United Way of Oxford-Lafayette County Grants to meet Basic Needs – Mississippi

The United Way of Oxford-Lafayette County funds programs and community impact initiatives that improve health, advance education, promote financial stability, and meet basic needs for Lafayette County residents

Donor Name: United Way of Oxford-Lafayette County (UWOLC)

State: Mississippi

County: Lafayette County (MS)

Type of Grant: Grant

Deadline: 03/01/2023

Grant Duration: 1 year

Details:

The United Way of Oxford-Lafayette County (UWOLC) is committed to investing its resources in ways that create a lasting community impact by preventing problems before they occur, prioritizing long-term solutions over quick fixes, and promoting community-wide approaches that serve all who live in the Lafayette-Oxford-University (LOU) community.  At the same time, the UWOLC recognizes there are many people living in their community who are at times unable to meet their families’ basic food, shelter, and medical needs. The UWOLC believes no one should be without a safety net. As a result, the UWOLC balances its commitment to lasting change with a focus on ensuring their community’s basic needs are met. Over time, we hope more and more families achieve financial stability and self-sufficiency, ultimately reducing the demand for such services.

To maximize its community impact, the UWOLC maintains high standards for its own investment process as well as the programs and coalitions that receive UWOLC funding. First and foremost, the UWOLC identifies high-priority community issues through periodic community needs assessments, with input and feedback provided by LOU’s diverse communities. The UWOLC also ensures that available funds are awarded through a careful, fair, and thorough evaluation process that responds to those high-priority issues. Finally, the UWOLC holds funded organizations fiscally responsible and requires their programs to be well-managed and engaged in outcome measurement as well as continuous program improvement.

Focus Areas

In 2008, United Way Worldwide announced the following goals for the United States:

• Improve education and cut the number of high school dropouts – 1.2 million students every year – in half.
• Help people achieve financial stability and get 1.9 million working families – half the number of lower-income families who are financially unstable – on the road to economic independence.
• Promote healthy lives and increase by one-third the number of youth and adults who are healthy and avoid risky behaviors.

In keeping with these broad national goals (but based on local community input), the UWOLC has identified the following areas of focus and funding preferences:

• Health
  • Focus: To improve people’s health, with a focus on programs that help the community and its members:
    • Achieve and maintain healthy lifestyles for adults and children
    • Support older adults and adults diagnosed with mental illness
• Education
  • Focus: To help children and youth achieve their potential, with a focus on programs that help the community and its members:
    • Enter kindergarten ready to learn
    • Read at grade level by the fourth grade
    • Earn a high school (or equivalent) degree
• Income/Financial Stability
  • Focus: To promote financial stability and independence, with a focus on programs that help the community and its members:
    • Attain family-sustaining employment
    • Create affordable housing opportunities
    • Manage expenses and build savings
• Basic Needs
  • Focus: To meet the community’s basic needs, with a focus on programs that ensure that community members have:
    • Sufficient food
    • Adequate shelter
    • Disaster/emergency relief services.

Grant Period

• Funded programs will be conducted between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024.

Eligibility Criteria

• The UWOLC funds programs that improve health, advance education, promote financial stability, and meet basic needs for Lafayette County residents. Specifically, the UWOLC funds programs that are aligned with the focus areas and funding preferences above.
• The UWOLC funds programs run by 501(c) (3) organizations. Exceptions to this requirement may be made for other nonprofit or public entities (e.g., libraries, schools, and universities) in the event a non-501(c) (3) runs a program that aligns with a UWOLC focus area or funding preference. For-profit businesses are ineligible even if they run programs aligned with UWOLC focus areas or funding preferences.
• The UWOLC Board of Directors has adopted a Diversity and Inclusion Statement of Principle and an Antiracism/Ethnic Discrimination Statement. The UWOLC accepts applications from and funds programs for which eligibility is determined in ways that reflect the aforementioned statements.
• All organizations that receive UWOLC funding—whether community funds or designated funds—are required according to United Way Worldwide guidelines to complete an Anti-Terrorism Certification. The UWOLC will also run all organizations that receive UWOLC funding against the Anti-Terrorism Watch List.

For more information, visit UWOLC.