United Way of St Charles

Community Investment: In a time when nonprofit dollars are more important than ever, our Community Investment Process strives to be as objective and fair in its approach as we can make it. It is also our goal to be sensitive and respectful to the wishes of our donors. It includes a thorough application process in which staff reviews the applications for completion and "red flags." In addition, community volunteers serve as review teams to visit agencies and provide a more thorough examination of the agency's fiscal practices and programs. Based on all of those findings, the Review Team and staff make a formal recommendation. The recommendations are then met for review and approval by the Community Investment and the Board of Directors.

United Way of St. Charles Money Matters: Financial Stability Program: the goal of our financial stability program is to addresss the ongoing needs of individuals and families in St. Charles Parish and help achieve self-sufficiency and independence. We have a case manager through our Money Matters program who works with families to determine their needs and get them on the right track to self-sufficiency. In addition, we started a Workforce Development Program that works to address the needs of the unemployed and underemployed individuals in our community through job training and job placement.

Education: Through our education programming, we brought Success by 6 to our community. We have implemented a series of steps including a childcare mentoring program and training for childcare center providers. In addition, we supplement local parenting events and other educational events in our community and provide school uniforms to 175 students per year.

Dolly Pardon Imagination Library: is a program funded by UWSC in partnership with the Dolly Parton Foundation to provide free books to children from birth to their fifth birthday. Over the last 8 years, 6,000+ local children have received books through this program.

UWSC provides financial scholarships to select students who demonstrate a strong commitment to community service. The goal is to recognize service achievements outside of the required school commitments.

Summer Youth Camp: UWSC provides vouchers for 150 youth from the area to attend a 6 week summer camp. In addition, we partnered with our local ARC to create a summer program for older youth with physical and intellectual disabilities.

Christmas Events: We support local community outreach through holiday events that provide gifts and food for families in need during the holiday season.

Back to School Events: We support a back to school event to alleviate the cost of going back to school for families. Through a community event, we provide 700+ backpacks with school supplies to area youth. Families are also treated to a lunch and educational activities to kick off the school year.

Grants: We provide grants during the year to support local projects not funded through out Community Investment process. These grants support local projects in the area of education, income, and health that usually target an existing unmet need in our community.

Includes personnel and office-type expenses required to administer the above programs.

Health: Through programming, we started Get Fit United. Get Fit United is a 12 week program focused on health and wellness. Individuals participate in 12 weeks of nutrition boot camp classes. There is a strong focus on improving health outcomes and maintaining them beyond the program. In addition, we are the lead sponsor of a local elemtary school running club and continually seek other opportunities to improve health in the community.

Through a collaboration with River Parishes Community College, the Organization has 3.8 million dollars fo capital improvements related to the establishment and property expenses of an accredited college in St. Charles Parish in order to provide educational and job training opportunities to the community

Hurricane Ida: We provide support related to Hurricane Ida (Category 4 storm)needs of the community. The natural disaster caused significant wind-related and water- related damage to homes and business throughout St. Charles Parish.

We provide support related to natural disasters (tornado outbreak in December 2022)needs of the community. This tornado outbreak caused significant wind-related damage to homes and business throughout St. Charles Parish.