Imagine you are standing next to a river, and you see someone drowning as she floats downstream. You jump into the river and pull her ashore. As soon as you've done that, you see another person in trouble, again floating downstream, and you rescue him as well. Every time you've saved one person, you see another, and another. After you've dragged another drowning body out of the river, you're thoroughly exhausted, so instead of diving in one more time, you decide you to go upstream. A passerby calls to you and says “Hey, where are you going, someone else is drowning!” and you reply – “I’m going upstream to find out who is pushing them in!”.
Through our Community Impact work, your continuing involvement with the United Way will help create lasting change. Your expertise, energy and relationships are vital resources, since Community Impact is an effort that’s owned by the entire community. We promise to direct those resources to efforts that target the underlying causes of issues that affect our community – and which deliver measurable, long-term results.
United Way’s agency partners are doing great work every day, and there will always be a need for basic needs and prevention and development programs. But Community Impact takes that work one step further. Working together with a broad range of community partners – partner agencies, schools, faith-based groups, businesses, energized individuals, local government and more – we’re seeking results that no one can accomplish alone,
What is Community Impact?
- Improving the lives of all people affected by the community’s issues – not just clients of programs funded by United Way.
- Pinpointing the root causes of problems that threaten our community – developing strategies and partnerships to change them.
- Working in a multi-faceted role with whatever partners can play a role in changing community conditions.
- Going beyond the annual campaign to create long-term, ongoing relationships with diverse community investors.