John Legend at the piano after sharing his passion for education.

“As I sat on stage at my high school graduation, the crowd around me looked smaller than it had freshman year. Somewhere between freshman orientation and graduation, many of my peers had found a reason to give up on school and drop out. Whatever the cause, they took a path that would forever limit their life prospects just as I was entering a world of opportunity.”

So said John Legend at Mahaffey Theater in December. In town for a benefit for United Way of Tampa Bay, the man with the golden voice shared his passion for lifting people out of poverty through education. It’s a passion shared by United Way and our supporters.

John is well-known for his philanthropy and his Show Me Campaign, an organization that works to break the cycle of poverty through proven solutions. The Show Me Campaign works in Africa with people who live on less than a dollar a day, helping meet their basic needs. In America, Show Me took a different direction.

As the artist said, “I firmly believe that the single best way to help individuals break the cycle of poverty here in the U.S. is through education. And that’s why the Show Me Campaign fights for every child to have access to a quality education, regardless of race, income or what neighborhood they happened to be born into.”

He praised United Way for its efforts in preparing preschoolers for kindergarten, noting that the achievement gap starts at an early age; and for continuing to help youth through out-of-school and development programs. And after exhorting the audience to get involved, he sat down at the piano.
John and the piano. That’s all it took to get hearts thumping, bodies swaying and couples smiling. The diverse audience was on its feet and filling in for John’s back-up singers.

The evening wouldn’t have been possible without Valpak.com’s generous sponsorship. The Royal Theater Boys and Girls Club  was the perfect opening act. The talented boys and girls rocked the Mahaffey with the sounds of Motown and the St. Pete program boasts a 100% high school graduation rate.

If you were fortunate enough to be there, you know what I’m talking about. You’ll hear more about our specific efforts in education later this year. No one could have kicked off our enhanced efforts better than John Legend.
Sincerely,

Diana Baker, President and CEO

Our partnership with the Buccaneers drew volunteers to Hometown Huddle.

As we head into the hectic holiday season, I’d like you to take a minute to reflect on the good you’ve done this year. Good comes in many shapes and sizes. If you headed into work on a beautiful Monday morning or got up and searched for work; if you helped a friend move or had a neighbor over for dinner; if you visited someone in the hospital or read to a child; if you let someone in in traffic or called a long-distance relative; if you comforted someone at a funeral or celebrated at a baby shower; you did good this year. 

If you donate to United Way so that we can help children graduate and move families out of poverty; if you volunteer as a board member, during Day of Caring or at any of our many projects; if you speak up or write to a legislator on behalf of a cause or a person who needs it; if you read our newsletter and by reading it, learn a little more about what we do; then I appreciate you. It’s people like you who make a powerful difference in Tampa Bay. People who give, advocate and volunteer show me every day that our community is made up of caring people who want to help and who know how to LIVE UNITED.

For all the good you do every day, and for everything you do for United Way, thank you. May you and your family have a healthy and happy holiday and a united 2012.

 Sincerely,

 Diana Baker, President & CEO

Betty Tribble and I shoveled mulch during the volunteer day at Bay Pines.

How much work can 2,000 volunteers do in one day? A lot, if you ask social service agencies and schools who participated in United Way’s Day of Caring in October.

The volunteers were from companies such as Mosaic and Tech Data, Publix and Allstate, cities in both counties and from the Tampa Bay Rays. They completed 125 projects that ranged from painting and mulching to computer rehab and mock job interviews.

How much is it worth? $341,760.00, using the estimated dollar value of volunteer time from independentsector.org of $21.36 per hour.

Priceless, if you ask the agencies who could not afford to pay to have the projects done. See what it meant to one agency in the article on Community Preschool in this newsletter.

Our workplace fundraising campaign season is in full swing and we’re seeing positive results already. USAA, Gerdau, Citigroup, Clear Channel and GE Aviation are among a few companies who are reporting that they are ahead of goal. Ring Power has started its 50th United Way campaign during its 50th anniversary.

If your campaign has begun and you’ve pledged to help your community, thank you. If it hasn’t, please consider that when you give to United Way, your donations are used where there’s the most need in the community. They’re used wisely and efficiently thanks to oversight by our volunteers. And I’ve come full circle, thanking volunteers for their help, whether it’s weeding or reviewing budgets. We could not do it without you.

Diana Baker, President and CEO

Our campaign included time at the Boys and Girls Club in Clearwater’s North Greenwood neighborhood.

In 2010, poverty was defined as an annual income of $22,314 for a family of four and $11,139 for a single person.  

The news was even worse for our nation’s children, whose poverty rate was 22%. That means that almost one in four children in our country lives in poverty.

As I think about the struggling families in our area, I’m determined that United Way of Tampa Bay will work harder than ever to help.  

Last year, we invested 40 percent of your donations in our safety net services. Our partner food banks served 80,000 people – up 10,000 from the previous year. Our sheltering partners provided a safe place to sleep for more than 4,300 people.  We are the fiscal agent and manage distribution of the Emergency Food and Shelter Program that allocates dollars for food, rent, mortgages and utilities for the neediest in our community. And we provide free tax preparation to working families to ensure they keep more of what they earn.

As you think about your investment in your community, consider these numbers. Think about the children who are living in poverty. When you’ve given what you’re able to, think about other ways you can help. Become a tutor at a low-income school. Volunteer at a social service agency so they can use their funds to serve the community.

I have high hopes that one day soon, more people will be employed and more families with children will be lifted out of poverty. I know that without your help, your investments and your time, we would not be doing as well as we are. Thank you for doing what you can to help others. Your caring keeps me going.

Diana Baker, President and CEO

Around the corner came a little golden ball of sunshine named Madison, dressed head to toe in pink, hair arranged in Afro puffs, one wrist covered in turquoise beaded bracelets, arms opened wide. She wrapped those arms around a teacher’s legs, hugged them close and looked up with the kind of smile that sets the world right.

Madison is 4 years old. She is happy and thriving. This is her second year of Head Start in the basement of a building that houses the poor and homeless in one of Manhattan’s poorest neighborhoods.

I met Madison and 50 other little rays of hope at the Dorothy Day Apartments on Riverside Drive in West Harlem. The building is the sixth in the neighborhood run by Broadway Housing Communities, and the first to include a day care center serving both the building and the community. This former drug den is not only beautiful, but it also pulses with pride and hope and happiness.

It’s just what I needed to see. Writing about children and the poor and the vulnerable these days, there aren’t very many bright spots — but this is one.

The children are bathed by natural light that floods into the basement through skylights. The floors are covered by beautiful green ceramic tile made to look like slate. The walls are painted a sunrise yellow, lined with thick wooden moldings and covered with well-framed pieces of art — some by the children, some donated. The courtyard, which had been filled with six feet of garbage, is covered with mats and used as an area where wee little legs that barely have kneecaps can be folded into funky shapes for daily yoga.

Above the day care center are six floors of housing for 190 people, more than half of whom are children and all of whom were either homeless or in extreme poverty. Many of the adults are the hardest cases: those recovering from drug addiction, those with chronic diseases like H.I.V. and those with mental disabilities. In fact, most of the adults suffer from some form of disability.

And on the top floor is an art gallery that opens onto a sweeping veranda, lined with flowering plants and with some of the most magnificent Hudson River views in the city.

It is easy to forget that you’re in a low-income housing building. The administrators joked often when I was there about the chic woman who had jumped out of a cab and inquired about rents because she wanted a river view, only to be told to her befuddlement that the building was for the poor. “She was shocked,” they chuckled.

There are no security guards. There is no commotion. There are no signs of institutional living like names above doors. There isn’t even so much as a crayon mark on any of the walls. This is an oasis of civility and tranquility and culture inhabited — and to some degree, self-policed — by people whom the world would rob of those dignities.

So why so much emphasis on beauty and art, I asked?

One administrator responded resolutely: “You don’t just give a person four walls to live in. You give them something to be inspired by.”

Ellen Baxter, the founder and executive director of Broadway Housing Communities, an unassuming woman whose braided ponytail swept the middle of her back, chimed in that “art and nature show the other side of poverty.” She continued, “Poverty denigrates people and dehumanizes people.”

Another administrator said that the environment helped to “stabilize the parents to provide a platform for the children.” And those children, she said, can create “pathways out of poverty” for the whole family.

As Lady Bird Johnson once famously said, “Where flowers bloom, so does hope.”

The administrators talk a lot about community and citizenship and the building being a village of people supporting and protecting each other, and it strikes me how apropos the village metaphor is.

They have taken the most extreme cases, given them a warm, safe, stable and, yes, beautiful place to live, while treating them with dignity and respect. And the transformations of the adults, and, more important, the outcomes for the children have been incredible.

The Dorothy Day Apartments have been open since 2003, and they have had no arrests and no teenage pregnancies, unless you count the girl who was pregnant when she moved in.

Most of the children went through the Head Start program in the basement, which now mostly serves the surrounding community. None of the children have dropped out of school. A handful have even earned scholarships to the city’s better private schools. Of the 10 children who have graduated from high school, eight have gone on to college and one has just graduated from college. (None of the adults in the building have ever been to college.)

The building runs mentoring programs and literacy programs and English as a second language programs. It maintains a computer lab and this week launched a partnership with what is essentially an international, Internet-based book club for boys in the building. (The girls’ group will begin next week.) It’s fantastic.

I know what you’re asking now, because it’s the same thing I asked: how much does something like this cost, because it sounds too good to be true?

Well, the cost of the building plus renovations was $17 million. So if it houses 190 people, that works out to about $89,500 a person, not including most of the children served by the day care center.

But let’s put that into the context of prison construction, for instance. According to the New York State Commission of Correction, 1,000 new jail beds will have been built between the end of 2007 and the end of 2011 in the counties of Albany, Essex, Rensselaer and Suffolk at a cost of $100,000 per bed.

Furthermore, as Broadway Housing Communities points out on its Web site, “permanent supportive housing for an individual costs taxpayers $12,500 annually, compared to annual costs of $25,000 for an emergency shelter cot; $60,000 for a prison cell; and $125,000 for a psychiatric hospital bed.”

In the long run it’s a bargain and builds more productive citizens — starting with little girls like Madison who bring the sunshine into the basement.

We were at the Trop thanks to our good friends the Tampa Bay Rays. Go Rays!

Board chair Brian Deming, left, and campaign cabinet chair Mark Watson support me and the community at our Campaign Kickoff.

Publix was in the building! They come out full force to support United Way and are visible not only at our Kickoff but at our volunteer events and in their generous donations. The City of Clearwater does the same and I saw their own Robin Gomez, a member of our campaign cabinet, in the stands.

Tech Data had a big contingent to applaud their co-worker David Wojciak, who was this year’s campaign coordinator Hall of Fame inductee. Thanks to David’s efforts, Tech Data increased giving to United Way by 65% last year. A plaque with David’s likeness will hang in Tropicana Field for the next year.

Kellogg’s donated cereal and sent Tony the Tiger to liven things up. Best Buy supplied games for the children from Campbell Park and the ultimate giveaway – the Xbox 360 with Kinect, which was won by flash mob member Kendra James, who danced her way down the aisle to claim her prize.

I promised you an update on our own campaign. I’m proud of all 49 United Way staff members for the dedication they show each and every day, and for their generosity in helping us beat our stretch goal of $65,000. Our final total, after donations, auctions, games and a whole lot of food was – drum role please – $66,785.

For the community’s sake, I wish each of you a campaign that exceeds your expectations.

Diana Baker, President and CEO

United Way’s Susan Ivins, left, Macy’s Campaign Coordinator Sherron Riles, student Maya Goss and Macy’s VP Ish Falla at Macy’s executive team kickoff in Clearwater.

Campaign season is upon us and I feel something different in the air. While it’s still 90+ degrees and the mosquitoes are fierce, the beginning of this year’s United Way campaign feels upbeat and positive.

That may be because we have so many exciting things going on. The official United Way of Tampa Bay Campaign Kickoff is Friday, August 19 at Tropicana Field, courtesy of the Tampa Bay Rays. The festivities begin at 7:30 a.m. and we’ll have you out and on your way back to work by 9:30 at the latest. Plans include many special presentations, a lot of fun and some very special announcements; if you can make it, click here to RSVP.

Nearly 900 companies in the Tampa Bay area conduct United Way campaigns. Some have full-fledged celebrations with presentations, outside speakers, giveaways, games and competitions within groups to see who can raise the most money for the community. Macy’s, for example, kicked off their campaign with a silent auction in which the executives contribute items or services. Macy’s employees across the country who make a pledge get entered to win some fabulous prizes, including tickets to New York to see the Thanksgiving Day parade. Other companies conduct low-key campaigns that are just as important to us and to the community we serve. Our own internal campaign includes a breakfast, a community service project and the ever-popular food-tastings. Our team is still planning, I’ll let you know next month how we did.

If your company is interested in new ideas for your campaign, our Little Book of Big Campaign Ideas has some – well, big ideas. And your relationship manager is always available to help.

Whether your campaign is loud and gregarious or quiet and deliberate, I’m grateful for each person and company who helps us make a difference in our community. Last year you invested more than $23 million in your community through United Way. Thank you for your enthusiasm and for caring about those who need our help. You are making a difference.

Diana Baker, President and CEO

Many of these students have lost academic credits — but through Operation Graduate, many are recovering academic credit and on the path to their cap and gown.

Credit recovery students completed Operation Graduate, each with his or her own unique success story. Twelve students received certificates of completion August 4th, 2011, during a ceremony at Clearwater Police Headquarters. The following two success stories highlight the positive impact this program has had on participating students. United Way of Tampa Bay has been a partner in this program and the results are optimistic.

A teenager with a 0.5 GPA missed 118 days of school and was arrested five times between 2010 and 2011. When this teen entered the program he was skeptical and not convinced he was able to graduate. He was encouraged to put the effort forth in credit recovery to get back on track in school. The teen was present every day for Operation Graduate’s credit recovery program and earned a half credit for English and is well on the way to completing the second half credit. A half credit is equivalent to half of a normal school year. Since joining the program, the teen has not had additional contact with law enforcement other than mentoring.

Another teenager never attended a full day of school last year.
This teen had a 1.1 GPA and was arrested six times in the past two years. She was also skeptical of the program and was also encouraged to put forth an effort in the program. She has earned one full credit in algebra, making up for two failing grades. Since joining the program, this teen also has not had additional contact with law enforcement other than mentoring.

The credit recovery portion of the program includes juveniles who are currently on probation. Officer Christian Zarra is the coordinator and works with the Department of Juvenile Justice. “This job is more than about making arrests. It’s about helping people,” said Ofc. Zarra. “We don’t want to simply continue arresting these kids. We want to do something to help change their lives.” During yesterday’s ceremony, several children spoke about how Operation Graduate changed their outlook on life and gave them a second chance and a new dream. Due to confidentiality and public record laws exemptions, no names or photos will be released.

Operation Graduate seeks to increase the number of youth with on-time graduation, introduce high school students to college and work experiences, help develop life skills and provide students and their families with service referrals and interventions. Partners include the Clearwater Police Department, United Way of Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg College, Clearwater Campus, Pinellas County Schools, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Clearwater Parks and Recreation and the Upper Pinellas Ministerial Alliance.

Brian, the Tampa Bay Rays Senior Vice President of Operation, is the face of United Way’s young leaders group. The unassuming California native is quick to rally whoever will listen regarding the community, but does it by example and a passion that is honest and impactful. He has degrees from a prestigious Pac-10 school and Harvard Business School. At age 34, he’s risen in the Tampa Bay Rays organization to become a Senior Vice President.

In 2005, as Brian was finishing his second year of business school at Harvard, he got a call from a high school friend, Matt Silverman. Matt told him he was just named President of the Tampa Bay Rays. He offered Brian the position of Director of Planning and Development. He jumped at the opportunity.

“I satisfied my personal desire to make the Rays organization a better place. The ultimate goal is to have the team’s impact reflected in the community,” Brian said. He plays an active role on the board of the Rays Foundation, supporting youth education programs and field renovations for youth baseball leagues.

Aside from his successes in the lecture halls, board rooms and community chests, his biggest accomplishment may have been in the classroom. He started his career as a fourth grade teacher at the fledgling East Palo Alto Charter School in California. The school was created to give children a better opportunity for a brighter future they may not otherwise have gotten.

Brian is proud that the school is among the top five charter schools in California and that he helped bring resources to the school to help it flourish. He’s brought those experiences to Tampa Bay.

“Teaching has been the most valuable experience for me in the job I do with the Rays. It helps me to run an organization effectively. And if people aren’t learning, the process isn’t working,” he said.

In 2009, Brian agreed to endorse United Way during the Rays first campaign fundraiser for the organization. As United Way staff mentioned at the time, Brian was a natural. He had the passion, the honesty, and the understanding on what it means to support an organization that helps so many in a variety of community impact areas.

He’s since taken the lead for the newly formed United Way Young Leaders program. The program engages and provides young professionals in Tampa Bay the opportunity to support United Way programs and services, advocate for change, and volunteer for a variety of impactful activities.

Thanks to Brian and Rays Senior Vice President Mark Fernandez, the Rays Baseball Foundation worked with United Way to form the Step Up matching gift program. This program allows donors who give less than $1,000 annually to step up their gift to become a leader, on and off the field

“There’s no question that the Rays and United Way are partnering together to conquer large scale social problems in the community,” said Brian, who will speak about the Step Up program later this month at the Campaign Kickoff Celebration at Tropicana Field. “Personally, I feel a lot more people should be giving. If you don’t have a specific passion about one cause, United Way is the best place to give.”

Brian puts his money where his mouth is. Besides his work for United Way and the Rays Foundation, he’s on the board of Big Brothers and Big Sisters and Ronald McDonald House of Tampa Bay. He helped create an employee volunteer program that allows Rays staff to take a few hours every week to volunteer for a local charity. And despite being thousands of miles away and many years removed from his work there, he still keeps an eye on the California charter school where his career began.

Now his focus is on the Step Up program. With $100,000 of support over the next two years, the United Way advocate is expecting big things.

“If things work well, I expect 100 new leaders. We want to keep building and building new advocates for United Way.” Thanks to Brian and key advocates like him throughout Tampa Bay, United Way expects the matching program to meet capacity by early fall.

For more information about United Way’s Young Leaders program or how to Step Up with a Rays Foundation matching gift, call Karis Turner at 813-274-0901 or e-mail her at kturner@uwtb.org.

Clearwater Police Department Chief Anthony Holloway and me at the Operation Graduate Kick Off.

Options and opportunities. That’s what Clearwater Police Chief Anthony Holloway said about our innovative partnership, Operation Graduate, which kicked off June 2 at the police department substation in the North Greenwood neighborhood. The initiative encourages on-time graduation and provides exposure to college for at-risk teenagers who are doing well, and uses education to break the cycle of juvenile recidivism for teens who have been in trouble.

The first group of youth applied for the program, which has room for 20. As part of a three-credit hour course at St. Petersburg College, they’ll write résumés, work part time and create career portfolios.

The second group of 20 youth will take online courses as a way to make up high school credits and get back on track for on-time graduation. They’ll learn life, financial and job-readiness skills. All 40 students will have mentors.

Studies show that high school graduates commit fewer crimes, earn more, make healthier decisions and participate in their communities more than those who don’t graduate. A series of motivational posters that adorn the substation, where the students take their classes, says it all:

• As a graduate, I’ll earn more money.
• As a graduate, I’ll be more confident.
• As a graduate, I’ll stay out of trouble.
• As a graduate, I’ll make a difference.

Operation Graduate is a collaborative effort between United Way of Tampa Bay, the Clearwater Police Department and St. Petersburg College. Other partners are Pinellas County Schools, Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, Clearwater Parks and Recreation and the Upper Pinellas Ministerial Alliance. Others piled on to eliminate obstacles. The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority offered bus passes to ensure the teens can get to class. Target Corp. offered jobs, with the opportunity for extended employment if the students perform well. The City of Clearwater offered summer passes to its recreational facilities.

Collaboration is one of the things United Way of Tampa Bay does best. Working with disparate partners on a common goal, providing options and opportunities, is just one way we Live United.

Diana Baker, President and CEO