United Way of Southeastern Connecticut

Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center:The Gemma E. Moran United Way/Labor Food Center is making a difference for the families facing hunger and food insecurity in Southeastern Connecticut. One out of eight children are food insecure, meaning, they lack consistent access to enough food to live a healthy, active life. The Food Center provides food and household items to seventy-two feeding assistance programs and a mobile food pantry program throughout New London County which feed over 22,000 people every month. These sites include food pantries, after-school programs, day care centers, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, community meal sites, and programs for the elderly. Last year, the Food Center distributed over 2.1 million meals and snacks, at no cost, throughout New London County. Over fifty percent of the food was received through the Food Center's food rescue program, where high-quality food that would otherwise go to waste is located, inspected and safely delivered, stored, and distributed to the community.In addition to providing operating expenses, United Way also mobilizes volunteers to inspect, sort, and organize food at the Food Center throughout the year as well as encourages local businesses and organizations to run food drives ensure culturally preferred product is available at the warehouse.

Basic Needs:United Way of Southeastern Connecticut supports programs located in New London County that help stabilize individuals and families enabling them to focus on the next steps towards their economic self-sufficiency now and into retirement. United Way's partner programs in Basic Needs meet the most fundamental of human needs for those struggling to make ends meet including food, clothing, transportation and shelter, provide emergency shelter to victims of domestic violence, provide housing with support services, and provide emergency financial and heating assistance. The outcome for these programs is that all individuals and families have their basic needs met.The New London County Fund to End Homelessness focuses on rapidly rehousing individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness as well as keeping those who are at risk of homelessness in their current housing without ever having to enter shelter. The goals are to reduce the length of time individuals and families stay in shelter, reduce new episodes of homelessness, and reduce return entries into homelessness. Families and individuals experiencing homelessness or are struggling with losing their housing face many barriers. The first call for help is to United Way 2-1-1 where a Housing Specialist will determine if someone is either homeless or imminently homeless. The individual or family is referred to Eastern Connecticut's Coordinated Access Network for an intake appointment where all possible alternatives to shelter are explored. United Way is the administrator of the program. Direct housing and supportive services are provided by 5 area organizations: TVCCA, Always Home, Covenant Shelter, New London Homeless Hospitality Center and Norwich Human Services. Service providers work on the premise that shelter should be used as a last resort. This may involve mediation with a family or landlord, problem-solving guidance, connection to community resources, and financial assistance for past-due rent, security deposit, or similar costs.

Community Wellness: United Way of Southeastern Connecticut supports programs located in New London County that promote and provide Community Wellness. The outcome for these programs is to ensure that individuals/families have access to healthcare and improve their health. These programs improve the physical, mental, and emotional health of individuals and families, eliminating personal barriers and improving the quality of life.United Way serves as the backbone agency on behalf of the Eastern Connecticut Health Collaborative (ECHC) which was established based on a collective impact approach with the goal to bring multiple groups together to tackle health-related challenges in our community. The thirteen-town collaborative, including both Tribal Nations, joined together to focus on equitable outcomes and is working collectively to remove barriers and improve access to healthcare and nutritious food, and striving to minimize negative childhood experiences to ensure a healthier community and decrease healthcare spending. ECHC consists of thirty-two organizations representing human services, local public health, federally qualified health centers, state and municipal agencies. As part of this initiative, United Way is coordinating an innovative approach to bringing mobilized services to low-access, hard to reach pockets throughout New London County and the Town of Windham. We are assisting agencies who are already hosting mobile events, such as our mobile food pantry and Hartford Healthcare's mobile clinic - Neighborhood Health by partnering them with health-related organizations to offer more comprehensive, wrap-around resources at each of these mobile locations. In addition, the collaborative recognized the need for a coordinated approach to the region's community health workers and outreach staff. This effort involves in-person meetings, shared resources, case conferences, on-line for-credit continued education, on-going communication, and other best practices. This initiative offers support and direction to staff to better serve their clients in our region in a more coordinated approach.