The holidays are a great time of year to pause and take stock of what matters most to us:
family, friends and a feeling of community.

When you invest in United Way, you are investing in proven programs that lead to a stronger, safer and more vibrant Dane County. Your holiday gift is more than a single act of charity – it’s helping kids get prepared for and stay in school, families remain stably housed and employed, and providing invaluable health supports for people of all ages for the long-term. Ultimately, your gift is making our community a better place to live for all.

Here are some of the outcomes from the past year that you made possible by supporting United Way:

• In partnership with RISE, United Way’s ParentChild+ program helped more than 160 kids and their families get ready for 4-K. This home visitation program encourages early literacy and school readiness. 1,700 local children are still unlikely to be 4-K ready.
• More than 1,500 families were provided quality housing case management in 2018, addressing root causes of their homelessness. Since 2015, United Way has helped reduce acute family homelessness by 50% — yet 600 families remain housing insecure.
• Over 400 older adults participated in falls prevention classes offered through partner agencies and 300 older adults received in-home safety assessments for falls and adverse drug events (ADEs) reducing their falls rate to 22%, well under the national average of 33%. More than 3,000 older adults live in poverty in Dane County.

These results are impressive – and there’s so much more to be done.