May 15, 2008 | Read Time: 4 minutes
The United Way of America today announced a 10-year effort that focuses on three goals: improving the health, education and finances of working families across the country.
At a conference in Baltimore attended by officials from 500 local United Ways and other organizations, the national association announced the following goals it hopes to reach by 2018:
Cut in half high-school dropout rates across the United States. Cut in half the number of families with working parents who don’t earn enough to cover the family’s basic expenses. Increase by one-third the number of Americans who are healthy and avoid risky behaviors.
“These targets are building blocks for a good life,” said Brian A. Gallagher, United Way of America’s president. “You need a quality education that leads to a stable job, enough income to support a family, and good health.” The United Way will provide an update every two years on its progress toward meeting the three goals, he said.
A report released today by the United Way finds that one in four working parents do not earn enough to support their families, and one in four teens will not graduate high school on time.
Only one in three adults can be considered healthy, once risk factors such as obesity are taken into account, according to data compiled by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta, the report noted.
Broad Effort
The United Way’s new focus seeks to bring the country together to work on the goals, Mr. Gallagher said. Charities can’t do it alone.
“We’re not going to social-service our way out of this,” he said. The United Way and 17 other large national charities, including the YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs of America, have agreed to coordinate their work more closely in local areas.
The United Way also must attract more volunteers and redouble its efforts to advocate for government dollars to support its priorities, he added.
In recent years, “we got out of the public-policy business and the volunteerism business,” Mr. Gallagher said. “This new agenda calls for us to get much more deeply involved again.”
He said that United Way of America would continue to press federal officials to increase funds for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which state lawmakers have said is inadequately supported, and the amount of the earned income tax credit by which low-income families can claim deductions.
The effort, under which local United Ways would insist that the charities they support set and achieve measurable progress toward the three goals, represents substantial change for the nation’s 1,293 local United Ways.
‘Community Impact’
Previous experience suggests that redirecting the behemoth organization will be difficult. In 2002, the national organization encouraged local United Ways to try a new approach, which the charity dubbed “community impact.” It called on them to focus on specific, locally identified problems, and to work with nonprofit groups to reach measurable goals.
The effort signaled a shift from the more traditional approach in which United Ways acted as fund-raising conduits that passed money to a wide range of nonprofit groups. In the years since the change in focus, more than 85 percent of the local groups have said they are making progress toward the new approach but only 30 percent have fully completed the transition.
The new 10-year plan is a continuation of that work, and United Way officials said they hoped the goals would spur more United Ways to adopt the community-impact approach.
Mr. Gallagher said he expects only about 20 percent of local organizations to immediately adopt the new goals, and that another 15 to 20 percent may never do so. For the rest, he said, change will take time.
$300 Savings
In the report released today, “Goals for the Common Good,” the United Way identifies several indicators that it says charities can use to show they are making progress toward the larger goals. For example, in order for more working families to achieve financial stability, they will need to build savings of $300, get out of debt, and increase their incomes, all outcomes a charity can measure.
Although the goals appear far narrower than traditional United Way efforts, Mr. Gallagher said he expects that most existing recipients of United Way funds will be able to qualify for continued aid under one of them. For example, a group that helps the elderly can focus on those who are working but in financial straits. However, he said, many charities will have to change their approach.
“I’m not trying to sugarcoat the change this is going to mean for our partners,” he said. “Activity is not going to be enough anymore, saying we served 200,000 seniors last year. The question is, what are we doing to increase the financial stability of seniors?”
The United Way, which is based in Alexandria, Va., has created a new Web site to help coordinate its work toward the goals. A copy of the new report is available on the Web site.
