United Way of Erie County October Newsletter

OCTOBER 2015 | VOLUME 2 unitedwayerie.org

IN THIS ISSUE:

Meet Marvin: Read a “Graduate High School” Story

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

2015 Campaign Chair, Charles “Boo” Hagerty Vice President, Northern Tier Market UPMC Health Plan

How do you envision the Erie community in 2025? Do you see a thriving community, with stable neighborhoods? Do you imagine children entering kindergarten eager and ready to learn? Do you think about our young adults graduating on time, with a plan to be successful after high school?

Unfortunately, these are not the images many would use to describe Erie in 2025 or even now. While recent incidents certainly highlight negative behaviors and senseless loss, they also offer an opportunity to rally together as a community. I choose to believe Erie does have a promising future.

A future in which our children are engaged in school and hopeful about their future, in which high school graduates are successfully continuing their education or starting careers, in which families are stable and self-sufficient and in which employers can easily find an educated, motivated workforce.

By nature I am an optimist, but also a realist. This vision is based on actual work being done right now in the Erie community. United Way recently kicked off the 2015 Annual Campaign and invited everyone to help achieve the LIVE UNITED 2025 vision: 10,000 more families will be self-sufficient, meeting their basic needs without any public or private assistance, by May 2025.

I realize this sounds like a lofty goal, but United Way has already laid the foundation.

United Way is mobilizing the region to improve community conditions.

We have partnered with other leaders in Erie County to launch game-changing programs and initiatives that are based on research and evidence-based outcomes. Using the “self-sufficiency continuum” model, we are collectively and strategically addressing key milestones from cradle to career.

What are these key milestones? Starting with a foundation of emergency and basic needs, or safety net programs, these milestones address the critical phases of a person’s life, starting with being born healthy and staying healthy to reading at grade level by the end of third grade to being career ready. By strategically building on these key milestones, United Way is aligning efforts across the county to leverage resources to move toward the bold LIVE UNITED 2025 goal.

Today, thanks to your support, more children are being prepared for kindergarten. Families are receiving high-quality books for their infants and pre-school children at no cost. More than 193,000 Imagination Library books have been mailed since the program launched in the summer of 2013.

INSIDE THIS EDITION 3 Self-Sufficiency Continuum 4 More Caps and Gowns 5 Faces United: Meet Marvin 6 Loyal Contributors Spotlight

Young Leaders Society

7 Legacy Society Highlights

(814) 456-2937 facebook.com/UnitedWayErie @UnitedWayErie

Each year, approximately 300 low-income 3- and 4-yearolds attend high-quality early learning programs through Erie’s Future Fund scholarships. Erie Together is distributing a comprehensive Kindergarten Readiness Kit based on its successful Kindergarten Readiness Checklist, approved by all Erie County schools superintendents.

Now, that is true collaboration.

More children are attending high-quality after-school programs that provide a safe, positive environment, along with mentors and help so they stay on track with their studies. One example is the Bayfront Maritime Center’s Project SAIL after-school program that emphasizes the hands-on and practical application of TOGETHER, IMPROVING COMMUNITY CONDITIONS

Meet Jamie. Like many children living in Erie County, Jamie lives in poverty.

Learn more and watch Jamie’s story at UnitedWayErie.org/Video.

3 science, technology, engineering and math subjects in a maritime-themed learning environment. And, yes, they work on building real boats. You can read about a success story of the Bayfront Maritime Center on page five.

Career Street, a program supported

by United Way, has connected more than 4,400 Erie County students in just 18 months to career exploration opportunities and the possibilities available to students in their lives after school. Career Street is essential to promoting on-time graduation and with a plan for a bright future.

More and more citizens are becoming involved in their neighborhoods across the county. As part of Unified Erie, the Neighborhood Resource Organization is providing technical and financial assistance empowering people to better their neighborhoods. Today, grass-roots neighborhood improvement efforts are at an all-time high, from Corry and Union City to Erie’s inner city neighborhoods.

Through Erie FREE Taxes, families earning less than $54,000 per year are receiving free tax preparation. This past filing season, 5,870 returns were filed at no cost to Erie County residents, with a total economic value of $10.7 million.

Thanks to an average federal refund of $1,586 through Erie FREE Taxes, these monies help families become financially stable and meet basic needs.

These are just a few examples of exciting and positive collaborations that are producing real results in your community through United Way and many partners. While some may choose to focus on the negatives, I, along with United Way and its partners, are focusing on improving community conditions. Working together, we can make LIVE UNITED 2025 a reality.

We invite you to join us. Whether through your time, talent or treasure, you can be part of writing a future in which children are born healthy and remain healthy, enter school eager and ready to learn and graduate on time with a plan to be successful. This is a future in which families are financially stable and neighborhoods are vibrant, a future in which those in crisis can have access to safety net programs.

In 2025, I envision the Erie region being a community of opportunity where everyone can learn, work and thrive.

You can make that possible. Join me and let’s make a difference—together we can achieve great things for Erie’s future.

That’s what it means to LIVE UNITED.

Want to know more?

You can learn more about how your support of United Way is helping to improve community conditions in Erie County by visiting UnitedWayErie.org/Funding.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY

CONTINUUM

United Way of Erie County is mobilizing the community to improve community conditions. By starting with a foundation of Emergency & Basic Needs, United Way helps empower every person to reach milestones that help on their path to success from birth to adulthood.

Charles “Boo” Hagerty, 2015 Campaign Chair Vice President, Northern Tier Market UPMC Health Plan

IMPROVING COMMUNITY CONDITIONS SECURE & MAINTAIN EMPLOYMENT

BE CAREER READY GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL SUCCEED IN MIDDLE SCHOOL READ AT 3rd GRADE LEVEL ENTER KINDERGARTEN READY BORN & STAY HEALTHY EMERGENCY & BASIC NEEDS MET unitedwayerie.org

PARTNERSHIPS & INITIATIVES The Region’s Anti-Poverty Movement More Caps and Gowns

Erie Together is a countywide, civic movement to achieve economic stability for all citizens of Erie County. This is done by aligning local efforts and facilitating collaboration among community, faith and business leaders, educators, social service providers and citizens to identify and overcome barriers to self-sufficiency. Erie Together’s work focuses on every age and demographic to make the Erie region a community of opportunity where everyone can learn, work and thrive.

Erie Together was launched in 2009, and since its inception, hundreds of people with varying personal and professional backgrounds have donated their time, talent and expertise to help more children become successful adults, more individuals secure family sustaining employment and more families become self-sufficient.

Underlying all of this work is the understanding that education is key to preventing poverty, and to helping people become self-sufficient. For that reason, much of Erie Together’s work is focused on helping children achieve success in elementary, middle and high school so they can be best prepared for what comes next, whether that means post-secondary education or training, the military or the job market.

Caring adults play a very important role in children’s educational success. Through national research, we know that almost half of young people wish they had more caring adults to turn to. We also know that youth with mentors are more likely to report engaging in productive and beneficial behaviors.

Similarly, youth with mentors are more likely to report setting higher educational goals and attend college. And finally, at-risk youth are less likely to have mentors, and more likely to want one. For these reasons, in November 2014, Erie Together launched the “More Caps and Gowns Project.”

The More Caps and Gowns Project gives individuals the opportunity to connect with local kids through positive, stable, supportive mentoring relationships. The underlying intent is to increase on-time high school graduation rates across Erie County. The More Caps and Gowns Project is currently being piloted with Girard School District, and lessons learned will be used to expand the project across the county.

Erie Together is currently seeking mentors for students. Becoming a mentor doesn’t require a special degree or background; you just have to take an interest, listen, and be a positive role model.

To learn more about More Caps and Gowns, visit ErieTogether.org/More-Caps-and-Gowns and be sure to attend the Erie Together Community Forum on November 17 at 9:00am at the Bayfront Convention Center.

We all have something valuable to offer our kids, and there’s no better time to start than now.

Join the movement.

Erie Together’s work has been advanced through financial support from the Erie Women’s Fund, The Erie Community Foundation, our three founding partners — GECAC, Mercyhurst University, and United Way of Erie County — and special project donations from corporate and family foundations, organizations, educational institutions, businesses and private citizens.

To learn more and give your support visit ErieTogether.org.

TOGETHER, IMPROVING COMMUNITY CONDITIONS

FACES UNITED Meet Marvin

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A high school diploma, first job and bright future lie ahead

Read Marvin’s story at FacesUnited.org

A senior at Central High School in the City of Erie, Marvin found himself just 3 1/2 credits short of earning his high school diploma at the end of the school year.

That’s when the Bayfront Maritime Center’s Summer Program focused on credit recovery stepped in.

In the spring of 2015, Marvin found himself ending his senior year at Central High School just 3 1/2 credits short of earning his diploma. After hearing about a program from a caring adult that could help Marvin in earning credits he needed to graduate, Marvin enrolled in the Bayfront Maritime Center’s (BMC) Summer Program, a newly funded program of United Way. Students enrolled in the program have access to computers and a safe, structured environment to make up credits they otherwise would never be able to make up.

In addition, the Bayfront Maritime Center has aligned all maritime courses to STEAM (Science, Technology Engineering, Arts and Math) subjects.

While other students were out sailing, boatbuilding and rowing, Marvin chose to focus on his school credit recovery

work. Marvin was able to complete three credits in just three months with hard work, determination and sacrifice.

Marvin’s hard work has paid off. In less than three months, he earned all of his credits and received his high school diploma from Central Career and Technical School on September 18, 2015. Marvin studied digital media at Central and hopes to enter into medicine or the culinary industry.

His story doesn’t end there. Marvin plans to enroll in Project SAIL, also funded by United Way this fall, has landed his first job and is looking at colleges to continue on the path to success.

Because of YOUR support of United Way, Marvin and other students just like him are taking the giant step on the path to self-sufficiency and will be one more “cap and gown” in the community.

Graduate High School, Be Career Ready United Way is focused on funding programs like the Bayfront Summer Program because they align with milestones on the self-sufficiency continuum (page 3). The “Graduate High School” and “Be Career Ready” milestones addressed through the Bayfront Summer Program, ensure Marvin and many others like him stay engaged in school and hopeful about their future.

To learn more about programs and initiatives funded by United Way visit UnitedWayErie.org/Funding. unitedwayerie.org

Spotlight on our

LOYAL CONTRIBUTORS The Loyal Contributor program recognizes and thanks donors of any giving level who have supported United Way for 10 years or more.

Meet Tesha Nesbit Arrington, Director of Diversity & Inclusion at Erie Insurance, and her husband, Duane, who retired from Erie Insurance in 2013. Together, these Loyal Contributors have been giving to United Way of Erie County for well over a decade.

It’s part of a desire to give back that started in Tesha when she attended Penn State Erie, The Behrend College. “Service was a meaningful part of my experience as a student and I wanted a way to perpetuate that larger purpose,” she says.

Like so many around Erie County, Tesha and Duane give to United Way through payroll deduction. “I chose to enroll in automatic deduction as a new employee at Erie Insurance,” Tesha says. “I felt confident that my dollars would be applied to the most pressing needs of the community.”

Tesha adds that she is particularly interested in “influencing early childhood education through literacy,” and she is a strong proponent of the Imagination Library. This game-changing program mails books to the homes of local children under the age of five at no cost to their families. Tesha states,“I know what an impact reading had on me as a child.”

Both Tesha and Duane are especially moved by United Way’s credo to “Live United.” They indicated it resonates with them “because it encourages everyone to remove bias and invest their time and talents in ways that can benefit every segment of the community.”

YOUNG LEADERS SOCIETY

It’s been an exciting few months for United Way of Erie County’s Young Leaders Society! On September 3, YLS members visited McKinley Elementary School and provided nearly 100 fifth-graders with LIVE UNITED book bags. The bags were filled with pencils, markers, folders, scissors, calculators, dictionaries and much more.

Wegmans employee Chelsea Coverdale

Each year, YLS “adopts” the fifth grade at McKinley, where many of the students come from low-income families. Ten percent of YLS members’ gifts go directly to support this vital project, designed to help ensure the children stay engaged in school and hopeful about their futures.

On September 25, four YLS volunteers took part in the first Career Street event at McKinley this school year. They spoke to the fifth graders about their jobs, and connected the dots between education and employment. There will be additional YLS Career Street events throughout the school year. If you are a YLS member and want to volunteer with the McKinley project, please contact United Way.

Want to know more?

Contact John Simon, Assistant Vice President of Investor Relations Email: john@unitedwayerie.org Phone: 814-456-2937, ext. 247.

We are also happy to announce Scott Enterprises is the exclusive sponsor of YLS for the 2015-16 Campaign. Working with Scott Enterprises, we are planning various networking and educational opportunities for YLS in the months ahead.

YLS consists of individuals under the age of 30 who annually give at least $250 to United Way, or anyone under the age of 45 who gives $500 or more annually. If you’re not already a YLS member, join today and become a part of the network of passionate, young people creating lasting impact in your community!

TOGETHER, IMPROVING COMMUNITY CONDITIONS

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LEGACY SOCIETY

Highlights

CREATIVE WAYS TO GIVE

AND BENEFIT AT YEAR-END Now is a great time to review all your assets. If you own an old life insurance policy or other asset you no longer need, you can make a gift to support our cause, receive tax savings and start the new year with an updated streamlined portfolio.

IRA Charitable Rollover

One of the best-kept secrets is that there are creative ways of giving to charity that can provide you with benefits that include regular annual payments, income and capital gains savings.

Charitable Remainder Trust

Charitable Gift Annuity

Double your benefits while making a gift and receiving cash back. A gift annuity gives you income tax advantages this year while providing you with dependable payments for life at fixed rates as high as 9%.

Gift of Life Insurance

If you are a bargain hunter, you might consider making a year-end gift of life insurance. By naming a charity like ours as the beneficiary of an unneeded policy, you can spend dimes to give dollars and receive tax savings.

Because of competition in the life insurance industry, rates are at all-time lows. Once you have given the policy, you can achieve additional income tax savings by making a gift each year in an amount equal to the premium payment.

If Congress again passes the IRA charitable rollover. You can transfer up to $100,000 directly from your IRA to a qualified nonprofit, such as United Way of Erie County, without paying federal income tax. Check with us to see if this option is available this year.

When you make a gift to fund a charitable remainder trust you get cash back as long as you live. Our organization benefits from what remains after all payments have been made to you and any other beneficiaries. You will receive an income tax deduction this year for your gift. Please let us know if you would like to see an illustration with your potential income and tax savings.

Make a Gift that Matters

Your gifts matter to us! If you are looking for a way to help our cause this year and want to learn more about the benefits of these or other giving plans, please contact us.

We can help you make a big impact on our mission at a relatively low cost to you.

Would you like more information?

Contact John Simon, Assistant Vice President of Investor Relations, john@unitedwayerie.org 814-456-2937, ext. 247 or visit ErieLegacy.org.

This information is not intended as tax, legal or financial advice. Gift results may vary.

Consult your personal financial advisor for information specific to your situation. unitedwayerie.org

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Erie, PA Permit No. 370

420 West 6th Street Suite 200 Erie, PA 16507 unitedwayerie.org

BREAKING NEWS 2015/2016 CONGRATULATIONS RICK YEANEY!

SAVE THE DATE NOVEMBER 17 Erie Together Community Forum JANUARY Erie FREE Taxes Super Saturday APRIL Days of Caring MAY 10 2016 Annual Meeting

Congratulations to Rick Yeaney and his wife Van, winners of United Way’s 1965 Ford Mustang! Rick’s winning ticket, #2127, was drawn on September 8, 2015 at United Way of Erie County. Country Fair and United Way officials were present for the drawing which was conducted by an independent CPA. Rick purchased the ticket at Store #1, located on 8th and Maryland Avenue in the City of Erie. Rick is a volunteer with Meals on Wheels Erie, a program funded by United Way of Erie County.

THANK YOU COUNTRY FAIR EMPLOYEES & CUSTOMERS

$140,000+

Prize generously donated by:

The support of Country Fair customers and employees during the summer of Country Fair’s 50th Anniversary was incredible. More than $140,000 was raised for United Way!

JUNE 9 Imagination Golf Classic JULY Loyal Contributor Picnic AUGUST 2 - National Night Out 29 - Women Driving Philanthropy Dates subject to change.

Visit UnitedWayErie.org for complete details.

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