Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Provide a centralized information and referral system so people can access resources.

Program

Family Services

Program Goal 

Family Services provides referral and resources for native and non-native elders, families and individuals experiencing hardship for basic needs. Having the funding for another year will be very beneficial to our clients that we serve especially those who have been impacted by Coronavirus, many have lost their jobs or had their hours cut, because of this many are having a hard time paying their bills and providing for their families. Our clients come to us with many different needs such as utility shut off notices, rental assistance (back rent or security deposits), needing help with getting a state ID or even assistance with transportation such as greyhound or an Amtrak ticket to help our clients get back home. The additional funding would be very beneficial especially now when the need is great.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

United Way funding for the American Indian Community Center (AICC) Family Services program, allows us to provide meals for Spokane county through the AICC food bank. We are able to keep over 300 Native and non-Native children and their parents warm by providing them with coats, hoodies, socks, hats and blankets. With the grant that we receive from United Way we are able to assist our families with rent and utility bills. Family Service also provides external referrals for housing, general assistance, SNAP energy and many other referrals to help families who are in crisis. Without the funding that we receive from United Way we would not be able to successfully provide food, clothing, hygiene products and external referrals to other agencies. United Way’s funding helps provide the American Indian Community Center the resources and manpower to make these services available to help our clients and their families become self-sustainable.

Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Access services to prevent a crisis from escalating and empowering a household to progress toward financial stability.

Program

Disaster Cycle Services – Disaster Services

Program Goal 

The history of the American Red Cross is inseparable from the history of America itself. Since 1881, American Red Cross members and volunteers have been an essential part of our nation’s response to war, natural disaster and other human suffering. We’ve been witness to great tragedy, but more importantly we’ve seen the triumph of the human spirit as people work together to help each other rebuild their lives and communities. Today our mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies by mobilizing the power of volunteers and the generosity of donors. We do this regardless of race, religion or any other protected class. We do this through these five lines of services: Disaster Cycle Services; Service to the Armed Forces; Training Services; Biomedical Services and International Services. The American Red Cross serving the Greater Inland Northwest serves Spokane County.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

Spokane County United Way funds impact our common community in two ways: First, funds are used to support Spokane County residents who have been impacted by a disaster, specifically home fires. During calendar year 2020, American Red Cross responded to 70 events, opened 107 cases and provided assistance to 298 individuals. Approximately $62,000 was spent on direct financial assistance given to our clients. In addition to financial support, the Red Cross is able to provide mental health support and case management services to help these families recover and rebuild from the losses they faced. 

Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Access services to prevent a crisis from escalating and empowering a household to progress toward financial stability.

Program

Individual Advocacy

Program Goal and Impact

The Arc of Spokane is a 501c3 nonprofit agency that advocates for the welfare of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) throughout Eastern Washington. The Arc of Spokane is the leading non-profit agency in the Inland Northwest that provides life-changing support for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families at every stage of life. The Arc of Spokane advocates alongside people with intellectual and developmental disabilities through Young Adult and Transition Programs, Supported Housing, Supported Employment, Representative Payee Services, Individualized Advocacy initiatives, Family Support programs, and Community Inclusion.

Community Strategy

Education: Provide access to high-quality out-of-school time programs (before and after school, summer).

Program

Thrive{ology} for Underserved Youth

Program Goal 

Camp Fire’s program goal is to close the gap that prevents children experiencing poverty, children of color, and LGBTQ+ youth from accessing social-emotional learning in the great outdoors. Our objectives are to serve 150 individuals in 2021 at our two summer camps, and for 90% of participants to say they learned a new outdoor skill. The program will remove barriers to summer camp by covering enrollment fees and providing transportation with stops at Title I (high-poverty) schools. We will partner with Spokane Housing Ventures, Salish School of Spokane, West Central Community Center, and Odyssey Youth Movement to recruit youth through their programming. We will also conduct outreach at Spokane Title I schools. Children will attend a week of Camp Fire summer camp, either day camp at Camp Dart-Lo on the Little Spokane River or overnight camp at Camp Sweyolakan on Lake Coeur d’Alene. There, they will participate in hiking, boating, swimming, fishing, archery, pacing, orienteering, knife safety, whittling, fire building, and camp cooking. All outdoor education is grounded in Camp Fire’s evidence-based Thrive{ology} social-emotional curriculum to address behavioral and emotional concerns. An additional year of funding will help Camp Fire meet our goals and objectives by contributing to staffing, supplies, and transportation costs. In speaking to families and community partners, we learned that the greatest barriers to outdoor programming are enrollment fees and transportation. These barriers have worsened in COVID. To truly close access gaps, we need funding to pay for buses and offset revenues lost as we waive fees.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

Spokane County United Way funds will make it possible to create access to summer camp for underserved kids at a time in which it was sorely needed due to child stress, social-emotional struggles, and isolation. In 2020, we incurred new staffing and supply costs due to COVID and we know that will still be the case as we provide services in 2021. Between June and September during the 2020 summer camp season, we were thrilled to safely carry out camps at Camp Dart-Lo and Camp Sweyolakan, all with not a single case of COVID transmission. To achieve this, however, we incurred significant increased programmatic costs. These costs included PPE, sanitation supplies, and increased staff time for sanitation, handwashing stations, and temperature monitoring. We also had higher-than-usual seasonal staffing costs to ensure we would meet our staff-to-camper ratios. During the same season, we waived more enrollment fees than ever before with jobless claims at a record high. We never turn families away from camp due to inability to pay.

Community Strategy

Education: Use two-generation strategies (that connect parents with economic supports, health care, education, employment, and/or social connections while also supporting child development).

Program

Parents as Teachers

Program Goal 

Parents as Teachers builds strong communities, thriving families and children that are healthy, safe and ready to learn by matching parents and caregivers with trained professionals who make regular personal visits during a child’s earliest years in life, from prenatal through kindergarten.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

The local, private funding provided by United Way provides vital flexibility to our budget and allows us to not only sustain the program, but to modify the program to meet the needs of families in our community. Funds from United Way help to provide administrative support for our program, which is not fully funded through our funding from DCYF. We could not effectively operate our program without this support. In addition, this funding allows us to purchase things not allowed by the Federal/State funding provided by DCFY such as meals for families who attend our Group Connections. We are also able to use this funding for professional development opportunities for our staff in an effort to increase staff retention. It also allows us to purchase incentives for parent participation in our program. For instance, we have partnered with Aunties books to purchase new board books that we provide to families every month which encourages early literacy as well as family engagement.

Community Strategy

Education: Provide targeted and effective prevention and intervention programs for children/youth in need of assistance (in or out-of-school setting).

Program

PrimeTime Mentoring

Program Goal 

The goal is to connect students who are at risk of academic failure to a caring adult that will meet with them once per week to listen to them, encourage them, support them through their failures and provide recognition of their successes. As we know, due to the challenges of distance learning and the COVID-19 pandemic, students have an increased need for educational and emotional support. Funding for the continuation of our PrimeTime Tutoring and Mentoring programs will be needed now more than ever and the support these services provide will be vital to student success. Looking ahead to the 2021-2022 school year, our goal is to relaunch our in-person programs at previously served schools as well as provide continued support through virtual programing for both tutoring and mentoring services.  This year, we have learned to pivot, shift and think outside the box and will continue to support student needs.  While our volunteer numbers have decreased due to the pandemic, we foresee increased participation and plan to match accordingly to school demand.  We are also looking to expand our current mentoring programing to create subject specific mentoring groups where students and mentors meet with the purpose of discussing/learning and engaging in activities around a certain topic of interest.  An additional year of funding will help us to regain our partnerships with schools with the hope that they will prioritize the program and provide more funding in future years.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

United Way Funds allow us to recruit, train, place, and monitor mentors in a way that provides for quality programming at 58 different schools around Spokane County.  Our core description of a PrimeTime Mentor: Mentors make others around them feel valued.  A mentor is not there to “fix,” but rather to facilitate growth and maturity.  The aim of a mentoring relationship is not to make a youth dependent on the mentor, rather to walk alongside the student and give him or her the tools to create resiliency and to thrive.  During training we emphasize “as a mentor you will have to wear many different hats.  On some days you might just need to be a listener, while on other days you might be more of an advocate for your mentee.  On the other hand, mentors are not here to replace anybody in the lives of their mentees or to do someone else’s job, like counselors. It is important to know that mentors are not allowed to instruct or teach.” Our mentors join the growing ranks of adults who have some understanding of ACES and the effects on children.  Mentors become child advocates for life.  

Community Strategy

Health: Social and emotional competence of children: Family and child interactions that help children develop the ability to communicate clearly, recognize and regulate their emotions and establish and maintain relationships.

Program

FASST – Families and Schools Succeeding Together

Program Goal 

The FASST Program serves youth, K-12 in the East and Central Valley School District living below the federal poverty level and ALICE households who have experienced Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including physical abuse and other childhood trauma. ACEs can result in significant emotional and behavioral concerns both in and out of the classroom. FASST provides services in the school setting to assist enrolled students with decreasing symptoms related to depression, anxiety, and trauma. The lack of funding and training for staff, use of isolation, restraint, and school suspension/expulsions to manage problem behaviors would be more prevalent without FASST. A FASST clinician helps to diminish barriers by advocating, facilitating communication, collaborating with school staff and families to support students to remain in school. Last year, 100% of high school students were attending school or graduated from high school when completing treatment with the FASST Program. FASST clinicians will continue to assess and track symptoms of depression, anxiety and trauma by using evidenced-based practices and trauma informed care. Our collaboration with school staff and families can maximize the youth’s ability to heal. Mental health continues to be prevalent in our schools. Through FASST funding, clinicians will address the emotional and behavioral needs as they relate to promoting resiliency in positive behavior management, fostering family relationships, improving social connection, and decreasing the impacts of depression, anxiety and trauma.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

FBH, in partnership with both the East Valley and Central Valley School Districts, share a common mission of bringing clinically indicated mental health services to youth K-12 and their families who otherwise, would not be able to access these school-based services. As part of FBH’s partnership with East Valley and Central Valley School Districts, we are able to reach all students regardless of their ability to pay. These youth are in jeopardy of dropping out of school and are struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma and other disruptive mental health conditions. While the school district’s funding is significant, it only covers a portion of the cost needed to provide these services. The remainder of the cost for these services is covered by a combination of public mental health funding for those who are eligible and United Way’s support. Many students would not be able to access mental health services without the immediacy and accessibility of the FASST Program operating directly in the schools. Although the funding support received from East Valley and Central Valley is not contingent upon the presence of United Way funding, without the additional support from United Way, this critical partnership would not be sustainable.

Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Provide a centralized information and referral system so people can access resources.

Program

2-1-1, operated by Frontier Behavioral Health

Program Goal 

Eastern Washington 2-1-1 is a free information and referral service to those living in Spokane, Ferry, Stevens, and Pend Oreille counties. Our statewide database holds the most up to date and comprehensive community resources providing one stop shopping for all inquiries (over 27,000 listings). Individuals in need simply dial 2-1-1, or can text “EW211” to 898-211, and will then be connected to an Information & Referral Specialist in our area who will listen and provide appropriate resources. Our I&R Specialists often find themselves going above and beyond to advocate for the individual if the specific need is not currently in the database. Think of our program as an advanced personal google search experience where you interact with a live educated individual who can simplify your needs and provide immediate answers. Time spent not answering calls, texts, and email requests from those in need is dedicated to communicating directly with agencies and programs throughout Spokane and surrounding counties. This ensures we are capturing any updates to current resources and/or gathering brand new resources. We take pride in making sure information given is accurate and still available. Our program would benefit from additional funding so we can continue assisting with the increase need in Basic Food applications, homeless pre-screenings, health and wellness support, utility/energy assistance, veteran services, legal resources, disaster and crisis support, transportation, etc. Eastern Washington 2-1-1’s role in assisting those struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic has been crucial and we want to continue to provide for those in need.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

Spokane County United Way funds over a third of the budget for Eastern Washington 211. This funding is extremely necessary to allow for adequate staffing and maintain resources needed to operate efficiently. Not only does Spokane County United Way offer financial stability to our program, but they also are a large contributor to voicing our services to community partners on a larger scale. We also look to Spokane County United Way to provide valuable resources and oversight of program guidelines. EW211 would not be able to operate without the support of United Way and enables the program to continue to grow and develop, bringing quality services and information to residents of Eastern Washington. The pandemic has increased the need for funding tremendously as we are working at triple the pace than we have in previous years.

Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Access services to prevent a crisis from escalating and empowering a household to progress toward financial stability.

Program

Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition

Program Goal 

The Spokane Immigrant Rights Coalition helps immigrant families thrive and make Spokane a more welcoming place by addressing inequities and systemic barriers within government and our community. We focus on three main strategies education and outreach to impacted families and service providers, legal and financial emergency aid, and creating policy change through community organizing and advocacy.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

Our United Way funding has been one of the few multiyear general support funding sources we have had for SIRC. It is a core part of our baseline budget and has allowed us to create a strong foundation for the past two years. We have been able to leverage this funding to attract other grants and fill in gaps left by more restricted or short-term grants and contracts.   

Community Strategy

Education: Provide access to high-quality out-of-school time programs (before and after school, summer).

Program

Troop 687 (renamed Pathfinders)

Program Goal 

Through the Troop 687 program we hope to continue to serve girls in high-poverty areas of Spokane. This program has been successful in providing the Girl Scout experience to girls from underserved and underrepresented backgrounds attending Title 1 schools. The population served is reflective of the individual school communities where each troop is located. The girls who participate in the Troop 687 program, are from diverse backgrounds and from low-income families. Our overarching goal is to provide access to the powerful leadership development opportunities that Girl Scouts provides to as many girls as possible. Our objective is to continue to be there for girls when they need us most, and address challenges so girls are better equipped for life. Girl Scouts offers a shelter in the storm—a place where girls can find community, solidarity, leadership opportunities, and fun, despite the challenging life they are living through. An additional year of funding will help us continue this program, grow the program to include more girls, and provide an opportunity for these girls to experience community and sisterhood, while appreciating everyone’s unique value, celebrating everyone’s differences, and on supporting one another through obstacles and conflict

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

United Way has helped us build our Troop 687 program from the beginning, and has continued to support our mission on building girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place. West Central was our original Troop 687 and supported by UW it became our flagship last year coming to life as we opened back up. We are continuing to prepare girls to take the lead, explore their passions, and make the world a better place for generations to come. During the pandemic we have had to act quickly to meet the needs of our girl members, with schools cancelled, social distancing requirements, and limited resources, this has proved to be a challenging year. Because of the financial support of the United Way of Spokane these past few years, we have had the resources to continue to provide Troop support and programs to these highly engaged girls. With every girl enrolled in this program, the opportunities are endless on what she can achieve. Your support keeps girls in Girl Scouting and ensures access to our programs, regardless of background, geography, or financial situation. Research shows that participating in Girl Scouting is positively linked to academic achievement and school engagement.

Community Strategy

Education: Provide access to high-quality out-of-school time programs (before and after school, summer)

Program

Hillyard Youth Collaborative (Boys &Girls Clubs of Spokane County, Communities In Schools of Spokane County, Gonzaga University Center for Community Engagement and Northeast Community Center - the ZoNE)

Program Goal 

The Hillyard Youth Collaborative is a sustainable partnership between Spokane Public Schools and community-based organizations that uses a holistic, culturally responsive approach to improve academic and social outcomes for current and future Shaw and Garry middle school students. By aligning and coordinating supports of partner organizations, the Hillyard Youth Collaborative supports youth and their families in achieving their goals.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

An additional year of funding will help the HYC transition to more of a two-generation approach, supporting youth and their parents in a critical time as our community begins to recover from the pandemic. To help counter the continuing impacts of the pandemic on our collaborative work, we plan a strong focus on renewal of relationships with each target elementary and middle school, especially to ensure careful assessment of students in greatest need of our support and services. We also intend to refresh and boost family engagement and support, as well as marketing strategies. Adding the ZoNE as a formal partner will be an important part of these efforts (See D below.)

Community Strategy

Education: Provide access to high quality early learning programs.

Program

Building Resilient Children, Youth and Families

Program Goal 

This program encompasses our ECEAP program and Play & Learn groups, making access to high-quality early learning programs possible for families experiencing poverty, housing instability, and SUDs. The goal of the program is to reduce the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) by eliminating abuse and neglect; and increase healthy child development and school readiness for children with parents or caregivers recovering from substance abuse. Our objectives are to serve 20 children aged birth-5 during the year, with all children meeting age-appropriate developmental milestones or Individual Education Plan (IEP) goals and all parents reporting they learned about healthy child development through the program. An additional year of funding fights a child care crisis by providing families with access to licensed high-quality early learning programs. Funding ensures our ECEAP classroom is on hand for families, preparing children aged 3-4 from low-income households for success by reducing ACEs. Your funding empowers parents to recover from SUDs and be able to find a job and go to work, knowing their child is in good hands with our 6-hour per day, year-round high-quality care. Funding sustains year-round on-site child development opportunities through Play & Learn groups to support strong caregiver-child connections and meaningful connections with other families. The program also helps families secure resources and support, such as language interpretation services, medical and dental homes, transportation, and food. United Way funding sustains trauma-informed early learning professionals to serve diverse children with cultural competency, sensitivity and passion.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

With United Way funding, we have been able to bring about positive change for the families the program serves! This funding is a crucial means to sustain our program at a time in which childcare options are more limited than ever, and vulnerable families more isolated than ever before. In 2020, with your support, all families we served are now more resilient. All parents report learning about child development, say they are better able to cope with stress, and say they are better able to maintain a nurturing environment for their child than before enrollment. All children met age-appropriate developmental milestones or were referred to specialized therapies to address developmental concerns.

Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Acquire and maintain skills that lead to household -sustaining employment.

Program

Head Start to the Construction Trades

Program Goal 

HCT was created to meet the needs of Spokane area residents who are un-/under-skilled, un-/under-employed, and low income. HCT holds six-week classes to train and prepare individuals for the construction industry and gives them the opportunity to apply for paying apprenticeships and employment in a variety of construction trades. Classes include hands-on construction training, virtual classroom instruction, barriers-to-employment sessions, certification classes, resume and construction-specific interview assistance, financial advice and instruction, a full-day tour to construction apprenticeship centers, and job placement assistance. Hands-on construction training includes commercial and residential carpentry, plumbing, electrical, masonry, HVAC techs, and heavy equipment operation. Students receive Flagging, OSHA 10, Forklift, and First Aid/CPR/AED certificates. In barriers-to-employment sessions, HCT staff assist students who have surmountable obstacles to gaining employment. These sessions may include assistance with obtaining or re-obtaining a driver’s license, past due child support, housing issues, childcare, and/or other unique barriers the student may have. HCT works with community partners to assist students with some of these barriers. The end goal is for students to obtain living-wage careers in which they can support themselves and their families. An additional year of funding will allow HCT to continue holding trainings.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

The funds from the Spokane County United Way grant will enable Head Start to the Construction Trades to continue to hold classes for individuals in need of training. In addition to construction training, the barriers sessions provide the students with life and employment skills. This is extremely valuable to Spokane County residents because it provides them with the knowledge, confidence, and skills needed to provide a better future for themselves and their families. HCT’s goal is to train 60 individuals during fiscal year 2021-2022 and employ at least 60% of those individuals.

Community Strategy

Health: Knowledge of parenting and child development: Understanding child development and parenting strategies that support physical, cognitive, language, social and emotional development.

Program

Purposeful Therapy to Build Lifelong Skills for Infants and Toddlers with Special Needs

Program Goal 

Joya Child & Family Development, the region’s only Neurodevelopmental Center of Excellence, believes in the worth of every individual and their right to a meaningful life. Our purpose is to nurture the full potential of families and their children, from birth to three, who have developmental delays and disabilities. Individual therapy based on the family’s goals for their child in collaboration with their care team is individualized, comprehensive, and developmentally appropriate. Services may be provided in-home, in the community, or in toddler group settings with typically developing peers. Joya offers over 20 different services, including special education services, physical, occupational, speech and feeding therapy, medical evaluation, and service coordination. Financial assistance is available so decisions about the frequency and intensity of services can be based on the child’s need, not based on what the family can afford.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

Spokane County United Way funds help Joya continue to serve families based on their child’s need. Joya has a 60-year history of serving the most medically complex children with a comprehensive, individualized program based on the child and family’s need. With the help of donors and organizations like Spokane County United Way to help cover cost shares and copays for families in need of financial assistance, we can continue to provide world class care that changes lives. A child with cerebral palsy, spina bifida, or Down Syndrome, may likely need frequent physical therapy to learn to walk; occupational therapy for self-help skills like toileting; feeding therapy to strengthen oral motor skills, coordinate swallowing, breathing, and eventually chewing; speech therapy to learn to communicate effectively; specially designed education to maximize cognitive aptitude, and Family Resources Coordination to support the family in need of transportation, housing, food, or access to other resources. Without the help of Spokane County United Way and other donors, many families would be forced to choose which of these critical services they could afford.

Community Strategy

Health: Concrete support in times of need: Access to concrete support and services that address a family’s needs and help minimize stress caused by challenges.

Program

Sexual Assault and Family Trauma (SAFeT) Response Center

Program Goal 

The Sexual Assault and Family Trauma Response Center encompasses our Victim Advocacy and Education program as well as our clinical behavioral health outpatient program. These programs serve youth through adults with the focus of access to services that will address presenting issues and empower individuals that have faced adversity. As a Trauma-Informed Care Organization, our programs strive to ensure that individuals have timely access to services from knowledgeable, caring providers. To provide clinically and culturally appropriate behavioral healthcare and related services, our experienced staff seek to understand each person’s unique situation, and then develop a plan to assist individuals on their path to wellness through advocacy,education, counseling and skill building. The Victim Advocacy and Education program provides legal and medical advocacy for victims of sexual assault, physical assault, later-in-life abuse, child abuse, neglect, and other traumatic crime. This program collaborates with local law enforcement, judges, the County Prosecutor’s Office, local hospitals and many others to ensure that people who have been victimized understand their rights, learn about local resources and gain access to services. The SAFeT Clinical Program provides trauma-informed behavioral health services to people who have experienced victimization, crisis, violence and other trauma. This includes trauma-affected children, teens, adults, and those who are later in life. This program serves a large number of refugee people. The SAFeT Clinical service collaborates with local doctors and pediatricians, school districts and schools, and many local human services organizations.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

United Way funds significantly impact our programs in the SAFeT Response Center by offering individuals in need connection to services that promote healing and wellness. This is especially true when barriers involving lack of grant funding, insurance limitations, lack of transportation, emergency and basic needs issues, etc. may interfere with a person’s ability to access services. All Victim Advocacy services are provided to trauma-affected youth and adults at no charge. United Way funds make it possible for the SAFeT Response Center to respond nimbly to evolving community needs as they emerge. This funding has a tremendous beneficial impact on our ability to mitigate trauma and crisis conditions for desperate people in our community.

Community Strategy

Health: Concrete support in times of need: Access to concrete support and services that address a family’s needs and help minimize stress caused by challenges.

Program

Child Welfare Services

Program Goal 

Our FOCIS (Family Outreach & Crisis Intervention Service) Program offers a 4-week intensive hospital diversion program involving holistic in-home mental health, case management and case aid support. This program helps whole families stabilize so that youth can work toward wellness at home, where they are most likely to succeed. Families and youth in need of more comprehensive services may choose to enter the longer-term WISe (Wraparound with Intensive Services) program, which involves a greater time commitment and more intensive support services. WISe helps youth organize around natural family and social supports and goal setting/achievement. The program is designed to let youth/families lead the healing and recovery and, in the process, build positive supportive relationships and goal-oriented habits that will continue to serve them long after their time in the program has ended. Our specialized foster care programs prepare highly-trained families to care for and support vulnerable domestic foster youth and unaccompanied refugee minor (URM) foster children in stable, long-term placements while LCSNW works toward reunification with the biological family. United Way funding gives us the support and flexibility we need in order to meet youth and families where they are at, offering supports that align with their self-identified needs. United Way funding also allows us to meet concrete needs of youth and families who have lost employment; provides extra resources for those who continue to function in a virtual capacity requiring additional equipment, etc.; and assists with behavioral support and coaching to maintain placements.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

United Way funding provides the support and flexibility LCSNW needs to effectively come alongside trauma-affected families and children struggling with acute behavioral health issues, trauma, poverty and other barriers to wellness. Child Welfare programs at LCS Northwest provide placement, intensive case management and wraparound behavioral health services to support vulnerable youth and their families. Our program focuses on delivering services in the least restrictive settings. Least restrictive settings represent a physical place for care, e.g. at home with the family rather than an inpatient psychiatric hospital unit. Least restrictive space is also a principle that guides style of care, e.g. youth are encouraged to heal and connect within mainstream social contexts for maximum long-term wellness.

Community Strategy

Education: Provide access to high-quality out-of-school time programs (before and after school, summer).

Program

FAME (Fulfillment, Achievement, Maturity Enrichment)

Program Goal 

FAME (Fulfillment, Achievement, Enrichment) program is an afterschool program that serves primarily low-income, ethnically diverse elementary students ages 5-12 who attend Grant, Sheridan, and Franklin schools (Grant and Sheridan are Title 1 Schools). The program is offered Monday-Friday 3pm to 6pm.The program provides a safe and structured environment that combines academic, social and emotional development, enrichment, cultural, and recreational activities to guide learning and engage children, An additional year of funding will help us to continue to provide high quality afterschool and out of school time programming.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

United Way funds helps us provide free or low cost after school services to working families. Without support from United Way, we would not be able to run a high quality program.

Community Strategy

Education: Provide access to high-quality out-of-school time programs (before and after school, summer).

Program

General Operations Grant

Program Goal 

Odyssey Youth Movement promotes equity for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults through youth-driven programs and community education. We envision a future of thriving LGBTQ+ youth throughout the Inland NW. Odyssey’s drop-in programs hosted four nights a week (MWF for 13-18 year olds and Th for 18-24 year olds) are the corner stone of our direct services along with our Basic Needs program. Drop-In includes a peer to peer support group, regular life skills and healthy relationship programs, as well as opportunities to be creative and connect with peers. The Basic Needs Program supplies food, hygiene supplies, bus passes, and more to LGBTQ+ youth and their households in need, delivered safely to front porches during the pandemic.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

The impact of funding from Spokane County United Way means continued sustainability and future growth for Odyssey Youth Movement as an organization. General operating funding means we as staff members at the organization can focus on the important work of walking alongside the community’s LGBTQ+ youth and young adults in whatever way is most useful to them. We never know for sure what a young person will need or where their journey will take them, when they walk through the door (literally or virtually) support like this from the United Way allows us the flexibility to prepare for possibilities.

Community Strategy

Education: Provide access to high-quality out-of-school time programs (before and after school, summer).

Program

Refugee Kids Connect

Program Goal 

Refugee Kids Connect helps refugee youth successfully integrate into their communities by meeting specific social and academic needs, while addressing systemic challenges. Our approach focuses on building confidence, leadership, and life skills via targeted programming, mentoring, and educational support. Our program creates a safe space where refugee youth feel heard and valued for their individual contributions. Traditionally, our program focused on thematic life skills activities. Due to the pandemic, we modified our approach for the upcoming year to improve virtual engagement with our youth and increase participation in our online tutoring program and provide connections to alleviate feelings of isolation. Our current focus is on creating five clubs based on expressed interests of our youth: - Magazine Club, youth will write and publish a monthly magazine focused on refugee perspectives to include art, poetry, writing and photography, which we will distribute in our community. - Environmental Club, youth will learn about the environment, engage in activities in nature, and use recycled/upcycled materials. - Jump Rope Club, participants will learn about the health benefits and fun of jumping rope, led by an award-winning jump rope coach, - Youth Film Club youth will analyze movies and discuss themes, in activities with a social-emotional focus - Fine-Arts Club, youth will learn principles of various art styles and mediums via guided instruction and apply their personal style to their work. Funding through Spokane County United Way would be instrumental in continuing to provide quality staff, curriculum and supplies to our participants.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

The funds that we received via Spokane County United Way are an integral component in our success. The grant enabled us to add two new locations to our program, which then helped us leverage our progress to obtain funding for two additional sites, bringing our total to five sites. We hired two Program Assistants and purchased supplies for our program. We worked with apartment managers of new complexes, who reserved spaces for our program and introduced us to the youth and families with whom we would work. These programs immediately took off. Youth were enthusiastic to participate in our after-school program (in locations where the manager said other programs had not been successful). The consistent attendance and participation at the two sites encouraged us. Youth invited their siblings and friends to attend. Increasing the number of youth from 0 to 47 served at two apartment sites. After we expanded our program, we evaluated whether our program and successes could be replicated in new locations. We were thrilled to discover that they were! In the past year, we utilized remaining funds to support our COVID-19 outreach efforts.

Community Strategy

Education: Provide targeted and effective prevention and intervention programs for children/youth in need of assistance (in or out-of-school setting).

Program

Native Language Arts Excellence Project (NLAEP)

Program Goal 

The goal of the NLAEP is to ensure that Native American students at SSOS are academically successful and have strong learning and cultural connections with their teachers, parents and community. The most important key to academic success is strong literacy. We want our students to read at or above grade level in English and also read in Salish at a level matching their spoken proficiency. We work to give our students a sense of the power and delight of literacy. We want our students to have the literacy and academic skills that will ensure their success in college or in other endeavors that will help them live lead full, rich lives in service to their communities. Our specific NLAEP objectives are: 1) retain a highly skilled bilingual literacy specialist to oversee the overall P-8 bilingual literacy program for ECEAP, elementary and middle school students; 2) create and publish additional Salish language reading and literacy curriculum materials, especially graded readers for upper elementary and middle school grades; 3) keep all 1-8 elementary/middle school students in the Spokane Virtual Learning Strategies program for increasing language arts achievement; 4) ensure that all students read at or above grade level in English; 5) ensure that all students read and write Salish at a level commensurate with their spoken proficiency; 6) continue to provide intensive Salish language training for ECEAP and elementary/middle school staff, and; 7) continue to provide training for eight K-8 Associate Teachers through the Salish Language Educator Development (SLED) Program.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

The NLAEP was developed in response to the need to develop an academic literacy program for our students as they aged out of our Salish immersion preschool and kindergarten program. NLAEP funding helped us bring a highly qualified, Native ́American elementary literacy specialist to our school. Grahm Wiley-Camacho (MA Ed Harvard) is a skilled instructor and curriculum developer, and he is fluent in n̓səl̓xčin̓ (Colville Salish). Grahm has been developing our English-Salish literacy program for 8 years. We have had excellent results, with nearly all students achieving grade-level in literacy. We continue to rely on NLAEP funding to employ Grahm and power the development of NLAEP curriculum and teaching methodologies. Grahm is now leading the translation of new Salish reading books, the development of instructional tools for teaching students with unique needs, and the training of new associate teachers of literacy. Our NLAEP literacy program has also become a regional model. It has been adopted by tribal communities across the Pacific Northwest including the Kalispel Tribal Immersion School, and Grahm is now teaching our NLEAP literacy system at Salish Kootanai College on the Flathead Indian Reservation where it has been adopted by tribal and public schools.

Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Acquire and maintain stable, affordable housing.

Program

Housing Counseling

Program Goal 

SNAP’s Housing Counseling Program (HCP) objective is household stabilization of low-income, asset limited income constrained employed (ALICE) and unemployed families’ by providing essential services, education, counseling. Our goal is to help community members achieve and protect safe, affordable housing while connecting them to other SNAP and community partner services along the way. HCP provides free, individualized and group housing counseling services by HUD-certified counselors. Our counselors work with clients to help them understand their current financial situation and create a plan to overcome barriers while assisting client with immediate needs such as food assistance, energy and utility assistance. United Way’s continued support is critical to us achieving our goals and objectives. An additional year of digressionary funding will allow us to maintain capacity while extending the reach of our services to our most vulnerable populations. For example, we have started a campaign to bring increased awareness to our program, particularly amongst those in marginalized and rural communities including ALICE families, people of color, indigenous and technology burdened., We’d like to think everyone knows about our program but that simply isn’t the case. Through flexible funding we are able to take on the challenges of reaching more Spokane County households.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

United Way funds are integral to SNAP Housing Counseling program for two very important reasons: they provide the flexibility to serve all clients via the fund’s unrestricted nature AND enable us to leverage restricted funds that are becoming increasingly scarce. These flexible funds will help us increase outreach to communities of color, low income and other marginalized communities. They will help with our reach in rural communities, underserved communities and those with barriers to access services. Additionally, the flexibility offered by these funds help HCP meet immediate priorities, ranging from day to day operations to sudden emergencies. Like many other organizations, we have had extra funding from COVID-19 relief programs. As we emerge from the pandemic and these programs, we’ll be once again be faced with the challenge of balancing our budget with discretionary funding. These funds are what allow us to continue our work and provide the life changing services we provide.

Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Gain and sustain assets (e.g. reliable transportation, housing, savings account, good credit).

Program

Financial Stability and Asset Building

Program Goal 

The goal is to stabilize Spokane County low income families’ (ALICE and/or unemployed) financial health and create access to credit building loans, through financial literacy and business training which lead to opportunities to purchase assets or increase/stabilize income that help lift our clients and their families out of poverty. An additional year of funding will allow us to continue to serve low to moderate income business owners through an unprecedented economic crisis. The business owners we serve have few resources tailored to meet the challenges disadvantaged entrepreneurs face. We were able to assist over 150 business owners preserve their businesses with new lending and assistance with federal, state and local economic aid applications. We also hired a CDFI consultant to help us focus on building internal capacity to confidently lend to a wider pool of borrowers and increase the impact of loan capital invested in our community at a time when many financial institutions were/are not willing to lend money to new borrowers Navigating forgiveness requirements for PPP loans are a particular concern. Further, new clients are seeking training opportunities to replace wages lost through unemployment by starting a business or gig economy opportunities. SFA has been able to engage more deeply with clients seeking financial literacy training and counseling with some clients availing themselves of the opportunity to take a wider variety of online classes due to changed work circumstance. Amazingly, some used our services to set and achieve goals funding emergency savings, obtaining permanent housing and other goals while receiving additional CARES Act unemployment. households.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

United Way funds are integral to this program for two very important reasons: they provide the flexibility to serve all clients via the fund’s unrestricted nature AND the United Way grant helps SFA meet the required match funding for various SBA programs. United Way funding also provides coverage for credit analysis and loan underwriting for low income clients not provided by more restrictive sources. United Way funds are used for ongoing staff training and certification, mileage, equipment and services that are not covered by other grants restricted to zip code that can seem arbitrary to a client who does not meet the criteria for service but is still experiencing financial challenges and lack of opportunity. Unrestricted funds allow money to be spent on direct services that impact the client instead of on administrative fees to determine eligibility. And while we served fewer people due to technology access inequity, those we did serve achieved higher rates of outcomes year over year. This funding is critical to our operations and outreach to underserved communities.

Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Acquire and maintain skills that lead to household -sustaining employment.

Program

General Operations Grant

Program Goal 

SERA’s mission is feed the soul of Spokane through our neighborhood ministry – bringing restoration and opportunities to the Eastside community instills a sense of community, resilience, and celebration in the lives of the people of East Central Spokane. “Reunion” in our name acknowledges the effects of the literal east-west divide created in East Central when I-90 was constructed in the 1960s. SERA’s vision is that our work will bring our neighborhood’s residents together again as a unified whole. Our programs bring neighborhood youth together with trusted adults and develop skills that will help them develop protective factors and life skills, stay in school, and gain valuable job experience. We currently work through our mission through two primary programs: a summer basketball camp held in a neighborhood park, and a social enterprise known as Fresh Soul (a soul food restaurant that doubles as a youth job training program).

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

Having a general operating support grant from Spokane County United Way has been invaluable to SERA and Fresh Soul. We have seen that your support has acted like a magnet for bringing in other grants. Funders are often slow to trust new nonprofit organizations. While SERA has been around since 2011, Fresh Soul didn’t open until 2019, and we found at first that foundations wanted to follow the lead of other philanthropic institutions before they decided to trust us. Your grant was a vote of confidence that made a big difference for local funders AND national funders. For example, we were able to secure a grant from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (we are in our second year of funding and hoping for a third). They require matching funds, and having an unrestricted grant from United Way took the pressure off while also getting the notice of CCHD. We also received new grant awards from American Family Insurance and Harvest Foundation. Knowing that our community believes in us is another benefit we have received from a United Way grant. We are so grateful for your partnership.

Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Acquire and maintain skills that lead to household -sustaining employment.

Program

Next Generation Zone

Program Goal 

The Spokane Workforce Council (SWC), Spokane's local workforce board, brings together business, community, and local governmental leaders to promote workforce development and ensure the long-range economic vitality of our region. We operate the local workforce delivery system, which consists of two comprehensive career centers and 19 affiliated sites across Spokane County. WorkSource Spokane serves more than 8,000 unique in-person and 12,000 online customers each year, providing them with an array of career services that connect skill development and job placement to fuel business growth. Additionally, we provide funding and oversight for the only youth career and employment center in the Spokane Area, the Next Generation Zone, which serves over 750 unique young adults each year. We offer exceptional services to area businesses, including talent acquisition, high quality large- and small-scale hiring events, labor market intelligence, layoff response services, and talent pipeline development. We are also a founding partner in the Spokane Resource Center, a social services one-stop center and a HUD-recognized EnVision Center. Since March of 2020, we moved the vast majority of our campus-wide offerings to remote services but have continued to provide all of our services in a virtual environment, ensuring access through a computer/mifi check-out system for customers who do not have technology access.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

It is hard to overstate the value and impact of Spokane County United Way funds to our organization. The primary source of our funding comes from the Department of Labor in the form of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) grant funds. These are foundational workforce funds that enable us to serve Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth job seekers in accordance with strict eligibility guidance and an inflexible policy structure. We became a non-profit in 2012, and since then our impact has grown dramatically because we are able to develop and integrate less restrictive sources of funding. For example, the Next Generation Zone used to have to turn away youth who did not meet strict eligibility criteria. Thanks to our private grant funds, we now can provide services to any young adult who walks through our doors without having to first screen for eligibility. United Way funds are imperative to the workforce system because they enable us to be flexible and create top-notch professional programs. By blending United Way grant funds into our budget, the value of these funds multiplies and has the potential for large-scale impact on our community.

Community Strategy

Financial Stability: Access services to prevent a crisis from escalating and empowering a household to progress toward financial stability.

Program

Spokane Resource Center

Program Goal 

The Spokane Workforce Council (SWC), Spokane's local workforce board, brings together business, community, and local governmental leaders to promote workforce development and ensure the long-range economic vitality of our region. We operate the local workforce delivery system, which consists of two comprehensive career centers and 19 affiliated sites across Spokane County. WorkSource Spokane serves more than 8,000 unique in-person and 12,000 online customers each year, providing them with an array of career services that connect skill development and job placement to fuel business growth. Additionally, we provide funding and oversight for the only youth career and employment center in the Spokane Area, the Next Generation Zone, which serves over 750 unique young adults each year. We offer exceptional services to area businesses, including talent acquisition, high quality large- and small-scale hiring events, labor market intelligence, layoff response services, and talent pipeline development. We are also a founding partner in the Spokane Resource Center, a social services one-stop center and a HUD-recognized EnVision Center.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

It is hard to overstate the value and impact of Spokane County United Way funds to our organization. The primary source of our funding comes from the Department of Labor in the form of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) grant funds. These are foundational workforce funds that enable us to serve Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth job seekers in accordance with strict eligibility guidance and an inflexible policy structure. In 2012, the SWC became a non-profit, and has since been able to integrate private grant funds, including United Way, in to our service delivery system. Since then, our impact has grown dramatically since we are able to develop and integrate less restrictive sources of funding. For example, our young adult career center, the Next Generation Zone, used to have to turn away youth who did not meet strict eligibility criteria. Thanks to our private grant funds, we now can provide services to any young adult who walks through our doors without having to first screen for eligibility. United Way funds are imperative to the workforce system because they enable us to be flexible, create top-notch professional programs, and give us the ability to serve anyone in our community and develop relationships before screening for eligibility. By blending United Way grant funds in to our budget, the value of these funds multiplies and has the potential for large-scale impact on our community.

Community Strategy

Education: Provide targeted and effective prevention and intervention programs for children/youth in need of assistance (in or out-of-school setting).

Program

Youth Diversion & Housing Navigation

Program Goal 

TeamChild is a civil legal aid organization that upholds the rights of youth involved, or at risk of being involved, in the juvenile justice system by helping them secure the education, healthcare, housing, and other support they need to achieve positive outcomes in their lives. TeamChild provides legal representation and advocacy for youth, community training, and policy advocacy to break down systemic inequities and institutionalized racism. Our work aims to break the cycles of exclusionary school discipline, arrest, and incarceration. We are setting our sights on a vision of power and unconditional belonging for youth as we work towards replacing harmful and ineffective approaches with restorative, community driven responses.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

Funds from Spokane County United Way would provide critical support to our Spokane office which provides youth with a self-driven, rights-based approach. Grant funds will be used to provide civil legal advice, representation, increase access to education, community training and allow us to provide quick responses to our clients’ urgent needs. In these uncertain funding times caused by COVID-19, a general operation grant would give us the much needed stability and flexibility to help sustain current services in our Spokane office. The pandemic has exacerbated barriers for young people, especially in accessing education. Many of our clients with special education plans and who lack access to technology have further trouble getting the support they legally deserve. Through direct legal representation, our lawyers are able to get students' education needs met, even during COVID-19. Our Spokane office has experienced an increase in work per client as the pandemic continues to affect low income young people. In addition, this funding will also help support our system advocacy work to change policies and practices and influence systems to eliminate barriers. Our Spokane team works closely with the Washington Coalition for Homeless Youth Advocacy and other coalitions to change policy and ultimately make systemic changes to justice, foster care, behavioral health, and education systems.

Community Strategy

Finacial Stability: Acquire and maintain stable, affordable housing.

Program

Housing and Shelter Program​

Program Goal 

The goal of the Salvation Army’s Housing and Shelter program is to reduce homelessness, help families increase financial stability, and obtain permanent housing. United Way funding will be used to support these efforts. These expenses include salaries and benefits, program and housing supplies, maintenance, utilities, permanent housing assistance, and employment counseling. An additional year of funding will be used supplement the costs of providing 65 families with safe housing, case management and supportive services through our Emergency Family Shelter and Transitional Housing program. Each family in our program is provided access to all services available on campus including emergency food through the Salvation Army’s food bank, vouchers for clothing and household needs through the Salvation Army’s thrift store, onsite substance abuse recovery (Celebrate Recovery), life skills, financial literacy, after-school homework club, and use of the Salvation Army’s computer lab, as they work to break the cycle of homelessness.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

​The Salvation Army strives to reduce homelessness, help families increase financial stability, and obtain permanent housing. The United Way funding is vital to helping families accomplish these outcomes. This funding will impact the lives of 65 families annually through this program. The Salvation Army’s Housing and Shelter program provides emergency shelter or up to 18 months of transitional housing and provides families with employment assistance and the time needed to obtain employment and increase their monthly earning potential. Each family is provided with intensive case management, financial literacy, life skills classes, access to addiction services, a computer lab, social activities for families and children and resources and referrals to connect families to any additional community services. If needed, families are given vouchers to the Salvation Army’s thrift store. Once a family can sustain itself, we help them obtain permanent and secure funds for their first month’s rent and/or a security deposit, utility hookups and other expenses related to moving into a permanent residence. Former residents can continue to meet with their case manager for up to 6 months, and receive counseling, food, and participate in classes and workshops to decrease the likelihood of their returning to homelessness.

Community Strategy

Health: Crisis intervention and recovery services for victims.

Program

Sally’s House Emergency Foster Care Receiving Center

Program Goal 

United Way funding will be used to support the only emergency foster care receiving center in Washington, Sally's House. Before Sally’s House opened, children who were removed from their homes were taken back to a caseworker’s office where they could wait several hours for the first available foster home. During one of these long waits, one little girl asked, “Doesn’t anybody want me?” Our goal is for no other child to feel like this little girl. In 2002, the Salvation Army partnered with the Department of Children and Family Services to create Sally's House. Continued support from United Way will allow for specially trained staff to be on site to accept children 24/7 for emergency placement. Children are brought to Sally’s House by local law enforcement or Child Protective Services. Each child can stay for three months with the option for a court ordered extension, if needed. Funding is used to provide each child at Sally’s House with shelter, a structured schedule, clothing, toys, nutritious meals, medical and dental, academic support and tutoring, arts and crafts, and recreational activities and field trips to add to the children’s enriching experience. Once COVID school closures are lifted, children will be able to attend their school of origin to help reduce further disruption in their lives. Younger children participate in our onsite preschool program. Because Sally’s House is licensed for 20 children at any one time, we are often able to accommodate sibling sets so children can remain together.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

​United Way funds will directly impact children between the ages of 2 and 12, who have been removed from their home due to extreme abuse and neglect. There are more than 10,000 children in foster care in the state of Washington. These children need a loving home and stability during a time of crisis. Separation from a primary caregiver is distressing for infants and young children, even if the caregiver maltreated them or failed to provide adequate care. With state child welfare agencies, children typically must jump from placement to placement while suitable foster homes can be located further traumatizing a child and undermining their potential to form a secure attachment with a primary caregiver and healthy emotional development. Sally’s House seeks to eliminate this disruption in their lives by providing 350 to 360 children with emergency placement for up to 90 days with the option for a court ordered extension, if needed. Sally's House is the only emergency foster care receiving facility in the state able to provide emergency foster care placement services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Community Strategy

Health: Crisis intervention and recovery services for victims.

Program

Trauma-Informed Infant Care

Program Goal 

Transitions’ EduCare program serves children (0-5 yrs) from families experiencing homelessness and poverty. Our kids have typically experienced toxic stress and multiple Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), including emotional and physical abuse, malnutrition, or abandonment. EduCare programming helps mitigate the impact of ACEs and prevent child abuse by providing safe, affordable, trauma-informed childcare, nourishment for kids, and parenting skills and bonding support for moms in a nurturing environment. EduCare is requesting United Way's continued support of our infant room program. Our goals are to provide consistent, nurturing care for the babies in our on-site housing programs and to support and offer knowledge to their mothers. Many EduCare moms are young (ages 18-24), first-time mothers; many have themselves experienced physical and sexual abuse, poverty, neglect, disrupted education, incarceration, or addiction; helping these moms gain confidence, find community, and build strong attachments with their babies is critical to overcoming family histories of trauma and increased risk for ACEs or involvement with child protective services. EduCare is unique in that we are the only onsite childcare program in Spokane co-located and integrated with harm-reduction, supportive housing programming. Co-locating childcare with housing, in a familiar environment with familiar caregivers, supports children’s sense of stability and mitigates feelings of abandonment and anxiety. Because of this co-location, EduCare families have enjoyed a unique level of parent engagement and access. We help moms track developmental milestones, learn about attachment and bonding, and access referrals to medical and social services to ensure each baby’s healthy development.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

Without United Way funding, Transitions simply would not be able to have an infant care program. Due to United Way’s support this past cycle, EduCare has been able to care for 100% of the infants housed in our TLC program. Two of the three infants currently enrolled receive some childcare funding through Working Connections Childcare, but not all resident moms qualify for that funding. The support of United Way ensures that all mothers can bring their infants to our childcare regardless of ability to pay; removing the cost barrier has enabled our TLC mothers to pursue employment, education, treatment, and to forge invaluable relationships with EduCare's knowledgeable, experienced staff. Access to safe, nurturing childcare in the first year of life is one of the most powerful investments we can make in each other as a community. The first year of infant development is a critical window for healthy attachment formation, and for educating and supporting new moms in that process. The benefits are felt years after as children grow up to develop healthier relationships, experience stronger academic and social outcomes in school, and eventually nurture their own children.

Community Strategy

Education: Provide targeted and effective prevention and intervention programs for children/youth in need of assistance (in or out-of-school setting).

Program

Graduation Success

Program Goal 

Treehouse’s mission is to give youth in foster care a childhood and a future. We equip youth with education support, future planning, and resources to earn a diploma and successfully pave pathways to adulthood. We meet material needs, give access to extracurricular activities, and provide individualized academic coaching to keep youth on track. We advance equity and racial justice in the foster care and education systems through direct service and systems change advocacy. Our work focuses on building relationships and providing coaching, planning and resource navigation. When COVID-19 hit, our staff were already the trusted adults who could help ensure our students had stable housing, food and other basic needs met, and access to technology for online learning.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

Funding will ensure that youth and young adults experiencing foster care continue to maintain housing, food security, and have their basic needs met. Our direct service staff provide coaching for youth and young adults, helping them access public and community resources. Our coaches provide consistent, supportive relationships, which are particularly important for our youth during the pandemic, and connect them with resources to ensure they are safe and healthy. Many of our young adults have no support network to rely on, and many aren’t eligible for public supports. Most were in service and gig economy jobs that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. This grant will help us continue to provide education support and coaching, as well as assistance with rent, utilities, household items, transportation, groceries, hygiene items, and other basic needs. The largest percentage of our funding requests from Spokane participants are for basic needs, essential education items, and extracurricular activities. Demonstrated support from SCUW also shows other regional funders that Treehouse is a trusted partner and service provider in Spokane.

Community Strategy

Education: Provide access to high quality early learning programs.

Program

Central Y Children’s Center Early Learning

Program Goal 

The YMCA strives to provide a safe and nurturing environment for our early learners as they learn, grow and thrive. Focusing on age appropriate activities which stimulate their growth from infancy through preschool, preparing them for success as they enter kindergarten. Financial funding enables us to continue offering high quality childcare for our families as well as parent resources and engagement opportunities for our families. For children of this age, so much of their learning is based around social emotional learning which has been hampered by the pandemic and the limited socialization available. By ensuring they will continue to be able access these programs, we will be able to help alleviate some of these repercussions.)

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

Childcare is very labor-intensive. Wages stay low because families can’t pay more. The gap between what it costs to provide high-quality care and what families can afford is worsened by low childcare subsidies. Childcare costs across the state of Washington have gone up 55% since the start of the pandemic (Seattle PI), yet the Y recognizes that most of our families are not able to bear the burden of added expense right now so we have chosen not to raise our prices at this time and instead are attempting to find as many funding resources to keep our prices as affordable as possible. We also remain committed to accepting children and families receive state assistance, even though in Washington state, subsidies reimburse only about a third of the cost of a high-quality program. Funds from Spokane County United Way are critical for us to maintain our commitment to serve all children seeking care in our center, regardless of the family’s ability to pay program fees. This ensures that not only low-income children, but also children from ALICE families can access high quality programs with financial assistance. Parents are able to work or pursue higher education, contributing to stability at home.

Community Strategy

Health: Crisis intervention and recovery services for victims.

Program

Alternatives to Domestic Violence (ADVP)

Program Goal 

YWCA requests funding for our Alternatives to Domestic Violence Program (ADVP). Founded in 1977, the Alternatives to Domestic Violence Program (ADVP) provides legal assistance, advocacy, counseling, career mentoring and crisis services to domestic violence survivors and their children. While ADVP also includes our shelter, we are not currently requesting funding for the shelter program at this time. Domestic violence in Spokane County is higher than the state average, at 13.7 incidences per 1,000 people compared to 7.6 for the state average. Local law enforcement receives 14,500 DV-related calls every year, and DV accounts for 25% of all criminal cases in the county. High rates of DV are strongly correlated with other health and socioeconomic indicators outlined as priorities for United Way and other community agencies. Domestic violence is not limited to physical assault; it can include verbal humiliation, jealousy, financial control, and actions such as using children as pawns in a relationship. Data from Spokane’s Point-in-Time Count, calculates homelessness using a one-day measure, consistently illustrates that domestic violence is one of the most common causes of homelessness for women and families with children. Our services are in high demand this year and we have noted increased use of our help line, legal services and mental health services, and have often had full wait lists for programs throughout the year. Additional funding will allow us to continue providing these vital services to survivors and their children.

Impact of Donor Gifts to United Way

UW funding is an important revenue source for YWCA Spokane. Most of our funding is public and attached to specific grant-funded populations, and flexible private funding such as UW helps meet the need these grants cannot, such as salary dollars when key positions are not fully funded, client assistance (such as gas to relocate away from an abuser, or interview clothes for a job), professional development, subsidizing services for clients without insurance and more. UW funding is a crucial investment in meeting short-term client needs and catalyzing longer-term change in both the community and the families we serve.