Our Work: Income

Building Blocks for a Good Life: Income

Consider this: The NC Budget and Tax Center's version of the "Living Income Standard" finds that a typical North Carolina family with children must earn $41,184 annually to afford the actual costs of seven essential expenses: housing, food, childcare, health care, transportation, other necessities and taxes. To meet that level, the adults in the average family would need to earn a combined $19.80 per hour for every working hour of every week of the year.

Yet 37% of the families fall below that modest income standard and those families contain 1.4 million individuals. Women, African Americans, Hispanics and immigrants are disproportionately likely to live in families below the Living Income Standard and 60 percent of the adults in those families work full-time.

Our vision is that all people in Greater Greensboro have the opportunity to lead self-sufficient and dignified lives by:

• Meeting basic needs for food, clothing, or shelter
• Helping people in difficult life situations, such as unemployment and family crisis
• Helping those with disabilities or mental illness maximize their potential

More specifically, United Way advances the common good by creating long-lasting changes that address the underlying problems that threaten financial independence and stability. Locally, United Way of Greater Greensboro is Helping People Help Themselves by funding 24 programs that promote financial independence and stability. These programs create opportunities for a better life by:

• Reducing the chances that individuals and families will experience financial crisis
• Providing specialized job training and support for people with special needs to enter and remain in the workforce
• Supporting the development of marketable skills for women who must enter or re-enter the workforce because of unforeseen life-changing circumstances such as downsizing, termination, disability, divorce, or death of a spouse
• Increasing the ability to read, write and speak English, compute and solve problems at levels of proficiency necessary to function on the job, in the family, and in society
• Providing relief/transitional aid for displaced workers to assist families in avoiding foreclosures, bankruptcy and predatory loan

Advancing the Common Good through Transformed Lives:

United Way of Greater Greensboro & Women's Resource Center

When you make a gift to United Way of Greater Greensboro, you reach out a hand to one and influence the condition of all.

On a rainy day in 2006, Natalie Floyd-Freeman showed up at the Women's Resource Center looking for hope and for help. "I was mentally, emotionally and financially busted," recalls Natalie. "I was going through a divorce with three children, had lost my home and car, and I did not know how I was going to make it."

Soon Natalie was recharged by the positive energy of the Women's Resource Center taking advantage of United Way of Greater Greensboro funded programs which provide community resource counseling services; a free attorney hotline; job training for displaced homemakers who for a variety of reasons no longer have income to support their family; and workshops designed to help women learn to maintain or return to a healthy lifestyle.

Life skills are taught at the center such as the New Choices Strategies for Success program, a 40-hour pre-employment training that offers graduates an educational stipend toward furthering workplace skills that will lead to employment. The program is accurately named and one hundred percent of the women participating in New Choices workshops reported greater confidence in their ability to secure a job. This program is made possible through the support of United Way of Greater Greensboro.

Other services available at the Women's Resource Center include a self-esteem series, resource information from over 300 community agencies and a lending library. All classes are taught by area professionals who volunteer their time with the Women's Resource Center.

The Women's Resource Center's typical client is a single mother, early 30's and has two or three children. The majority of clients have a high school diploma and an income of less than $10,000. However, services are available to any woman over the age of 18.

"We don't duplicate services that are offered at other agencies but we connect with other services and offer help where gaps exist," explains Ashley Brooks Reckard, Executive Director and founding member of the Center. "Our goal is to work on all aspects of the woman which means that we do more than work on resumes. We work with women to understand legal issues, improve self-esteem, learn how to dress for success and live healthier, all of which translates into becoming a better parent and a productive and successful member of society. Women are typically the caregivers in our culture, with many taking on the breadwinner role, making it critical that they have the ability to care for their family."

Laurie Weaver, a United Way of Greater Greensboro volunteer responsible for making funding recommendations stated, " Our committee feels so strongly about supporting the Women's Resource Center because of the demonstrated difference made in the lives of women who are program participants. We are especially impressed by the exceptionally qualified staff."

Today, Natalie is smiling a lot more and thankful for her second chance. "The Women's Resource Center gave me back my life and taught me practical skills such as how to be a single mother, how to use a computer, as well as to set goals and have dreams for a better future," says Natalie. "I have a new job and life is looking good. With the help of United Way programs and others that I participated in, I can begin again."