Trident United Way (TUW)

Community impactthe community impact team of Trident United Way works to strengthen our community by focusing on education, financial stability, and health. The three areas of education, financial stability, and health are integrated, and Trident United Way works proactively and collaboratively to create long-lasting change in berkeley, charleston and dorchester counties using the community solutions frameworks and the collective impact discipline. Trident United Way leads three networks, kindergarten readiness, safetynet assistance, and healthy tri-county to support community-level and systems change that no one organization can do alone. Each impact area's goals are determined by these networks through data and feedback. The funds Trident United Way grants out to other nonprofit organizations align with the network priorities to ensure synergy between funding and other Trident United Way initiatives and areas of focus.trident United Way's community change efforts are supported through hundreds of workplace giving campaigns, individual giving, corporate and foundation grants, federal and state grants, and fee for service activities. Major initiatives included the launch of the 2019-2022 funding cycle announced on april 23, 2019 of programmatic grant offers to 19 agencies delivering 35 programs across berkeley, charleston, and dorchester counties. These programmatic grant offers comprise program investment and basic needs grant pools totaling $1.2 million in philanthropic investments cycle. These grant pools also include collective impact and community engagement grants aligning with the four traditions of philanthropy: relief, improvement, social reform, and civic engagement.2-1-1 service:2-1-1 is a free, confidential referral and information service that connects people from all communities and of all ages to a community resource specialist who will help them find local health and human services. The call center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to serve callers in over one hundred languages by dialing one number and making one phone call. 2-1-1 is committed as the first, most essential resource to anyone who needs help. An information and referral (i&r) specialist assesses callers' needs and helps the caller determine options and best course of action in a non-threatening, non-judgmental and confidential manner. Additionally, i&r specialists are trained to determine whether a caller may be eligible for other programs, to intervene in crisis-situations and to advocate on behalf of the caller who may need further assistance. The service is free to the community. Trident United Way contracts with the United Way of association of sc, which manages the call center and provides up-to-date, timely, local information about resources in the tri-county to tri-county callers. Highlights of services for the 2021-2022 fiscal year include 13,702 calls received and 24,286 referrals made. Berkeley and dorchester resource connection centers:the berkeley and dorchester resource connection centers are a collaborative partnership between Trident United Way and a host of partners. The berkeley resource connection center is located at 325 e. main street, moncks corner, sc 29461 and the dorchester resource connection center is located at 1325a boonehill road, room 124, summerville, sc 29485. Services in the centers are provided through a community network of partners in an integrated service delivery system. Partners located in the centers include dorchester adult education, sc works, vocational rehabilitation, salvation army, palmetto goodwill, palmetto cap, sc thrive, origin sc, accesshealth, and lowcountry food bank. The centers are service hubs where low to moderate income individuals and families have access to programs and resources such as educational resources, basic needs and resources to become self-sufficient. The resource connection centers take an integrated approach to service delivery, which includes bundling and sequencing of services, leading to long lasting financial change for clients and their families. The centers operate using a continuum framework that begins with addressing basic needs and moves individuals along a continuum to achieve the goal of gaining and sustaining assets. Serving individuals collaboratively is a shared desire to create better financial outcomes for individuals and families in the tri-county area.the resource connection centers served over 3,000 community members during the 2021-2022 fiscal year. Americorps family navigators:the Trident United Way americorps program has been operating for over ten years with a goal of building capacity for community organizations to provide services that help families become more financially stable. Further, the Trident United Way americorps program has developed a reputation in the tri-county of producing highly qualified, trained human services professionals. More than 75% of all Trident United Way americorps members over the past 3 years move on to employment in local human service organizations after completing their service. Notable results include:the americorps program connected 3,416 households to basic needs and crisis mitigation services. The 11 members increased our region's service capacity. Partner agencies agree to host americorps members at their organization sites to enhance and facilitate client outreach and services. Partner agencies provide a match to tuw based on member service hours to the agency. Charitytracker:charitytracker is a web-based tracking tool provided to community partners at no charge through Trident United Way. It is used by Trident United Way partner organizations including grantees, community partners and faith-based organizations to track and share confidential information on individuals receiving financial stability and other human services. The tool mitigates issues related to transportation and provides accountability for those being served, as well as agencies and partners working collectively to move individuals into financial stability. A bulletin board feature allows partners to post services provided, such as classes and events, and alerts allow partners to post emergency needs so that resources can be distributed quickly and efficiently to people in need. The system is secure and only agencies and partners that complete training certification can use the system. Services tracked partners using the system in the 2021-2022 fiscal year provided 11,640 households, comprised of 21,709 individuals, with $3,024,592 in monetary assistance.

Education - Trident United Way supports programs and leads collaborative partnerships that aim to promote birth to age 8 early learning, kindergarten readiness and mitigating key learning benchmark gaps. This includes reading on grade-level by third grade for underserved students living at <200% of poverty. The education impact area works in three ways:-convening the kindergarten readiness network for the tri-county cradle to career collaborative, which prioritizes school readiness outcomes for children birth through age eight. The network is led by its guiding team and representatives from more than 40 organizations in the region. The network created a guiding framework that supports improved kindergarten readiness outcomes in the tri-county. -providing Trident United Way program investment and basic needs grants to organizations that align with network priorities.-funding and collaboratively working with the four tri-county school districts to conduct the reading by third innovation project in select schools, with the goal of helping children achieve the benchmark of reading at grade-level by third grade and scaling effective practices.

Financial stability - initiatives that support the financial stability framework include the americorps financial stability project, resource connection centers in berkeley and dorchester counties, sc thrive-thrive hub online application tool, charitytracker and the emergency food and shelter (efsp) program. The integration of two impact areas, basic needs and income, into one began in 2010 resulting in a model of change - financial stability, which consists of interrelated steps that begin with addressing basic needs, followed by increasing basic skills, then increasing income and savings, and finally, gaining and sustaining assets. Highlights of the accomplishments for 2021-2022 include the following:

Health- Trident United Way has partnered with musc health and roper st. francis healthcare to continue to serve as the backbone organization for the healthy tri-county network, a multi-sector, regional collective impact initiative with the goal of improving health outcomes in berkeley, charleston, and dorchester counties in south carolina (www.healthytricounty.com). The long-term aspirational goal of healthy tri-county is to improve the health and well-being of every person and community within the tri-county region. The following are highlights of accomplishments: -healthy tri-county/trident United Way renewed the accelerator grant to fund diabetes prevention program for rural diabetes 'hotspots' in hollywood and moncks corner, sc. There are seven community partner sites offering the national diabetes prevention programs in the tri-county area. Cohorts have been offered in-person and virtually, and a spanish cohort has ben led by accesshealth in partnership with Trident United Way. -the conversations on race and health equity presented a series on the covid-19 pandemic that began with a conversation on the common mental health issues in communities of color that have been amplified by the pandemic followed by conversations of vaccine hesitancy and mitigating factors. -the inaugural healthy tri-county accomplishments report 2019 - 2021 was launched in june 2021. This report highlighted the progress made by healthy tri-county subcommittees and community partners toward the goals outlined in the our health, our future: tri-county health improvement plan (tchip) 2018 - 2023. Key accomplishments over the last three years were featured along with an imperative call to action to amplify health improvement and health equity in the region.-healthy tri-county community hub launched an online guide of providers and resources: wwwhealthytricountycomcommunityre...

Connecting the community-connecting the community includes initiatives that provide community service opportunities and information about the work of Trident United Way across the tri-county region. The primary initiatives are strategic volunteer engagement and stakeholder and community communication as follows:1.strategic volunteer engagement supports both internal and external volunteer engagement to provide impactful volunteer matching opportunities. Volunteers for Trident United Way are thought leaders on committees and councils, as well as decision-makers about community investments and support mission fulfillment. Trident United Way nonprofit partners and corporate partners create a pipeline of volunteers for the organization in all levels of engagement by offering tailor-made volunteer opportunities to corporate partners that may range from supply drives to home builds and can take place at an office or in the community. Additionally, Trident United Way supports the strategic growth of signature volunteer events such as read across america day event in local schools and the community's largest volunteer event during Trident United Way's days of caring. In the 2021-2022 fiscal year tuw engaged more than 3,187 volunteers for a total of 12,316 hours of service. The time and skills contributed by the Trident United Way volunteers provided an estimated community benefit of over $360,000. 2. Communication with key constituents and across the community includes year-round strategic efforts. Trident United Way distributes email newsletters 6 times per year to more than 30,000 recipients for each issue. Annually Trident United Way sends targeted email communications to the healthy tri-county network six times per year and donor network email newsletters periodically. The organization's website (tuw.org) and linkedin presence are updated weekly with new information about impact and events. Trident United Way posts information and engages with followers daily on its facebook, instagram and twitter accounts. Through multiple communications tactics, Trident United Way aims to engage with audiences and report on its work to donors, potential donors, and the community-at-large, announce volunteer and grant opportunities and celebrate the impact of volunteer time. Strategic communications are also vital to raising awareness of the myriad community resources available to those in need and to seeking the support of those who can help.donor designation fees:the purpose of Trident United Way's annual fundraising campaigns is to develop and enhance the resources available for Trident United Way's community impact mission. Community volunteers strategically invest those resources in the tri-county community to create lasting, measurable change on the most pressing issues facing families and individuals. Trident United Way promotes investing in the community impact work as the most effective Way to invest in the tri-county community above any form of designated giving.donors may elect all or a portion of their pledge/contribution as designated to 501(c)(3) organizations, other than Trident United Way. Requests are processed by Trident United Way and payments made to designated organizations is as follows:" Trident United Way honors donor designations to any verified 501(c)(3) organization of $50 or more per organization. Verification consists of, on an annual basis, confirming the organization has an active 501(c)(3) status with the internal revenue service and completes additional verifications as may be required by United Way worldwide. No further oversight is provided by Trident United Way on the use of designated funds.-trident United Way deducts fundraising and administrative fees at the rate of 15 percent (with a minimum of $5 and a maximum of $75) per designation.-trident United Way sends payments to verified designated organizations (net of the fundraising and administrative fee) on a quarterly basis (january, april, july, and october).-gifts or payments made by cash, check, credit card, or stock will be paid out to the organization in the month following the quarter in which pledge payment(s) are received from the donor. For example, donor pledge payments received in january, february, or march will be paid in april; payments received in april, may, and june will be paid in july.- Trident United Way has a donor privacy policy and will not release the names of individuals without authorization for the release of such information. If a donor provides authorization, Trident United Way will send donor information to the designated organization.