United Way of the Capital Area is addressing the most important health and human services problems in our community with many local partners. Click the links below to learn more about United Way's current partnerships.

• Working families initiative
• Girls and Boys Town Well-managed classroom
• Safe and affordable housing for families
• Strengthening families

Working Families Initiative

  The Working Families Initiative complements United Way’s efforts to strengthen families by helping individuals increase income, build savings and gain and sustain assets. David Shipler, author of “The Working Poor: Invisible in America”, provided the keynote address at the launch of the Working Families Initiative on January 25, 2007.A new program of the initiative, Working Families Budget Coaches, was announced at the launch.

Initiative Goals

The initiative has three primary goals:

1. increase understanding of challenges faced by low- and moderate-income, working families

2. provide volunteers, particularly young professionals, with opportunities to assist families with practical ways to become more

financially stable.

3. improve working families income by assisting them in developing a realistic budget, claiming eligible tax credits and  income

supports and building credit and savings

Leadership

Honorary Chair:            Denise Nappier, Treasurer, State of Connecticut

Co-Chairs:                   John Bermel, Aetna

                                  Corey Brinson, Day Pitney LLP

                                  Scott Davis, Hilb Rogal & Hobbs

                                  Deb Zawisza, The Phoenix Companies

Budget Coaching Program

Self-selected working individuals are matched with a trained volunteer budget coach to develop a realistic budget and meet for at least three sessions for review and support. If additional financial education services are needed or desired, the coaches will refer participants to appropriate resources. Working individuals will identify their interest in being matched with a coach at select volunteer income tax assistance centers during the tax filing season (January through April, 2007) or year-round through United Way partner agencies.

United Way is partnering with Hartford Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs (HYPE), a program of MetroHartford Alliance, for initial recruitment of budget coaches and volunteer income tax preparers during the 2007 tax-filing season. Additional volunteers have been identified through attendees at the Shipler event, the United Way of the Capital Area Tocqueville Society and local organizations.

Partners         

The event launch was presented by a partnership of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford, Jewish Family Services of Greater Hartford, Saint Joseph College and United Way of the Capital Area with the generous support of St. Paul Travelers.

Budget coaching is a United Way funded program of the Hartford Asset Building Collaborative.

Other organizations that have contributed to the Working Families Initiative include Human Resources Agency of New Britain, Inc., Office of the Connecticut State Treasurer, United Way 2-1-1, United Way of the Capital Area Tocqueville Society Advisory Council and the YWCA of the Hartford Region, Inc.

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What matters: Ensuring children are successful

     Girls and Boys Town Well-managed classroom

  Since 2001, United Way of the Capital Area (UWCA) has partnered with Hartford Public Schools, the Hartford Federation of Teachers and Girls and Boys Town to introduce and implement the Girls and Boys Town Well-Managed Classroom (WMC) model in selected Hartford public schools.
  The program is designed to help teachers create a positive learning climate in their classrooms, so students will spend more time on task, exhibit fewer disruptive behaviors and have fewer suspensions.
  A study conducted at the end of the 2005-06 school year found that, in classrooms where the model was consistently used, students were on-task 97% of the time and their grade point averages were 1 to 2.5% higher than the mean for those evaluated.

  The Well-Managed Classroom model is in its third year of implementation in New Britain at the Louis P. Slade Middle School. School administrators report a marked decrease in office referrals and a higher degree of on-task time in the classrooms.

  In addition to supporting classroom success, this initiative seeks to influence parents by including the Village for Families and Children as a partner. The Village has developed the Institute for Successful Parenting and offers Girls and Boys Town’s Common Sense Parenting in selected Hartford schools. By taking these classes, parents can reinforce at home the behavior model used at school.

  Improvements in parenting skills have been reported among program participants. Last year, 75% of 136 parents demonstrated all six new parenting skills taught in the program, such as preventive and corrective teaching and how to teach self-control to children.

 For details of the 2005-06 Girls and Boys Town study, click here

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Hartford Neighborhood Development Support Collaborative

To increase the number of safe and affordable housing units in Hartford, United Way, together with the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and other local partners, created the Hartford Neighborhood Development Support Collaborative (HNDSC) in 1995. By working with non-profit community development corporations (CDCs), the Collaborative has increased the number of safe and affordable housing units by more than 1000 over the past 11years. The CDCs have also developed four community centers that are developed with housing  and offer youth and adult  education and resident services.  The CDCs identify property in Hartford’s most challenged neighborhoods and develop, or rehabilitate housing units that can be rented or purchased by Hartford residents. Families who live in these new units will gain a stable home for their children, and a safer, well-cared for neighborhood.

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What Matters: Strengthening families

Hartford Asset Building Collaborative

United Way of the Capital Area together with the Hartford Asset Building Collaborative (HABC) and other local partners, is working to provide area residents with the tools and knowledge to build assets. Available programs include credit repair, financial literacy and matched savings programs for the purchase of a home, opening a small business or for higher education. In 2006,  90% of participants in financial education courses demonstrated improved financial management knowledge through the work of HABC.

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