Community Spotlight: United Way of Frederick County
Welcome to the latest blog post in our Community Spotlight series, where we highlight the remarkable individuals and organizations that make Frederick a great place to live and work.
This time, we’re speaking with United Way of Frederick County about their commendable initiatives which show their dedication to the community and exemplify the compassion that characterizes our city. By focusing on uniting the resources and goodwill of the people of Frederick to enhance lives, United Way is truly making a difference for those in greatest need.
Come along as we explore the projects they work on, the obstacles they face, and the incredible ways they’re improving the welfare of our community.
What do you think makes Frederick a great place to live?
Frederick County is full of people who genuinely care about those that live in our community. There are so many people who constantly raise their hand to support others, whether through charitable giving, volunteerism, board service, or just being kind to their neighbors. It’s truly inspiring to see all the people in our community that care.
Can you tell us about the mission of United Way of Frederick County and the key areas you focus on in the community?
United Way of Frederick County’s mission is to mobilize the caring power of our whole community to improve lives. We are acutely focused on the ALICE population in Frederick County, which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, but Employed. These households are working, but still struggling to afford a basic cost of living. Our impact areas are health, education, and financial stability, but we really focus on that third piece. The ALICE Report outlines that housing, transportation, and wages are the three critical areas preventing ALICE families from being financially stable, which is where we focus.
Some folks may not realize that UWFC is a local and autonomous organization. Can you explain why that’s such an asset for the work that you do?
While United Way of Frederick County falls under the parent brand of United Way Worldwide, every United Way operates independently. This is so important because every community may face similar issues, but the needs within those issues can vary greatly. This autonomy allows us to focus on programs and services that specifically benefit the needs of Frederick County residents, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all method to an issue. It also allows us to pick and choose which issues we will focus on, so while United Way overall may be hyper focused as a unit on providing disaster relief for example, we have the ability to select our own focus areas.
What are some of the biggest challenges that families in Frederick County face?
The three main issues facing our Frederick County ALICE families are housing, transportation, and wages. Child care would fall closely behind these three issues.
What are some of the main programs or initiatives you offer?
We have two main Pathways to Financial Stability – Pathway to Transportation and Pathway to Homeownership. Each Pathway includes matched savings to purchase either a home or vehicle. For the Pathway to Homeownership, participants save $3,000 and we matched $14,000 so the client walks away with $17,000 towards their closing costs, down payment, etc. While they are saving, they are also undergoing free budget coaching and credit counseling so they walk away with an overall picture of their financial health and can make educated financial decisions for their family moving forward.
The Pathway to Transportation matched savings includes a $500 $1:$1 match, with clients also participating in the budget coaching and credit counseling programs. We also offer free income tax preparation through our VITA program and have distributed nearly 5,000 Chromebooks through an Internet Access Initiative over the last year. Our Ride United Network (RUN) is also responsible for more than 18,000 rides to critical needs like work, school, the grocery store, doctor’s appointments, and more. The RUN program works with nonprofit partners and the ALICE community to provide rides through a rideshare app as well as support transportation efforts already in place through local nonprofits providing direct services to their clients. Last, the Getting Ahead program is a 16-week course designed to teach ALICE households about the hidden rules of the classes, how to identify and use resources in their community, and how to ultimately “get ahead” and advance their future story.
What role do other local organizations and institutions play in enhancing the impact of your programs? Are there any recent or upcoming partnerships that you’re particularly excited about?
We are big believers in partnering with organizations who are already doing great things to enhance our programs, rather than reinventing the wheel. We work with a number of partners to support our programs including Second Chances Garage, Interfaith Housing Alliance, and more! We just recently partnered with Housing Frederick and Mary Ellen Mitchell to grow our free budget coaching program, which often has a waitlist of clients eager to get a better handle on their finances. Through our RUN program, we partner with many local organizations, including City Youth Matrix, Heartly House, SOAR, and The Ranch, to provide flexible transportation options for demographics where we identified service gaps in the pilot program. This includes ALICE individuals in the senior, youth, veteran, and rural populations.
Day of Action is coming up in October. What are the top community needs you’ll be focusing on this year, and how can volunteers really make a difference?
Each year at Day of Action, we send 300-400 volunteers out into the community to complete 30+ service projects for our local nonprofits. Our main focus is on supporting organizations that serve our ALICE community in one way or another. Projects tend to skew towards those things that get pushed to the backburner as they prioritize serving their clients rather than upkeeping their building, organizing storage spaces, or maintaining the landscaping. This is a great opportunity for these organizations to cross some of those backburner items off the to-do list and our volunteers help take that weight off of the organizations so they can focus on what they do best!
If you could highlight one aspect of your work that you wish more people knew about, what would it be and why?
From a programmatic standpoint, I wish more people knew about our free income tax preparation program. Each year, we return approximately $1.1 million in tax refunds to Frederick County ALICE households and save them an average of $306/household in tax preparation fees. I would love for more ALICE households to utilize the program to maximize their returns, but I would also love if more people knew this was a completely volunteer run program. Tax preparers are all volunteers who undergo IRS-testing to be eligible to provide this service free of charge. We can always use more of these dedicated volunteers!
Bonus: What future projects or initiatives are you most excited about? OR What are some common misconceptions about ALICE households that you think should be addressed or clarified?
A common misconception about ALICE households is that they are only made up of the extremely poor. In reality, many of us in the community are at risk of becoming ALICE everyday. In Frederick County, the survival budget for an individual is just over $48,000, with the survival budget for a family of four (2 adults and 2 young children) being $112,068. This means if you are making under those amounts, you are unable to afford to live here. Many families are one job loss, medical emergency, or act of God away from becoming ALICE.
Things you can do right now to support United Way of Frederick County.