United Way: 60 Years of better lives for Tri-Citians

It’s 1958. Gas is 25 cents a gallon and a house is less than $15,000. The average wage is $1.98. Racial discord swells nationwide. Fear abounds as our country focuses on the rising, global nuclear threat.

Locally, community leaders face increased immigration, and high rates of homelessness and hunger. And, our United Way is created when the Richland Community Chest invests $7,000 to launch the Ben Franklin United Crusade.

What’s changed?

▪  Prices and our population have increased. Local housing prices increased more than 1,500 percent while the bi-county population grew 336 percent. Now, more than 1,800 kids are homeless and 34 percent of our population struggles to meet their basic needs of food, shelter and health care.

What’s not changed?

▪  National and local concerns remain constant, with national security and immigration tension frequently in the news.

▪  Locals still help locals. It’s the 60th anniversary of United Way in Benton and Franklin Counties — that’s how long donors have entrusted our United Way to provide better opportunities for Tri-Cities’ residents.

What does United Way do? One in three people in our community can’t meet their basic needs. Every day, United Way works to change that. We analyze data and talk to people to understand our community’s greatest needs. Then, our United Way unites the community to tackle our region’s social problems.

We find the people and programs that can best help. Instead of focusing on just one issue, like hunger or homelessness, we address every need. Few people have just one need and our needs change throughout our lives. Local United Way donors now fund 52 programs, with 22 local non-profits, in the areas of education, health, and stability– the essential components of a thriving community.

How do we do it? Generous individuals and caring companies give dollars and time to address urgent needs and create long-term change. Hundreds of companies empower employees to support all the causes they care about through their United Way workplace campaign.

Together, donors designate support to more than 400 non-profits. Local non-profits appreciate receiving these donations because they provides a reliable, year-round stream of support.

Donors also invest in others by giving to our United Way’s areas of greatest community need. This enables us to make strategic grants to provide a safety net, strengthen local non-profits, and mobilize our diverse community toward a common goal—better quality of life for everyone.

In January, our United Way issued an open call for grant proposals to address our community’s areas of greatest need. New this year is the addition of a targeted investment in small non-profits who also make a big impact.

A panel of 40 local community leaders are evaluating 71 program proposals and conducting site visits to identify critical, high-impact services. Funded agencies will report every six months to demonstrate progress toward their two-year milestones. That’s how we ensure that each donor dollar gets maximim return on investment in our community.

For 60 years, our United Way has partnered with donors and the most effective non-profits to reach the most people in need with programs that work. Because of the generosity of people across the Tri-Cities, thousands of people in our community are able to be safe and healthy, and be a productive part of our community.

Watch for more great changes this year as your United Way continues to builds on its positive track record of results to even better support all in our community. Together, United Way of Benton and Franklin Counties and its many donors and partners, will continue to build strong communities that support a productive workforce, a growing customer base, and a healthy future for everyone.

This story was originally published April 2, 2018 at 2:37 PM with the headline "United Way: 60 Years of better lives for Tri-Citians."