Changes are happening at United Way of Westchester and Putnam (UWWP). The organization has announced a new focus: moving individuals toward self-sufficiency, which it defines as being able to work to meet one”™s basic needs.
The rebranding is not altogether different from its earlier focus on education, income and health. It will continue to work with an array of entities, from government to community leaders and businesses, to achieve that goal.
Alana Sweeny, president and CEO of UWWP, said, “We want to do all those things, but if you say self-sufficient, it helps put a greater focus. We”™re just getting more specific in those groupings.”
The organization is also undergoing a shift in how it tracks success rates. It will now focus on specific “community outcomes” versus the outcomes of the individual programs it funds.
Its first initiative is to improve reading skills of children. According to United Way, 62 percent of children in Westchester and Putnam counties are not reading at grade level by the end of third grade. The organization aims to double the number of children who are able to read at that level in the next 10 years.
Sweeny said the third-grade reading level benchmark has “tremendous value for future success,” and children who are not reading at that stage are four times more likely to drop out prior to graduating high school.
According to Anne Marie Borrego, director of media and public relations at the overarching United Way Worldwide, these shifts go along with United Way Worldwide”™s goal of making an impact in local communities. The shift follows a number of local branches that are also taking on specific causes in their own communities.
And though each branch under United Way Worldwide”™s umbrella is an independent 501(c)(3) organization that “has the ability to make that choice on their own,” Borrego said “we can encourage local United Ways to join us on that journey.”
With these changes, Sweeny said UWWP is “still in discussion” regarding which programs or organizations that previously received funding may be cut. Sweeny said that her organization will likely look for “gaps” in the community and use funds to bring outside entities together to fill those gaps.
“It looks like that”™s more the direction versus having a whole list of people that we just do funding for to do their own program,” she said.
For the year ending June 30, 2015, UWWP spent around $3.7 million on its own initiatives, while $5 million was raised on behalf of other nonprofits.
“There are some things that may continue and some that may drop,” she said, adding that the new strategic plan is still being finalized.
The organization will also be looking at fundraising efforts to support its new focus.
“We”™re hoping that donors will be able to rally and get on board,” said Shannon Cobb, senior vice president of marketing and communications for UWWP.
United2Read, the organization”™s first step toward its new goals, aims to give teachers and parents the tools to increase the reading rates of local children. The program kicked off with a reading symposium in Yonkers on May 24. Partnering with Yonkers Schools and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, the event featured speakers discussing the best ways to enhance literacy among young children. Sweeny said that by bringing people together around this issue, UWWP hopes to find “affordable, creative ways” to improve children”™s reading skills regardless of their economic background.
Sweeny said that by focusing on a few “key areas,” including reading levels and school attendance, the organization can make a larger and longer-term impact on children in Westchester and Putnam counties.
