United Way Of Southeastern Conn Inc

Financial Security:UWSECT supports the Eastern Coordinated Access Network (ECAN) through fiscal management and partner collaboration. The ECAN is primarily funded through the Connecticut Department of Housing. UWSECT bolsters the ECAN by providing the overall management of the Department of Housing funds and coordinating the use of a portion of those funds for client assistance. This past year, UWSECT supported the application, award, and distribution of $2.1M in funding to the homelessness response system, with over $400,000 in direct financial assistance to households experiencing a housing crisis. Client Assistance is meant to help keep families and individuals housed in their current home or to help them access new housing if they were experiencing homelessness. UWSECTs role in providing this service is integral in coordinating the effective and efficient use of the funds. It also allows for all agencies engaged in the ECAN to have access to funds for their clients. For example, one agency, was working with an individual that was residing in a tent encampment. The agency was able to find an apartment unit for this individual and utilize the client assistance funds to help them with the security deposit. Once this individual had a home, they began working on increasing their income through earned career training to provide even more stability. Housing options are already limited and with the high cost necessary just to enter an apartment, flexible funding assistance is imperative.

Healthy Community:United Way of Southeastern Connecticut supports programs located in New London County that promote and provide a Healthy Community. The outcome for these programs is to ensure that individuals/families have access to healthcare and improve their health. These programs improve the physical, mental, and emotional health of individuals and families, eliminating personal barriers and improving the quality of life.United Way serves as the backbone agency on behalf of the Eastern Connecticut Health Collaborative (ECHC), a thirteen-town collaborative, including both Tribal nations, joined together to focus on equitable outcomes, working collectively to remove barriers and improve access to healthcare and nutrituous food, and striving to minimize negative childhood experiences to ensure a healthier community and decrease healthcare spending. ECHC consists of thirty-two organizations representing human services, local publich health, federally qualified health centers, state, and municipal agencies.ECHC works to achieve these goals through the following initiatives: 1.Coordinated Outreach: Developed to support and enhance the work of our regions Community Health Workers (CHWs) and various outreach workers in a strategic and coordinated approach to reach low access, vulnerable communities, and address barriers. The anticipated impact is an increase in culturally relevant case management and the expansion of the geographic/demographic reach of Community Health Workers and outreach staff reducing the duplication of services. Coordinated Outreach also provides CHWs the opportunity to share strategies, best practices, and resources to better service their clients to minimize the level and frequency of healthcare and social service needs. Nine agencies have participated to date with an average of thirty CHWs attending each session.2.Mobile Health Hubs: An innovative approach to bringing mobilized health-related services to underserved communities in New London County and the Town of Windham on a monthly basis. This is a coordinated effort to partner agencies with existing mobiles to offer more comprehensive, wrap-around resources at each of these locations. Mobile Health Hubs have serves approximately 19,000 individuals across nearly 100 events annually.3.Family Bridge: ECHC is the second region selected by the CT Office of Early Childhood (OEC) for a new universal nurse home visiting program for all birth mothers. Family Bridge Eastern CT includes a proven, evidence-based nurse home visiting program with a Community Health Worker (CHW) support component that will be tailored to our community. The pilot phase launched with the subcontracted partner (TVCCA) this February 2025 offering services to Tribal birthing moms and those living in Norwich, Windham, Lisbon, Griswold and Montville. Eventually the goal is to offer Family Bridge Eastern CT services to every birthing family living in all 13 towns in ECHCs catchment area.

Youth Opportunity:United Way of Southeastern Connecticut's Partner Programs and Collective Impact Initiatives that work with young children and adolescents (age 0 18) are providing services, resources, and activities for New London County youth to gain the skills, and knowledge needed to obtain family-sustaining employment. The work in attaining this goal starts from the very beginning in ensuring that young children are provided with quality education and family supports that increase the likelihood that they will thrive later in life. The work of our partners continues in working with young adults in developing workforce ready skills and obtaining the appropriate credentials to sustain their careers.An example of this work that United Way of Southeastern Connecticut funds is the New Capacities Job Developer role. This position works with high school aged students to develop a sustainable plan for after high school and provides opportunities for career exploration while developing relationships with local employers to increase the likelihood of students attaining gainful employment after graduation. The Job Developer provides a full menu of supports running the gamut from traditional career exploration and job readiness (resume building, soft skills workshops), to job placement (23 students directly placed in jobs as of June 2025 and still through the summer), to unique supports for a diverse student body and multi-lingual learners. The Job Developer was a bilingual staff member and able to provide additional language supports and confidence-building as many students navigate culture and language in a work environment. This role is a pilot at NFA to demonstrate that additional staff supports can truly close the gap between high school graduation and attainment of gainful employment. The outcomes to date clearly state both the demand and success of the position- 135 students (over 20% of the graduating class) connected to additional resources, external services, additional knowledge and preparedness for a future job, navigating career interests, and real skill development.

Donor Directed Designations: Donations directed by donor are processed and sent to the applicable organization. Designations to United Way agencies are included in with the grant amount reported for the service area supported.

Community Resiliency:UWSEBT provides funding to a regional disaster relief program, providing flexible funding to enable immediate crisis support for families experiencing a disaster - most typically a devastating house fire, instantly destroying all personal possession, shelter, clothing, and beyond. Additionally, UWSECT provides direct support to CT-211, the statewide information and referral system that connects households with direct service supports. This past year over 27,000 requests were made to 211 by New London County households. The top two needs were housing (emergency, shelter, long-term housing supports, legal consulting) and mental health and substance abuse programs.