2021 Little Black Dress Campaign

In the last 5 years, United Way's Women United has raised over $325,000 through the Little Black Dress Campaign.

Funds support United Way's Education Initiative helping women and children to overcome the barriers of poverty so they are successful in school and in life.

Dollars raised by this campaign support the following;

- Allows struggling readers in Kindergarten through Third Grade to get intensive, research-based tutoring.

- Ensures children get a designated mentor that meets with them for an hour each week.

- Provides a case manager to work with hundreds of children to de-escalate conflict and develop the personal skills necessary to reduce inter-personal conflict in the future.

- Helps caring caseworkers spend thousands of hours addressing the barriers to a good education and a stable family caused by poverty, mental illness, unemployment, homelessness, and more.

- Low-income students working with United Way’s Education Initiative were 20% more likely to be able to read at grade level, 27% more likely to be meeting math benchmarks, and 18% more likely to be meeting reading benchmarks than low-income students without these services.

United Way improves lives by mobilizing the caring power of our community. We bring people and resources together to tackle issues with research-based, proven strategies that create real results. We hold ourselves and every United Way funded program accountable to create real, measurable change in our community. This is our passion.