Our mission is to strengthen education, income stability and health in our community by developing resources and partnerships. West Alabama is home to some of the poorest counties in Alabama. In a 2013 Needs Assessment in our counties, we researched these areas to see the areas and ways UWWA could make the biggest impact. UWWA provides financial support to nonprofits working in those impact areas in our nine-county region. UWWA also has our own programs, Success By 6 and 2-1-1 Information & Referral Services, that help us directly impact early childhood education and basic human service needs. Impact Areas: Low literacy rates - working with Success By Six & Tuscaloosa's One Place to improve school & job readiness through reading and other necessary skillsQuality health care - working with Coast to Coast to provide affordable insurance & providing resources to Good Samaritan Clinic for basic health care, dental care & screeningsAffordable housing - working through 2-1-1 with United Way of Central Alabama to provide matching development grants for first-time home buyers within a defined income levelSubstance Abuse - provide financial support to The Phoenix House to rehab, rehouse & rejob substance abusers & to Family Counseling Services to work with families facing these issuesAffording Basic Necessities - Provide assistance to Temporary Emergency Services to provide for families in emergency situations and administer our one-time resource to individuals recently laid off (company closures) in our community, support Salvation Army, Temporary Emergency Services and Turning point with food pantriesTransportation - Enable Easter Seals to provide transportation for adults with and without disabilities to have available rides to work and job interviewsQuality Early Childhood Education - our Success By 6 JumpStart & Dolly Parton's Imagination Library provide a pre-kindergarten learning environment and books for the homeSpecial Needs Individuals - Provide assistance for caretakers in the form of a quality adult day care through The Arc of Tuscaloosa & Walker Counties & support Arts 'n Autism after-school programs and summer campsThis is just a sample of the initiatives we are working with in aims of satisfying our mission.

In order to continue to provide these funds to improve in these impact areas, UWWA must first raise our campaign goal. Our staff works with a Campaign Chairman and Cabinet, Loaned Executives & Employee Campaign Coordinators to raise funds from individual and corporate donors in order to reach or exceed our goal. Once the money is raised, a group of civic volunteers review grant requests for partner agencies/programs that are making a positive impact in the areas of education, health and financial stability in our West Alabama community. They are charged with allocating these funds based on their review and interviews with all of the applicable agencies. They also look at each agency's program outcome measures and fiscal efficiency. The UWWA Board of Directors approves additional funding requests from nonprofit partners that address the community's critical needs.

UWWA is capable of reaching and exceeding this campaign goal and providing these resources because of dedicated staff of 12, more than 800 reliable and respectable volunteers, five AmeriCorps Volunteers In Service To America and one senior aide. UWWA staff continues to educate themselves on how to improve in the area of their fields, including leadership, fundraising, philanthropy, marketing, community partnerships, financial stability, volunteering and promotion to provide services and programs. UWWA's continued success in reaching goal, vetting and supporting critical community needs builds a strong reputation in the West Alabama community.

While UWWA would love to say that progress would be indicated by need requests going down, the economic climate in West Alabama does not currently lend itself to this. Instead, our funding levels and request increase each year. We consider ourselves doing our best job and making progress if these new levels are met or exceeded during our fundraising campaign. We are also able to see progress being made by progress indicators within the agencies/programs we support. For instance, in Success By 6, pre- and post-tests are given to the students to evaluate their school readiness. On all UWWA grants, there is a section asking for the number of clients reached in each of our counties and what progress is being made. For instance, our transportation support with Easter Seals, they are able to provide information as to how many people are utilizing the program, how many now have jobs that did not before, and how many were able to secure a job and financial security through this. Each agency has a model to figure out program effectiveness when reviewed by our Volunteer Allocation Team.

UWWA continually has accomplished reaching (and usually exceeding) our campaign goal. This fundraising feat is due to the fact that UWWA has staff and volunteers dedicated to our mission and community. By funding critical needs in our community through local agencies and programs, UWWA accomplishes a number of things set out in our mission in regards to education, health & income stability. Here are only a few examples:EDUCATION - Through Success By 6's partnership with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, United Way of West Alabama was able to expand its reading program and provide a free book to registered children ages 0-5 years monthly beyond Tuscaloosa County and into six service areas. FINANCIAL STABILITY - By partnering with United Way of Central Alabama, we are able to offer an Individual Development Account (IDA), a matching savings plan, to lower income individuals or families who are purchasing a first home, paying for college or starting a new business. HEALTH - Our 2-1-1 initiative partners with Coast to Coast to provide affordable prescriptions. 2-1-1 also works with non-partner agencies to match clients with services available to the elderly and disabled. UWWA still has a long way to go in fulling its mission. There are high rates of illiteracy and high school dropout. Plenty of people can not or can barely afford basic necessities and live paycheck to paycheck. Diabetes and substance abuse continue to plague West Alabama. UWWA has it work cut out to continue to make strides in improving education, financial stability and health in West Alabama.