Your donation supports children and families who need it most in Windsor-Essex County. United Way invests in Cradle to Career strategies to support children from the time that they’re born until they find a career.
In some neighbourhoods, more than 50% of children are experiencing poverty. These are the children that need help overcoming barriers and more opportunities – access to healthy and fresh food, inspiring places to go after school, and mentors to support them on their path to success.
With our partners, we’re delivering programs focused on supporting kids and families. Programs like Ignite Academy to improve math and literacy skills for children in Grades 2 through Grade 7, On Track to Success to improve high school graduation rates, On Track on Campus to improve post-secondary retention rates and Summer Eats for Kids to ensure kids have healthy food when school food programs are closed. We are also proud supporters of 211, the Windsor Essex County Food Bank Association, and the Coats for Kids program run by UHC.
When we say Cradle to Career, it means that we help kids and their families from the time they’re born until they find a career. It means that we work together with the community to figure out how to break the cycle of poverty, why children are struggling in school, why they aren’t graduating high school and going on to post-secondary (trades, college or university), and what support will help them to achieve their full potential.
And we work together with community partners and residents to address the problems in key neighbourhoods in Windsor-Essex County, neighbourhoods that can most benefit from the support, neighbourhoods that are facing significantly more barriers than others – whether it be poverty, educational outcomes or safety factors, to name a few.
United Way will continue to invest in youth mentoring, and in-person out-of-school programming in our priority neighbourhoods – Downtown Windsor, West Windsor and Leamington. This includes technology for school-aged children, academic support, mental health counselling, and the food bank network which helps to distribute food to thousands of people in Windsor-Essex County.
For example, United Way’s On Track To Success program offers supports that wrap around a family and help youth graduate high school and go on to post-secondary education – students receive mentoring, tutoring, career learning opportunities to name a few.
Childhood poverty continues to affect kids across our community and all of Windsor-Essex is impacted by higher rates of poverty due to increased homelessness, higher rates of hospitalization, higher rates of income support and more. In order to make the most impact, we have started our investments in three targeted neighbourhoods first – Downtown Windsor, West Windsor and Leamington. In these neighbourhoods, the rate
of childhood poverty is even higher than the regional average – with more than 50% of the kids living in poverty.
By levelling the playing field across these neighbourhoods, we can work with residents, families and children to open doors for kids – and give them hope, opportunities and the abilities to achieve their dreams.
United Way is dedicated to accountability, fundraising best practices and transparent reporting. We proudly power the community-wide Cradle to Career strategy, engage donors and volunteers, and raise millions of dollars to support children and families in Windsor-Essex County. Our fundraising and administrative costs are carefully invested in those efforts. Approximately 72 cents of every dollar goes directly into the community.
United Way’s costs are some of the lowest in the not-for-profit sector. 100% of donations stay in our community to support local residents. Funds raised in Windsor-Essex stay in Windsor-Essex.
View our audited financial statements.
View our annual reports.
United Way is committed to protecting the privacy of our donors and other individuals. We maintain the highest standard of responsibility to safeguard donor information and uphold the public’s trust. View our privacy policy.