United Way of Central Virginia

Uwcv raised over $1.8 m during its annual campaign to make an impact on more than 58,000 unduplicated individuals in Central Virginia. Needs were evaluated by volunteers who make funding recommendations to the United Way board for approval. United Way continued to work with numerous programs to address education readiness. Uwcv continued the weekend food backpack program for its three schools with the modifications that food packs were provided through its food distribution partner, food for thought. Additionally, uwcv worked with community partners, the blue ridge area food bank and area churches to establish summer feeding outreach programs in bedford and campbell county in the areas of brookneal, rustburg, and big island.

2-1-1 virginia2-1-1 Virginia is a free service that connects people with available community services in Central Virginia and throughout the commonwealth. The service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days per year. Trained community resource specialists answered over 6,200 calls and gave over 14,000 referrals for the fiscal year ended, june 2021. In addition, the Central Virginia site, which is housed at the United Way of Central Virginia, is responsible for maintaining the statewide 2-1-1 database. Approximately, 18,200 programs were updated during the year.

Bright beginnings Central Virginia (bbcv)bright beginnings Central Virginia is a regional coalition of agencies, early childhood educators, health providers, businesses, and community organizations that works to ensure that area children enter kindergarten ready to learn. Bbcv works with five public school divisions, private childcare centers, home-based childcare providers and faith-based programs to support children and early educators. Bbcv also collaborates with Virginia quality, the state's quality review & improvement system. On-site technical assistance is provided to participating programs, working toward on-going quality improvement. Ongoing professional development opportunities are provided for caregivers in all sectors. In addition to working with early childhood education programs, bbcv offers the incredible years parent program to parents of preschoolers to support their development at home. Another resource for parents is the dolly parton imagination library, a program bbcv coordinates for the United Way cv. Community engagement is also a priority of bbcv; its fully equipped literacy bus travels to under-resourced areas to engage parents and children in activities that promote literacy and early learning. Bbcv continues to implement its initiative to align the definition and assessment of quality across multiple preschool settings throughout the region. The early education system alignment project engages public school divisions, head start programs and private early care and education programs.bbcv works with local and state partners to increase access to high quality early learning through its mixed delivery program. This grant funded initiative places children who are eligible for publicly funded preschool in private childcare settings. Smart beginnings Central Virginia is a regional coalition of agencies, early childhood educators, health providers, businesses, and community organizations that works to ensure that area children enter kindergarten ready to learn. Sbcv works with approximately 55 early childhood programs and family day homes, and collaborates with Virginia quality, the state's quality review & improvement system. On-site technical assistance is provided to participating programs, working toward on-going quality improvement. In addition to working with early childhood education programs, sbcv offers the incredible years parent program to parents of preschoolers to support their development at home. Sbcv coordinates the dolly parton imagination library for uwcv, and the excell (excellence in children's early language and literacy) program, currently offered in preschool classes throughout the region. The excell program serves hundreds of families and provides high quality professional development and on-site coaching to preschool teachers. Community engagement is also a priority of sbcv; its fully equipped literacy bus travels to under-resourced areas to engage parents and children in activities that promote literacy and early learning. Sbcv continues to implement its initiative to align the definition and assessment of quality across multiple preschool settings throughout the region. The early education system alignment project engages public school divisions, head start programs and private early care and education programs. Sbcv serves as a regional hub in the statewide preschool development grant, link birth to five.