United Way Unveils Resources to Assist Individuals and Families Dealing with the Economic Crisis

“Over the past several months our community and nation have faced frightening new economic challenges,” said Ted Hendry, President of United Way of Greenville County. “Working together has become more important than ever. Layoffs, foreclosures, and shrinking family budgets mean more of our neighbors, co-workers, and friends are living on the edge – some for the first time ever.”

Six local emergency relief agencies currently receiving funding from United Way have reported increases as high as 70% in the number of families seeking assistance with food, mortgage/rent, and utilities,” Hendry said. “Collectively, since December 2008, these agencies are averaging more than 1,100 families in need of food assistance each month. In United Way funded programs that support employment services we have seen 50% increases in enrollment in programs that offer GED preparation and training. We have also felt the needs of parents who are dealing with reduced hours at work and are struggling to keep up with the cost for quality childcare.”

In light of the growing need for a comprehensive and strategic response to this challenging environment the United Way Board of Trustees has issued an economic response that has five main features:

Continued program funding for essential services provided by our 92 funded programs

United Way is committed to ensuring that the funding that supports essential local programs continues with no interruption in the coming year. Additionally, United Way will enhance its work with program providers by:

Providing training with agency providers on the “how-to’s” of advocacy.

Convening a feasibility study to determine the best way to consolidate “back office” operations for non-profits.

Proactively working with the Greenville community (public, private, and faith-based organizations) to identify opportunities to collaborate on short term needs, with implications for longer-term effectiveness.

An increased focus and commitment to both our strategic mission of finding solutions to the root causes of our community’s core issues

United Way remains committed to making sure that any strategy undertaken to address the immediate need should be tied to a longer-term strategic priority. United Way will maintain a commitment to making Community Investments in three stake in-the ground issues: School Readiness, High School Graduation, and Financial Stability.

Specifically the United Way will collaborate with conventional and unconventional partners and provide strategic leadership to ramp up delivery of Financial Stability-related services. These include:

a workforce development initiative which you will hear more about in the coming months;

continued enhancement of the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program, which assists low-income families with tax preparation services to maximize their tax refund. In this year’s tax season alone, more than 1,600 families were assisted through the program, generating critical dollars back into the Greenville Community; and

ongoing leadership to the newly formed Greenville County Foreclosure prevention collaborative (detailed in #5 below).

Development of “Tools for Tough Times"

"Tools for Tough Times " is an online resource that provides a wealth of information for anyone trying to weather the current economic challenges. It includes a comprehensive listing of resources available to the newly unemployed and others seeking help in our community.

Copies of the Tough Times Tool Kit are provided for you today and will be available at all our funded partner providers, all County library branches, the Employment Security Commission, all county One-Stop Centers, and on the United Way Web site. Efforts are also underway to get these in the hands of Human resources managers across the county. “Tools for Tough Times” can be accessed by going to the United Way Web site at www.unitedwaygc.org/toolsfortoughtimes

The launch of the United Way 2-1-1 referral line

United Way 2-1-1 is a county-wide referral line that will provide great support to the Greenville community by providing access to hundreds of agencies and organizations by simply dialing 2-1-1. 2-1-1 is available all day, every day. Every call is FREE and confidential. This assistance call line is staffed by counselors ready to assist callers with almost any challenge-employment resources, financial planning, mental health problems, substance abuse, heating bill assistance, state and federal assistance programs, education or credit issues and more. Anticipated benefits of United Way 2-1-1 include:

The “easy-to-remember” feature of the 2-1-1 dialing code helps individuals to access the health and human service delivery network more quickly.

The coordinated 2-1-1 database will help individuals save both time and money that would otherwise be spent navigating a large and seemingly fragmented human service delivery system.

Social service agencies and non-profit agencies can benefit from the economies of scale resulting from a comprehensive database consolidation effort.

The presence of a 2-1-1 I&R system in the Upstate will reduce the number of inappropriate non-emergency calls to 9-1-1 and other emergency services.

The 2-1-1 service will act as a “social barometer” on met and unmet needs in the community, thus providing valuable information to social service professionals, policymakers and funders.

In addition to the referral line, people in need of assistance can search for services online by visiting the United Way Web site at www.unitedwaygc.org/211

Strategic leadership and support to the newly created Greenville County Foreclosure collaborative

The Greenville County Foreclosure Prevention taskforce was formed with the following mission in mind: to preserve the integrity of homeownership in Greenville County by reducing the number of foreclosures; by providing a network of foreclosure prevention activities and resources through the effective use and alignment of community resources; and by targeting owner occupied primary homeowners.

This task force has numerous partners with one central mission and that is to preserve the most critical asset that most people have – their homes. As the unemployment numbers rise, it is our endeavor to reach potential clients before there is a substantial problem.

Here is how the process will work:

The United Way 2-1-1 system will be used to triage clients based on their specific needs and connect them to the appropriate help. Partners like SC legal Services will provide essential legal services for clients; the Upstate Community Mediation Center will provide increased capacity to work solutions between a homeowner and lender; and the cadre of HUD approved agency counselors between the Human Relations Commission, the Urban league of the Upstate, and the Upstate Homeless Coalition provides one-on-one comprehensive counseling and loan mitigation support between the homeowner and lender.

Greenville Housing Fund, United Way of Greenville County, and the Greenville County Human Relations Commission have collectively contributed 75,000 to establish a mortgage rescue fund. An ultimate goal of $100,000 has been set, and efforts are underway to work closely with other potential funders to secure the remaining $25,000. These funds are designated to a local emergency assistance fund managed by the Greenville Housing Fund for mortgage rescue loans to homeowners. This fund is intended to help worthy homeowners who are up to 2 months behind restructure their mortgage in order to save their home.

Traditional United Way funded partners like GAIHN, the Salvation Army, and Homes of Hope are helping to provide transitional housing for those who lose their homes; because the sad reality is that not every home will be able to be saved.

“United Way will proceed in the coming months with an eye on the economy and a finger on the pulse of our community,” said Margaret Clark, Chair of United Way’s Community Impact Cabinet and Board Vice Chair. “As United Way works to advance the common good for all in our community, we’re working to respond to the current crisis and are maintaining our commitment to helping people in need right now, and helping eliminate future needs by building strategies and programs that address the underlying causes of issues that affect school readiness, high school graduation, and financial stability.”