Greater Twin Cities United Way: Improving Lives, Strengthening Communities
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Education

United Way's Goals

When children suceed in school, they succeed in life. United Way streamlines systems and solutions that begin early so kids have school success. We do this through three goals in the Education area:

Community Issues

  • Only 50 percent of Minnesota's children come to kindergarten fully prepared to succeed in school--with striking disparities in readiness by race, income and class. (Minnesota School Readiness Study: Developmental Assessment at Kindergarten Entrance--Fall 2007. Minnesota Department of Education, March 2008.)
  • High school graduation rates can be predicted from third-grade reading success. In our community, a large academic achievement gap exists between students from low-income families and students who have greater access to resources. This gap widens throughout school, resulting in vastly divergent high school graduation rates. (National Research Council, "Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children," 1998.)
  • Annually, each youth in Minnesota has about 2,000 hours of out-of-school time, without structure or supervision--roughly equivalent to a full-time job. Approximately 40 percent of youth from families of limited resources are not involved in any out-of-school-time activities. (Minnesota Commission on Out-of-School Time, 2005; America's After-School Choice: The Prime Time for Juvenile Crime, or Youth Enrichment and Achievement, report from Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, 2000; Mahoney, J.L.; Harris, A.L.; and Eccles, J.S. 2008. The Overscheduling Myth. Washington, DC: Child Trends.)
  • The annual health-related costs of intimate partner violence exceed $5.8 billion each year in the U.S. Of this total, nearly $4.1 billion was direct medical and mental healthcare services and $1.8 billion was productivity losses. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United  States, March 2003.)

Responses

  • Investing $2.3 million per year in multi-year funding in programs and strategies supporting K-3 reading skills to close the achivement gap. This investment supports 15 programs, eight of which are new to United Way, and will serve approximately 6,000 children each year through one-on-one tutoring, parent engagement, identifying needs in kindergarten and working with students through third grade.
  • Supporting 14 parenting programs for low-income parents coping with multiple challenges. Over 5,100 parents are learning positive parenting skills to support their children, guide optimal child development, enhance school readiness and strengthen their families. Results will be evaluated to support the development of parenting best practices.
  • Supporting programs that address domestic and family abuse through legal and advocacy support, housing and financial planning assistance, and health, mental health and chemical dependency support. These programs served over 128,000 individuals last year.
  • Partnering with The McKnight Foundation to provide transportation for some 2,000 youth, enabling their participation in quality out-of-school-time programs. Lack of transportation is a critical obstacle for low-income youth.

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