UNITED WAY OF GREATER
LOS ANGELES
Creating Pathways Out of Poverty
Our Mission Statement
Our mission is to improve the quality of life for everyone in Greater Los Angeles by creating pathways out of poverty.
Our Work
United Way of Greater Los Angeles is bringing people together to fight poverty across L.A. County and improve the quality of life for everyone in our communities. Our work is exposing a side of Los Angeles that most people don’t know about.
Facts
- Los Angeles is the homeless capital of the nation
- 1 in 5 of our children live in poverty
- Only 60% of our students graduate high school on time
- Nearly 1/3 of our full-time workers earn less than $25,000
Our Plan
Our 10-year strategic plan focuses on providing long-term solutions in the 3 interconnected areas which are the root causes of poverty
Focus:
- Providing job training and financial education ensuring that people have the skills they need to secure good-paying jobs.
- Ensuring that thousands of people move off the streets into apartments with a network of support services.
- Helping students receive a quality public school education, putting them on the path to graduate prepared for college and the workforce.
Strategies for Success
- We’re providing expert research on our dynamic community, identifying challenges and creating a plan for change.
- We’re driving change through partnerships, bringing the right people to the table from public, private and non-profit sectors to create effective and stronger solutions.
- We’re changing the systems that keep people in poverty by advocating for improvements in public policy at the local and national level.
- We’re investing in programs that are focused on results, partnering with the highest performing nonprofits from across the county to achieve the goals laid out in our poverty plan.
Administrative Fee: 16.2%
(For all gifts given to United Way Creating Pathways Out of Poverty Fund)
Flat Fee: 9%
(For all gifts designated to any 501(c)(3) organization)
United Way of Greater Los Angeles
1150 S. Olive Street Suite T500
Los Angeles, CA 90014
(213) 808-6220
www.unitedwayla.org
Job Training and Financial Education
The Goal:
Move low-income people out of poverty by giving them the tools they need to maintain long-term financial stability
- Last year trained over 5,000 people
- Launched a new green jobs training program
- Provided free tax preparation for 40,000 people who received $44 million in tax benefits
The Importance of Growth Sector Jobs
For our economy to prosper, we need to give people the skills they need to compete in the 21st century workplace. We are training people in growth areas like green jobs, technology and healthcare so they will have jobs in industries that are thriving now and that will continue to prosper in the future.
Maximizing Wages for Long-term Financial Stability
Job growth in L.A. County over the past decade has been led by low-paying service and retail sector jobs that typically do not come with health insurance or other benefits. As a result, 15% of people in L.A. County live in poverty. One health crisis can tip them over the edge. We are helping families maximize their wages through better budget management, making use of their tax benefits and incentivizing them to save.
Jayshawn’s Story: Building a Future on Green Energy
Jayshawn English has a big dream in life: to make a living out of saving the world. “I want to convert wind turbines into solar wind turbines so we can store more energy,” says the 21-year-old. It’s been a long road for Jayshawn, who grew up in a tough neighborhood in Compton. A few years ago, he was homeless, in trouble with police and struggling to find his way in life.
Eventually, he enrolled in YouthBuild, a year-long program run by United Way partner Venice Community Housing Corporation. As part of the program, students get hands-on experience in green construction, which Jayshawn soon realized was a hot topic.” Here we were talking about these things in the classroom and it was all over the TV. Even the President was talking about going green and how all these jobs were opening up and I was thinking, ‘Okay, I’ve got a head start on this,’” he says.
Jayshawn is now working part-time installing solar panels and taking classes in energy-auditing at Santa Monica College with the hope of owning his own wind turbine business. “I was at rock bottom. I had nothing at all. Now I have my diploma, a part-time job and I’m going to school,” he says. “If I keep it up, maybe I can go to the White House one day, shake hands with the President and install some solar panels on the roof,”
After years of toiling in a low-wage job and living in poverty with her 3 children, Monica was able to give her family a better life.
View Monica’s video story.
Housing Stability
HomeWalk
HomeWalk is United Way of Greater Los Angeles’ annual 5K walk to end homelessness. This past year Kobe Bryant was our “Honorary Chair”. Over the past 5years, HomeWalk has mobilized almost 30,000 walkers, raised almost two million and funded organizations that have moved 9,000 people into permanent housing. All proceeds go directly back to the community, supporting permanent solutions to end homelessness for chronically homeless people, veterans and families. In the past 5 years, thousands of walkers have raised provided permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless and raise awareness of this critical issue.
Check out photos from HomeWalk 2011
Find out more about HomeWalk
Common Ground: The 100,000 Homes Campaign
United Way of Greater Los Angeles is partnering with Common Ground on the 100,000 Homes Campaign, a national effort to find and house 100,000 of the most vulnerable, chronically homeless people throughout the country. This inspiring and innovative project is mobilizing communities throughout the country to reach out to their homeless neighbors, many of whom have been living on the streets for decades, and find them homes. United Way will help mobilize hundreds of volunteers throughout LA County to support this effort, provide funding to organizations implementing this proven model, and advocate for policy change to invest critical resources for permanent supportive housing to make this vision reality. For more information on Common Ground click here.
Our Goal: End Chronic and Veteran Homelessness By 2016
The number one reason for homelessness is loss of a job. Our region’s unemployment rate is at the highest it’s been for a decade, so it’s not surprising that we are the homeless capital of the nation, and that 40% of the homeless are women and children. We are focusing on homeless families, the fastest growing segment, the chronically homeless who are the most costly population and homeless veterans.
Last year we helped 4,000 homeless families and individuals move into permanent housing.
Permanent Housing Works
We can end chronic and family homelessness by moving people into housing quickly while giving them the necessary services to stay there. This permanent supportive housing model has drastically reduced homelessness in cities like New York, Denver and Seattle. And the UWGLA Homeless Cost Study shows that it is 43% more cost effective to provide the chronically homeless with supportive housing than to leave them on the streets, constantly cycling in and out of costly emergency rooms and jail. The data also shows that over 80% of people in permanent supportive housing stay off the streets for good.
Home for Good: The Action Plan to End Homelessness
Created by the Business Leaders Task Force on Homelessness in Fall, 2010, Home For Good is a blueprint for creating a cost-effective and efficient system that will end chronic and veteran homelessness in Los Angeles County by 2016. The plan is designed to end homelessness rather than simply manage it by focusing on permanent housing as the first, most critical step on the path to wellness. This proven model, which moves individuals into permanent housing with support services, saves money by drastically reducing individuals’ stay in shelter or on the streets.
Giving chronically homeless individuals access to permanent supportive housing allows overtaxed public resources such as emergency rooms, jails and other crisis services to function more efficiently. By simplifying and streamlining the manner in which homeless individuals are moved into housing, existing public resources can be reallocated to provide 12,000 units of permanent supportive housing for all chronically homeless individuals by 2016. This could avoid up to $280 million in costs each year to mainstream systems. And it will ultimately eliminate homelessness in Los Angeles.
In 2010, 70 civic, business, community and faith leaders signed on to help implement the Home For Good action plan. Go to homeforgoodla.org for more information.
Mobilizing the Business Community: Business Leaders Task Force on Homelessness
The Business Leader’s Task Force on Homelessness is a joint initiative of United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. The Task Force is comprised of business leaders from throughout the county who have come together with a commitment to end homelessness in our region.
The Task Force promotes permanent solutions to homelessness in partnership with public sector, faith, nonprofit, and civic leaders, both local and national. Since 2009, the Task Force has examined systems issues, challenges, and opportunities involved in ending homelessness in our communities. By learning from local and national experts about solutions that work, the Task Force has taken the leadership needed to create a bold path to ending homelessness.
Our Goal:
Increase the graduation rate to 75%
Our Results:
- Graduation rate in LAUSD has gone from 48% to 56%
- We’ve taught 4,ooo parents to understand their child’s school.
- Proficiency rates have increased at these schools by 50%
An Educated Workforce Means a Healthy Economy
Education determines whether a person will end up in poverty. An educated workforce makes our region more competitive. If we want our region to prosper, we have to invest in educating our children. Today, over half of our middle schools aren’t meeting national education standards. United Way is focused on reaching kids in middle school because studies show that when they succeed there, they are much more likely to graduate ready for college and the workforce.
Empowering Parents
United Way and our partners convened 4,000 parents in 2011 to understand their child’s school, their choices and mobilized them to advocate for key policy changes.
The Leadership Matters Middle School Pilot
The Leadership Matters Middle School Pilot is training 8 LAUSD middle school principals and their leadership teams by directing increased resources and technical assistance to the schools. The goal of the program is to prepare students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds for success in high school, thereby leading to reduced dropout rates, increased graduation rates, and improved readiness for college and career.
The Leadership Matters Middle School Pilot will train LAUSD middle grades leadership teams of four, including the principal, an assistant principal or counselor, and two department heads, in Program Improvement high-needs schools. The goal is to improve teacher effectiveness, implement school-wide student support systems, and involve parents in creating learner-centered environments at home and at school. Leadership teams convene every month to two months to tour and observe high performing middle school sites with similar demographic profiles. They will then receive on-site coaching and support to implement best practices on their own campuses.
United Way will be funding the following nonprofit partners over the next three years in the impact areas of Homelessness, Educational Achievement and Financial Stability.
United Way of Greater Los Angeles
Creating Pathways Out of Poverty Partners 2011-2013
211 L.A. County
211 Statewide
A Community of Friends
AbilityFirst
Advancement Through Opportunity and Knowledge Incorporated (CYFC)
After School All Stars
AIDS Project Los Angeles
All People's Christian Center
Alliance for a Better Community
American Red Cross
Antelope Valley, Partners for Health, United We Mentor
Asian American Drug Abuse Program, Inc.
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
Asian Youth Center
Boys & Girls Club of Antelope Valley
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor
Boys And Girls Club of Burbank and Greater East Valley
Boys and Girls Club of Carson
Boys and Girls Club of San Fernando Valley
Boys and Girls Club of Venice
Boys and Girls club of West San Gabriel Valley
Boys and Girls Club of Whittier
Boys and Girls Clubs of the South Bay
Build Rehabilitation Industries
California League of Middle Schools
Catholic Charities of Los Angeles, Inc.
Center for the Pacific Asian Family, Inc.
Child & Family Guidance Center (CFGC)
Children's Bureau
Chinatown Service Center
Chrysalis Center
City Year Los Angeles
Coalition for Responsible Community Development
Communities for Teaching Excellence
Communities in Schools Los Angeles West
Community Career Development, Inc
Community Coalition
Community Development Technologies Center (CDTech)
Community Solutions
Corporation for Supportive Housing
Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center
Diplomas Now
Door of Hope
Downtown Women's Center
East LA Community Corporation (ELACC)
Enterprise Community Partners
Evaluation Leadership Matters
Families in Schools
Foothill Family Service
Glendale Youth Alliance
Goodwill Serving The People Of Southern L.A. County
Green Dot Public Schools
Harbor Interfaith Services, Inc.
Heart of Los Angeles
Hollywood Community Housing Corporation
Homeless Health Care Los Angeles
Homes For Life Foundation
Housing Works
Imagine LA
Inner City Law Center
InnerCity Struggle
Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles
Jewish Vocational Services
Koreatown Youth and Community Center (KYCC)
L.A. Family Housing
L.A. Voice
Labor Community Services
Lamp Community
Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy
Los Angeles Communities Advocating For Unity Social Justice and Action
Los Angeles House of Ruth
Los Angeles Urban League
MALDEF – Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Mental Health America of Los Angeles
Mexican American Opportunity Foundation (MAOF)
MIND Institute
New Directions, Inc.
Ocean Park Community Center
Our Place Housing Solutions
Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment (PACE)
Pacific Clinics
Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE)
Parent Organization Network
Partnership for Los Angeles Schools
PATH Achieve Glendale
PATH Ventures
Peace Over Violence
People Assisting The Homeless
Playa Vista Job Opportunities and Business Services (PVJOBS)
Project GRAD Los Angeles
Project Impact Inc
Public Counsel
Roy W. Roberts, II – Watts/Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club
Salvation Army
San Fernando Valley Community Mental Health Center
Search To Involve Pilipino Americans (SIPA)
Shelter Partnership, Inc.
SHIELDS for Families, Inc.
Skid Row Housing Trust
Social Services at Blessed Sacrament, Inc.
South Antelope Valley Education Foundation (SAVE)
South Bay Center for Counseling
St. Anne's
St. Joseph's Center
Step Up on Second
Streetlights
The Catalyst Foundation
THINK Together
UAW-Labor Employment And Training Corporation
Unite –LA
United Homeless Healthcare Partners
United States Veterans Initiative
United Way of California
Upward Bound House
Valley Oasis
Variety Boys and Girls Club
Venice Community Housing Corporation
Volunteers of America of Los Angeles
Watts Labor Community Action Committee
Weingart Center Association
Western Center on Law and Poverty
Women In Non Traditional Employment Roles, Inc.
Woodcraft Rangers
Worker Education & Resource Center, Inc.
Workforce Development Corporation Southeast Los Angeles County Inc.
YMCA of Long Beach
Youth Policy Institute (YPI)
YWCA of Greater Los Angeles
YWCA of San Gabriel Valley
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