UNITED WAY OF SOUTH TEXAS

The three specific goals are:
1) connecting organizations to help meet gaps in services around drop out prevention, identifying resources to help school districts deal with homelessness of student population. Help 9 school districts reduce dropout rate by 25% by end of 2016.
2) providing a venue for interested individuals and families, employees of local corporations and others connect with volunteer opportunities, establishing a Volunteer Center at United Way of South Texas by October 31st, 2015.
3)Expand the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program to include Family Asset Building component. Open savings account for at least 10% of the 2613 families served.

1) The Education Council, led by a school Superintendent and comprised of 9 school district representatives, meet to discuss issues of interest and concern. We facilitate conversations that identify specific topics unique to our region. Some of these concerns include the number of youth who are homeless due to deportation of undocumented parents. Children and youth are often left with a distant relative or a friend who do not want or cannot take on the responsibility of raising additional children. On one school district the Parental Involvement Director has identified 221 youth who meet the description of "homelessness" but the families refuse to acknowledge their state of being for fear of deportation. This school district has found young teens living in a football stadium under bleachers. These teens are alone, feeling abandoned and at risk of human trafficking. We will work with regional leaders to find solutions.
2) The UW of So. TX. has purchased a Volunteer Management Program. We expect a launch date of October 1, 2015. We've started gathering data, training agencies, and raising awareness of the opportunities this program will bring to every one in our area.
3) The United Way of South Texas will expand the VITA committee's responsibilities to include Financial Literacy and begin basic budgeting sessions to help customers set financial goals.

With the leadership of the Board of Directors and staff executing strategies to accomplish these goals, we believe these goals can be met. Local businesses are engaged in the work and are committed to dedicating skills, talents and time to help the organization do the work.
It would be helpful to have more staff resources to expedite the process.

For each goal, we either have a baseline, ie. number of children and youth dropping out as a result of homelessness, or number of families served thru VITA and Financial Literacy provided to them, and tracking volunteer hours dedicated to nonprofits in our region. Since these goals are overseen by United Way of South Texas, the numbers will demonstrate progress.