TOGETHER WE MAKE CHANGE.

Nov.29, 2022

It’s been a tough few years. Too many people are struggling – paying the weekly grocery store bill, making up for the learning lost during pandemic school interruptions, navigating inflation. Our community has been disrupted and it is more important than ever to come together, United for change.

Individuals can change the world with their actions. Just this year, here in central and northeastern Connecticut, in partnership with United Way, solutions were implemented to help families have better access to healthy food through the ELS Case Competition which kicked off its fourth competition this fall.  Our superpower is bringing people together to make positive, lasting change.

With our partners, experts, community leaders and residents, United Way looks at the toughest problems, and is thoughtful about local solutions that work best in our community. United Way of Central and Northeastern Connecticut makes it easy for you to take meaningful action that makes a difference. That can be volunteering for a program that helps struggling kids shift the odds, like United Way Readers. Or speaking up for more support for female heads of households and their financial security as a United Way Women United member. Or investing in solutions that are showing results, such as the VITA campaign which returned $27.5 million to more than 10,000 local families this past year alone.

And we *are* seeing positive results.  Over the last year, here in central and northeastern Connecticut, United Way and the donors, volunteers and advocates who joined us have made a difference. Consider:

  • Nearly 8,000 children ages birth through eighth grade accessed quality early childhood education, in-school and out-of-school time academic supports and services;
  • More than 15,000 individuals accessed employment and financial literacy services, including: job training, financial education and coaching, income supports and free tax preparation; and,
  • Nearly 343,000 people accessed emergency basic needs and health services, such as: food, shelter, utility/transportation assistance and domestic violence/sexual assault services.

Positive change is happening. But it does not “just happen.” Change is created together.

And we are in it together. Just ask Mary Ellen Jones, who has supported United Way for more than two decades and is a Tocqueville Society member.

We want central and northeastern Connecticut to be a resilient, equitable community that offers opportunities for *everyone* to succeed. We can make it happen, together.

People like you are the ones who make change happen. Start today in our community. Join us. Donate today. Please consider making your donation a recurring gift to sustain United Way’s work and help make an even greater impact together.