half by 2020.

Is this goal audacious? Yes. Is it achievable? Absolutely. The problem of poverty can be solved. The will power is here. Families are trying to improve their lives. In fact, 86% of struggling families have at least one worker.

The passion of our community is here. United Way of the Bay Area alone has more than 70,000 donors committed to making our community better. We have some of the most innovative poverty-fighting programs and some of the most caring citizens. What we need is to bring together everyone – struggling families, caring citizens, corporate partners and innovative programs – to connect the dots and achieve long-lasting success.

United Way encourages you to join us – to become a champion for the one in five families struggling to make ends meet. With your support, we can expand programs that work and build a coalition of poverty-fighting champions to not just address a symptom or two, but to attack the root causes of poverty in the Bay Area.

After more than 80 years on the frontlines, we know what works and what does not. We know that while outstanding programs exist, families cannot access them easily. We know that one program or one better paying job is not enough to address each family’s unique set of challenges.

In fact, families who participate in only one service have a 20% chance of moving forward, compared to more than 80% chance if they take up at least three services. We must do a better job of linking together services and making them easier for families to access. We must continue growing programs such as United Way’s 211 phone line that connects callers in need to local programs that can help. We need your support to expand our SparkPoint Centers, which connect families to multiple nonprofits and financial resources under one roof.

By working together, we can help hundreds of thousands of families move out of poverty and into long-term financial independence. We can ensure a new generation of children has the resources they need to graduate from school, empowered to succeed.

Now more than ever, your passion and support are critical to our community. Together, we can create pathways out of poverty for Bay Area families.

Thank you for continuing to LIVE UNITED.