By Dave Foote
Kitsap United Way Executive Director
What a great summer we had and an eventful year here at United Way.
At the end of 2013, United Way, the Kitsap Community Foundation and the Suquamish Tribe became partners with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in a program called Building Community Philanthropy (BCP). This past year our work centered on how we could best invest $1 million dollars from a grant to help break the cycle of poverty within families.
The answers were derived from a survey taken by the Kitsap Community Health Priorities (KCHP), which helped identify the most important issues that need to be addressed. KCHP’s original members, United Way of Kitsap County, the Kitsap Health District and Harrison Medical Center invited the Kitsap Community Foundation to join the partnership. Working together with BCP, they zeroed in on the importance of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and how they impact a child’s ability to learn. The focus moving forward is to help children overcome ACEs and build resiliency. Additional KCHP priorities identified include: mental health, affordable housing/homelessness, community health, youth substance abuse and prevention and living wage jobs.
In May, the United Way became a sponsoring partner with the Kitsap Community Foundation on the first “Kitsap Great Give.”
It was a very successful effort. With the help of many great sponsoring organizations throughout Kitsap County, we broke through our half-million dollar goal and raised $540,000 benefitting more than 100 nonprofits.
In June, the United Way held its first annual Golf Classic at Gold Mountain and raised $9,000 to benefit the Kitsap Rescue Mission. We had great weather and the fun company of two former Seahawks, Nesby Glasgow and Alonzo Mitz, who plan to return for next year’s tournament and bring along some additional Hawks.
June also held another successful Day of Caring on a rainy Friday where more than 40 projects were completed throughout the county.
On Sept. 12, we kicked off the 2015 United Way Annual Community Campaign, where we announced the board of directors’ new strategic plan with a major emphasis on early learning and the importance of helping children build resiliency to overcome the long-term effects of ACEs in getting ready for kindergarten.
Early education is the key to improving graduation rates. Locally, 30 to 40 percent of children entering kindergarten are deemed not ready to start school.
The other United Way priorities to be targeted are: community health, with an emphasis on healthy living; homelessness and affordable housing, with an emphasis on getting the homeless off the streets, out of the woods and into safe shelters; and finally, continuing our efforts to provide for the basic needs for those who are struggling.
Government budgets have not loosened the purse strings; funding that nonprofits and charities used to depend on must now be raised by community effort. Needs have increased and the number of individuals and families seeking help has grown.
Amidst reports of an improving economy, times are still tough for many in our community. Recent newspaper articles, based on U.S. Census Bureau numbers, point out that the poverty level in Washington has risen from 13.5 to 14.1 percent since 2013 and while we have fared slightly better here in Kitsap County, our overall poverty rate, which stood at 8.5 percent in 2006, has now risen to 11.3 percent. Each year, as we kick-off another United Way campaign, we hope to see these numbers on the decline.
As a community, we must pull together for this year’s United Way campaign to raise awareness and dollars to help children, seniors, families, the hungry and all those the economy continues to leave behind.
It is a fact that we can do more united than we ever can alone. Every dollar pledged to United Way helps thousands of families here in Kitsap County.
Please make a pledge today at your workplace, by responding to the letter you received in the mail, or online at www.unitedwaykitsap.org.
