United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley

Educational Success: Supporting Young Children - At United Way, we believe that all young children should enter school on a path to succeed, and that to do this, we must move the entire family forward together. A child's first five years of life are the most critical time for brain development, but 33 percent of Massachusetts children enter kindergarten unprepared to learn. All children have the potential to succeed in school and in life, but not all children have the same opportunities to realize that potential. Many children lack important support that prepares them for school and academic success. Without it, these children can quickly fall behind and often never catch up. Unless they can read at grade level by third grade, they're four times less likely to graduate from high school. OUR SOLUTION In low-income neighborhoods, the youngest children are most vulnerable. The stresses of poverty during these critical years do tremendous harm to a growing brain. And children whose parents are unable to engage in their development can lag as much as 6 months behind in vocabulary development by age 2. Our solution involves the whole family, allowing parents to work and their young children to grow and thrive, supporting them by: Expanding access to high-quality early education and care programs that promote early literacy and social skills. Giving parents and caregivers the resources to engage with children and support healthy development, as well as the tools to screen for developmental delays if needed. Scaling a 2-Generational, whole family model that enables parents to work and children to thrive. In FY 22, we provided 15,000+ young children with quality early childhood programs to help ensure they enter kindergarten ready to learn. We celebrated the second successful year of our partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care to expand Summer Step Up to 2,000 children across the state. When COVID-19 caused children to lose valuable in-school learning time, the Commonwealth's Department of Early Education and Care selected United Way as its partner to administer Summer Step Up, a statewide effort to accelerate learning and provide additional support to children pre-K through grade 2. During its second year in Summer 2022, Summer Step Up delivered up to $8.5 million to 75 partner organizations and school districts in 30 communities, expanding and enhancing summer learning opportunities so that more than 2,000 children could attend extended day programs at community-based organizations, preschool camps, or new programs created with Summer Step Up funding at no cost to their families. Preparing Youth for Success - At United Way, we believe that all young people should graduate from high school prepared to succeed in work and life. Low-income youth in Massachusetts consistently score 25-30 points lower on reading and math assessments than those in higher income brackets. These gaps in academic performance and personal skill-building can be the start of a trajectory of lifelong challenges, leading to fewer economic opportunities and lower lifetime earnings than their wealthier peers. Despite one of the highest academic rankings in the nation, Massachusetts falls short when it comes to children from low-income neighborhoods. In addition to the academic achievement gaps, many under-funded schools lack the resources to focus on building social and emotional skills such as teamwork, problem solving, empathy, grit, and self-control. Competence in these areas has been linked to higher academic performance, more positive self-image, and fewer behavioral and substance abuse issues down the road. OUR SOLUTION We're working to help the more than 73,000 youth in Massachusetts, ages 16-24, who do not consistently attend school or work and are at greater risk of long-term poverty, incarceration, and substance misuse. We're offering practice with the emotional and social skills they'll need to succeed, as well as building their credentials and experience for the world after high school. Through out-of-school programs, 41,000 K-12 students will work toward social and emotional readiness, and 3,600 off-track kids will find a path toward college and a rewarding career. These efforts are all geared toward creating a higher skilled workforce that can sustain a thriving economy. We want to ensure that kids who face significant economic barriers can play a vital part in the workforce and their community, so we're preparing youth for success by: Pairing social and emotional skill-building with meaningful, hands-on learning experiences. Expanding access to high quality programs that focus on putting disconnected youth on a pathway to advancing their education and/or career. Supporting out-of-school time programs that focus on social and emotional skills like communication, teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving and grit. In FY22, we engaged 42,000+ young people in opportunities to learn new skills, advancing them in school, life, and future careers. We're working with thousands of youth and young adults in Massachusetts, ages 16-24, who do not consistently attend school or work and are at greater risk of long-term poverty, incarceration, and substance misuse, offering practice with the emotional and social skills they'll need to succeed, as well as building their credentials and experience for the world after high school. In many communities like Lynn, Salem and Gloucester, the number of multilingual learners enrolled in public schools is growing. And while students who speak multiple languages can be positioned to succeed in an increasingly diverse and international workforce, significant barriers have resulted in students with a first language other than English being roughly 25% less likely to graduate from high school than their non-multilingual peers. The United Way AmeriCorps program ensures that these students can get the academic, social, and emotional support they need to thrive in school, stay engaged, and graduate. As the education system recovers from the interrupted learning caused by the pandemic, AmeriCorps Fellows bring vital tutoring and mentoring to English learners in four key areas: vocabulary, fluency, and social emotional skill development. After 11 months of working with a United Way AmeriCorps Fellow, nearly 90% of students that identify as English learners improve their social emotional skills and 76% experience a greater sense of belonging.

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Financial Opportunity: Ending Homelessness At United Way, we believe all individuals and families should have safe, stable homes and the resources to keep them long term. On any given night in Massachusetts, more than 3,700 families are experiencing homelessness. That's more than 13,000 individuals, 60% of whom are children. The effects of homelessness are devastating for families. Children without homes are twice as likely to repeat a grade, four times as likely to develop asthma and other health issues, and are at a 52% higher risk for developmental delays. For parents, jobs can be hard to come by and harder to keep, putting the dream of security further out of reach. It doesn't have to be that way. OUR SOLUTION Rising housing costs, mental health issues, substance misuse, and a host of other factors contribute to the increasing homelessness rate in our community. Our solution brings together nonprofits that address each of these issues as part of the complex whole. We fund programs that are working effectively, and we create and pilot new solutions where we see gaps. Our goals are: Stabilizing families in safe, affordable housing and providing long-term support so they can weather future emergencies. Investing in and piloting innovative new programs that can be rolled out state-wide. Scaling school-community partnerships that prevent homelessness, reduce disruptive school moves, help families develop financial well-being, and help vulnerable students attend school regularly. In FY 22, we helped 24,000+ families to become housing secure, avoiding homelessness. We wrapped up the first-in-the-nation Pay for Success (PFS) initiative designed to reduce chronic and long-term homelessness among adults. Pay for Success significantly exceeded its target, successfully placing over 1,055 high need individuals into stable, supportive housing, with 85% retaining housing or transitioning to an appropriate care setting. Since its 2015 launch, MASH PFS has placed over 1,000 high-need individuals into permanent, supportive housing and achieved an 85% success rate (retaining housing or transitioning to an appropriate care setting). MASH is a partnership of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, the Corporation of Supportive Housing (CSH), and United Way. In Massachusetts, the more than 2,000 people who experience long-term homelessness are among the highest utilizers of costly acute care and emergency services. MASH PFS's housing-first approach-combining private seed funding, expanded Medicaid-funded tenant supports, expanded eligibility for housing, and low-threshold rental assistance-reduced homelessness and dramatically lowered health care costs. Program participants spent on average $5,267 less on health care per year than homeless individuals while using significantly more outpatient services. Financial Wellbeing At United Way, we believe every family deserves a pathway out of poverty. Too many people in our region know what it's like to be unemployed or work multiple jobs and still struggle to make ends meet. Too many of our neighbors have to decide between filling the fridge or filling a prescription. And too many people can't find a job that pays well enough to face these challenges head on. For these families, a single setback is enough to be financially devastating. OUR SOLUTION There are few choices available to families on the edge of financial catastrophe. They could fall prey to predatory financial advice or services, and if they default on the loan, their credit suffers. Without good credit, their options thin even further. Just "finding a better job" isn't always the answer either. Without specific skills and training, people settle for low-paying jobs, leaving their savings to dry up before the month is out. Climbing out of poverty is complex. United Way is providing leadership to a network of nonprofits who serve families across our region. Together, we are creating solutions that work. We help families in need set reachable goals such as cleaning up their credit so they can rent a home, sending a child to college, or getting a job that will pay a living wage. We help families by: Investing in organizations that focus on job skills training that offers a defined career pathway driven by employer needs. Scaling an integrated services model with: financial coaching, career placement, public benefit screening services, all under one roof. Expanding access to financial coaching that helps families build credit, increase their savings, reduce debt and build assets. In FY22, we set 36,000+ families on a new course toward financial security, improving their credit, increasing their savings, and finding stable employment. Our Boston Builds Credit work is an example of how we're using credit to help people in our communities achieve economic equity and realize their goals for the future. Boston Builds Credit (BBC) is helping Bostonians build strong credit to achieve financial wellbeing. Since its launch in 2017, BBC has engaged over 12,000 Boston residents in financial coaching, workshops, and financial check-ups and provided thousands more with the information and skills to achieve their financial goals.

Program administration includes uwmb's internal resource allocation to support children, youth and family programs.