United Way Of The Bluegrass Inc

211 - in 2024, uwbg's 211 resource referral service helped 92 kentucky counties, and the state of mississippi find affordable housing, emergency shelters, utility assistance, food banks, and employment. In kentucky, 211 fielded more than 18,235 calls and over 23,445 requests over the past year. In mississippi, 211 fielded more than 7,538 calls and over 6,528 requests over the past year. Affordable housing continues to be scarce. Accordingly, 90 percent of calls received concerned housing, rental assistance, and emergency shelter.

Waypoint center initiative - uwbg launched its first waypoint center initiative in 2021, to address the basic needs of disadvantaged and resource-poor communities historically beset with systemic racism. Waypoint center coordinators are certified financial stability counselors by the association for financial counseling & planning education (afcpe), and provide individualized case management that helps people reduce and manage debt, improve credit, and increase personal savings through a suite of financial stability programs. Besides financial empowerment programs, waypoint centers and partners provide interview skills, employment services, access to health care insurance, free tax filing through uwbg's vita program, transportation, and health screens. There are three waypoint centers to date. In a single year, more than 2100 individuals received counseling and other wrap-around supports at waypoint centers.