In honor of Women’s History Month, United Way is excited to celebrate Melanie Jones, a local gamechanger who is making a lasting impact in multiple ways.

Melanie has volunteered with United Way for over 10 years, and is the current chair of United Way’s Women United (WU) Affinity Group.

WU is focused on inspiring women to lead community-wide change that ends local poverty, and many group events and volunteering activities highlight United Way’s efforts to provide pathways to employment.

Melanie, who serves as Executive Director of Guilford Metro 911 is no stranger to community need and says she volunteers with WU because she has a passion for “empowering women in our community and helping them achieve goals that they think are unachievable.”

Melanie says she was initially drawn to United Way’s work after learning that far too many local children are living in poverty. Currently, 67% of Guilford County Schools students are living in poverty. Melanie believes WU’s efforts to help local mothers is critical in supporting the many needs of children living in poverty.

Melanie says she hopes to continue inspiring others to get involved as she strives to do her part to help United Way reach its Bold Goal of helping 3,000 households leave poverty by 2030.

“I hope we achieve our Bold Goal with United Way of Greater Greensboro, more than most understand! I want us to be the leader in the country for moving families out of poverty.”

It’s evident that Melanie is committed to United Way’s work, and she makes it a point to LIVE UNITED on a daily basis.

“We could learn a lot from crayons; some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors…but they all have to learn to live in the same box.”

If you’d like to learn more about United Way’s WU Affinity Group, visit: https://www.unitedwaygso.org/women-united/