Program areas at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas
Uwmd builds and leads collaborative initiatives that ensure more students graduate ready to succeed, enable more families to become financially stable, and give people the tools to lead healthy, productive lives. Examples include:1. Pathways to economic mobility helps families increase savings, improve credit scores, reduce debt and avoid predatory lending products. In fiscal year 2020-2021, as a result of the pandemic, United Way expanded basic needs program that provided housing and shelter services to 4,500 households, food to 100,000 households, prepared meals to 23,000 people, and financial assistance for rent, utility and transportation to 10,000 households. Our free (continued in schedule o) tax program adjusted to a virtual format and helped 6,000 people obtain $13.7 million in refunds and tax credits. 60,400 people accessed financial capability services through United Way, including 6,100 that participated in financial coaching. United Way increased access to credit-building loans and college savings accounts, adding 175 capital good fund loans and 500 dollars for college accounts. Our financial inclusion roundtable provided capacity building and networking opportunities for more than 100 community organizations and financial institutions in the region.2. Grow south, grow strong, serves 1,700 students and their families within three targeted schools in Dallas isd's roosevelt feeder pattern. The initiative aims to support students and families and engage the community and corporations through targeted programs, workshops, and events to capitalize on the community's biggest opportunities and address the community's biggest challenges. During the 2020-2021 school year, United Way identified program partners to begin creating a dedicated community hub at john neely bryan elementary school, which was a pilot project that will inform future school-based community resource centers. Through these services, 15 adults received their ged or passed the high school equivalency test, 90 students participated in after-school enrichment activities, 21 third grade students received reading and grammar tutoring, 2 parents participated in computer literacy training and were connected to additional community resources, and 27 fourth and fifth graders participated in the blueprint for success program, which combines social and emotional learning, academic support, critical thinking and enrichment opportunities through the lens of entrepreneurship. 3. Southern Dallas thrives is a targeted initiative advancing our mission and impact with a focus on providing critical services and support in a community that has been disproportionately impacted by history of poverty, long-term systemic and systematic racism. Through the southern Dallas thrives initiative, uwmd aims to bring residents, corporations, service providers, educators, funders, and civic leaders together to continuously identify and assess assets and need's and leverage resources to build an inclusive economy in southern Dallas. Our goal is to advance long term, sustainable economic mobility for marginalized women and their children.4. United Way social innovation lab is a continuum of capacity building programs for social entrepreneurs in education, income and health. The lab currently includes the incubator (early-stage) and accelerator (mid-stage) programs and is launching an alumni program in 2022. Both the incubator and accelerator are mentor-driven programs that invest in organizations that are focused on implementing novel solutions to community challenges through seed funding, intensive professional development, mentorship and coaching, and increased visibility opportunities. In fiscal year 2020-2021 the program supported 10 fellows; $250,000 in seed funding was invested in the fellows.5. Healthy zone school (hzs) program supports and rewards schools that promote healthy behaviors. The program provides over 197 schools with tools and resources to create a health-conscious culture and engage the surrounding community in a group effort to encourage habits for lifelong wellbeing. Results have shown that 73% of students improved aerobic capacity and 65% of students moved in a healthy direction for body composition. 6. The Texas home visiting program, funded by the Texas department of family and protective services (dfps), helps good people become great parents. This program matches Dallas county and collin county families with a trained home visitor, a nurse, experienced parent, trained professional or volunteer to answer questions, offer advice, provide support, and teach parents how to prepare their kids for kindergarten. In 2019-2020, 629 families received home visit program services.7. The healthy outcomes through prevention and early intervention support (hopes) program, funded by the Texas department of family and protective services (dfps), helps Dallas county parents create home environments in which young children can thrive. Working with clinics, organizations, and government agencies, the program's staff helps families receive instruction, support, and community resources. Approximately 590 families received direct parent education program services during fiscal year 2020-2021. Additionally, 12,655 families received service support referrals through the hopes program. 8. North Texas summer and supper council, a member-led coalition of north Texas organizations working to build capacity and increases awareness of the issue of child food insecurity and access. The goal of the council is to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of summer meals, afterschool supper, and national school lunch programs to ensure access to healthy meals for every child. The council draws upon a myriad of best practices and implementation techniques to better equip contracting entities in high need areas with tools for success, while offering a collaborative environment for open dialogue. 9. The nonprofit success institute strengthens and supports organizations and nonprofits at different stages of growth in southern Dallas and collin county. In partnership with communities foundation of Texas and toyota of north america, this program provides training and resources to enable small and medium sized nonprofits, churches, and neighborhood associations to operate more efficiently, increase their impact, and gain access to capital. In fiscal year 2020-2021 the program supported 9 organizations and invested more than $100,000 into targeted nonprofits.
Distributing donor-designated contributions to nonprofit organizations:uwmd also enables donors to designate their gifts to other United ways or to specific agencies. In fiscal year 2020-2021, uwmd processed $8,348,496 million in designations.
At uwmd, our mission is to ensure all north texans have the opportunity and access to thrive. We believe in the power of unity and equity to create lasting change, and we work with supporters from the philanthropic, education, civic, corporate and nonprofit sectors, as well as the community as a whole, to create opportunity for all north texans. Our organization partners with and supports more than 200 nonprofit service providers, mobilizing a community-wide movement that works to ensure all our neighbors have access to education, income, and health-the building blocks of opportunity.working with other community leaders, uwmd has set bold aspire United goals for 2030. In education we seek to (continued in schedule o) increase by 50% the number of north Texas students reading on grade level by third grade. In income we seek to increase the number of north Texas young adults who earn a living wage by 20%. In health we seek to increase to 96% the number of north texans with access to affordable health care insurance. In fiscal year 2020-2021, uwmd created positive impact on the lives of more than 1.3 million north texans and invested in 118 exceptional education, income, and health organizations through our community impact grants. Education712,000 students, from pre-k through high school, on the path to education success. Income157,000 residents received assistance to get and keep better jobs, get out of debt and build savings for the future. Health332,000+ north texans received access to the primary health and wellness resources they need to live healthy lives.