THE BUILDING BLOCKS FOR A GOOD QUALITY OF LIFE
Education, financial stability and health are the building blocks for a good life. Education is essential to getting and keeping a job with a livable wage and health benefits. An income adequate to pay for today’s necessities and save for the future provides families some sense of financial stability. Access to quality health care keeps children on track in school and adults productive at work. Remove any one of these building blocks and the other two topple.
EDUCATION
Helping children learn, achieve and succeed while engaging families and communities.
Priorities
- Children enter Kindergarten prepared with the skills needed to succeed
- Children reach academic milestones on time and successfully transition to middle school
- Children transition to high school and develop the skills needed to graduate on time with a plan for success after high school
United Way of Central Illinois advances the common good by focusing on protecting services vital to the immediate basic needs of the most vulnerable members of our community; while making long term investments in education, financial stability and health, because these are the building blocks for a good quality of life.
We bring together people and organizations from all across the community who bring the passion, expertise and resources needed to get things done. UWCIL accomplishes this goal by targeting resources to a determined set of priorities that were selected and are continuously reviewed by Vision Councils with the help of the community, requiring consistency in outcome measurement and striving towards community wide shared metrics, and gradually increasing the proportion of funding directed toward BIG community change.
Below is information regarding United Way’s Strategic Investment Plan and Community Priorities for education. The Strategic Investment Plan and related information outline a multi-year funding plan that was developed in partnership with community leaders and service providers which will track community level indicators and the effectiveness of United Way funded programs.
United Way and its partners identified priorities, strategies and aligned outcomes to direct our work. Together, we identified and are working toward key indicators of success. We hold ourselves and our partners accountable to achieving success by using concrete metrics, based on local, state and federal data to measure our progress. We will adjust our programs and approaches as needed to ensure that we are making the most effective use of available resources.
You can learn more about Education priorities and strategies here.
2023-2026 Education Investments
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Illinois - Comprehensive Mentoring
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Illinois - mentor2.0
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Illinois - Career Launch
- Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Illinois - Project Learn
- Compass for Kids, Inc. - Camp Compass
- Compass for Kids, Inc. - Club Compass
- Girl Scouts of Central Illinois, Inc. - Girl Scout Leadership Experience Outreach
- Hope - The Autism Clinic
- Springfield Public Schools - Camp Kindergarten: Ready, Set, Go!
- Springfield Urban League, Inc. - Freedom School