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Community Impact New in 2020!
COMMUNITY IMPACT
BEHAVIOR & MENTAL WELLNESS SERVICES
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In collaboration with Forsyth County Schools, United Way of Forsyth County is investing in our students’ overall health by providing funding for on-site therapeutic services for students when costs are more than the family can afford. In 2019, United Way paid out $29,357 to this program which equates to approximately 500 therapeutic sessions. Additionally, we provide funding to support an in-school program addressing bullying, substance abuse and suicide prevention.
Through United Way support, Avita Community Partners held Coping Skills Group Therapy Sessions in 2019 on a weekly basis with an average attendance of 15 clients per session. Avita also provided individual counseling for seniors and caregiver support group therapy through United Way support.
CREDIT RECOVERY PROGRAM
United Way of Forsyth County is committed to helping our youth achieve their potential and go on to lead successful lives.
In partnership with Forsyth County Schools,
United Way assists with tuition for recovery credits for failed classes, transportation for before and after school programs or tutoring, graduation fees and High School Graduation Test review sessions as well as other services to help keep students engaged and on track to graduate. These services are offered to students who are identified as economically disadvantaged, special needs or ELL students to remove any and all barriers they may experience getting in the way of graduation.
Since 2008, United Way has funded $725,000 to Credit Recovery programs. Additionally, the graduation rate in Forsyth County has increased from 85.8% in 2008 to 96.14% in 2020. “Seven years ago, the graduation rate at Forsyth Central was 82%. Each year since then, we have had a steady rise and reached our all-time high of 95% in 2020. A big reason for that has been the opportunities that we have been able to provide through extended instruction, Saturday tutoring, summer school, and APEX learning. All of these have been possible as a result of the United Way of Forsyth County’s generosity!” - Mitch Young, Principal
Forsyth Central High School
FOOD PROGRAMS
Collected peanut butter, jelly and kid-friendly meals and snacks from local businesses, civic organizations and individuals to support MSG Foundation’s Summer and School Break Feeding Program. Over 15,800 lunches were supplied through the program.
Partnered with Rotary Club of North Forsyth-400 to support Little Mill Middle School’s morning tutoring program, The Breakfast Club, by supplying Pop-Tarts as incentives. Approximately 184 students were served through this program during the 2018-19 school year.
Partnered with Cumming Post Office for the 2019 NALC Food Drive on May 10th and 11th. United Way provided mail carriers with 40,000 flyers to distribute to residents in zip codes 30028, 30040 and 30041 announcing the event. An estimated 5 tons of food was collected and distributed to 7 local food pantries/programs.
TAX PREPARATION
Hosted an AARP Foundation Tax Aide free tax preparation site at the United Way Office. 357 tax returns were prepared, with the total amount refunded of $165,324 in federal returns and $83,382 from state. AARP volunteers logged over 710 volunteer hours during 19 tax preparation sessions. 9
In 2019, with the assistance of a VISTA Volunteer acting as our Information and Referral Database Specialist, launched and continued development of our online in-depth community resource guide for Health and Human Services in Forsyth and Dawson County.
This guide is a companion to the Community Helplist currently distributed by United Way and is available online at www.UnitedWayForsyth.com.
CHARITY TRACKER
Continued to support the Forsyth County Collaborative on Charity Tracker, a tool for data and resource sharing between nonprofits. Since United Way established the collaborative in 2016, more than 20,650 individuals, 98,121 “acts of kindness” (assistance) and $7,357,692 in financial assistance has been logged. In 2019 alone, 2,651 households representing 8,010 individuals were served through 21,465 acts of kindness and $1,694,362.78 in financial assistance was provided. There are currently 32 member agencies and 41 agents in the Collaborative.
DAY OF CARING
Through United Way’s 18th Annual Day of Caring, 188,464 meals were packaged by approximately 780 volunteers at the Forsyth Conference Center. Meals packaged through the event were distributed to 8 local food pantries/programs to be available to clients through their food distribution programs. An additional 66 volunteers participated in projects at 3 locations throughout the County.
STUFF THE BUS
Collected school supplies for The Place, Forsyth County Schools and local agencies through Publix Supermarket’s School Tools Program as well as from Northside Hospital-Forsyth, Scientific Games, and other local businesses, civic organizations and individuals. Almost 67,900 school supply items were collected to benefit students and classrooms during the 2019-20 school year. United Way also provided school supplies for Forsyth Central High School’s Summer Outreach program.
TOILETRY/HOUSEHOLD ITEMS
Partnered with UPS Women’s Leadership Council (Tammy’s Project Angels) and other local civic organizations & individuals to provide toiletry and household items to school social workers and community organizations for distribution to those in need. Since 2017, UPS has packaged 4,433 toiletry kits for United Way with a total value of approximately $102,000.
SEEING IS BELIEVING NONPROFIT TOUR
Embark on a journey without leaving town. Seeing is Believing tours are a great way to see first hand where donations are being invested. Participants are given a behind-the-scenes look at the daily activities and challenges faced by nonprofit agencies and the clients they serve. The result is a deeper understanding of why giving to United Way is so important.
In 2019, United Way held 3 nonprofit tours with a total of 54 attendees visiting 13 different nonprofit organizations.
FORSYTH COUNTY DRUG AWARENESS COUNCIL
United Way of Forsyth County is the fiscal agent for the Forsyth County Drug Awareness Council, with Tammy Nicholson as the Director.
Their mission is to educate, advocate and empower the community to prevent substance abuse across the lifespan in Forsyth County, Georgia. They accomplish this by holding monthly collaborative meetings, advocating on the state level and holding community drug awareness summits for residents. They also have a resource library for anyone wishing to learn more via books, videos, brochures, information sheets, etc. The council estimates reaching approximately 20,000 Forsyth County residents through their programs.
We continued to support the Junior Achievement BizTown and Financial Park, a simulated town that allows middle school students to explore industries and careers through immersive simulations and acquire foundational knowledge for real world experiences, which is located in the Alliance Academy for Innovation.
The philanthropy store is operated by United Way of Forsyth County, North Georgia Community Foundation and United Way of Hall County.
BOYS & GIRLS CLUBS OF LANIER-FORSYTH COUNTY CHAPTER
At the start of the 2018/19 school year, United Way of Forsyth County piloted the first Boys & Girls Club in our community at Cumming Elementary. The Club was hoping for 100 students to start the program. They had 112 students registered and an average daily attendance of 94 students.
Boys & Girls Clubs prepare every young person with the skills and knowledge they need for a great future—to graduate from high school with a plan, inspire them to succeed, live a healthy lifestyle and become a leader in the community.
WOMEN UNITED
2019 was the charter year for Women United of the United Way of Forsyth County. Their mission is to champion a network of women leaders who engage by giving, connecting and volunteering with a collective vision to strengthen Forsyth County.
This diverse network of women will do much more than donate. The volunteers of Women United will invest their time and talent to address our community’s most critical issues. By igniting the power of women - who bring the passion, expertise and resources needed to get things done - we hope to find new solutions to old problems here in Forsyth County. Women United donors believe in the collective power of women and in empowering each other to accomplish more together.
New in 2020!
MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCE GUIDE
United Way of Forsyth County began developing an in-depth community resource guide for Mental Health Services. This guide will work in conjunction with a new Community Mental Health website. Both the guide and website are being created with the help of volunteers from UPS and UNG. Completion is expected in early 2021.
FORSYTH COUNTY CHILD WELL-BEING INDEX
Putting our community’s children on the path to fulfilling their potential requires us to work together toward a single, shared agenda. We’ve needed a collective vision, unified measures of achievement, strategies for how to attain success and a way to evaluate progress.
Through data collected by United Way, we are able to measure how children are faring in Forsyth County and can better determine the services needed to support them and their families. You can now simply make your donation by texting
TEXT-TO-GIVE
Since texting has now become the preferred mode of communication among donors of all ages, it makes perfect sense to incorporate text-to-give as an option to donate.
