The United Way Of Southwestern Pennsylvania

Building for success in school and lifeall young people deserve the chance to have a positive start toward adulthood, to learn and succeed to the level of their educational ability and reach their full potential. Children entering kindergarten need the preparation and foundational skill sets to succeed in school and life. Students, regardless of race or ability, thrive when educational programs help them achieve college and career readiness and take a trauma-informed approach that helps children and youth overcome challenges. Access to safe, affordable and educational out-of-school time programming builds on skills learned at school and instills a lifelong love of learning. United way invests in partner agencies committed to providing affordable, high-quality early childhood educational opportunities, preparing children for kindergarten and supporting the entire family so they can grow and learn together; working collaboratively with school districts and community partners to provide positive out-of-school time opportunities that keep young people safe and engaged and help them retain what they have learned; supporting social and emotional learning so that students in all grade levels can succeed both in and beyond school; and providing a wide variety of career, trade school and college-readiness support, including programming, tools and resources to students who live in communities that have historically experienced underinvestment.

Moving to financial stabilityto fulfill their potential, it is essential that people earn a living wage and have the tools they need to build wealth. Success should not be dependent on race, gender and ability, and all people deserve the opportunity to achieve financial freedom. Access to and awareness of services and benefits, including financial education and asset building opportunities, transforms the lives of working families. Meaningful work helps people, regardless of age, disability, gender and previous convictions, have pride and confidence that they can support themselves and their families. Affordable childcare and transportation help people find and sustain good jobs that advance their goals and help them become vital contributors to their community. United way invests in partner agencies committed to connecting people to employment through skill-building and career development programs and working with employers to ensure that all workers are positioned to achieve job success; providing access to safe and reliable child care and transportation so that finding and maintaining meaningful employment is possible; offering equitable opportunities across race, gender and ability so that all people can access programs and services that increase their income and financial security; helping working families to move from surviving to thriving and promoting two-generation approaches that simultaneously meet the needs of children and their adults to foster academic success and providing opportunities for individuals and families to increase their knowledge, skills and assets through financial education and empowerment.

Community services: other program support:united way of southwestern pennsylvania invests in community support, 2-1-1 contact center and volunteerism. These investments include support for strategic community partnerships and projects, disaster relief efforts, technical assistance to nonprofits and volunteer initiatives focused on engaging the community to make a positive difference.united way of southwestern pennsylvania manages the pa 211 contact center for 30+ counties in pennsylvania. Our resource navigators are real people available by phone, text and chat 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every day of the year. Resource navigators assess the needs of each person and offer connections to more than 7,000 agencies that update their listings with us regularly. Our 211 contact center also connects people to services such as free tax prep appointment scheduling and referrals for low-cost internet and digital devices.