Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Staff report
YOUNGSTOWN
United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley’s Board of Directors approved allocations totaling more than $1.9 million for 2014-15 to programs and United Way-led initiatives.
The United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley follows the guidelines established by United Way Worldwide with a focus on results-oriented work in the three impact areas: education, income and health.
“We are extremely pleased with the work that our Education, Income and Health committees have done to complete our move to the impact model of funding,” said Laura Lyden, community impact chairwoman and a board member.
“Our committee members donated hundreds of volunteer hours reviewing and ranking the proposals. We feel confident that our donor’s dollars are being directed to initiatives that will truly make a difference in our community,” she added.
Volunteers from Mahoning County made up the three impact panels. Seven experts in the field of education, four in the field of income, and five in the field of health spent more than 300 hours combined evaluating proposals from numerous agencies.
“These were some of the strongest impact panels that United Way has ever had during our allocation period,” said Robert Hannon, president of the UWYM.
As the organization continues to transition to the impact model of funding, which focuses on measurable results, more United Way-led initiatives received financial support during this funding cycle.
These initiatives include the United Way’s Success By 6, which seeks to prepare children to enter kindergarten, as well as Success After 6 that provides academic support for students up to the sixth grade, Hannon said.
Under the Success By 6 and Success After 6 initiatives, totaling $324,564, the United Way will fund the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and Young Women’s Mentorship programs launched earlier this spring.
The Imagination Library is a literacy program that provides books to children from birth to 5. The 23-week Young Women’s Mentorship program focuses on girls in middle school.
The Financial Stability Partnership will continue to receive funding to support the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites. In partnership with many other agencies and the AARP, more than 3,500 people had their taxes prepared for free by an IRS-certified volunteer in the 2013 filing season resulting in refunds of more than $3.2 million with no cost to the filers, UW officials said.
Another initiative receiving funding is the Mahoning Adult Protective Network or MAPN. It is a collaborative effort of more than a dozen area agencies that serve the Valley’s high-risk older adults.