United Way Blackhawk Region

Our purpose at United Way Blackhawk Region is to be a community leader in identifying health and human services problems and facilitating partnerships to achieve sustainable solutions. Our vision is to build stronger communities by mobilizing resources to improve people's lives.

United Way Blackhawk Region invests in three impact areas; education, income and health, identified by United Way Worldwide to be the three building blocks that contribute to a good quality of life.

In the area of education, we envision a region where children and youth will have supportive learning and development opportunities to grow and become responsible adults. In 2021-23, we invested $934,000 dollars in programs that support children and youth through early learning and care services, before and after school programs, character and leadership development and recreational experiences and those that emphasize academic success for children of all ages and expand opportunities for children and youth to bond with peers, mentors and positive role modes.

United Way Blackhawk Region is focused on ensuring that individuals and families have their basic needs met and achieve and sustain self-sufficiency. In 2021-23 we invested $1,488,526 to local programs that connect people with critical resources for emergency or basic needs, assist in identifying and overcoming barriers to self-sufficiency, and increase access to skills training, education and other support systems that enable people to achieve self-sufficiency.

To be successful in increasing awareness and access to healthcare resources, in 2021-23, we invested more than $458,751 programs that promote healthy lives through education an activities to residents of Rock County WI and northern IL.

United Way's volunteer-driven Community Grant Process is designed to award funds to programs demonstrating community need, articulating program efficacy and measureable results. Recommendations for grant awards are formulated by nearly 50 diverse volunteers, representing a broad cross-section of disciplines, donors and corporate partners. Volunteers devote more than 800 hours to an extensive accountability review of the programs and organizations seeking funding. Evaluation is based on application materials and in-person presentations to a volunteer panel.

United Way Blackhawk Region is proud of the relationships we've built and the investments in human service needs we've made. We understand however that the original models of United Way; “Community Chest" or “pass-thru agency," are of the past and are not effective fundraising models in our current economic climate. Because of this, our board of directors has committed to adopting the evidence based, Community Impact model.

Community Impact helps United Way harness the power of communities working together – people, companies, nonprofits, and government agencies – to deliver innovative, effective and lasting solutions. Through research, analysis, and direct involvement, community needs are identified and investments are made in programs that deliver the greatest results. Partners build greater capacity through resources that connect them to top performers and experts. Accountability is a priority shared by our Program Partners and the transformation to Community Impact gives those funded programs an opportunity to shine.

While we complete the transformation to the Community Impact business model, we will continually strive to improve our process, to help our Partners provide important services that create lasting change and to demonstrate our commitment to integrity based stewardship of donor dollars and the trust the community has placed in us.