After responding to the sudden and significant changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the United Way of Chatham-Kent is reinventing itself by turning outward, by courageously building deep relationships that empower all those willing to join us on behalf of those who need us most.

 

As a result of facilitating weekly virtual meetings with over 70 participants on what has come to be known as the Social Planning & Action Tables, United Way is projecting some alarming statistics:

  • 300% increase in food insecurity this winter, which will put pressure on programs and services that address hunger.
  • An increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness
  • A significant surge in incidence of child & partner violence
  • An escalation in the number of people accessing mental health and problematic substance use supports

Through the creation and facilitation of the Co-Investors Table, government funding, local corporate and philanthropic donations, our local Community Foundation, and the United Way are working together to support various human and social service organizations and grassroots groups that provide services and programs to address all of these needs.

The next step in turning outward comes from acknowledgement that the needs of each Chatham-Kent community are as unique as the community is itself. With the support of community leaders, each community’s unique needs will be assessed and tackled head on with funds and resources generated from that community.

To charter these unknown waters of reinvention in such a tenuous time, United Way of Chatham-Kent CEO Steve Pratt has established a strong team to help.

To help govern and provide oversight and accountability to the community, new board members have joined the United Way Board of Directors. Learn more about them here.

To help keep the community engaged, aware, and informed about the challenges and issues in the community, United Way has launched a new podcast to tell these stories. Realizing that social media is changing and evolving every day, United Way also has a Tik Tok account to share short, fun content.

To help with virtual connections and transactions, which are more important than ever, United Way continues to strength its relationship with the Gigit platform.

To drive all of these changes, the United Way of Chatham-Kent has a new tagline as part of its new movement:

United We Can, Together We Will demonstrates that we are stronger together, and together, we will get through this.

You can more about our movement by visiting our YouTube Channel here.