Stay Tuned for an Updated UWKV Website
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| Examples of our updated branding on social media | |
You may have noticed a new look to our social media posts. A freshened logo and brighter colors are just a small part of a United Way Worldwide brand refresh. Our website is just about ready to re-launch with a sleeker look and reorganized sections. We hope to go live with the new site in mid-March but will also continue to make things easier to find and read throughout the first half of the year.
You will also see some new language framing our ongoing work. You are probably used to hearing education, financial stability and health as our impact areas, along with anti-poverty work and basic needs. We will still be focusing on the work encompassed by those legacy areas, but what we do will be grouped into new impact areas. The goal is for all United Ways to use the same categories so that it is easy to see how we all truly are united in our efforts, even though interventions can look very different in Kansas than they might in Florida or in Kenya.
Our re-imagined impact areas are:
Healthy Community--Improving health and well-being for all. This impact area includes access to health care, nutrition and food security, mental health support, substance misuse recovery and prevention, and maternal and child health. Much of what we frame as basic needs and anti-poverty work fits into the Healthy Community bucket.
Youth Opportunity--Helping young people realize their full potential. This is where our wheelhouse efforts in education will live. High quality childcare and early childhood education, out-of-school and summer learning, family engagement, and literacy development land in this impact area.
Financial Security--Building financial stability and strength. This area has not changed much for us, and includes job readiness, financial education and coaching, adult education and job training, homelessness prevention and affordable housing, free income tax assistance, and small business support.
Community Resiliency--Addressing urgent needs today for a better tomorrow. For United Way of Kaw Valley, this includes our participation in disaster relief and recovery efforts as well as planning responses for things like extreme weather. Our focus on volunteer recruitment and management play an important role in helping our communities respond quickly and flexibly to both ordinary and extraordinary needs.
By the end of 2026, most United Ways will have started framing their work with these four impact areas. As an early adopter, UWKV is among the first United Ways to do so. Not every United Way will grant dollars in all four areas; some may only focus on one. We may collaborate in some areas but not grant dollars out. At UWKV, we will continue our longstanding tradition of setting local priorities with the help of local volunteers and community input. But now we'll be using the shared language of our global network that will let you see how "united" truly is the way we change the world.