Non-profit organizations in Madison are set to receive some welcomed funds after United Way of Dane County announced it had received $16.6 million in donations from a variety of donors within the public and private sectors.
United Way of Dane County outlined six major regions of possible improvement for the Dane County area, including health care, safety, early childhood development, education and senior quality of life, said Senior Vice President of Community Impact Deedra Atkinson.
“We continually survey the community, keep our finger to the pulse, to determine which issues are the most pressing in Dane County,” Atkinson said. “Then we work to uncover the roots of these issues and fight them with community support.”
Atkinson said 1,200 Dane County businesses took part in the fundraising process, and many local employees pledged a donation as far back as August, after which their employers deducted the amount across their paychecks to cover their pledge.
United Way is set to provide grants to 80 Dane County agencies. These agencies will provide funds to 203 programs, all of which meet some part of the six regions of development, Atkinson said.
“The Dane County United Way is often referred to as a ‘center of excellence,'” Atkinson said. “We provide a training center for other United Way employees in the area of sustainable community change.”
The Young Women’s Christian Association will receive a significant source of funding from the grants. The money it receives will go toward reducing homelessness in families throughout Dane County.
Atkinson said United Way also collaborated with Centro Hispano in an effort to increase elementary literacy. It also coordinated with the Urban League to fight the racial achievement gap at middle and high school education levels.
One player in increasing the impact of the Dane County educational system on the community is the Schools of Hope.
This initiative combines the efforts of the school districts and their surrounding communities to further the involvement of kids and their families in schools.
Kathy Price, administrator at the School of Hope, said the money the United Way receives goes toward supporting tutoring provided by AmeriCorps within the schools.
“A major role that United Way plays in Schools of Hope is collaborator,” Price said. “They are good at getting different groups to talk together and solve problems together.”
Another recipient of United Way grants is The Literacy Network, a Madison-based organization that strives to provide people with language skills. Executive Director Jeff Burkhart said the Literacy Network has been working with a student group called the Wisconsin Literacy Initiative to recruit tutors to work with adults at Madison College.
For many of the students, English is a second language, and their lack of language skills may prevent them from seeking the best possible options in employment and health care.
While many organizations work throughout Dane County to combat social woes, Atkinson cautions that it is a continuing fight.
“The issues we are dealing with are not petty ones. This isn’t something that will take a year to resolve,” she said. “Luckily, we’ve developed strategies to get down to the roots of these serious social problems.”
