Mission, Vision, Values

Mission

United Way of Washtenaw County CONNECTS people, resources, and organizations TOGETHER to create a thriving community for EVERYONE.

Vision 

We envision an equitable community where opportunity is not limited and every member reaches their full potential. By the year 2030, we aspire to live in a community where: 
  • Your zip code no longer predicts your opportunity in life
  • Life expectancy is the same across all populations and communities in our County
  • The academic achievement gap is eliminated
  • Everyone in our community has a home
  • Community members seek understanding and awareness of their own power and privilege and actively work to end poverty in our County
  • Poverty is not generational. If it exists, it is intermittent and brief
  • Everyone in our County is able to thrive and meet their needs—housing, food, transportation, education, health expenses and childcare

Values

EQUITY- We pursue greater access to opportunities and resources for all.  Our workplace practices, culture, and impact reflect our commitment to justice and fairness.

INCLUSIVENESS- Those we interact with feel valued, respected and supported.  We seek out diverse voices and perspectives to inform our work. 

COMMUNITY- We advance our mission through collaboration.  We share decision making, power, and resources.

VOLUNTEERISM- We value contributions of time and talent. We continuously seek opportunities to engage volunteers in our work.

CARING- We display empathy with those we work with and assume the positive intention of others.

INTEGRITY- In all our actions we will choose to do the right thing even though it may not be the easiest thing.

Equity Vision and Statement

 

Strategic Plan

Building on our 100-year history, the United Way of Washtenaw County (UWWC) serves a county of 358,000, and focuses specifically on issues related to poverty and inequity. With a 14% poverty rate and an additional 23% of the population struggling to meet their basic needs (ALICE report, 2017); poverty and inequity continue to systemically marginalize some of our neighborhoods. Washtenaw County ranked in the bottom 8% for upward income mobility in Harvard’s "Equality of Opportunity Study," a measure of the chance for a child from a lower-income household to rise into the middle class and beyond. This illustrates how upward mobility is increasingly determined by neighborhood and zip code. Ann Arbor also ranked as the 8th most economically segregated community in the nation, worse than New York and LA (Martin Prosperity Institute study, 2015).

 

United Way of Washtenaw County invests in solutions that improve lives. Our 2018-2021 Strategic plan recognizes equity as the foundation of our work. We apply an equity lens to our focus areas to ensure that we are intentional and successful in addressing the needs of our community, and have made a long-term commitment to systems change beyond this three-year plan. We invite you to participate and work with us on the strategies and actions described within this plan, as the power of the United Way lies within all of us. Each person in our community who is willing to lend a hand and volunteer amplifies our impact through aligned and collective action.

 

Strategic Plan Documents