This month marks my 5th year serving as President and CEO of United Way of Ventura County. As we approach our 75th anniversary in 2020, I recognize my five years are only a moment in this organization’s rich history. The legacy of our organization lives in the leaders and volunteers like you who have stood with us for decades.
I couldn’t be prouder of the courage and results our staff and community have delivered over the past five years. Here are just a few of the highlights:
2015 – The Building Health Smiles initiative, formerly known as the Ventura County Oral Health Collaborative, was born and a strategic partnership was established with Clinicas so that we could provide oral health exams to more children. In 2019 alone, over 2,500 children have received oral health assessments.
2016 – The AmeriCorps VIP (Volunteer Infrastructure Program) Fellows program started for the first time in Ventura County. To date, the program has served 15 nonprofits in our community.
2017 – The Women’s Leadership Council became WOMEN UNITED and made lowering the poverty level of single mothers in Ventura County their #1 goal. Women United strongly believes we can do this through financial stability and higher education.
2018 – We completed a Strategy Roadmap to prepare for our 75th Diamond Anniversary. Through this experience, the Board of Directors and staff determined UWVC could make a meaningful impact on the housing and homeless in our community. Our research indicated rental assistance was the #1 area of need for fire victims seeking hardship assistance. To date, we’ve provided financial assistance to over 1,800 households affected by natural disasters.
2019 – The Amgen Foundation awarded United Way a $100,000 challenge grant to launch the landlord engagement pilot program. In addition, we were also awarded a $200,000 grant from the Ventura County Continuum of Care.
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These are the issues that United Way is facing head on, and it’s why we’ve been a trusted leader since 1945, when Milton M. Teague, our founding President, filed with the State of California to form the Ventura County War Chest.
