United Way of Pinal County Inc

For 36 years YOU and the United Way of Pinal County have partnered to create change for stronger communities. 

 
YOU LIVE HERE. |YOU GIVE HERE. | IT STAYS HERE.

The focus of the United Way of Pinal County is on identifying and resolving pressing community issues, and to make measurable changes in communities through partnerships with schools, government agencies, businesses, organized labor, financial institutions, community development corporations, voluntary and neighborhood associations, the faith community, and others. Below are four types of investments.

High school graduation rates in Pinal County average around 75%. This is not acceptable!  For this reason our main focus is on early education.  Our new program the Dolly Parton Imagination Library is a unique early year’s book gifting program that mails a brand new, age-appropriate book to enrolled children every month from birth until five years of age, creating a home library of up to 60 books and instilling a love of books and reading from an early age.

This proactive community effort supports kindergarten readiness, passing third grade reading tests in an effort to increase high school graduation rates.   We spend the first eight years of our life learning to read so we can spend the rest of our lives reading to learn.   It is estimated that approximately 15,000 out of an eligible 25,000 children countywide will participate in this program. 

How many "Joey's" can you sponsor at $30/year? 

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program offers free tax help to people who earn less than $62,000/year.  IRS-certified volunteers provide free basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing to qualified individuals.  Additionally, the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program offers free tax help with questions about pensions and retirement-related issues unique to seniors.

In 2015 The United Way of Pinal County and the Gila Indian River Community partnership prepared 2355 Federal/ 1370 State Tax Returns saving families $588,750 in tax preparation fees and bringing  $3.2 mil in refunds back to our county. 2016 is on track to show a 200% increase in participation and we welcomed the Salt River Indian Community as a partner.  

The Community Impact Fund provides funding to selected program and efforts that respond to gaps identified in the Community Needs Assessment. This includes rent and utility assistance funding mentoring and positive choice programs for youth creation of community gardens to infuse food banks with fresh vegetables, community coordination to reduce double dipping  and leverage community funds stabilizing survivor families of domestic violence

Last year the $270,000 investment provided a variety of services administered by UWPC staff and 20 partner agencies.

Senior Programming supports efforts that allow a growing aging population to stay independent longer.  By year 2050 Arizona projections estimate that the senior population will grow from the current 7% population share to 12%.  This steady population climb has already begun and social service agencies feel strain already.  Current  supports range from transportation services for food shopping, medical and other necessary trips to providing Meals on Wheels and an alerting system that connects the senior living alone at home to emergency support. 

In 2015 some of our funding provided the following, with 2016 projections trending higher 230 senior citizens received transportation  4,149 homebound  Pinal County seniors received home delivered meals ·           2,012 Hot lunches for homeless and physically/mentally challenged persons were served ·     10,150 families were provided monthly food boxes