Our Bold Plans for North Central Florida

 
Thanks to the generosity of our community in a really tough year of the economy, United Way is projecting the 2010 -2011 campaign raised $3.2 million. United Way Impact Partners received gifts and grants which totalled $2.3 million. United Way awarded $940,000 in grants to help strengthen children and families and meet immediate needs of seniors and families in crisis. This amount includes $1 million donated from the University of Florida's Campaign for Charities alone. Though overall donations are down from previous years, many of these grants are used as matching funds for other grants resulting in an additional $2.6 million in funding for our community.  

“These dollars are raised to be invested in programs that improve the lives of children and, families and seniors who need our help most,” said United Way President & CEO Debbie Mason. “Our community is blessed in many ways, but right now many families are still in dire need of basic services.  Yet, even as we fund those needs, we must also look to invest in programs that deliver outcomes for reaching our long-term goals.”

Grants were awarded in two categories this year, Strengthening Children and Families and Meeting Immediate Human Needs. Strengthening Children and Families received 70 percent of United Way’s investment dollars, focusing on programs that provide child abuse treatment and prevention, after school tutoring and mentoring and parenting skills training through home visitation.                                                

United Way focused 30 percent of its resources on programs to serve our community’s most vulnerable  by ensuring adequate emergency relief services such as food, shelter and basic financial stability. United Way 2-1-1 is an especially important service at this time, handling more than 100 calls a day to connect people in need to resources that can help, and monitoring and reporting trends and gaps in services. United Way invests $184,000 annually to provide this valuable community service.

The 41 United Way volunteers from 26 different organizations who participated in the community investment process to determine the final grant amounts to award spent more than 1,200 hours evaluating program outcomes, impacts and budgets to ensure that United Way funds are directed at programs creating measurable results.

At the June 21 Board of Directors meeting, the volunteer board approved the recommendations of the 2011/2013 Community Investment Committee.   These efforts are designed to make a significant and measurable difference in school readiness and graduation rates in the area while also addressing the critical short-term emergent needs of seniors and low income families.  In addition to dynamic new campaign strategies for 2011, United Way is seeking grant revenue, mobilizing volunteers and gathering other resources to meet community needs.  

Grants awarded for 2011-2012:

Click to view a chart of how the grants were allocated.