• In partnership with NCFL, our Ready for K Alliance is providing an online professional development opportunity to child care providers. This training session is for early childhood educators seeking to enhance their skills in engaging and collaborating with parenting adults. The content focuses on engaging families of children aged birth to five and supports Kentucky All-Stars. Over 100 educators have registered and 31 have completed the training so far!
• Our Youth Success Network (YSN) Continues to grow. As of this month we have 173 youth-serving organization partners in the network. That’s over 10 new since the beginning of 2024! Each partner brings new and valuable expertise to our network and continues to shape the support we provide to build the knowledge and capacity of these partners to help them grow.
• Thanks to our Ages & Stages (ASQ) Developmental Screening Hub:
  • Our pediatric outreach initiative has been able to connect four families who have been struggling to receive services for their children to the appropriate agencies.
  • In the last month 21 children received a referral to 35 different agencies.
  • Thanks to ARP funding the ASQ Hub has implemented an interpretation service to support families whose first language is not English and so far the Hub has been able to provide three non-English speaking families with the results on their ASQ.
  • Working with a United Community Partner, the ASQ Hub was able to connect a family to an organization that provided her 3-year-old with a bed.
  • By attending two YMCA Early Learning events, 43 new children signed up for the ASQ.
• Our 7th annual Build-a-Bed event was hosted at Prosser Career & Education Center on Saturday, February 10. This event hosted more than 150 volunteers and the build efforts from this year produced 203 beds. 203 family support kits that included a laundry bag, bedding, and hygiene items were also provided. Bed recipients are selected by our public school systems in Clark, Floyd, and Harrison counties. Since the conception of this program in 2017, Metro United Way has met bed needs for approximately 950 students. Thank you to all of our volunteers!

  

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• As referenced last month, the Metro United Way supported Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is in full operation for the tax season.  This valuable service reaches over 7,000 households each year and returns nearly $10 million in tax refunds, including the beneficial Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and saves filers nearly $2 million each year in tax filing fees.  To learn more, visit this link.
• Over 2023, our Siemer Institute initiative, which provides holistic support to financially vulnerable households, served 411 families comprised of 849 children, of whom 688 were school aged.  We are pleased to announce that 76% of the families gained income stability, 82% gained housing stability, and only 2% had to make an unplanned or unsupported school move.
• Metro United Way will be supporting a series of upcoming events to advance learning from our recent YALift! Guaranteed Income pilot that provided unconditional monthly payments of $500 for one year to young adults residing in three historically disinvested neighborhoods. This will include a screening of a documentary about guaranteed income entitled “It’s Basic” in May and community conversations about local research findings once data is released in late Spring/early Summer. More details will be forthcoming!
• Our financial coaching partners engaged through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) workforce grant continue to enroll new participants who are interested in upskilling and setting and achieving goals in important areas of finance such as income, savings, credit, and debt.  A special thanks to Apprisen, Goodwill Industries of Kentucky, and the Louisville Urban League who are providing direct services for Jefferson County residents through this collaborative effort.
• Our first FundBlackFounders cohort members continue to operate their crowdfunding campaigns. To date, our founders have raised over $102,000 toward their campaigns with support from 1,700 community members. You can learn more about and support the local entrepreneurs here: https://www.fundblackfounders.com/. Metro United Way will match the entrepreneurs’ campaigns up to $25,000. This innovative program supports early-stage startups founded by underrepresented entrepreneurs, helping them to bring their ideas to life and grow their businesses.
• We have added 8 new partners to our United Community platform.
• We successfully led our monthly United Community Social Needs Think Tank, and are preparing to host our next one on March 14, 2024! Learn more here.
• Thank you for sharing the love, Humana! MUW facilitated their Valentine’s Day Give Back Event where 100 volunteers made 200 Little Baby Bundles to combat diaper need in our community!

  

• Our Black L.O.V.E. Philanthropic Partnership is actively seeking proposals for its upcoming funding cycle, with applications being accepted until February 22nd. The initiative aims to attract and support Black-led social change organizations that align with BLPP’s Live, Own, Vote, Excel principles. In the next phase, approximately $1 million will be strategically invested in selected organizations, forming a dynamic 2-year cohort set to launch in early April.
• In collaboration with Metro United Way, Jewish Family and Career Services recently facilitated an impactful equity training workshop titled “Handling Difficult Conversations.” Remarkably, post-course assessments revealed that 100% of participants felt more confident or extremely more confident in initiating and navigating challenging dialogues about diversity and inclusion. Moreover, 90% of participants experienced a moderate to significant evolution in their understanding of -isms and -phobias.
• In January, we hosted the second installment of Impact to Advocacy, an event for our partners to hear from policymakers and learn about advocacy best practices. In January, we hosted Deputy Mayor Nicole George, Metro Councilmen Khalil Batshon, Metro Councilwoman Paula McCraney, and George Eklund from the Coalition for the Homeless. These policymakers and advocates shared with our partners and us how they can engage in advocacy and policy on the local level. Be on the lookout for the next installment in this series as we look to bring partners and policymakers together. Learn more about our public policy priorities and work here.
• We want to thank all our volunteers who joined us in Indianapolis for Statehouse Day with Indiana United Way. We are proud that our region had the largest attendance across the network. This is a testament to the organizational belief in the power of advocacy.
• Our Beyond Buzzwords speaker series made a triumphant return with an engaging discussion featuring Heather McGhee, the renowned author of The Sum of Us. The event garnered enthusiastic participation from dozens of Metro United Way staff and community members, who provided overwhelmingly positive feedback on the enlightening and inspiring experience.