United Way of Greater Plymouth County

Community services and fundingcommunity needs & uwgpc allocation of resources to community partnersallocations are at the heart of the United Way mission. Each year, our United Way relies on significant financial contributions from companies, foundations, and individuals in our community to support the life-saving work of our community partners. In addition to financial resources, our allocation process also relies on our community's "human" resources, our incredible United Way volunteers. This year we were fortunate to have forty-six talented and insightful individuals volunteer for our twelve United Way allocation teams. The process was conducted virtually this year including video site visits. The allocations process is a demanding one requiring time and focus, but our volunteers responded to the task and found it rewarding. Volunteer teams then critically review the written requests for proposals (including site visits for each initiative) and quantitatively score them based upon their perceived effectiveness and impact. We identified five live United recovery focus areas this year for funding:* feeding our families* housing & homelessness* access to affordable health services* support for children & youth* support for job training & placementwe also have an overarching focus area of diversity, equity & inclusion. Panelists' scores are then passed along to the volunteer community impact committee that has the formidable task of granting the allocable funds to as many agency initiatives as possible. The disbursement process is handled as equitably as possible. Fifty initiatives at twenty-three agencies were funded this year in our live United recovery focus areas.local consumer programs are non-profit or government agencies that handle consumer complaints in their own regions of the state where their local knowledge and community involvement enable them to provide effective assistance to consumers. Our brockton area lcps provides a broad array of assistance covering most consumer issues. The most common issues handled by our lcp include:*defective products;*car sales and financing;*auto repossession issues;*debt collection;*mortgage servicing and loan modification;*home improvement contract issues;*business closures;*utility bill disputes;*shut off of un-regulated utilities; and*issues specific to immigrants, veterans, homeless and elder residents.

Community connectionsthe family resource center & community connections of brockton are both intended to prevent child abuse and neglect. Both are funded by the Massachusetts department of children & families. The family resource center (frc) aka "the family center" provides a single point of entry for family members to access family support services. Any family member will be able to walk into the frc and receive assistance with any human services related issue. If services cannot be provided to a family member onsite at the frc, frc staff will provide information and referral to a network of service providers affiliated with the frc. The frc model's philosophy is to "do whatever it takes" to help the family better meet its needs. This includes providing evidence-based and evidence-informed parenting programs and an array of direct services for families in times of need or transition. The family center tracks how services provided by the frc generate positive outcomes for family members in five areas (health, safety, skills, civic engagement, and relationships), in addition to specific outputs and outcomes developed together by the contractor, eohhs, dcf, and the administrative service organization (aso). The frc shall also provide monthly reports and updates to, dcf, and the aso. In partnership with the Plymouth County district attorneys office. The family center operates a drug endangered children's initiative (deci) to intervene for families impacted by opioid use.ccb continues to share the community connections coalitions goals of increasing neighborhood-based networks of family support, strengthening families, building communities and preventing child abuse and neglect. We align our work with the five protective factors of strengthening families, namely parental resilience, social connections, knowledge of parenting and child development, concrete support in times of need, and social and emotional competence of children. Ccb has adopted the america's promise model and localized it as brockton's promise to support positive youth, family, and community development as we strive to address the needs identified within our guiding protective factors through our work as a coalition. A community advisory network guides the work of our coalition and fosters community connectivity through each of the community teams.