$1.5M in expenses

Community impact - involves the process of planning, investing and evaluating resources to achieve measurable and sustainable community change in three priority areas: empowering children and youth to achieve their full potential, helping working families become financially stable and independent, and creating a healthier community. More than 150 organizations have pledged to work collectively on achieving this high level of community impact.united way of greater lorain county (uwglc) places a high priority on working with systems and partners to ensure that children enter kindergarten ready to learn and that early adolescents have the tools and resources to succeed in high school and beyond. Uwglc is investing in a variety of initiatives, including afterschool and summer academic and cultural enrichment, in-school academic support, mental health and behavioral health support, exercise and nutrition improvement, parenting education and resourcing, and risky behavior prevention and intervention. Multi-year funding has made it possible for collaborative partners to measure baseline data, pilot test best-practice programs with small groups, and implement larger-scale programs with promising early results. For example, literacy programs are bringing age- and language-appropriate books to 61% of all children 0-5 living in elyria, lorain and oberlin each month; and an additional 1,276 literacy kits were delivered to preschoolers. Further, 21/21 of partner early childhood education programs in lorain have achieved ohio healthy progam certification status; 13,392 books were logged in elyria's 1000 books before kindergarten; and oberlin's pre-k classroom was used 880 times by families. Across the three school districts participating in common view, over 1,000 students participated in social-emotional programming; over 100 students attended collaborative sponsored summer camps in lorain and elyria; 349 youth participated in leadership building sessions; and 67 mentoring sessions were attended by elyria youth sponsored by the collaborative. Additionally, 50 parents in lorain attended padres comprometidos events to learn skills that support their child's education. Lorain and elyria's freedges together served 7,053 persons. Over 10,000 youth are currently participating in collaborative programming.uwglc places a high priority on working with systems and partners to ensure that working families living in poverty increase their incomes, build savings, and gain assets to improve their financial stability. Uwglc is investing in activities that ensure that families suffering a short-term financial crisis avoid eviction, utility termination, and job loss and are able to build future resources. Eleventh-year collaborative funding has resulted in the ucan partnership assisting 395 households (over 1200 persons) avoid eviction (285 housing bills), utility disconnect (146 payments), and job loss (7 jobs), with a less than 6% recidivism rate. Health cuts across the financial stability and education impact areas of the agenda for community impact. Our agenda promotes health and productivity through diet and exercise with an emphasis on reducing risk factors for metabolic syndrome, including diabetes, obesity, and heart disease. Uwglc is investing in activities that increase access to physical activity of all types, including the winter months; ensure access to locally grown healthy foods; maintain healthy workplaces; and improve nutrition. Multi-year funding has allowed collaborative partners to measure data, continue to pilot test best-practice programs on a small scale, and implement larger-scale initiatives. This includes fresh affordable produce pickups in north ridgeville, wellington, and lagrange, with 1,059 produce bags this year. Additionally, thrive, key- and h&s-sponsored indoor and outdoor fitness events had a total of 7,286 attendees, including during winter months. The 5-k walk-run event in wellington attracted 121 participants of all ages. 955 (duplicated) seniors with dementia and their caregivers attended the wellington memory cafe. Partnering with other organizations within lorain county, united we sweat was formed in 2011 to promote healthy living in greater lorain county by raising awareness of and access to fitness and nutrition options. 10,240 individuals attended in-person initiative-sponsored free fitness events this year.

$134K in expenses

Information and referral refers people to services and volunteer opportunities at local agencies through united way's 2-1-1 first call for help, a confidential, free information and referral service. There were 14,820 calls and 29,126 unique website users.

$96K in expenses

Transportation initiatives access to reliable and affordable transportation affects the health and wellbeing of people in all parts of greater lorain county. United way invests in efforts to link riders with criticlly needed rides, such as to medical and mental health appointments, maximizing the use of locally-available and coordinated resources through mobility management. This project seeks to continue partnering in the elyria and lorain via LC pilot in the upcoming 12 months. The 2024-2028 lorain county coordinated transportation plan was updated for the ohio department of transportation; 197 hours of individualized travel training was provided; and carfit certification was maintaned and used to assist event attendees in making their vehicles safely accessible.

$85K in expenses

Direct services - direct services are provided by uwglc through the lorain county free tax prep coalition. Taxfiler surveys note that their refunds are used for essential needs such as utilities, groceries, and rent/mortgage payments, demonstrating tax refunds directly support family satbility and overall community well-being. Income tax preparation partners coordinated by uwglc completed 2,221 federal (and a similar number state) tax returns for a total refund of $2,082,479, of which $598,989 was from the earned income tax credit. The free tax program saved taxfilers an estimated $832,875 in prep and filing fees.united way volunteer engagement initiatives match individuals and groups of people to volunteer opportunies within the community and strives to increase the effectiveness and participation of all segments of volunteer resources through recruitment, training, education and recognition. 675 duplicated (234 unduplicated) volunteers provided 2,367 volunteer hours during the fiscal year.

$101K in expenses

Homeless management information systems (also known as continuum of care coordination) homelessness should be rare, brief, and resolvable through safe, affordable housing and support services. United way invests in a continuum of care that seeks to prevent homelessness, align emergency services for those who are unhoused, assure extra services are available during extreme weather, and results in service-enriched permanent housing. Housing related resources were coordinated for over 50 persons (duplicated) monthly; and between 5 and 10 landlords receive landlord-tenant counseling and crisis intervention each month. 1,107 additional overflow cots for emergency shelter were made available during the most recent extreme weather seasons, including 98 motel vouchers at a voucher cost of $9,999.37.