GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN From Small Beginnings Come Great Things Community Impact for the Smaller United Way GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Today’s Presenters Maria Burk-Director of Community Impact United Way of Medina County, Medina, Ohio Judy Krezminski-Executive Director Branch County United Way, Coldwater, Michigan

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN United Way of Medina County Population of 175,000 Bedroom county between Cleveland and Akron $1 million annual campaign $640,000 in Allocations and $160,000 in CI Programs (Staff) 5 person staff team 4 Years to Transition Fully to Community Impact

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Branch County United Way Population of 43,649 Rural community on the Indiana/Michigan border $140,000 annual campaign Currently 70% Community Impact in 3 rd year of 5 year transition 5 person staff team CEO- Judy Krzeminski Director of Resource Development- Judy Krzeminski CI Director- Judy Krzeminski Campaign Manager- Judy Krzeminski Accounting Manager- Judy Krzeminski.25FTE Janitor- Judy Krzeminski

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Common Factors of Community Impact- Medina and Coldwater Early Childhood Reading-3 rd Grade Reading Test, Kindergarten readiness, literacy Education- Early Childhood Reading, Kindergarten Readiness, Literacy Youth-childhood obesity, youth depression and suicide Health- Childhood Obesity, teen suicide, affordable health care for working families Poverty-low income households, sustainable employment, teaching people to fish Income- Financial Literacy, Employment Skills, affordable housing- teaching people to fish

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN United Way of Medina County 4 Components of Community Impact 1.Data & Assessment 2.Strategic Planning 3.Refined Focus Areas 4.Indicators & Strategies

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Data & Assessment 2011-Board makes decision to move to CI Agenda Spring 2011-Partner Agencies informed that UW model will change in 2014 Summer 2011-Market research begins to discover the ‘wants’ of donors Fall 2011-Community conversations to discover county’s greatest needs Spring 2012-County-wide needs assessment conducted by third party

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Strategic Planning Summer 2012-Board and Leadership volunteers choose Appreciative Inquiry to develop new strategic plan Fall 2012-Needs Assessment’s results unveiled to the public Winter 2012-Partner Agencies informed that funding will extend to June 2014 to provide planning time Spring 2013-UWMC unveils new strategic plan

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Refined Focus Areas Spring 2013-Partner Agencies and volunteers define the top three areas for 2014: Early Childhood Development, Youth Engagement an Household Sustainability Summer-Fall 2013-UWMC conducts Community Conversations to develop common strategies, indicators, and program requirements for each focus area

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Indicators and Strategies January 2014-New Request for Proposals are made public on website First time that UWMC has a formal outcome reporting plan in place All tax-exempt organizations within the county are invited to apply for programs that fit within the CI strategies July % of allocations go to Community Impact Agenda

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Partnerships to Projects Is there an organization already doing the work in the County? Is there an organization we can partner with to enhance the project? If there is no organization doing the work, should UWMC do it?

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Doing the Work- Funded Program Partners 2014 UWMC funded 19 Program Partners in the areas of Early Childhood Development, Youth Engagement, Household Sustainability, and General Programming Moved to a 3-year funding cycle for CI Areas 1 Year Funding for GP Developed Coalitions for each CI Area

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Project Based Partners-Early Childhood One Book One Community-Partnership with Medina County District Library to distribute the book Wonder to 2,500 6 th graders in County

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Project Based Partners-Youth Engagement E4 Youth Summit-Partnership with Leadership Medina County and Junior Leadership to hold 2 day summit for 220 high school students

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN UWMC Led Projects- Employing Medina County~ Household Sustainability Partnership with Ohio Means Jobs (Workforce Development), Economic Development, Local Business Owners, Program Partners & Volunteers Helping unemployed and underemployed households secure sustainable employment using Service Coordinators and strong support system

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Speed Bumps or…Hard Lessons Learned Some pushback from unfunded agencies that were previous partners and donors that wanted to support non-funded partners directly Closed designation policy initially not well received due to lack of communication General Programming causes confusion for donors and agencies

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN The Successes…or How We Killed It! Through new CI Agenda, UWMC has received more grant opportunities: $150,000 for EMC, $30,500 for Youth, $23,000 for Early Childhood Increase in designated gifts for CI areas Strong coalitions that allow volunteers to be engaged in a more intimate way through projects, Days of Action, and more in-depth decision making Strong preliminary outcomes that show a more successful unified approach to solving the County’s greatest needs

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Branch County United Way Community Impact Our Way 1. Community Conversations 2. Impact Councils 3. Identified Impact Strategies 4. Partnerships and Programs

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Community Conversations Utilizing Harwood Protocols for Turning Outward- conducted 30+ Community Conversations with all segments of the population- seniors, consumers of services, at risk teens, teachers, service clubs What kind of community do you want to live in? What do you want to see happen in Branch County? If you laid awake at night worrying about the future of our community, what would you be worrying about? What is working in our community? If you could pick a place for United Way to start what would it be?

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Impact Councils Selected Income and Education as our first areas Identified major players in our community working in those areas- Superintendents, Housing Advocates, Mental Health Experts Charged Councils with identifying 4-6 strategies for creating change Rolled out Strategies to Agencies and Community fall of 2013

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Identified Impact Strategies Education Making sure kids are ready to start school Improving 4 th grade reading levels Mentoring and Positive Role Models Getting adults GED and workplace ready Income Financial Literacy for Youth and Adults Safe and Affordable Housing Working Family Emergency Support Workforce Development

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Partnerships and Programs-EDUCATION Dolly Parton Imagination Library- providing literacy to nearly 650 kids per month in Branch County. Rolling out in fall of 2015 (funding dependent)- Literacy partnership for 2 nd graders behind in reading to get them to grade level by 4 th grade. Partnerships with the Great Start Collaborative to grow preschool accessibility for all kids. United We Read- putting volunteer readers in classrooms to show the importance of reading to all kids. Funding Family Visitors with Family Success Program Scholarships for working adults who need a GED Literacy program for Arabic Women through Coldwater Schools

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Partnerships and Programs- INCOME Partnership with 10 local banks and credit unions to provide Financial Literacy training to ALL 3 rd and 6 th grade students in Branch County this school year. Funded by a collaborative effort. First year- 6 th graders showed a 38% increase in financial knowledge pre to post program. Getting Ahead Adult Financial Literacy classes now in 4 th year in partnership with BCCADV. Working Family Revolving Loan Fund in partnership with Honor Credit Union providing support to working families in one time crises.

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN Speed Bumps Not everything the community THINKS is a problem is truly an issue! Once you get your opinions you need to do some research After you complete your conversations, a new and very pressing issue may pop up Not every initiative works- be flexible Some initial resistance from agencies

GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN GREAT RIVERS Great Innovations TWENTY FIFTEEN The Successes With limited funding, implemented Financial Literacy Training for 3 rd and 6 th grade students county wide- increasing knowledge 38% in first year. Funded WFRL fund Started a GED Scholarship fund that is now self funded for additional students Awareness of UW work around poverty has increased the investment in solutions from other segments of the community.