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Non Profit Spotlight

Each month we post a wish list for a different organization in town. It is our hope that people in the community who see this list might be able to help meet these needs in some way. If you have a wish list you would like posted, please send us an email with your attached wish list. If everyone gives just a little, we can help others.

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United Way

Jessica Stampe | website | popi@unitedwaysb.org | (805) 965-8591 | 320 East Gutierrez Street

(Business Logos) UnitedWay_PowerPartnership.jpg

United Way of Santa Barbara County (UWSBC) is an independent, community-based organization that has dedicated itself to strengthening the Santa Barbara community and bettering the lives of those in need since its inception in 1923. UWSBC receives charitable gifts from over 8,000 individuals and contributions from over 200 employers. Formerly an organization focused solely on fundraising and grant making, UWSBC has succeeded in transforming itself into an organization that serves as a multi-faceted catalyst for collaboration and grassroots change. Today, UWSBC builds innovative partnership programs, helps fund and staff them, and coordinates services to meet the real needs of our communities.

Towards the achievement of our mission and vision, we seek to craft effective agendas within and across communities; build coalitions around these agendas; and increase investments of time, money, and ideas in these agendas.

In the past year, UWSBC coordinated, directed, and/or participated in more than twenty-eight collaborative, strategic initiatives positively impacting the lives of local people. In addition, we partner with many local organizations to provide a network of more than eighty interrelated health and human services centering around child and youth development, families, frail seniors, safe communities, health care, and changing the underlying community conditions giving rise to crisis situations in people's lives. Furthermore, each year UWSBC recruits approximately 2,000 volunteers to help achieve our mission and vision. All told, the services we help provide each year touch more than 80,000 people or one out of every three members in our primary service area of Santa Ynez Valley to Carpinteria. Our secondary service area is the entire county, with eleven county-wide projects underway.

Power of Partnership Initiative

The Power of Partnership Initiative is a collaborative effort to create community-driven and expert-assisted 10-year Master Action Plans (MAPs) designed to increase the well-being of Children, Families, and Seniors in our community.

The Power of Partnership takes a bold approach. While most initiatives are focused on needs, the Power of Partnership Initiative is based on the conviction that our community already has the resources necessary to improve people's lives. By building on our strengths and focusing on measurable goals, we can do more than solve problems - we can build a better future for our community.

The Power of Partnership Initiative is currently seeking input from thousands of community members and hundreds of local experts as we build a vision for how we want our community to be 10 years in the future. Then, using local knowledge and national research of the most effective strategies, we will create Master Action Plans (MAPs) to realize this vision. Tell us what you think by completing an online survey or by participating in a community blog at: www.partnershipsb.org

Read the POPI article on Noozhawk.

VolunteerSBC!

VolunteerSBC! is an online venue designed to assist volunteers and organizations alike with their volunteering needs. Community members who wish to donate their time to different local organizations, schools, faith-based groups, etc may log into this innovative website and get matched up with a volunteer opportunity that fits their interests. Organizations can log in to VolunteerSBC! to post available volunteer opportunities and board member positions as well as post items that they currently need and wish to receive through community donations. VolunteerSBC also offers training opportunities designed to increase the effectiveness of local volunteering. VolunteerSBC! currently has over 550 volunteer opportunities posted and is receiving rave reviews from organizations and community citizens alike. Through VolunteerSBC!, UWSBC plans to increase both the numbers of people volunteering and their effectiveness in doing so. Post a volunteer opportunity for your organization or find a volunteer opportunity today by visiting www.vounteersbc.org.

Read the VolunteerSBC article on Noozhawk.

Fun in the Sun

Fun in the Sun (FITS) is a collaboration of more than thirty local organizations working together to provide a comprehensive education and enrichment summer program for disadvantaged, poverty level children. This research-based program specializes in addressing the complex academic, behavioral, and basic need factors that children need in order to thrive. In 2008, FITS will serve 500 disadvantaged children in first through sixth grades and include a Counselor in Training (CIT) component for children in seventh and eighth grades. Without Fun in the Sun, most of these children would be unsupervised during the summer, putting them at risk of dangerous situations and activities (i.e., drug use, gang activity, etc). In addition, national research shows that much of the achievement gap our communities face is due to the learning loss that occurs during the summertime. An average of 2½-3 months of essential reading skills are lost every summer by low-income children compared to no loss for their middle income peers. FITS reverses this trend in reading as well as other essential skills by combining the strengths of our partners in innovative and effective ways. Results from independent evaluations show that on average FITS children actually gain 1 month of reading skills during the summer. Through this unique partnership, Fun in the Sun helps hundreds of children and their families each summer by providing a fun and educational alternative summer program - free to all participants.

Youth Investment Partnership

The Youth Investment Partnership is a community-based initiative designed to help young people grow into healthy, responsible, and caring adults. The initiative has been built around the Search Institute and their research on asset-building in youth. The Search Institute has identified 40 building blocks, or developmental assets, of healthy development that young people need if they are to make a successful transition to adulthood. The Youth Investment Partnership has recently reached an agreement with the Superintendent of the Santa Barbara School District to promote asset-building activities throughout the district. Additionally, in the Fall of 2008, UWSBC will be conducting two major media and community events - announcing the results of local student asset measures and developing community teams from different sectors to champion the strength-building approach.

Pre-Kindergarten Summer Institutes

The Pre-Kindergarten Summer Institutes are a set of classes held at local Title 1 schools to help prepare children to enter kindergarten. The classes take place three weeks prior to the children entering kindergarten, and teach children basic school activities (i.e., how to sit in a circle, to raise their hand when they have something important to share with the class, how to use scissors, independence, learning skills, etc). Evaluations show that due to this program, children increase their skill levels by 30%-50% in four key development areas: Social/Emotional skills, Language skills, Approach to Learning skills, and Motor Skills. These four areas are essential to a child's success in school.

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