United Way of Kaw Valley (UWKV) brings together people, companies, and nonprofits to help individuals and families not just survive but thrive. We work to solve issues no single donor, charity or government agency can handle alone. By focusing on the whole family, we help more children graduate and achieve employment success, help more families move from crisis to financial stability and prosperity, and improve the health of individuals and families in our community.
Over the past 12 years in Shawnee and Jefferson counties, UWKV has invested in the areas of Early Education, On-Grade Achievement, Financial Stability, Health, Substance Abuse, and Basic Needs (Food Assistance, Rent & Utilities Assistance, Healthcare and Prescription Assistance, Safety from Domestic Violence, and Shelter). As we have shared with the community, those grants made a significant.
As we listened to our community during that time and looked at research and best practices emerging in the various areas of social services, we saw the need to apply a different lens to our work, a lens that would make it easier for families to access services and define and achieve success for themselves. We found this lens in a Whole Family/2Gen Approach to Poverty. Over the course of the last four years, a conversation has emerged in our community about how we can better serve families with this approach.
This RFP marks a shift for UWKV as we seek to apply the Whole Family Approach to our grantmaking while also adjusting for decreased revenue over the last 12 years. We held listening sessions across our community to establish this new direction. For this upcoming grant cycle (2023-2025), UWKV is committed to community investment in Shawnee and Jefferson Counties in the following areas: Childhood Success, Family Success, and Family Supports (previously known as Basic Needs and encompassing Housing Supports, Food Security, Access to Healthcare, and Services for Relationship Violence and Trafficking Survivors). This framework and these areas better reflect where we are as a community while also folding in emerging research and best practices to help families achieve greater levels of stability and success.
| January 9 | RFP Releases |
| January 17 | Whole Family Workshop |
| January 23 | Process Opens |
| March 3 | Applications Due |
| March-April | Review/Scoring |
| April 28 | Notifications Sent |
| July 1 | 2-Year Funding Cycle Begins |