Community Impact

Funding from our Community Investment and our Community Enhancement Grants
help organizations provide much needed services to Roane County.

Mid-East Community Action Agency is a United Way partner that provides services for seniors.

Other Community Impact Programs

Roane County United Way supports local non-profit organizations in order to provide needed services to those who are truly in need.

ALICE

ALICE, a United Way acronym which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed, represents the growing number of individuals and families who are working but unable to afford basic necessities.

United Way is igniting a movement where nonprofits, corporations, policymakers, and the faith community can better understand and address the problems faced by hardworking Tennesseans.

This data helps us understand our communities in new ways, helping us address root causes, and ultimately measure results. We bring together national, regional, and local data for a picture of our community.

39% of our State is struggling economically. 15% is considered poor, and 24% are considered ALICE. 1 in 3 are just one emergency away from falling into poverty.

Roane County United Way understands the critical need to do what we can to provide support and long-term solutions to help ALICE move along a path to financial stability. United Ways have been serving ALICE through services such as TN 2-1-1 and free income tax preparation for many years, but we are now telling the ALICE story statewide to ignite a movement to change the status quo. However, some factors holding ALICE back are very hard to control or change. The cost of household essentials is increasing faster than wages in communities across our state. We need help from our communities and our
legislative officials.

 

Some of the solutions where United Way leads:
 Identifying and filling service gaps with nonprofit, faith, and government partners
 Using the data to shape our impact strategies and measure our effectiveness
 Shedding light on the underlying causes keeping ALICE from succeeding
 Our community impact work is mainly geared toward supporting ALICE families, including investing in education, workforce development, and healthcare.

Through community investments, collaborations, and advocacy, Roane County United Way remains committed to uplifting ALICE and

ensuring all Roane County citizens have opportunities to advance their financial stability.

View Full ALICE Report

Interagency Meetings

Each month the United Way of Roane County host an Interagency meeting, giving an opportunity for non-profit, faith based organizations and government entities to network with one another. The goals is to have a better understanding of the needs and services in our community and those we serve, making Roane County stronger.

The meeting includes a “Featured Speaker” which educates, informs  and sometimes entertains those who attend. Please let us know if you would like to attend the Interagency meeting. You will get monthly emails about meeting times and location. Also, if you would like to be a Featured Speaker at one of the meetings please let us know. e-mail info@unitedwayroane.org

Dental Task Force

RCUW led the formation of a dental task force involving representatives from various areas in Roane and Loudon County.

Collaboration among private dental practices, local organizations, educational institutions, and the faith based community have worked to provide affordable dental care to adults in Roane and Loudon Counties.

Accomplishments:
  • Organized a Dental Task Force to provide guidance, recommendation(s), and develop policies/procedures.
  • Created Dentist Advisory Board to provide professional guidance, develop cost structure, develop process, and provide invaluable feedback for sustainability.
  • Received a $15,000 Trinity Health Foundation Grant for Phase I of the project and $150,000 for Phase II.
  • Generated voucher system to pay dentists directly, no funding is given to clients.
    Identified best practices for future use.
  • Leveraged proven processes used by grant administer.
  • Obtained participant feedback, which is invaluable for improving process.
  • Clients scheduled their own appointments.

Over 125 adults obtained affordable dental and/or preventive care services in Phase I.
A total value of dental services performed $45,000.00
A total of In-Kind contributions of $25,540.00
Leveraged an average of $5 dollars per every $1 Trinity Health Foundation dollars

Teacher's Supply Closet

We organize the annual Teacher's Supply Closet, helping teachers and their students with supplies needed throughout the school year.
Donations are taken all year long.
The event is in September.

Day of Caring

The Annual Day of Caring is a chance for the RCUW and Partner Agencies
to combine efforts and work on projects that help the community outside of daily services provided.
We involve the community as Volunteers to help with these projects.

Workshops in Partnership with

Workshops are provided to support non-profit organizations and enhance their success.
Workshops include: Fundraising, Board Development, Strategic Planning, Financial Management,and Marketing.
Click the image to sign up for a Workshop!

Emergency Food and Shelter Program

Funds are awarded to agencies for services. Funds are to supplement emergency food and shelter programs operating in the four-county area. Agencies will be able to provide food, shelter and rent/mortgage/utility assistance on a one-time basis to individuals.

The selection of the local board was made by a National Board that is chaired by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and consists of representatives from the following:

Salvation Army
American Red Cross
United Jewish Communities
Catholic Charities, USA
National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA
United Way of America

A local board comprised of local representatives of the national agencies and other agencies determine how funds are distributed.
Agencies receiving funds must meet the criteria:

Private non-profit agency with a voluntary board or unit of government
Have an accounting system
Practice non-discrimination
Demonstrated ability to deliver services.

Every day people come to the realization that they need help. People make eight calls on average before finding the right program to help them! Many people give up before they find the help they need. They call local agencies, government, faith congregations, 9-1-1, 4-1-1, etc.
United Way has worked with a variety of local partners to offer a solution – dial 2-1-1. 2-1-1 is the phone number to call to find or give help in your community. 2-1-1 is designed to connect people with health and human service resources across East Tennessee.

  • Open 24/7/365, multi-lingual (more than 150 languages)
  • Once the caller presses “1” for English or “2” for Spanish, connects immediately with a live person – an expert, nationally certified, Information & Referral Specialist
  • Less staff time spent on information and referral and on ineligible applicants
  • Agencies can access the 2-1-1 database to increase or decrease available support
  • Fewer non-emergency 9-1-1 calls
  • Additional demographic data for grant applications
  • About 32% of the United States population has access to 2-1-1
  • 70% of Tennessee’s population in 2004 had access (Knoxville, Chattanooga and much of East Tennessee, Memphis, Nashville and Middle Tennessee)
  • Help us spread the word about this helpful community service!
  • Let your customers and other constituencies know about this great service. We can provide a “communication kit” for you to include the “2-1-1” information in your employee and customer communications. Contact the United Way of Roane County office (865-882-7711 or info@unitedwayroane.org  about these kits.
  • Verify with your company that the PBX phone system does not block calls from their building(s) to 2-1-1. This is a great resource for everyone!