FY2012 Mid Year Data Report United Way Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley

1. FY2012 Mid Year Data Report United Way Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley Agency Webinar April 30, 2012

2. Mid-Year Reporting in eCImpact Mid-Year 2012 Reporting • 180 Agencies including UW Greater Seacoast were included in Mid-Year Reporting process that closed February 17. 154 agencies from UWMBMV and 26 agencies from UW Greater Seacoast report through eCImpact. Agency experience of the new system is very positive: • “Much easier to navigate from screen to screen than the previous reporting system.” • “I like a template like this (Demographics), when you make a mistake, you can’t proceed without correcting errors. No reason not to be able to report on time.” • “The new interface was much more intuitive and user-friendly than ODM. The "save and verify" function made it easier to keep track of drafts and completed forms.”

3. How are we doing?

4. Healthy Child Development

5. Children – behind the numbers Context – agencies serve 33,000 children; 97,000 in 18 priority communities. 6,595 3rd graders in priority communities not reading proficiently. State awarded Race to the Top – Early Childhood, which has a focus on quality, assessment, and parent engagement. Successes • Implementation of protocols – agencies have had time to refine their protocols for ensuring all intended children are screened, assessed and receive services • Efforts to raise awareness about services available is helping build and sustain the number of children and families accessing services Challenges • Decreased state funding is resulting in decreased enrollment and referrals • Less turnover in kids (which can also be a positive) • Staff vacancies result in reduced capacity to serve children and families

6. Increasing Youth Opportunities

7. Youth – behind the numbers Context – agencies serve 132,000 youth; 221,664 youth in priority communities Successes • Mentoring – increase in agencies partnering with universities and businesses for mentoring opportunities • Civic Engagement – seeing more group service projects as a way to build peer relationships; more agencies are involved in the gold standard “service learning approach” • College and Work Ready/ Academic Support – hiring practices are supporting academic enrichment skills • Work Readiness- more youth experiences are blending paid internships and summer employment with leadership skill building and career exploration • Family Engagement – seeing more intentionality to creating structured opportunities that are responding to specific family needs Challenges • Recruiting mentors and job opportunities from corporations • Hiring qualified staff and additional non-UW funding cuts

8. Family Financial Stability

9. Families – behind the numbers Context – Population in the priority communitiesexceeds 1,504,858;in priority communities 534,336 people have incomes less than 200% of poverty Successes • Obtain/Retain Housing - During the first half of FY 2012, HomeBASE funding helped many homeless and at-risk Massachusetts families to obtain or retain permanent housing. • Employment - Despite a challenging job market, programs with a high level of employer involvement and structured job placement support services are having success in placing participants into jobs. • Gain Economic Milestones - The 25 agencies responding in this measure help low-income families to build short-term and long-term assets. Assets attained in this measure include completion of financial and homebuyer education, establishing and living within a budget; opening savings/checking accounts; purchasing a home; starting a business; or going on to post-secondary education. • Affordable Housing - United Way affiliates continue to manage and preserve approximately 7000 units of permanent, affordable housing, which helps to stabilize low-income and at-risk families. Challenges • Public resources for homeless and at-risk families are not sufficient to meet the need. • Workforce development providers are facing numerous budgetary cuts from both Federal and State funding sources. • The job market continues to be challenging, with low-skill candidates having a harder time competing for available positions. Employers with job openings report being flooded with applications from qualified candidates. • A backlog in the low income housing tax credit market has resulted in significant new construction delays for many affordable housing developers. • Agencies that previously provided support for basic needs on an emergency basis now report that the demand for basic needs funding has become consistent and year round.

10. Public Policy • Currently, we invest in 19 agencies to help carry our public policy agenda. • We’re funding a total of 102 legislative and budgetary advocacy initiatives, including: • 41 budget requests • 30 pieces of legislation • 31 Administrative initiatives • Agencies’ policy agendas support our strategic continuum. Examples include: • Monitoring government agencies to ensure continued childcare access (Greater Boston Legal Services) • Legislation that strengthens dropout prevention services (MA Alliance on Teen Pregnancy, in conjunction with Boston PIC) • Legislation creating Individual Development Accounts (MA Association for Community Development Corporations) • Advocating for rental assistance for low-income families (CHAPA) • Similar to last year, agencies continue to push for administrative changes or modifications of current law, along with monitoring government services during these tough fiscal times. They’re also strategically partnering with other organizations in advocating for our issues.

11. Notes to Tables • Data is for July 1 – December 31, 2011. • Each table lists the measures to which agencies are contributing. • FY12 Target is the sum of individual agency targets for the measure. • FY12 Mid Year is the contribution to date for this year. • FY12 Status is the assessment of the situation at this time: green = on track to reach or exceed targets; yellow = some concerns about reaching targets.