Spokane County United Way

advocate

Thanks to Steve McPherson (pictured above), Eastern and Gonzaga students and all other volunteers at United Way’s tax site for helping a record number of people prepare their taxes this year.

GRANT AWARDS BUILD CAPACITY OF LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS

Our United Way has recently been awarded four grants bringing close to $ 1 million in resources to our community to support our work, enhance much needed services and build the capacity of local non-profit organizations. All are key to creating measureable results that help people achieve their potential, increase their financial stability and opportunity and improve their health.

Building Community Philanthropy - The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Our United Way is one of twenty community philanthropic partners in the Pacific Northwest selected to receive money from the Gates Foundation to be used to support its goals of reducing intergenerational poverty.
The $700,000, four year grant will be used to build capacity and to support programs that are working on community defined strategies that provide education supports for children and youth, assist families in becoming self-sufficient and support other strategies that build stronger communities.

Educating Youth on Finances - Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)
The $150,000 grant will be used to provide financial education and coaching in partnership with the Next Generation Zone, an affiliate of Work Source Spokane that serves youth ages 16 – 24. This program will serve youth who are newly employed, preparing to work or have been recently placed in an internship. Youth served are typically low income, with nearly 44% not having a GED or a high school diploma. During the two-year project the Next Generation Zone will fully integrate financial education and coaching into its core services with 288 youth expected to complete the training.

Increasing Community Capacity - Ready by 21 / United Way Worldwide
This $50,000 grant will be used to expand our capacity to support community partners working together on middle school success. It will also support the data sharing capacity of Spokane Public Schools and its early warning system. As one of only 10 local United Ways selected, we will receive training and tools to help us build diverse coalitions, engage in effective planning, support identify critical data needs and design strategies to address areas of need.

Supporting Free Tax Preparation - Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) / IRS
This $5,000 grant helps expand our capacity to provide free tax preparation assistance to low and moderate income workers. Accounting students from Gonzaga and EWU along with community and business volunteers are staffing our United Way tax site with the goal of preparing 800 tax returns for local residents during the three month tax season.

JOIN US!

Spokane County United Way has a unique one year AmeriCorps VISTA opportunity starting in July for someone to coordinate the development and implementation of a volunteer engagement strategy.
Applications are due by May 15, 2013. Read application information.

Local campaign makes goal:
donations increase by 5%

Spokane County United Way announced that donations increased by 5% continuing a trend that despite challenging economic times, confirms the generosity of local donors including more than 600 businesses and organizations that run annual campaigns.

The total raised this year was $4,270,920. read more