Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
In the previous year, our internal programs accomplished many goals and served Olmsted County in many facets, including: providing 2,209 backpacks to students and meeting 91% of the requested need, serving 3,532 households needing support to complete their taxes, helping 532 people get discounts on their prescriptions and reducing their costs by $127 on average, providing books 6,000 Olmsted County children, and receiving 2,474 calls from people seeking services as well as being able to support 84% of caller needs. Through our collective impact initiatives, 3,311 students have access to Community School resources and within those four local schools 81.3% of students have consistent attendance; C2C has 11 community partners in network working toward Kindergarten Readiness and 17 partners in their High School Graduation network; Meadow Park Initiative has actively engaged 182 neighborhood residents to inform their work as well as integrated a new soccer program for youth that serves 72 children. Our funded program partners served 27,325 people in the past year. Each partner serves the community in different ways, collectively they have provided 267 individuals with housing support; offered 107 families with information, tools, and/or trainings; connected 1,165 individuals to peer-to-peer support; provided 808 individuals with services to support their independent living; supported 537 children to maintain enrollment in high-qualify early childhood programs; and served 21,658 people participating in healthy food access programs. This is just a small piece of the work done in the past year.
Current Goals
United Way’s goal is to further our collective impact initiatives by increasing the number of people reached as well as the number of partners involved. Collective impact initiatives support sustainable growth and programming that can impact population level indicators as well as develop long term solutions to systemic issues. Investing in programs and initiatives that address whole families and systemic barriers is an area to grow in as well. Although it is hard to fully quantify impact when altering systems, these investments will support our community sustainably and promote equity.
We also intend to continue our commitment to our current funded program partners; they have been greatly affected by the pandemic and it has shown in their outcome measures this past year. The importance of these programs has shown through community collaborations happening in crisis and the feedback they are receiving from participants that use their services. We expect they will find efficient ways to continue to serve our community in these uncertain times and our goal is to support their service to their intended audiences.
Our internal programs continue to develop and improve each year. We anticipate an increase in numbers served for Running Start, 211, and FamilyWize programs. Adjustments are being made to continue our Tax Program within the new COVID-19 restrictions and offering any support in this realm will be considered success in this coming year. We hope to expand our program reach and find ways to better serve our community.
Community or Constituency Served
United Way of Olmsted County serves people in need in Olmsted County, Minnesota. We primarily aim to serve beneficiaries live in households with incomes below 250% of the Federal Poverty Guideline. We serve people of all ages and backgrounds, while giving priority to populations that are consistently disinvested in including (1) Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color, (2) immigrants and/or refugees, (3) children ages 0-5, (4) people with disabilities and (5) individuals living below 185% of the Federal Poverty Guideline. Beneficiaries of United Way of Olmsted County’s work are facing multiple complex barriers, which often include unstable housing, lack of sustaining employment, food insecurity, mental and physical health struggles, lack of affordable childcare, limited access to transportation, and being under-insured.
Geographic Area Served
Olmsted County, MN
