United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area

Serving Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington Parishes

About UsOur WorkPartnersOur Communtiy
Live United

Our Work

Education
Health
Income
Safety Net

How We Work

Our United Way makes all funding decisions based on local priorities. We support programs that work to strengthen youth and children, the elderly, families and individuals from all walks of life.

United Way’s work is focused on four impact areas: education, income, health and a community safety net. For each area, we form a Vision Council, composed of volunteers from throughout the region with related areas of expertise. Every year, our Vision Councils assess the needs of our community and make recommendations on funding and distribution.

Based on these annual recommendations, United Way develops initiatives, supports collaborations, funds programs, convenes experts and fosters new and needed community services.

To ensure your contribution makes the maximum impact in our community, all aspects of our finances are subject to an annual independent audit by one of the community’s most respected certified public accounting firms.

Our mission is: “To increase the organized capacity of people to be independent and self-sufficient."

Working within the seven-parish area of Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, Tangipahoa and Washington, UWGNOA funds programs, supports collaborations, convenes experts and fosters new and needed community services based on best practices. We work to ensure quality health and human services for the citizens of the Greater New Orleans Area and assess the success of programs based on the achievement of pre-defined outcomes.

Since Hurricane Katrina, UWGNOA has made grants totaling $46 million to area health and human services agencies. UWGNOA-funded programs in calendar year 2008 that addressed priorities such as housing, medical and mental health care, child and adult care and academic supports served 883,671 unduplicated clients by program. Through grants, donor designations via workplace campaigns and partnerships with other funders, UWGNOA invests around $18 million per year in the region.

Community Impact

In the early 1990’s, UWGNOA was one of the first local United Ways to transition from giving to community agencies to investing in solutions to community problems. The Community Impact model has as its goal: to improve lives by mobilizing communities to create sustained changes in community conditions. This approach goes beyond the agencies to the citizens they serve. UWGNOA’s central role in this process is to provide leadership in identifying the root causes of community issues and to work with local leaders to strengthen the community’s ability to address them, including the investment of United Way campaign resources.

Goals

Our United Way is addressing the region’s most critical needs with a goal of maximum impact. Our work is organized around four goal (program) areas:

  • Education/Success for Children and Families, through programs that provide quality child care, support success in school, and prevent problems before they happen;
  • Income/Financial Stability for Hard-Working People, through programs that increase household income, build savings and help families gain and sustain assets, such as a home;
  • Health/Health and Independence For All, with programs that provide physical and behavioral health services, take care of seniors, and assist those with disabilities; and,
  • Safety Net/Safety Net for People in Crisis, with programs that prepare for disaster and response, recover and rebuild, and resolve crises.

 

Give Now

United Way is working to meet the ever-changing needs in our community so we can have a healthy quality of life, a strong workforce and brighter economic future.

 

Money raised here stays here and could help someone you know.

 

GIVE NOW

What Do We Do?

“Community Impact” is the tremendous potential of United Way to change our communities for the better with flexibility, funding and community involvement. We want strong families that can provide supports necessary to assure that their children are successful, a safety net for our frail or disadvantaged populations, and the ability to maximize health and independence for all people – all leading to self-sufficiency and independence. 

How I Live United

 

United Way Wins National Award for Work With Children and Families

 

The Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) has announced United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area as the 2009 recipient of its Champion for Children award.

Each year CWLA presents an award to an individual or organization who has made a difference in a child's life and/or who has dedicated their work to helping and encouraging children, and United Way for the Greater New Orleans Area is committed to the success of its communities’ children and families.  United Way’s Success By 6 collaborative focuses on children being ready to learn when they enter school.  Its public policy work has been successful in the creation of a statewide quality rating system for childcare centers; meanwhile, home-based childcare providers receive instruction through United Way’s First Teacher program.  Also, childcare centers demolished by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are being rebuilt by the Greater New Orleans Rebuild Child Care Collaborative with $3.3 million to bridge the gap between private resources and the cost to build to quality standards.

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