About Us

What We Do
At United Way, we work to improve lives and create lasting community change in partnership with local organizations. Through a well-organized, volunteer-driven allocation process, we make effective investments in more than 60 programs in Racine County. Our focus is on education, income, and health because they are the building blocks for a successful life. We all benefit when a child succeeds in school, when individuals and families are financially stable, and when people are healthy.
 
How We Do It
United Way’s Community Investment Process focuses resources and relies on local expertise to provide solutions to the most critical needs facing Racine County. Our funding model strategically invests in health and human service partners and projects that demonstrate collaboration, efficiency, and effective use of resources with measurable results. Our approach is unique because we not only address people’s immediate needs, we work towards changing the status quo so that people can avoid problems in the first place. It is about investing in the foundation as well as the future.

Why We Do It
Racine County faces some serious challenges. Findings from the 2012 United Way of Racine County Community Indicators Report show:

  • With the new formula being used to calculate graduate rates, only 67% of Racine public high school students are on record as graduating. (Public High School Graduation – Four-Year Rates, page 11).
  • It costs $60,887 annually for a family of four in Racine County to meet basic living expenses, yet two adults working full-time, minimum wage jobs only make $30,160 per year (Living Wage Estimates, page 21).
  • Having unprotected sex leads to significant health and social issues for our communities with the city of Racine teen birth rate the second highest in the state and Racine County on record as third highest in the state for reports of sexually transmitted infections, including 17 new cases of HIV over the past two years. (Sexually Transmitted Diseases, page 31)

United Way plays a crucial role in our community. No individual or organization can solve our community’s problems alone. United Way brings together community stakeholders, contributors and agency partners to create collaborative and innovative approaches to community issues.

With two out of every three families in Racine touched by United Way in their lifetime, it is no wonder that more than 10,000 individuals and 300 local organizations are donating. An annual contribution is truly an investment in Racine County. Working together, we can provide emergency services, basic needs and opportunities for a better life for all.
 
Thanks to the efforts of thousands of loyal volunteers and donors, we achieved a campaign total of $5.125 million in 2012! We can all be proud of the fact that our rich history of service and commitment to improving lives goes on.