SOURCE: United Way of Central Carolinas press release

This morning the Regional Board of Directors of United Way of Central Carolinas’ approved the distribution of $11,976,000 from its Community Care Fund to support 197 programs in Anson, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg and Union Counties and the Mooresville-Lake Norman area. In addition, United Way will distribute $2,134,397 in donor designations to agencies funded by United Way, for a total distribution of $14,110,397 to support health and human services in United Way’s service area. This total is a 35 percent decrease from last year.

“This year, more than ever, our investment volunteers faced difficult and heart-rending choices,” board chair Carlos Evans said of the hard choices that led up to the recommendations approved by the board..

“United Way agencies on the front lines, providing basic services, reported unprecedented surges in people needing help, just to survive. At the same time, other agencies provide services, not driven by the economy, but nevertheless, are producing lasting results and we want this momentum to continue. Our investment volunteers made hard decisions as they worked to both meet the surge in basic needs and keep long-term important programs running. Both our volunteers and Board Members have been heartened and inspired in the ways our agencies and our communities have risen to this challenge.”

“For instance, The Salvation Army Center of Hope has room for 200 in their emergency shelter, yet they are managing to put a roof over the heads of 500 homeless women and children each night through partnerships with churches and other organizations. MedAssist dispensed 40% more prescriptions than last year, with the same number of staff. Every morning the staff at Crisis Assistance Ministry gives hope to the 250 or more families who are waiting at their doors before they open.”

Through United Way’s rigorous Citizen Review Process, recommendations on the level of funding for each program were made to the Board of Directors by volunteer-led Community Investment Councils. The councils are made up of 234 volunteers, representing a diversity of businesses, government, education and community experience. They served on 18 Investment Councils across a service area that spans five counties. Volunteers participated in training on community needs and outcomes, made site visits to agencies and attended agency presentations. They reviewed agency proposals and evaluated each proposal on delivery of services, alignment with the needs of the community and results achieved.

Andy Elliott, Chair of the Regional Council that reviews the recommendations of the 18 individual councils, noted that this year was an especially difficult one for the volunteers who reviewed the agency proposals. “Although there were fewer dollars to allocate, the job of the Community Investment Volunteer was more difficult this year. All agencies are meeting important needs, and Community Investment Volunteers had to make difficult decisions that will impact the number of children, seniors and families that will be served by programs in our community.”

The focus of the Citizen Review Process is on supporting a broad range of local health and human service agency programs to meet important community needs. The programs focus on both the short-term and long-term needs of individuals and families in the local communities served by United Way.

The programs fall into the areas of Education, Income and Health, under the philosophy that the people in the communities served by United Way deserve a good education that leads to solid employment, enough income to sustain them through retirement and good health. The Education area’s focus is on helping children, youth and adults achieve their potential. In the Income area, programs promote financial stability and independence. The Health area is focused on improving people’s health.

The area of Health received $5.5 million in funding, the most of the three areas. The Income area received $4.5 million and the Education area $3.9 million. These amounts include both the allocation from the Community Care Fund and donor designations that agencies chose to direct to programs funded by United Way. While overall there was a 35% decrease in funding for agency programs, the Income area experienced a smaller, 24% decrease. The Education and Health areas each experienced 39% decrease in funding.

The funding decisions of the Community Investment Councils were guided by prioritized community needs. Community needs are determined through needs assessment research and by monitoring sources of data on community needs. In each local community, United Way volunteers, agencies and community partners prioritized the needs that guided the decisions of the councils. This year $11.6 million, or 83% of funding, went to programs that target higher priority community needs and $2.3 million, or 17% of funding, went to programs that target important, but lower priority needs.

In addition to considering prioritized community needs, United Way volunteers respond when community needs change. This year, the economic downturn led to a demand for more crisis oriented services. Council volunteers considered the growing unemployment rate, which had more than doubled in one year, from 5% in the first quarter of 2008 to 11% in the first quarter of 2009. 1
They also considered the 22% increase in Mecklenburg County’s homeless count.2 Agencies supported by United Way who provide basic need services reported an increase in requests for assistance of between 20 to 40%.
In response, the need category of Crisis Situations brought on by the economic downturn was given the highest priority across all five geographic areas served by United Way of Central Carolinas. Crisis Situations include basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter and health/mental health needs.
At the conclusion of the 2009-2010 Citizen Review Process, the United Way analyzed the program funding recommendations from the 18 Investment Councils. Based on the types of services provided, each agency program was placed into one of the following three categories, according to the extent to which the program addresses needs exacerbated by the current economic downturn:

#1 – Urgent & Critical: Programs that meet needs for basic services (food, clothing, shelter, medical care) to sustain life now
#2 – Pressing: Programs that provide direct services to meet needs that, if not met, may escalate to critical within a short timeframe
#3 – Important: Programs that provide indirect services or address underlying needs that are not expected to turn critical within a short timeframe

This year, $4.9 million in funding went to programs that meet urgent and critical needs for basic services, $2.6 million went to programs that meet pressing needs and $6.5 million went to programs that meet important needs. While there was a 35% decrease in overall funding this year, the category of urgent and critical needs had a smaller, 20% decrease. The category of pressing needs had a 33% decrease and the category of important needs had a 43% decrease.