United Way’s expanded mission enhances quality of life for all

Think of United Way, and most in our community instantly think of compassionate and benevolent fundraising. To be sure, the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley and its parent — the Community Corp. — have raised more than $140 million since the nonprofit organized Feb. 10, 1919.

Ninety-six years later, the Youngstown-based UW affiliate continues that noble mission successfully as fundraising campaign leaders recently announced that our generous community rallied to raise $2,640,803 during the 2014 drive, exceeding its $2.6 million goal and cultivating its highest yield since the Great Recession hit in 2008.

To UW Executive Director Bob Hannon, his legion of staff and tens of thousands of individual and corporate donors:

Stand up and take a bow. You deserve it.

But if you were thinking that talented fund- raising acumen is the sole red feather in the cap of UW in the 21st century, you’d be dead wrong. The local chapter, like most in the U.S., is reinventing itself to become more than just a funding vehicle to drive scores of critically needed social-service agencies to success.

COMMUNITY IMPACT MODEL

Today, United Way of Youngstown has adopted a more active, hands-on, results-oriented approach to achieve its broader mission of enhancing the quality of life for everyone in the Valley. That new mission — known as the Community Impact Model — holds great potential to strengthen the tangible successes of United Way many times over.

The new model takes a specific problem in the community and focuses funding and success-proven strategies on fighting it. Once a mission is targeted, other organizations join in by leveraging funding, expertise and resources. In Youngstown, the model initially is targeting education and child development.

About five years ago, UW began its Success By 6 initiative, a pre-kindergarten readiness program geared toward children who need a boost before they officially start school. The summer program began with two schools and 60 students but today has more than 600 pupils in 17 school districts benefiting from it.

Campbell schools Superintendent Matthew Bowen is but one of many enthusiastic Success By 6 boosters: “With the initiatives provided with early literacy prior to kindergarten, we witness reading milestones earlier than in past years.”

To build on that success, United Way last week announced plans to launch a Success After 6 program that will give kindergarten through third-grade students tutoring, supplemental programming and after-school support. UW is partnering with Youngstown Community School, the Central YMCA and others.

Some of its goals parrot those most in demand, particularly in urban landscapes such as Youngstown. They include improving reading, increasing parental involvement and decreasing tardiness and absenteeism in school.

Those woes just happen to be some of the same trouble spots that continue to vex Youngstown city school administrators and state Academic Distress Commission members.

Clearly, the Success After 6 program offers great potential to remove many long-standing roadblocks that have detoured young children in their paths to learn, graduate and make a productive life for themselves.

Ed Muransky, co-chairman of the 2014 UW fundraising campaign, calls Success After 6 “a game-changer for kids.”

Yes, it promises to be just that, but it’s also one illustration of how the United Way agency has matured in recent years to take a more active and vibrant role in the quest to enhance the quality of life for all in Greater Youngstown.