United Way of Champaign County Illinois, Inc.

Early Grade Level Success
Supporting our children so they may reach their full potential.
School readiness has a major impact on success in school, work, and life. 45% of local kindergarteners were not prepared for the first day of school. United Way's Early Grade Level Success program is focused on building a strong educational foundation for all children in Champaign County.
GOALS:
---Increase the number of students demonstrating kindergarten readiness by 10%
---Increase the number of low-income and Black male students meeting Math and English Language Arts standards by 10%
---Decrease chronic absenteeism by 10%

Child Well-Being
Preventing child maltreatment and building healthier families through mental health and trauma-responsive services.
All children in Champaign County deserve to grow up in a supportive, loving home. This is critical if we wish for every child to achieve their full potential. The dual risks of child abuse and neglect and mental health issues threaten the well-being of children and can have significant negative long-term impacts.
GOALS:
---Fewer children ages 0-5 will experience maltreatment
---Children 0-18 in substitute care will not experience additional or repeated maltreatment
---Parents & caregivers in zip codes 61821 and 61802 will have increased access to supports that reduce stress and the risk of child maltreatment
---The community will have increased capacity to address the needs of children and adults who have experienced trauma
---Children and adults who have experienced trauma will have increased support available

United for Equity
Building a stronger Champaign County nonprofit sector to serve all people.
Our United for Equity grant parnterships are creating change in the nonprofit sector by building community awareness, encouraging collaboration, creating more Firsts, and helping break down barriers to success.
GOALS:
---Create Community Awareness
---Encourage Collaboration
---Create More Firsts
---Break Down Barriers to Success

Community Essentials
Food. Water. Housing. Healthcare. Clothing. Identification. Access to technology. These are the critical things people need to thrive in our world today. With 45% of our households struggling to make ends meet, our community must have a strong safety net. United Way is committed to providing long-term support for community essentials. Together we can prevent crisis, provide stability, and support those navigating a complex social service system.
GOALS:
---Help people meet their physical needs
---Assist people with accessing and navigating complex human service systems

Our community faces complex challenges in healthcare, education, and employment.
These challenges don't have easy answers and have lasted months, years, and even generations.

To address our community’s most persistent and systemic problems, we must have an organized, proven strategy: we call it Community Impact.

Through Community Impact, we are re-imagining a more equitable and resilient community - one where more of our students are graduating prepared for success at college or on the job, more local families are financially stable, and more neighbors are living healthy lives. Our commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is woven throughout this entire process - because every person deserves to thrive.

Our Three Part Plan
Community Change Grants
Highly targeted multi-year funding to programs and collaborations that are working alongside United Way to solve our community's most challenging problems in health, education, and financial stability. Together, we are fighting for solutions to longstanding issues and removing barriers that prevent our community from thriving.

Community Building Work
United Way brings nonprofits, businesses, government, and people together to innovate and find new solutions to community problems.

Community Essentials Grants
Food. Water. Housing. Healthcare. Clothing. Identification. Access to technology. These are the critical things people need to thrive in our world today. With 45% of our households struggling to make ends meet, our community must have a strong safety net. United Way is committed to providing long-term support for community essentials. Together we can prevent crisis, provide stability, and support those navigating a complex social service system.

We use a sophisticated tracking tool called EC Impact. All of our grant recipients enter their data into this program in order to create comprehensive, standardized reports. It is then reviewed by professional staff and our Community Solutions Team to ensure programs are meeting their stated goals.

Our staff attends professional development training regularly, as well as work with a dedicated committee of highly educated/trained volunteers.

We are committed to funding the top-quality programs in our community which are using best practices and measuring their success using common metrics. Our trained volunteers conduct extensive reviews of all programs that apply for a grant.

Our grant recipients report that this year...

1,050 people will have improved behavioral health
5,700 people will receive care for a chronic health issue
3,435 people will adopt healthier behaviors
6,270 children will achieve developmental milestones
756 at-risk students will earn passing grades in reading, math, and science
320 students will graduate high school with a plan for their future
280 people will increase their incomes
104 people will establish a savings
245 people will improve their credit score
320 youth will develop job skills
272 people will obtain employment or increase their wages