Greater Twin Cities United Way: Improving Lives, Strengthening Communities
The menu has downgraded

Community Builders
Emerging Leaders
Tocqueville Society
Women's Leadership
 
Basic Needs Tierra
United Way is the largest non-governmental funder of job programs in Minnesota. Watch Constructing the Future to learn how these programs build lives and the community.

United Way's Goals

Families who are hungry or homeless can't suceed. United Way stabilizes families in crisis and gives them the skills they need to increase their earnings. We do this through four community goals in the Basic Needs area:

Community Issues

  • Approximately 580,000 people in the metro area are living in or at the edge of poverty and 32 percent are children. (U.S. Census Bureau. 2005-2007 American Community Survey.)
  • Nearly 435,000 households in the nine-county region use a food shelf. (Hunger Solutions.)
  • A family of four needs an income of $39,000 to meet basic needs, including a two-bedroom apartment, yet half of the jobs currently open in Minnesota pay $20,800 or less for a 40-hour work week. (Jobs Now Coalition, Wage and Budget Calculator; Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Minnesota Job Vacancy Survey, 2nd quarter 2009.)
  • United Way 2-1-1--our community resource and referral line--made over 400,000 referrals to people in need last year. Nearly one-half of all calls were for basic needs. (United Way 2-1-1.)

Responses

  • Investing $300,000 and leveraging additional community investment to quickly move families out of shelters and into affordable, stable housing.
  • Providing annual, sustaining grants to 37 job-training programs working on placement, retention, development of skills and career advancement for those living in or near poverty.
  • Requiring that all food shelves and meal programs supported by United Way provide information and referrals to federal food programs, asset-building services and emergency services to those in need, ensuring maximum support for those who qualify.
  • Making $1.4 million in emergency grants to help local food shelves, food banks and on-site meal programs meet increased needs.
  • Raising, with our partners, 6.4 million new pounds of food to distribute to those in need, and investing in the Walk to End Hunger, a Thanksgiving Day-event in collaboration with the Twin Cities Hunger Initiative to raise awareness and combat decreasing donations to food shelves.
  • Expanding Claim It! A Community-wide Partnership to help an additional 12,293 people claim the tax credits they have earned, bringing an additional $28 million into our local economy.

Learn More

Get Involved