United Way of Southeast Louisiana

Community impact - strategic planning & fund distribution: United Way of Southeast Louisiana (uwsela) has a bold vision for eradicating poverty in sela. Grant-making supports the vision of "equitable communities where all individuals are healthy, educated and economically stable." This means both a sharpened focus on poverty through supporting the critical programs that form the bedrock of serving our population, and a systems change approach centered on collaboration. Our grant-making is rooted in addressing the complex interplay of symptoms and drivers of poverty in the region. In 2016, United Way launched its first cycle of grants to support programs and groups working together in a collaborative Way to address the outcomes in our blueprint for prosperity. This portion of the community impact division, as distinct from the initiatives and programs it coordinates, is responsible for the annual strategic grants funding processes. It develops strategic plans to guide the funding processes and program or initiative development, and establishes and monitors measures of program success and financial accountability. Accomplishments: program grants:total # of people served by our 79 grant partners from july 1, 2022-june 30, 2023 - 329,820. Uwsela funded 79 programs, from july 1, 2022-june 30, 2023 to address priorities such as workforce training, housing, medical and mental health care, child and adult care and academic supports. Uwsela answered over 329,820 appeals for help from our community.

Disaster relief:in august 2021, hurricane ida made landfall in Southeast Louisiana as one of the strongest storms to ever hit our state. United Way of Southeast Louisiana (uwsela) coordinated immediate relief efforts, and continues to invest in long-term recovery with over $1.3 million committed to the work to date. Throughout the seven parishes we serve, we continue to work in concert with partners to support long-term recovery groups (ltrg), including key nonprofits, faith-based, business, and government partners. Each parish's group reflects the unique nature of its communities while maintaining a shared goal: identify local disparities and gaps in services and provide unmet needs. We recruited and mobilized volunteers locally and nationally to provide critical rebuilding support to 149 households - including the repair of 30 homes allowing them to recover and thrive. Additionally, uwsela, bishop wilfret johnson, and handson new orleans are working in partnership to rebuild and restore the st. paul benevolent association community hub for plaquemines parish. Residents will benefit greatly from having a space of their own to commune, plan, and respond to future emergencies in a Way that centers on community resilience and sustainability.in december 2022, tornados hit st. bernard and jefferson parishes. Hours after making landfall, our team sprang into action distributing tarps, garbage bags, rakes, and water. In total, we were able to raise $159,000 via 1,510 donors. Funds were used to support those impacted including $30,000 to small businesses in st. bernard, algiers and the west bank as well as $79,078 in immediate aid distributed to impacted houeholds.

Entergy utility assistance:entergy customers who applied for the credit for their energy bill from entergy received a one-time credit of $150. To qualify, customers must have a total household income of up to 250% of the federal poverty level, which equates to $69,000 for a family of four.uwsela served 12,928 entergy customers in jefferson, orleans, plaquemines, Washington, tangipahoa and st. tammany parish.

J. wayne leonard prosperity center:united Way of Southeast Louisiana's j. wayne leonard prosperity center is a one-stop financial capability center that connects individuals to a combination of ten financial capability services at no cost to participants.services offered are:financial education financial coaching financial counseling credit counseling credit building access to safe and affordable financial products free tax preparation assistance access to federal and state incentivized savings programs asset ownership programsunited Way of Southeast Louisiana's expert financial capability team designed a financial education curriculum and resource guide. The curriculum is to educate and bring awareness to the community about what it means to be financially stable and the steps individuals and families can take to achieve financial stability. We have utilized the curriculum with the community, civic, and private partners with outstanding results. We have used the guide with the individual development account (ida) participants for the past four years and received excellent feedback. We are also using the curriculum with opportunity centers through the new orleans business alliance job readiness training program, which targets 52% of the unemployed african american males. Additionally, we conducted training for entry-level employees at a local business, associated terminals/turn services. The feedback from participants was extremely positive!since its opening, the uwsela financial capability team has educated over 12,080 participants in group training about the essential components of financial education. The training consists of a comprehensive curriculum focusing on various personal financial management topics for wealth creation, asset development, and long-term financial security. The content material is based on uwsela financial education curriculum and resource guide. In addition, we used information from other money management training courses such as afi financial literacy core competencies, freddie mac's creditsmart, fdic's money smart curriculum, the federal reserve bank's building wealth, consumer action's moneywise, and a variety of other financial tools and resources. The objective of the group training is to introduce financial management to the participants to provide them with more in-depth, one-on-one coaching sessions. These coaching sessions empower participants to achieve financial stability and long-term success. Uwsela specialists offer participants and their family the tools to create household budgets, save money over time, reduce debt and improve credit scores. It has proven to be very successful for many participants who have taken advantage of one-on-one coaching. Through the partnership, uwsela has provided one-on-one coaching to 523 participants. 89% of the participants have not checked their credit reports in over a year. Most of the time, they fear the unknown. 75% of the participants have disputed incorrect items on their credit reports. of those participants, several were unemployed or incarcerated, leaving their credit vulnerable for fraud and misused by family members. We have seen an increase in credit scores averaging 62 points over three months, an increase in saving, and an increase in establishing or re-establishing positive credit; with a decrease in debt reductions of $451 on average, a decrease in credit utilization by 60% and a halt in applying for new credit. Several participants have opened savings and checking accounts with hope federal credit union and fidelity bank. Many others are planning to open bank accounts once they begin working. Several graduates are current participants in the uwsela individual development accounts.

Louisiana prisoner re-entry initiative (lapri) collaborative:year 4 - jefferson parish lapri:- 2022-2023 represented year four of the initiative. Year 4 ended february 28, 2023.the department of public safety and corrections (dps&c)/jri office continued to refer clients housed in correctional facilities across the state. Correctional facilities allowed access to clients virtually to enroll client in the program and provide in-reach services. Engaging clients virtually as a part of the in-reach process within the correctional facility presented challenges for some of the correctional facilities because the facilities were not structured to allow providers to access clients virtually. The program structure has been modified to accept women, individuals serving 10+ years and are high need, referrals from the community, service providers, program participants, probation and parole and other parish jails and state correctional facilities across Louisiana. The individuals are housed at over 13 different correctional facilities across the state. Referrals are made to the legal services team to continue to serve our clients to include getting contempt(s) of court waived, reducing participant fines, fees and consumer debts, applying for disability benefits and appealing any denial of benefits (snap, medicaid, social security (ssi)/disability (ssid), etc.). Participants needing workforce services will be connected to employment. Though limited in scope, transitional housing is an option for those who have limited housing options. We continue to engage the community through jefferson parish reentry coalition meetings held virtually. Program partners include the Louisiana department of public safety and corrections that were the source of the referrals, catholic charities to provide case management services, Southeast legal services and loyola university school of law to provide civil legal services to address any legal barriers a justice involved individual may have. Louisiana public health institute is the evaluation partner to evaluate the efficacy of the lapri model and its implementation. Funding partners include the Louisiana department of public safety and corrections, the jefferson parish council and the u.s. department of justice. The last year of funding has been secured from the jefferson parish council, the u.s. department of justice, and mackenzie scott funds have been allocated to support the initiative.year 4 outcomes: - served 37 participants in year 4.- 100% of the participants received intensive case management services.- 100% of the participants were assessed for needs, risk, and responsivity by case management.- 100% of the participants have a comprehensive case management plan.- 100% of the participants are assessed for legal services.- 60% were connected to employment.- 100% were enrolled in benefits.- 89% of the participants completed the program 6 months, post release, without a technical violation.year 5 jefferson lapri:- 2022-2023 will represent year 5 of the initiative. The contract to begin year 5 in jefferson parish was march 1, 2023.the department of public safety and corrections (dps&c)/jri office continued to refer clients in addition to referring clients housed in other correctional facilities across the state. Correctional facilities allowed access to clients virtually to enroll client in the program and provide in-reach services. Engaging clients virtually as a part of the in-reach process within the correctional facility presented challenges for some of the correctional facilities because the facilities were not structured to allow providers to access clients virtually. We have a received a total of 51 referrals. 40 of the referrals were received august of 2022 from the jri office. The individuals are housed at 5 different correctional facilities across the state. Referrals will be made to the legal services team to continue to serve our clients to include getting contempt(s) of court waived, reducing participant fines, fees and consumer debts, applying for disability benefits and appealing any denial of benefits (snap, medicaid, social security (ssi)/ disability (ssid), etc.). Participants needing workforce services will be connected to employment. Though limited in scope, transitional housing has been a great backup plan for those who have limited housing options or circumstances changed with little notice and no healthy alternatives. Program partners include the Louisiana department of public safety and corrections that were the source of the referrals, catholic charities to provide case management services, Southeast legal services and loyola university school of law to provide civil legal services to address any legal barriers a justice involved individual may have. Louisiana public health institute is the evaluation partner to evaluate the efficacy of the lapri model and its implementation. Funding partners include the Louisiana department of public safety and corrections, the jefferson parish council and the u.s. department of justice.outcomes to-date for year 5:- served 63 participants in year 5.- 100% of the participants received intensive case management services.- 100% of the participants were assessed for needs, risk, and responsivity by case management.- 100% of the participants have a comprehensive case management plan.st. Tammany parish lapri:- 2022-2023 represented year two of a two-year initiative. Year 2 ends november 30, 2023.the department of public safety and corrections (dps&c)/jri office continued to refer clients housed in the st. tammany parish jail and other correctional facilities across the state. Correctional facilities allowed access to clients virtually to enroll client in the program and provide in-reach services. Engaging clients virtually as a part of the in-reach process within the some of the correctional facilities presented challenges for some because the facilities were not structured to allow providers to access clients virtually. The department of public safety and corrections (dps&c) transitional specialist assigned to the st. tammany parish jail began referring clients housed at the st. tammany parish jail in april of 2022. The st. tammany parish jail has allowed access to clients virtually to enroll client in the program and provide in-reach services. The program structure was modified to accept referrals from the community, service providers, program participants, probation and parole and reentry transitional specialists working in other parish jails and state correctional facilities across Louisiana. The participants were referred for legal services to include reducing participant fines, fees and consumer debts, applying for disability benefits and appealing any denial of benefits (snap, medicaid, social security (ssi)/disability(ssid), etc.). Though limited in scope, transitional housing has increased for those who have limited housing options. Eligible participants were referred for workforce services. Program partners include the Louisiana department of public safety and corrections that were the source of the referrals. Catholic charities to provide case management services, nami-st. tammany to provide transportation services, first district-st. tammany workforce development to provide employment services, Southeast legal services and loyola university school of law to provide civil legal services to address any legal barriers a justice involved individual may have. Louisiana public health institute is the evaluation partner to evaluate the efficacy of the lapri model and its implementation. Funding partners include the Louisiana department of public safety and corrections. Mackenzie scott funds were allocated to support the initiative.outcomes to-date:- enrolled 40 participants in year 2.- 100% of the participants received intensive case management services.- 100% of the participants were assessed for needs, risk, and responsivity by case management.- 100% of the participants have a comprehensive case management plan.- 100% are being enrolled in benefits upon their release.

Vita, eitc, and single stop:vita is the volunteer income tax assistance program that assists low-to-moderate-income workers with free tax preparation services to keep all of their tax refunds in their pockets. Irs-trained vita volunteers help taxpayers avoid paying high fees and predatory lending practices. The volunteers ensure that the taxpayers take advantage of all credits such as earned income tax credits (eitc), child tax credits, etc. Eitc is the nation's most extensive anti-poverty program that helps to bring low-income families out of poverty. United Way conducts marketing and outreach on the vita program and eitc throughout our seven parish service areas and beyond. In addition, United Way partners with single stop usa and delgado community college to offer free tax preparation and benefits screening for students to help them get all the public benefits they are eligible to receive. The goal is to increase the student's income, so they don't have to drop out of school because of a lack of child care or having to make tough choices like paying for books or food. Accomplishments: - total number of income tax returns completed - 7,219 - total amount of income tax refunds - $10,929,447- total amount of earned income tax credits - $3,511,220

New orleans grade level reading campaign:- 125 organizations and businesses actively participating in the collaboration. - 552 of community members involved through the collaboration.- multiple partnerships established in all three grade-level readiness driver areas: school readiness, summer learning and attendance. Partnerships and their purpose have included: early care and education funding & policy (an example of our partners include agenda for children, entergy new orleans, institute of mental hygiene, w.k. Kellogg foundation, Louisiana policy institute for children, women United, kingsley house, urban league of Louisiana, Louisiana children's museum, n.o. Children and youth planning board, mayor's office for youth and families, new orleans early education network, power coalition for equity and justice, loyola university college of law, save the children action network, stand national); and summer learning (nordc, new orleans public library, urban league of Louisiana, n.o. Youth alliance, national summer learning association, firstbook, abundance of desire, discoveryfest, communities in schools, and kidsmart). Partnerships for our attendance work include nola public schools, n.o. Children and youth planning board, mayor's office for youth and families, and total community action. In addition to a summer learning working group that developed the kay fennelly literacy institute, the campaign has also activated its school readiness working group, which has outlined a detailed internal collaborative plan to increase access to quality ece in new orleans; and the attendance task force which has begun to identify the systemic issues that contribute to chronic absence in orleans schools.- the efforts accomplished in the second half of the year continued momentum to secure dedicated funding for the creation and sustainability of high-quality early care and education seats, teacher training and infrastructure. Within the reporting period, - the school readiness working group of the glr campaign successfully advocated for the passage of hb 12 -prohibits promotion to the fourth grade of certain students whose reading deficiencies have not been remedied by the end of the third grade. Governor john bell edwards signed the bill into law - act 422.- 2023 legislative session: the 2023 legislative session was a fiscal session beginning on april 10th, ending no later than june 8, 2023.- ready Louisiana coalition key asks:- $200 million to sustain seats; $115 million to expand access to 9,000 children birth to three: total $315 million- 10% of recognized excess funds- the campaign in partnership with the ready Louisiana coalition successfully are walking away with almost $52 million in new funding for young children in hb 1, the largest state investment of state dollars into the child care assistance program in over a decade. When session ended, there was $44 million in the budget, but thanks to a line item veto by governor edwards, we now have almost $52 million total going into early care and education (ece). As a result of our tireless, collaborative efforts, approximately 4,000 children across the state will keep their publicly-funded ece seats.

Workforce readiness-employment & training programs:to expand our workforce development investments and community-strengthening efforts, uwsela works with the Louisiana department of children and family services workforce division to provide capacity building resources and assistance for their set for success programs.these programs provide individuals and families the opportunity to transform their lives through training and skills to overcome barriers. Participants can gain the skills, education or work experience needed to become employable and earn a living wage. Over the past year, uwsela has helped build capacity in both the snap and step employment & training programs by developing, working on, leading, or participating in projects such as, but not limited to:snap e&t: creation of best practices partner guide (fiscal and reimbursement); communications plan; partner referral strategic plan; input in development of new program online portal; research of all state ngo's and identification of potential workforce partners; technical assistance and peer to peer learning; development of state provider application package; and introduction to the cliff tool for provider agencies.step e&t: assisted in the creation and strategic plan and implementation of the pilot project, followed by the statewide implementation, of the catapult powered by cliff tool (used to assist case managers with their clients). This tool shows how an increase in income or career advancement can lead to the loss of eligibility for participation in government assistance programs; training of step coaches on tool; introduction of the uwsela prosperity center to the step e&t program, offered target financial capability education to step participants.

New orleans mental health collaborative (mhc):the new orleans mental health collaborative (mhc) was created to identify and fill gaps in mental health care in the city. The initiative was launched during a special city council session on mental and behavioral health convened by new orleans city councilmember joe giarrusso on sept. 15, 2022.collaborative's three areas of focus: 1. Needs and resource assessment; 2. Access to care: a. Place and community based care, b. Insurance; 3. Capacity building: a. Cultural competency, b. trauma informed trainingsamhsa recast grant:the substance abuse and mental health services administration (samhsa) awarded mhc partners, led by United Way of Southeast Louisiana, over $1.9 million for two years to expand and coordinate trauma-informed community behavioral health resources and services for young people. Funds support the resilient, equitable systems for overcoming loss and violence everywhere (resolve) new orleans project, which focuses on serving youth and families living in communities of chronic poverty most impacted by collective trauma and community violence.

Rate payer endowment:kay fennelly literacy institute - expanded to offer year-round support for literacy integration into out-of-school time programming through professional development and coaching opportunities for ost instructors and coaches overview: kidsmart (ks) specialists will offer instructional coaching and focused workshops throughout the school year. Some supports will be inclusive of all ost personnel, and others will focus on ost practitioners who want to deepen literacy integration practices in their instruction and classrooms.timeframe - january-marchaudience - 60 ost practitioners citywideactivity - literacy integration workshopsdescription/deliverable - 3 workshops lead by kidsmart literacy support specialistslead/support - kidsmartafter these pds, 100% of participants understand the purpose and value of integrating the arts to improve literacy skills. 100% understand the purpose and value of integrating the arts and academic and social-emotional learning objectives. 100% of participants are comfortable with engaging students in an interactive read-aloud.timeframe - mayaudience - 58 nord summer staff, 33 ost practitioners citywideactivity - literacy integration workshops, homegrown institutedescription/deliverable - 2 workshops offered to all nord camp staff attending nord's mandatory pre-summer camp training, 3-day institute focused on arts integration and literacy integration instructional practiceslead/support - kidsmart, kidsmart & we scribblin's kyley pulphus.93% of participants rated the training as excellent.uwsela was excited to collaborate with stem nola to support the implementation of its pilot midnight manufacturing program. Uw granted $100,000 to stem nola to address improving academic achievement in stem-related subjects, making-up pandemic-related learning gaps and providing young people who live in under-resourced communities with a safe place to go in the evening hours. This new initiative, which included a partnership with the cybersecurity manufacturing innovation institute (cymanii), was to engage students in grades 7th-12th with high-quality and culturally and developmentally appropriate science, technology, engineering and math (stem)-based educational activities.goal: - provide students of color with opportunities to gain new stem knowledge, including cyber security, increasing academic achievement in science and math closing the pandemic-related learning gap;- increase interest in and knowledge of stem, including cybersecurity, as a career path for participants;;- provide a safe place for students, many of whom live in economically underserved areas, a safe place to go during the evening hours.the midnight manufacturing program was to hold monthly sessions for students in grades 7th-12th. All sessions were to be held between the hours of 7:00pm-10:00pm, and would serve a minimum of 50 students per session. The sessions, were to be staffed by stem nola instructional staff and supported by college volunteers and stem professionals, utilizing the curriculum provided by the cybersecurity manufacturing innovation institute (cymanii). This curriculum would provide students with the skills and training they need to explore careers within the cybersecurity field.unfortunately, the program partner cybersecurity manufacturing fell through and we pivoted to the implementation of original programming, stem nola shifted gears a bit to engage students in places where we would have complete control of facilities, equipment, supplies, and human capital resources - summer stem camps. In particular we focused on provision of funds to support our technology camp programming, which closely aligns with the create and make aspects of manufacturing, but with an infusion of technology. Students learned how various technology topics enable the creation of marketable products and workforce skills. This summer of activity would serve as a pilot study to be evaluated for expansion during the subsequent school year in an out of school time context.results: total youth served: 151 youth from ages 11-14 and 15-19, 80% male, 20% female, 85% black, 5% hispanic/latinx, 5% white, and 5% asian. Household income: 10% from households less than/equal to 30% area median income, 60% from households greater than 30% but less than/equal to 50% area median income, and 20% participants are above 50% area median income and below 80%.programming rationale::- current curriculum offerings in schools may not lend itself to meaningful activities allowing for hands-on exploration of stem subjects- children are learning necessary, but insufficient information (not enough depth, not applied)- delivery does not present content in a diverse Way; the existing curriculum is not adaptive and does not allow for adequate amounts of hands-on interactionsstem nola hosted summer hands-on technology camps to engage kids in meaningful ways to explore 21st century technologies in a Way not often seen in their schools. Topics include 3-d printing, artificial intelligence, robotics, and coding, offering a robust level of exposure to career based skills which could lead to workforce opportunities in the future.goal was to seek youth who were not regularly exposed to the areas of technology covered in the camps to allow their interaction and determine interest level to proceed further in school- to enter and remain in the stem career pipeline. A full 50% or registered students had not attended a technology camp before, the goal was that they would all engage at the 100% level without any dropouts. The goal was achieved as students who entered, completed the interactions and exhibited characteristics of personal and collaborative agency in getting the tasks completed.program outcomes include the following:- increased student resilience to the concept of work, satisfaction, and intellectual competency- students leave feeling empowered to make and create- student creations that could potentially lead to marketable technology-based income producing productsfor all of our programs, including our technology camps, stem nola documents the number and demographics of participating stem learners through sign-in sheets and online registration. We measure learning and knowledge objectives via pre- and post-program surveys and by successful completion of program hands-on projects.successful completion of tasks during technology camps is the biggest indicator of success. Each activity leading up to a working model engages skills from soft (collaboration, communication, and resilience) to tangible (working models, tested and redesigned conceptual models, etc). Engaging youth have expressed their achievements and are proud of the work completed. Our goal was that 80% of participants would see successful project completion and recognize potential impact to a larger community, and indicate increases in confidence and interest towards stem topics. This goal was exceeded.

Individual development account project (ida): an ida is a matched savings account that helps low-income individuals and families save money to acquire an economic asset that can build long-term financial stability and self-sufficiency. This project allows participants to use their idas for down payment/closing costs on a new home, start or expand a small business, post-secondary education, home repair, and vehicle purchases. Participants are required to attend financial education courses and asset-specific training before making a purchase. In addition, they must save for at least six months before making a purchase. Ida project partners provide financial education, credit counseling, and asset-specific training. We received a $1,000,000 mackenzie scott charitable gift on december 15, 2020, to start our fourth program. The fourth ida project will operate from july 1, 2021-june 30, 2026.accomplishments: - total number of participants enrolled - 43- 15 homeownership - 9 vehicle - 19 business start-up or expansion - post-secondary education- total number of participants that have completed 12 hours of homebuyer training - 15 - total number of participants that have completed 12 hours of financial education - 43- asset purchases - 43 total; 15 homeownership, 19 small businesses, and 9 vehicle

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