Join United Way for a 4th of July celebration at the Lake Bluff 4th of July Parade this Friday!  Watch for United Way volunteers, joined by members of the United Way Lake Forest Youth Board and the Great Lakes Adaptive Sports Association, as they show their patriotism and community spirit with the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff community.  The parade begins at 10AM, so stake out your spot early!

For more information, go to http://lb4july.org/.

Save the Date

Friday, May 9

2:30 - 3:30

Deerpath Middle School, Lake Forest, IL

Lake Forest/Lake Bluff United Way Youth Board will be holding their 2nd annual walk-a-thon to raise money to benefit local agencies funded by United Way North Shore.

Last year they raised $12,000. Please contact Gary Von Glinow at gvg50@aol.com for more information.

United Way is evolving. To increase the depth and breadth of the impact we make in communities, United Wayis taking the initiative on empowering and assisting specific populations in a holistic way. This will included convening, partnering, collaborating and advocating-as well as funding. By leveraging all available resources – financial, staff, volunteers and agencies – in a variety of strategies, we believe we will be more likely to create sustainable positive community change. This model will be more proactive, issue driven and prevention focused; a powerful approach to thinking creatively and harnessing every asset to improve more lives. Additionally, these refinements allow us to align our United Way system across local geographies so that we have more consistency while still being sure each Member United Way is able to best address their local needs.

How did we choose this direction? We facilitated 12 community visioning sessions across our region and reviewed community assessments, agency surveys and secondary data. Thanks to all of you who have participated to date. We analyzed these sources to ensure that going forward we: Ø are addressing unmet needs;
Ø have the core competencies to execute on the issues;
Ø and that we could achieve measurable impact in a reasonable time frame. Additionally, where it makes sense, we will try to align regionally and nationally with other United Ways and United Way of America, to maximize consistency and leverage resources.

UWMC is accountable. Volunteers throughout the region will continue to be highly engaged and involved. Funding will be focused around specific strategies and outcomes. This will allow agencies to share best practices and report on common outcomes and successes in our communities. The reporting process will give us information about the ways we are achieving community impact. These results will be shared with our communities. As we continue to strive to improve the lives of people in our communities, your continual support as a community partner is vital. Thank you again for generously sharing your time, treasury and talents.

The Evanston United Way co-hosted a Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event with Evanston First Bank and Trust on Wednesday, October 17th. The event was well-attended by members of the Chamber of Commerce and the Evanston United Way board of directors.

Jay Lytle, President of First Bank and Trust, and Marion Flynn, President of Evanston United Way spoke about the United Way campaign and the importance of community giving.

Nearly 100 chamber members attended this event, including 11 of our own Evanston United Way Board members.

Thank you to Joan Kelly of First Bank and Trust, who organized and co hosted this Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours event with the United Way Evanston.

To view more photos, visit the photos section of our website.

This year UWNS received a surprise gift. A North Shore resident left a bequest to the United Way. Bequests, annuities, property and memorials have all found their way to the United Way over the past 75 years. Gifts such as these can make a big difference in the lives of many. In some cases they may provide the seed money for an impactful project idea from a new agency; they might cover a temporary shortfall for a current agency or they might be added to our endowment fund for that ‘rainy day’ we all hear about. If this idea is of interest to you or your family, contact United Way North Shore 847-999-2990. You talk and we’ll listen.

A recent Community Needs Assessment, undertaken once every four years by the Evanston Chapter of the United Way of the North Shore, found that affordable housing tops the list of community needs. Other leading needs include mental/behavioral health care, emergency/crisis intervention services, comprehensive youth services, hunger/poverty services, and general health services.

Survey recipients were asked to indicate priority issues from a list of 18 services that United Way typically supports. The survey respondents represent a wide scope of the Evanston community, including education, religious groups, social service organizations and agencies, as well as city government employees, and United Way Partner Agencies.

“The outcome of the Community Needs Assessment echoes what we’ve been hearing in the community and at site visits of our partner agencies for some time now,” said Karen Vroegh, the Evanston chapter board member who chaired the assessment team. “Affordable housing is an issue that still hasn’t been adequately addressed in our community.”

The United Way funds several Partner Agencies that provide affordable housing to vulnerable populations. One of them is Connections for the Homeless – an agency featured on the cover of the recent UWNS newsletter that was mailed to thousands of community members.

“We highlighted our funding to Connections because we want the entire North Shore to understand just how important our funding is to that agency. The fact is that they count on our support to keep their services and affordable housing available to Evanstonians in need. Our ability to support them depends on the support we receive from our donors,” said Lorelei Beaucaire, Assistant Director of the United Way of the North Shore.

Respondents to the Evanston Chapter needs assessment surveys were also asked to suggest new health and human service programs which could improve the work of organizations and agencies which enhance community life. Their suggestions as well as relevant summaries of the findings of three City of Evanston initiatives, the Evanston Project for the Local Assessment of Needs 2006-2011, The Evanston Youth Initiative, and Partnering Toward a Safer Evanston, are included in the needs assessment report.

Click here to download a copy of the full report.

United Way of the North Shore is investing more than $1.6 million in local service agencies. The following chapters of United Way of the North Shore that are funding local programs include:

Evanston $622,500 for 24 agencies
Glencoe $120,000 for 18 agencies
Highland Park-Highwood $220,000 for 19 agencies
Lake Forest-Lake Bluff $419,209 for 21 agencies
Wilmette $115,000 for 17 agencies
Winnetka-Northfield $180,000 for 17 agencies

Region-wide, the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago is investing $56.5 million in
238 communities in five counties.