Page 70 - Society Life_Feb_2019

UNITED WAY What exactly is the focus of this organization?

The United Way believes that Education, Income and Health are the

three main efforts to build a stronger community—and that they are

the building blocks for a good, quality life. Their stated mission is to

provide leadership and harness resources to solve Tarrant County’s

toughest social challenges. They have five stated principles: Our client

is the donor, Our results tell our story, Our focus is the community,

Our efforts are collaborative, Our solutions are equitable.

Last year, they were able to introduce a
new model to allocate funds to commu-
nity partners and agencies. It was called
Systems Change. This model shifts a por-
tion of funding to focus on the root causes
of social issues and finding universal solu-
tions for these problems that impact
entire populations and never seem to get
solved. United Way of Tarrant County has
more than 45 partner agencies, and for
the 2018–2019 fiscal year, their plan is to
allocate more than $13 million in funding
to partners in the community and provide
$1 million in funding to the new Systems
Change program. It will be this month
when they expect to have answers from a
community assessment conducted by the
University of North Texas Health Science
Center School of Public Health that shows
where the most pressing needs are in the
Tarrant County area.

United Way of Tarrant County helps more
than 300,000 people annually by provid-
ing resources through thier partner agen-
cies and their other initiatives. It takes
donations from the community, corpora-
tions and the government to be able to
make all this possible. Among the many
programs they are able to provide are
things like “Wild About Reading.” Last
year it was held at the Fort Worth Museum
Almost 100 years later, the United Way of well and live well. 2017 saw another major of Science and History and more than 3,000
Tarrant County has launched some bold shift as they conducted a strategic review books were distributed. Celebrity readers
new initiatives to further the many ways of the organization to determine the were there to read books to children, and
they can help the community. In 2010, next chapter. They conducted 12 Strategy there were many other kid-friendly activi-
their Impact work directed funding to Workshops and engaged more than 70 ties. They also have a free Volunteer
three issue areas of Education, Income community stakeholders making sure the Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program
and Health with the goal of seeing input was shared from every aspect of the which helps low income individuals and
changes in populations to learn well, earn community they serve. local families with their tax questions—

68 FEBRUARY 2019 | SocietyLifeMag.com