Allocations Time…

This week marks the beginning of United Way of Cascade County’s allocations process. Its an exciting time not only on the staff’s end of things, but for our 30+ volunteers that will listen to three days worth of presentations from local nonprofit organizations (talk about dedication!).  Local nonprofits must apply each year for United Way funding and go through this process to be considered for funds.

As I go about my day to day, a lot of people ask me “So what does United Way DO?!” And I have to say that before I started working here, I probably wondered the same thing. As an organization, we are visible in the fall thanks to the campaign, but the allocations process is just as integral part, if not more so than the campaign, in the big picture of what it is we DO. Because of the allocations process, we can show the community what exactly it is that we do with their money. Last year we helped nearly 300 senior citizens remain independent in their homes through Meals on Wheels. The Young Parents Education Center empowers teen parents to get on track to graduate, obtain a GED and/or learn job skills so that they can be productive, contributing members of our community and responsible parents. Through Voices of Hope, United Way dollars helped provide community education programs on topics such as suicide prevention and sexual assault awareness, a 24-hour crisis line and the statewide 2-1-1 line, a resource and referral network.   In total, this past year we funded in part or in whole 27 different programs in our community, all of which are achieving demonstrated results.

Each year yields some changes in the programs that we work with throughout the year, but we can offer a 100% guarantee that each and every dollar invested in the allocations process yields measurable results. In a time when dollars are stretched to the max, it is important to know that your charitable dollar is making an impact in your community!

Community Conversations

Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to do a community conversation with a couple other board members and after having done quite a few now, I have to say that I learn so much with each and every one I do. Last night’s group consisted of a few parents and staff at our local Head Start school in Great Falls.  It seems that whenever we ask groups what’s working and what’s not working locally in terms of Education, Income and Health, the responses run the gamut from the known and practical to the strange and incomprehensible (we’re sorry, but even though nutrition for inmates at the county jail is poor, we can’t help ya much there right now…).

One thing of note that particularly sticks out to me has come up twice in conversations I’ve participated in, and that is that many local dentists in Cascade County do not accept Medicaid. A quick Google search lists two providers in Great Falls that currently accept Medicaid, and participants last night mentioned there might be a new third provider. Additionally, of those dentists that accept Medicaid, the waiting list for Medicaid patients is weeks, if not months. Many locals apparently make the drive to Helena to see providers there, but that isn’t oftentimes financially feasible for those already struggling to make ends meet.

I don’t pretend to know the in’s and out’s of Medicaid, but I do know that when you have a toothache, it hurts regardless of your income. There are several emergency service providers, such as Opportunities, Inc and the Great Falls Rescue Mission that can help with such dental or medical emergencies, but I’m curious as to the lack of providers accepting Medicaid (and disappointed that my dentist is not on the list). Anyone with insight on this, I’d be interested to hear it.

An Excuse to Eat Out!

This cool little invite came across my desk this morning, announcing that Zandy’s restaurant in Great Falls will be donating a portion of proceeds from sales this Saturday, April 18th to the YWCA Mercy Home.  In fact, Zandy’s does this one Saturday a month for the benefit of local nonprofit agencies.  What an awesome thing to do for our community, thanks Zandy’s!

Understanding the Stimulus Package

With all the questions surrounding the Obama administration’s stimulus package, its no wonder small nonprofits are scratching their heads and wondering how this can be of benefit locally.  United Way of Cascade County will be hosting an audio conference this Thursday, April 16 entitled “The Obama Stimulus Package: What’s In It For You?”  from 11am-12:30pm at the Great Falls Chamber of Commerce’s Video Conference Center. This unique conference will provide an overview of how the stimulus bill works, with a special focus on how nonprofit organizations can take advantage of the money up for grabs. If you’d be interested in attending, we’d love to have you! Just email us to let us know you’re coming, or call 727-3400.

Baby Formula & Rocket Fuel?!

The CDC released this report today stating that traces of the chemical perchlorate have been found in certain brands of baby formula.  This scares me on two counts…first of all, how can we advocate on behalf of health if one of the main sources of sustenance for many infants is laced with potentially harmful chemicals (although apparently only when mixed with water that also has traces of certain chemicals) and secondly, why aren’t they releasing the brands of the formula?! New to this whole mom thing, I know that there aren’t THAT many brands of formula, so one is left to assume that the brand they’re feeding to their baby more than likely has rocket fuel in it…

And by the way…

United Way of America vs United Way Worldwide. No, this isn’t some type of match up or March madness playoff, rather more of a merger. Or consolidation.  UWA is proposing developing a new entity in which we will all become part of a larger whole. Now its easy to see how someone could get lost in all of this but basically…

1. United Way of America becomes United Way of the United States.

2. Local UW’s like us are still a member of UWUS

3. UWUS and United Way International join to form UWW

Now, there’s a lot more to it than just that. But those three things are the main key points. Granted, there are a lot of shifting of assets, bylaws & legalese to account for, cultural issues to bear in mind and people to not tick off. And people that are a lot smarter than I and have more of a vested interest in it than UWCC are thankfully taking care of all of that.

Why do this? For one thing, our society is a global society. Although we’re small, businesses in Cascade County play a role in the global economy and in order for United Way to stay at the forefront, we need to adapt and evolve. Secondly, a brand is only as good as its whole. By strengthening our brand, our presence and the work we are doing around the world can be a much more powerful venue for social change. And on a smaller scale, United Way of Cascade County has a bigger pool of “experts” to draw from. Perhaps there’s a United Way in a community in Canada or Great Britain that is dealing with the same local issues as we are here. By connecting us all, our strength will benefit “for the common good.”

UW’s Using Social Media

One of the nice things about being a local United Way is that we can piggyback on some of the fantastic ideas that other local UW’s are doing, and get a ton of good content, exposure and creative direction from United Way of America (or soon to be United Way Worldwide?! We’d be curious to hear your thoughts…).  Beth’s Blog did a fantastic little expose on how local UW’s across the country are expanding into this new territory and interviewed our main man Iavor at UWA on how this looks as a system.  Now we are one of the small UW’s that are just getting our feet wet in this arena (and sometimes forgetting to post regularly…I’ll blame myself for that one) so we would as always appreciate any advice or feedback that you have to give.