Our Impact

A Leamington family with two parents and three young children found themselves in a challenging situation, struggling with unemployment, academic difficulties for the children, and food insecurity. To address these pressing issues, the family was introduced to the Ignite Academy program, which offers comprehensive support for families in need.

This summer, many local children face the stark reality of hunger and lost learning opportunities. The need for nutritious food and educational resources is increasing in Windsor-Essex. Read on to see how you can make a life-changing difference to a child and their future.

The Executive Mentorship Program (EMP) is designed to provide graduates of On Track to Success, who are currently enrolled in post-secondary, with a meaningful and gainful mentorship opportunity over the summer.

Ignite Academy is making a significant impact by helping students in high-poverty neighborhoods improve their literacy and math skills. In this month’s blog, we highlight the inspiring stories of Harvir and Rhiannon—two students who have flourished through their time in the program. Their journeys showcase the incredible potential of every child, no matter the challenges they face.

On Track To Success is a wrap-around intervention for high school students and their families to help them graduate high school, and go on to college, university or a trade. We’d like to introduce you to one of our On Track To Success graduates – Julia.

Meet Daniel, who struggled at school but found skills for success and happiness at Ignite Academy. His journey not only changed his life but also helped shape the program experience for kids like him with specialized needs.

A key pillar of the On Track To Success (OTTS) program is the wrap-around supports available to each student and their family. You might ask, what exactly does wrap-around supports mean? Danielle, the parent of an OTTS student, tells us in her own words what these supports are and the positive impact they have had on her daughter as well as her whole family.

The On Track to Success program continues to make an incredible impact on hundreds of local youth in West Windsor, Downtown Windsor and Leamington. It’s because of donors – like you – that we’re able to support these incredible students in their journey through high school and into post-secondary education.

Thanks to local residents and donors, United Way/Centraide Windsor-Essex County is helping kids succeed from Cradle to Career. On Tuesday, we released our 2021-2022 Annual Impact Report to the Community, highlighting the progress that has been made to help local children overcome barriers to academic success.

This past summer, we delivered the Summer Eats for Kids and Backpacks for Success programs in three priority neighbourhoods of West Windsor, Downtown Windsor and Leamington. We are pleased to be able to share the 2022 Summer Programs Impact Report with you.

Students participating in the On Track to Success Ujima Initiative have been busy over the last few months, and we wanted to share the highlights. Richie and Subomi share how On Track and the Ujima initiative have helped them so far.

RELEASE & VIDEO: ProsperUs, a collective of Windsor-Essex community partners is launching Ignite Academy, a new out-of-school solution designed to improve math and literacy skills for children between Grades 2 and 7, while providing wrap-around support for families. A large gathering of community partners celebrated the long-awaited announcement at General Brock Public School.

RELEASE: Rebuilding Wheels Rebuilding Lives, a community partnership that supports local families with a reliable vehicle, is handing over the keys to three donated cars this week, while the student mechanics who helped refurbish them celebrate their own accomplishments.

We’re celebrating our volunteers this week – and every week! Holley is a volunteer tutor in On Track to Success. She and one of her students, Tatianna, talk about how they both grew as a result of their involvement in the program.

For United Way, it’s important that families have access to supports that can strengthen children in reaching their potential, including nutritious food and mental health counselling, social inclusion, and access to transportation and housing to build more stable, resilient families.

An On Track to Success graduate has been awarded a valuable provincial LGBTQ scholarship.

United Way is committed to collaborate with, support and empower Black youth in the community. One way we’re taking action is the Ujima initiative.