What You Make Possible This Year
Our UWKV grant year began on July 1. This is a continuation/final year for existing grants in Shawnee/Jefferson counties and Jackson county. It is the start of a two-year grant cycle for Douglas County, with the exception of Racial Equity grants, which are for one year. Listed below are all the partners in our service area whose programs are directly supported by United Way of Kaw Valley donor investment.
Our overarching impact grant categories are Childhood Success, Family Success, and Family Supports. Childhood Success encompasses our early childhood education work and parent/caregiver support. Family Success includes education after age 5 as well as career and financial readiness, literacy and opportunity. Family Supports cover traditional basic needs categories/crisis services to help stabilize families and individuals, including access to food, health care, housing support and services for survivors of relationship violence and trafficking.
Thank you for changing lives with your United Way contribution!
DOUGLAS COUNTY
Family Supports – investment in crisis services for families facing financial instability
Access to Healthcare
- NEK Multi-County Health Department: Dental, mental, vision, and prescription assistance to low-income, uninsured or under-insured Douglas County residents
Food Security
- Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas: Food assistance to food insecure residents of Douglas County; funding also provides support for the administration of food programming
- Eudora Schools Foundation: Food assistance to Eudora Schools families through Operation Caring and the Bird’s Nest pantry
- Just Food: Purchase of food for the pantry and mobile pantry
- Sunrise Project: Funding supports the purchase of food and supplies for prepared community meals
Other Supports
- Mirror, Inc.: Funding supports the Work for Success program, including participant expenses and basic needs
- Success by Six: Housing supports (rent and utilities assistance) for women during postpartum medical leave; funding also provides operational support for the Douglas Program Manager
Childhood Success – investment for children 0-5 to maximize opportunities for success
- Ballard Center: Early childhood education teacher salary support
- Success by Six: Centro Hispano’s Bilingual Care Coordinator salary support
Racial Equity--Building community, leadership and direct support for marginalized community groups
- Brown Like Me Infant and Toddler Care: Sprouting Skills heathy foods program support
- Herman’s Place: Funding supports the purchase of food and supplies for prepared community meals
- Kindness is Key, LFK: Program support for purchased and donated food, clothing, furniture, Christmas gift and school supply collection and distribution
- Lawrence, Kansas Juneteenth Celebration:Support for the Multicultural Community Celebration which promotes education, community and family.
- LRM (Life Restoration Ministries) Foundation: BIPOC Soul: Healing from Pain and Trauma Workshop program support
JACKSON COUNTY
Family Supports – investment in crisis services for families facing financial instability
Access to Healthcare
- NEK Multi-County Health Department: Dental, mental, vision, and prescription assistance to low-income, uninsured or under-insured Jackson County residents
Food Security
- Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas: Food assistance to food insecure residents of Jackson County including financial supports through the Resource Bus
- Jackson County Ministerial Alliance – New Hope Food Pantry: Food assistance to food insecure residents of Jackson County
- YWCA of Northeast Kansas: Food assistance for Jackson County survivors of domestic violence and/or sexual assault
Housing Supports
- Jackson County Ministerial Alliance: Housing supports (rent and utilities assistance) to those facing utility shut offs or housing instability in Jackson County
- NEK-CAP, Inc.: Housing supports (rent and utilities assistance) to those facing utility shut offs or housing instability in Jackson County; wraparound supports are also offered to clients
- YWCA of Northeast Kansas: Housing supports (rent and utilities assistance) to survivors of domestic violence and/or sexual assault facing utility shut offs or housing instability in Jackson County
SHAWNEE AND JEFFERSON COUNTIES
Childhood Success – investment for children 0-5 to maximize opportunities for success
- Parents as Teachers, USD 501, Topeka Public Schools: Home visitation, parent education, and child development services for families with children ages 0-5
- Pine Ridge Prep Preschool, USD 501, Topeka Public Schools: Preschool for 3- and 4-year-old children in Pine Ridge Manor, Topeka Housing Authority’s oldest and largest public housing neighborhood. Families have access to wraparound services using a whole family approach
- Community Action, Head Start: Professional learning to 40 Head Start staff, parents, and community childcare partners through two cohort models of community college preparation
- TARC – PACT (Parents and Children Together) Program: Parenting supports and resources to adults with intellectual or related disabilities who are parenting a young child
Family Success – investment in both generations in families to maximize opportunities for success
- SparkWheel, Student Support: Multi-level, two-generational approach delivered by full-time Student Support Coordinators (SSC) working inside Ross and State Street Elementary Schools (USD 501, Topeka Public Schools) developing intentional relationships with students and their families. The SSC works side-by-side with administrators, educators, staff, and family to reduce barriers to success
- Mirror, Inc., Work for Success Program: Workforce readiness and case management services to increase employment success for low-income families in our community. The Mirror Work for Success program will offer 72-hour Personal and Professional Development Training sessions to clients who face barriers to employment and need support and training to achieve economic stability.
- Topeka Rescue Mission, CaRE (Career Readiness Education) Program: Improves the quality of life for people experiencing homelessness, or people who are unemployed or under-employed by equipping them with job-seeking skills, workplace competencies, and skills needed for improved financial mobility
- Kansas Big Brothers Big Sisters Serving Shawnee County: Matched with a mentor, youth served in our one-to-one mentoring program will improve their progress in three key areas: educational success, avoidance of risky behaviors, and social-emotional learning
- Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG), JAG-K, Pathways to Graduation and Career Success: JAG-K middle and high school students receive job certifications through an educational, student event experience, and testing process. Certifications will improve their knowledge of job skills needed for their chosen career path, and event attendance will contribute to their success. Students impacted will be in middle and high school grade levels (7-12) during the FY24 school year
- SparkWheel, FutureNow: Finance: Increases financial literacy for teenagers who attend partner Topeka high schools during the 2023-25 school years through live, simulated events in which students create and manage a monthly budget for a young adult through interaction with community members who share their life experiences
Family Supports – investment in crisis services for families facing financial instability
Food Security
- Midland Care, Meals on Wheels: Access to hot, nutritious meals and wellness checks to 1,000 older citizens in Shawnee and Jefferson counties five days every week each year who are homebound and experiencing food insecurity
- Topeka Rescue Mission, Hunger Relief Project: Access to prepared food or food boxes because they are experiencing homelessness or are living in poverty situations
- Harvesters, Feeding Children, Families, and Seniors in Shawnee, Jefferson, Jackson Counties: As the only regional food bank, Harvesters takes a comprehensive approach to solving the problem of hunger through three key mission initiatives: Feeding Children, Feeding Families, and Feeding Seniors
- Catholic Charities, Basic Needs – Food Distribution: Food assistance to food insecure residents of Shawnee and Jefferson Counties including financial supports through the Family Resource Center
Housing Supports
- Community Action, Inc, Homeless Prevention – Rent, Utility & Deposit Assistance: Minimizes homelessness through the provision of rent and utility assistance. While helping families maintain or obtain safe and affordable housing, Community Action is also able to impact family well-being through individualized case management. Our Whole Family Approach promotes preventive strategies rather than a crisis-driven one
- Shawnee County Medical Society HealthAccess, LINK Supported Housing: Community Support Navigators work to increase access to supported housing services for low-income, uninsured and under-served residents of Shawnee County to obtain or maintain safe and stable housing
- Doorstep, Emergency Services – Housing Supports: Housing supports (rent and utilities assistance) to those facing utility shut offs or housing instability in Shawnee County
- Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas, Basic Needs – Direct Financial Assistance: Housing supports (rent and utilities assistance) to those facing housing instability in Shawnee and Jefferson Counties including financial counseling and family budgeting
Access to Healthcare
- Shawnee County Medical Society HealthAccess: Access to health care and related services for low-income, uninsured residents of Shawnee County, eliminates health disparities among this population, and coordinates volunteer efforts on behalf of the medical community
- GraceMed Health Clinic, Oral Health Outreach: Accessible preventative oral hygiene care and education to low income, uninsured children during the school day while decreasing the number of children seen with decay
- Positive Connections, Medical Case Management: Case management program assists individuals in Shawnee and Jefferson Counties living with HIV/AIDS and their families with access to medical care, staying healthy and reducing the risk of transmitting the virus onto others. The program also offers prevention services to case management clients to educate them and their partners
- Family Service & Guidance Center: Grant dollars for a van to transport children participating in therapeutic group treatment
- Topeka Doula Project, Community-Based Doula Program: Pregnancy and childbirth education that entrusts mothers to make informed decisions about their care, to empower moms to make healthy decisions for the well-being of themselves and their children, and to improve the mother’s birth experience. We are striving to improve maternal and infant mortality in Shawnee County
- Doorstep, Emergency Services – Healthcare: Improve the mental and physical health of LMI (low to moderate income) individuals and increase their access to prescription and dental assistance and their ability to attend doctor and therapy appointments by receiving transportation assistance
- Mirror, Inc, Work for Success Program – Health: Vision exams and glasses for individuals, plus help with prescriptions and office co-pays. Assisting clients with unmet medical needs is a step toward employment readiness
- Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation of Kansas, Inc, Greater Topeka Family Support Services: Improve the overall health, wellness, and long-term financial stability of people with all types of disabilities and their families through the provision of financial aid toward the purchase of medical equipment and assistive technology
Services for Relationship Violence and Trafficking Survivors
- YWCA of Northeast Kansas, Center for Safety and Empowerment: Case management services for domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking survivors
- Kansas Legal Services, Domestic Violence Program: Legal assistance to low-income victims of domestic violence in Shawnee and Jefferson counties and their families, eliminating legal barriers for survivors to achieve emotional, physical, and financial safety, support, and stability
- LifeHouse Child Advocacy Center, Victim Advocacy: Reduce trauma and begin healing for child victims of crime through a victim-centered approach throughout the investigation and prosecution of the case resulting in a decrease of trauma symptoms