What is Community Impact?

Community Impact is the process of understanding the needs and opportunities in our community and allocating funds and other resources to programs and initiatives to positively affect these needs.

Through this process we measure the success the programs and initiatives have on the people served. Greater Mankato Area United Way focuses on seven impact areas, which are illustrated in this pie chart.

Examples of United Way's impact in these areas include:

• A new parent receiving a home visit to help them learn about how to create a nurturing environment to enhance child development
• A child is ready to concentrate and learn in school because they're not hungry from the weekend.  Listen to kids talk about hunger here.
• An individual receiving behavioral counseling to help them deal with years of mental and physical abuse. Read one woman's story here.
• An at-risk child being prepared to be successful in school
• A family receiving a help from an emergency response program after surviving a house fire
• A girl participating in a program to increase self-esteem, teach values, and develop a healthy self-image. Read about the study results for Mankato girls here.
• A senior being able to stay in his or her home with assistance. Read one family's personal story here. 
• A woman receives life-skills and training to empower her to achieve gainful employment. Read one local woman's story here.
• A job opportunity for a person with disabilities

United Way understands that in order for people to be successful, they need the things that are necessary to live. In order for our communities to thrive, people need prevention services and development opportunities. In order to get at the root causes of problems, we need to create lasting solutions through systems change. When we LIVE UNITED, we have the power to improve lives throughout the greater Mankato area.   

But what does that mean for the Greater Mankato Area? 

Well, with your support of Greater Mankato Area United Way in 2010:  

• 30,000 nutritious meals are being served to hungry individuals and families in the community
• 7,500 round trip rides are being provided to people with disabilities to get to and from work
• 5,500 local children are participating in the Books for Kids program, receiving quality children’s books and free parenting resources and local information for their caregivers.
• 3,300 youth are being engaged in alternative sports & physical activity in a safe, friendly, structured environment
• 9,500 hours of early childhood instruction are being provided to teen parent families to give them more confidence about parenting and improve their parenting skills
• 2,800 people are being provided access to health and dental care, including 188 children
• 690 hours of assistive technology training are being provided to individuals with disabilities