United Way fighting childhood poverty

Apr. 30—About 10 years ago, The United Way of Wyoming Valley went through what CEO Bill Jones described as a "transformative, strategic change."

Up until that point, the organization, like any other United Way, had measured its success by whether or not it reached its fundraising goals.

The problem was, despite all of the money raised, the need in the community continued to grow.

So, when Jones came on board in 2012, the organization wanted to find a way to not only meet that need, but ultimately reduce it.

A professional study was conducted that identified several areas driving need in the community such as substance abuse, crime and safety issues, economic development issues and school readiness.

The area that really stood out to the organization, though, was childhood poverty.

"The child poverty rate in our community over a dozen or so years more than doubled and it meant almost one out of every three kids in Wyoming Valley is growing up in poverty,"Jones explained.

Switching its focus to childhood poverty helped re-fine success for the organization.

"It's much more than how many dollars you can raise every year. It's really, 'How many lives can you impact? How many children can you help?'" Jones said.

Through this innovative change, The United Way has worked for the last decade to break the cycle of poverty in the community by eliminating barriers to education and providing children with the tools they need to thrive.

Part of that mission involves working to raise graduation rates by raising third-grade reading levels, which were significantly impacted following the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Up until third grade, we're all learning how to read. Fourth grade and beyond, we're all reading to learn. So, if you're not proficient coming out of third grade, you could easily fall behind," said Jones.

In partnership with the Dolly Parton Foundation's Imagination Library, The United Way has helped bring books to low income kids in the Wyoming Valley from birth up to age five.

According to Jones, since 2014, the United Way has registered close to 8,000 children in the program and has invested more than $600,000 dollars.

"Next month we will be celebrating our 5,000 child that has graduated and aged out of that program and is hopefully more ready for school," Jones said.

While it's difficult to measure the immediate impact of this kind of program on the community, Jones hopes that two decades from now, "graduation rates and reading levels will get better."

The United Way has also partnered with schools to make sure children's basic needs are met by supplying school nurses with hygiene items like toothpaste, shampoo, feminine products, and even clothing.

"In the course of working with schools, one of the things that we learned is that low income kids miss an awful lot of school for reasons other than being sick," Jones explained. "When they don't have material aid items they don't want to go to school or can't go to school."

Its pilot pilot program, The Nurse's Pantry, was started in 2018 and now serves over 4,000 kids a year.

The program is in every elementary school in Wyoming Valley and the United Way has plans to expand to high schools as well.

"There's not a single teacher in any public school in Wyoming Valley who doesn't know and doesn't see poverty every single day. And if we could eliminate some of the challenges, those kids will do better. That's the strategy," Jones said.

The United Way has also stepped up to help children who did not pass their yearly vision screening receive the proper eye-ware they need. In the last three school years, the organization put glasses on nearly 900 children's faces.

"We're hearing lots of those stories of kids who just can't believe all that they were missing in life because the couldn't see and we're changing that," Jones said. "You know, if you can't see the white board you can't see your potential."

But the United Way isn't stopping there. Jones said the board just approved a new program to help parents as well and provide them with the tools and resources to better take care of their children.

"We want to be persistent and continue to help kids and we believe that in time, lives will be different because of the work we're doing today."