Community Impact Grants:
Community Impact Grants prioritize United Way resources on the needs that matter most to the people of the Northern Shenandoah Valley. Those giving to the United Way Community Impact Fund have the assurance that their gifts cover a broad but focused spectrum of identified needs in the community, rather than just supporting one particular program or agency. The results from these investments are closely monitored by trained volunteers. Investments in the United Way Impact Fund are monitored, leveraged, focused and achieve outcomes.
- Monitored - A diverse group of trained volunteers invest money into programs that report how they use money to improve lives.
- Leveraged - United Way and funded programs leverage United Way funding in services that prevent additional costly services, and bring additional funding into our community.
- Focused - United Way only funds programs that are successfully, efficiently filling a need for local residents in the areas of Education, Income, and Health.
- Outcomes - The Impact Fund guarantees that your donated money is changing lives. Programs must show the long-term outcomes they are achieving.
Education Impact Grants
Investing in our Children (Education): Helping children and youth achieve their potential.
Funding Priorities:
1. Basic Needs: Children have access to basic needs
- Provide basic needs support to children and families in crisis
- Help children who face neglect or abuse
- Promote positive parenting and healthy child development
2. Early Learning: Preschool aged children have access to affordable, high quality, early learning programs that prepare them for kindergarten
- Provide tuition assistance for families unable to afford a quality preschool education
- Promote high quality learning programs that prepare children for kindergarten
3. Youth Support Programs: Students have access to high quality, enriching out of school programs where students have support and encouragement from engaged parents, advocates and mentors.
- Increase the availability of quality before and after-school care for school-aged children and youth
- Ensure access to age-appropriate mentors and other academic supports
2021-2022 Education Impact Grants
Grant Amount: $12,500
Purpose: To support the expansion of school-based mentoring programs in Shenandoah County.
Priority Needs Addressed: 3
Grant Amount: $16,000
Purpose: To provide full-day childcare and preschool services for three summer months for low-income and/or at-risk three and four-year-olds.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 2
Grant Amount: $8,800
Purpose: To support the childcare facility's physical fitness program, music therapy program and early learning assessments.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 2, 3
Grant Amount: $4,650
Purpose: To provide Safe Sleep Survival Kits to families in need.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1
Grant Amount: $10,000
Purpose: To support and educate parents of young children through home visits, educational materials and supplies to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 and promote skills development that prepares children for kindergarten.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 2
Grant Amount: $3,500
Purpose: To support the summer camp program in partnership with The Kids Clubs of Northern Shenandoah Valley.
Priority Needs Addressed: 3
Grant Amount: $14,267
Purpose: To provide scholarships for summer camp for local preschool and school-aged children.
Priority Needs Addressed: 2, 3
Grant Amount: $10,000
Purpose: To support the Middle School After School Program in Shenandoah County that provides tutoring and leadership development to help students succeed.
Priority Needs Addressed: 3
Grant Amount: $15,000
Purpose: To provide tuition assistance for lower income working families in need of childcare.
Priority Needs Addressed: 2
Financial Stability Impact Grants
Creating Economic Opportunity for All (Income/Financial Stability): Helping families in our community become self-sufficient and move from financial instability to financial stability.
Funding Priorities:
1. Basic Needs: Support our most vulnerable neighbors by providing them access to basic needs supports.
- Expand availability and access to safe, adequate shelter for individuals and families struggling with homelessness
- Ensure availability and access to healthy food and essential personal care items
2. Housing: Families have access to a continuum of housing solutions that provide safe, decent and affordable housing options.
- Ensure the availability of short-term emergency rent and utility assistance with a focus on prevention efforts.
- Support programs that provide critical home repairs for qualifying homeowners.
3. Employment: Identify & remove the gaps and barriers that currently exist for individuals to enter the workforce and attain and retain family sustaining employment.
- Connect households with affordable transportation options
- Improve access to quality, affordable childcare
- Improve literacy and job skills
4. Financial Stability: Create opportunities for families to move from financial instability to financial stability.
- Support a coordinated and integrated comprehensive Resource and Referral System (VAN) that helps connect and navigate people to critical community resources and services
- Provide case management, tools and resources to support families in becoming self-sufficient, and ultimately, financially secure
2021-2022 Financial Stability Impact Grants
Grant Amount: $37,000
Purpose: To support the Critical Home Repair Program and improve the health and safety of owner-occupied homes in Winchester City.
Priority Needs Addressed: 2
Grant Amount: $10,000
Purpose: To provide rent, mortgage, security deposits and utility assistance to families in need.
Priority Needs Addressed: 2
Grant Amount: $11,765
Purpose: To provide rent, mortgage, security deposits and utility assistance to families in need.
Priority Needs Addressed: 2
Grant Amount: $8,000
Purpose: To support domestic and sexual violence victims and their families remove gaps and barriers to retain and/or enter family-sustaining employment by ensuring their basic needs are met.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 3
Grant Amount: $20,000
Purpose: To provide motel assistance to help individuals and families while linking them with agencies to help secure and stabilize long term housing solutions.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1
Grant Amount: $12,000
Purpose: To support the Pay it Forward program that addresses unmet needs in the community, including eviction prevention, car repairs, phone bills, and relocation expenses.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 2, 3
Grant Amount: $15,000
Purpose: To assist families as they work toward stability, including supporting transportation, childcare, and other supportive services.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 2, 3
Grant Amount: $10,000
Purpose: To support the Special Delivery Project and reduce food insecurity by providing bags of nutritious food to seniors and disabled individuals.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1
Grant Amount: $1,940
Purpose: To provide transportation assistance to participants enrolled at Lord Fairfax House to eliminate barriers to employment.
Priority Needs Addressed: 3
Grant Amount: $16,000
Purpose: To provide literacy and citizenship education to the community, including adding a digital curriculum.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 3
Grant Amount: $12,000
Purpose: To support the Helping Hand Emergency Scholarship Fund to help LFCC students address immediate or emergency needs that may prevent them from fulfilling educational and workforce training obligations.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 3
Grant Amount: $3,000
Purpose: To assist domestic and sexual violence survivors with securing housing, transportation, childcare, and other resources to regain stability.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 2, 3
Grant Amount: $8,000
Purpose: To support the Centralized Housing Intake staff in Shenandoah County who connects callers experiencing homelessness and a time sensitive housing crisis with resources.
Priority Needs Addressed: 2
Grant Amount: $10,000
Purpose: To provide safe, warm, cold-weather shelter for adults experiencing homelessness.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1
Health Impact Grants
Building Healthier Communities (Health): Helping individuals live quality lives & achieve maximum health and independence.
Funding Priorities:
1. Access to Care: All households have easy to access and ample, affordable, high quality, preventative, immediate and follow-up health and dental care.
- Improve access to necessary health care services and those that reduce barriers to receiving and accessing health care services
- Increase access to affordable, high quality and regular dental care
2. Trauma Informed Care: Households have access to the necessary supports to address the negative effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), violence and physical hazards; communities support people’s health, safety, and development.
- Support an equitable community-wide system of trauma-informed care, provides accessible evidence-based treatments from trained, knowledgeable, and culturally literate specialists in adequate supply
- Reduce intimate partner violence, domestic violence, and child abuse
3. Behavioral Health: Households will demonstrate improved behavioral health by reporting better mental health and a reduction in substance abuse, and reduced stigma that is a barrier to care.
- Ensure a continuum of services exists to meet behavioral health needs
- Provide immediate and adequate access to substance abuse services for those who are in crisis
- Expand community awareness and reduce stigma associated with having mental health and substance use disorders
2021-2022 Health Impact Grants
Grant Amount: $7,500
Purpose: To support the Early Pregnancy Care Stopgap Program by providing early pregnancy care, education and support.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1
Grant Amount: $25,000
Purpose: To support the Grief and Loss Support Services Program by funding supplies and the Children's Bereavement Camp.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1
Grant Amount: $5,765
Purpose: To support the Circles of Support Program providing wrap-around, person-centered services for brain-injured client’s needs.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 3
Grant Amount: $30,000
Purpose: To conduct evaluations for abuse, risk assessments (ACEs), and trauma screenings on children and providing mental health treatment services to child abuse victims and their non-offending caretakers in Winchester and Shenandoah County.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 2, 3
Grant Amount: $10,000
Purpose: To upgrade the agency's telephone answering system to a digital/cloud based system and reduce missed/dropped calls for those seeking crisis services.
Priority Needs Addressed: 3
Grant Amount: $5,000
Purpose: To help promote training sessions that help families and caregivers have a better understanding of the world of those living with dementia.;
Priority Needs Addressed: 1
Grant Amount: $5,000
Purpose: To provide dental treatment and oral health education, including vouchers for healthy food at community events.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1
Grant Amount: $17,000
Purpose: To support the Peer Recovery Specialist Mobilization Program that connects individuals in our community who are living with addiction and co-occurring mental health disorders to Certified Peer Recovery Specialists.
Priority Needs Addressed: 3
Grant Amount: $48,360
Purpose: To support a mental health counselor for students at Shenandoah County Public Schools.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 2
Grant Amount: $22,000
Purpose: To provide dental care for low-to moderate income uninsured patients, including exams and x-rays, hygiene treatments, fillings, tooth extractions.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1
Grant Amount: $30,000
Purpose: To support the primary care clinicians who provide medical care to underserved families.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1, 3
Grant Amount: $25,000
Purpose: To support the emergency shelter, support services and advocacy that provides the wraparound services to help victims of domestic and sexual violence.
Priority Needs Addressed: 2
Grant Amount: $5,000
Purpose: To support the scheduler who connects clients and volunteer drivers who provide transportation assistance to medical appointments.
Priority Needs Addressed: 1