ORLANDO, Fla. (August 4, 2008) – Heart of Florida United Way (HFUW) announced today a new strategic direction for the organization to have an even greater impact on people’s lives in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties. The organization will move from being solely a fundraiser to also being a convener, collaborator, and when necessary, leader, in solving community challenges focusing on prevention through Community Impact. “In order to address critical challenges, there is a need to deal with the conditions that created them in the first place – conditions that are causing them to compound and worsen as our population grows,” said Robert H. (Bob) Brown, president/CEO of Heart of Florida United Way. “Doing so calls for a new approach for United Way. In addition to the traditional support of direct services and fundraising we’re known for, we are expanding and changing the way to we business.”
Brown continued, “We must focus limited resources strategically for greatest impact and lasting change. There will never be enough resources and no time will ever be ‘right’, so we must begin now to address root causes.” To lead the effort, the organization appointed Ed Timberlake, chairman of the Central Florida Board for Seaside National Bank & Trust, as the Community Impact Steering Committee chair. A steering committee of some of the best strategic thinkers in Central Florida was also established. The group studied a wide range of new and existing research, and examined other United Way organizations that have successfully implemented Community Impact and are achieving significant results.
“In many cities with challenges like those we face in Central Florida, United Way Community Impact initiatives are making measurable differences in addressing critical issues,” stated Timberlake. “We’re making a long-term commitment to really move the needle by getting to the root causes of problems and moving away from band-aids to treat symptoms.”The organization engaged the University of Central Florida (UCF) Institute of Social and Behavioral Sciences to conduct the most comprehensive community needs study HFUW has undertaken in a decade. More than 3,000 tri-county residents were surveyed regarding the region’s most pressing problems. During the nine-month assessment, researchers gathered data from every diverse community group via public forums, community events, focus groups and Internet and random telephone surveys.
Several consistent themes emerged across all survey methodologies: Central Floridians are concerned about financial issues, particularly as they relate to employment, financial stability, affordable health care and affordable housing. They are also concerned about public safety, namely crime and particularly youth crime and unsafe neighborhoods; education issues, such as high school graduation rates and preparing children for school; and accessible care for our most vulnerable populations, including senior citizens, the hungry and homeless.
The findings are consistent with a similar United Way study conducted back in 1997. “As a result, we must ask ourselves why so little has changed in 10 years,” said Brown. “The problems continue to grow and compound even with a generous community and the great work of United Way and local nonprofit agencies. But, it’s just not enough and the research is telling us so.”
HFUW’s board of directors voted on Friday to adopt four key areas of focus that will help Central Florida achieve positive and measurable community outcomes: Developing Healthy Children and Families; Building Safe Communities; Improving Financial Stability; and Alleviating Hunger and Homelessness.
“Central Floridians identified the critical needs in the community and now it’s up to United Way to collaborate, convene and lead the community to achieve lasting change and measureable results around these impact areas,” stated Timberlake. “It’ll take three to five years to fully transition to this new investment model, and we’re not going to tackle these areas all at once. We want to ensure that the structure and process is carefully thought through, and the measurement standards and accountability are in place.”
In order to develop strategies to address these issues, volunteer cabinets comprised of issue experts and community leaders will be recruited around each of the four impact areas. There will be an Impact Cabinet for each focus area and part of their responsibility will be to search for best practice programs and strategies to address community problems. Additionally, the Cabinet will design the metrics to establish clear and specific goals for measuring progress.
As a result of Community Impact, HFUW has transitioned from solely raising and distributing funds to member agencies to being an open and inclusive grant-making organization. HFUW will now implement a competitive funding process which will be open to any 501(c)(3) organization to apply for grants beginning in the next funding cycle. The request for proposal (RFP) process will start in March 2009 and conclude with recommendations to the HFUW board of directors for approval for the fiscal year 2009-10 to occur July 2009. Agencies were notified of the transition and the potential funding impact two full years before it would take effect. Another benefit of Community Impact is that it will allow HFUW to attract and leverage additional resources that the community hasn’t been positioned to pursue in the past through local, state and national grants and funds.
The organization will place even more importance on forming partnerships with non-traditional stakeholders such as schools, businesses, government, organized labor, voluntary and neighborhood associations, community development operations, and the faith community to create a meaningful, measurable impact in the community.
“Research and common sense tell us that the best way to help the most people is to focus on root causes,” said Timberlake. “Keeping someone from becoming homeless in the first place is much more cost effective than providing services after they cross that threshold of need. It’s smart economically, but most importantly, it’s the right thing to do for people.”
For more information about HFUW and Community Impact, please call (407) 835-0900 or visit www.hfuw.org.
About Heart of Florida United Way
Heart of Florida United Way is Central Florida’s most comprehensive health and human services charity and the largest provider of funds to the region’s most critical health and human service programs. The organization also operates United Way, 2-1-1, Central Florida’s community information and referral helpline; a Volunteer Resource Center; a Gifts In Kind Center; a Stewardship program that works with agencies to provide emergency assistance; and the Ryan White Part B program, which administers nearly $2 million to much needed HIV/AIDS services and referrals. Heart of Florida United Way impacts more people annually than any other charity operating in the tricounty area, and partners with local businesses, government, other charities and individuals to increase awareness of local health and human service issues and to inspire hope, provide options, and create possibilities for the people in our community. For more information visit www.hfuw.org.
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