1943 - 2023

On February 11^th, we celebrated our 80^th Anniversary and were honored by the City of Tallahassee and Leon County Government with Proclamations in recognition of our 80^th Anniversary. We’re honored to have served our community for 80 years and look forward to many more years of improving the lives of our neighbors who need it most.

Changing a child's future

Our Reading and Math Pals programs saw many great returns on our mentors' investments in their time spent with students. In ReadingPals, seventeen schools participated with one-hundred and ten students receiving reading support provided by ninety-seven mentors. Together, 83% of the students who participated in the program achieved reading level gains. In MathPals, three schools participated with eight mentors providing math support to eight students. This academic year, we are on track to match and even exceed these numbers thanks in large part to our volunteer mentors and partnership with Leon County Schools.

We had a terrific tax season thanks to our dedicated VITA volunteers who participate in our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance initiative which provides income tax return preparation and filing assistance. This year, we had ten sites in Leon County and four in our surrounding counties; thirty-two volunteers, eleven weeks of service, 1,910 tax returns completed, saved $382,000 dollars in tax preparation fees, and gave back $2,314,372 dollars in refunds back into our community because of our VITA program.

United Way of the Big Bend and its affinity group, Women United, welcomed the return of the Power of the Purse event on Thursday, February 9^th at The Space at Feather Oaks. In 2006, United Way of the Big Bend Campaign Chair, Susie Busch-Transou, had an idea to honor the vital role women in our community play and to provide an opportunity for women to participate fully as active philanthropists. Through education, leadership, and mentorship, the Power of the Purse was brought to Tallahassee to provide women of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to invest their time, talents and treasures. Fast forward to 2023, and Power of the Purse once again inspired women in our community to educate and empower to improve the quality of life in the Big Bend through leadership giving, advocacy, and volunteerism. Under the moonlit evening sky, guests enjoyed the laughter, food, live music, and inspiring conversations that happen when women come together for a great cause.

Over thirteen businesses sponsored this year’s event including the presenting sponsor, Capital City Bank. Signature Sponsors included: Smith, Thompson, Shaw, Colon and Power, P.A.’s, Simply Entertaining by Jeri, and Bryan Desloge. Gold sponsors included: Millcreek Financial Consultants, Childers Construction, McNeill Peanut Company, Haute Headz Salon, Kalo Companies: Jersey Mike’s and Slim Chickens, Sachs Media and The Campo Family. Live music with Colleen McCarron Nixon was sponsored by The Naumann Group; and In-Kind Sponsors were The HUB at Feather Oaks and Midtown Reader.

“Power of the Purse is such a fun event that provides the opportunity to meet new friends and to meet people who have the desire to make our community even better by supporting United Way and Women United” said Sara Noel Proctor, Women United Power of the Purse Chair.

Join your friends in 2024 for another unforgettable evening of food, laughter, live music and raffling for a good cause! The event will be in March. Look for details and sponsorship information arriving to your inbox soon.                     

In 2023, we had the joy of having ReadUNITED weeks in both the Spring and the Fall. During the week of February 27^th through March 3^rd, volunteers read in fourteen elementary schools to first grade classrooms. In the Fall edition, ReadUNITED came to pre-kindergarten children at four Kids’ Incorporated locations in Leon, Madison, and Jefferson counties where our twenty-three volunteers shared their joy of reading to the cutest and most enthusiastic soon-to-be readers. 

In 2024, we will happily bring ReadUNITED to our community during the week of March 4^th- 8^th.

For twenty-five years, golf enthusiasts & supporters of United Way of the Big Bend have gathered for the shotgun start of the Annual Community Golf Classic. What began in 1998 as the United Way Celebrity Golf Classic, the tournament has continued the tradition of challenging players to a round of golf while raising much needed funds for crushing poverty and helping those at the edge of poverty. The battle on the golf course provides support to those in our community battling to make ends meet; and while the courses have changed over the years, the mission of the tournament has steadfastly remained the same --- supporting initiatives of United Way of the Big Bend and their seventy-nine funded community programs.

Accompanying the competition on the greens, United Way of the Big Bend with the help of their sponsors provided exciting raffle items allowing everyone to share in the winning no matter their golf handicap. 

This year, the 25^th Annual Community Golf Classic successfully played out on Friday, April 28^th at the Southwood Golf Club.

“Our community’s support impacts the work we do every day – helping our neighbors living in poverty or at the edge of poverty.  In this our 80^th Anniversary year of the founding of United Way of the Big Bend, we look forward to making an even greater impact in our community through examples of providing funds for rental assistance in Housing; childcare tuition assistance in Early Learning; Health & Mental Health and Skills Development services, and providing for essential needs,” said Berneice Cox, President & CEO. 

In 2024, we will host our 26^th Annual United Way of the Big Bend Community Golf Classic at Southwood Golf Club on Friday, April 26, 2024. Hope to see everyone on the greens!

Education Celebration – May 18^th

Celebrating the educators, mentors, and volunteers who participate in United Way of the Big Bend’s education initiatives: ReadingPals, MathPals, Read UNITED, and 21^st Century After-School programs, participants and supporters gathered on June 2nd to celebrate the outcomes that United Way of the Big Bend’s education programs are having on our youngest students in the Big Bend. 

The goal of United Way of the Big Bend (UWBB) is to support the success of families, individuals, and a thriving community by consistently seeking to improve lives in measurable ways and making our community a better place to live, work, and play. Through their ReadingPals and MathPals programs, they are helping elementary aged students in the Big Bend know that there is someone who cares about them and their success. For ten years, ReadingPals’ mentors have been playing an important role in providing emotional support while helping students improve their skills. One hundred and four students and one hundred volunteers participated in the ReadingPals and MathPals programs offered at Title I Schools during this recent school year and contributed to improved literacy star assessments given throughout the school year seeing an eighty-four percent improvement in young participants’ scores.

“We appreciate all of the volunteers and mentors who share their time and talents with our students and are so appreciative of our tremendous partnership with the United Way of the Big Bend that spans over a decade. During that time, the Reading Pals program has proven to increase reading skills levels and literacy assessment scores. We love hearing from students how much they appreciate their ReadingPals’ mentors and how much the relationships developed over the course of the school year mean to them,” said Rocky Hanna, Superintendent of Leon County Schools.

In addition to ReadingPals and MathPals, Read UNITED, an annual week-long reading event now in its twelfth year, provides an opportunity for volunteers to share their joy of reading in classrooms throughout the region encouraging a love of reading in students and providing a resource to jump start young readers on a lifelong journey of reading.



^{2023-2025 Allocations for 79 programs}

On June 29^th, The United Way of the Big Bend (UWBB) board approved $1.38 million to fund community programs in Leon County and seven neighboring counties, to help those with the greatest needs, stabilize those in the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population, and reduce the root causes of poverty. The awards are funding seventy-nine priority programs in Leon County and the seven neighboring counties of Gadsden, Jefferson, Wakulla, Madison, Taylor, Liberty, and Franklin.

Our collective impact on families, children, and seniors in this region totals more than $3.7 million. The programs receiving funding address the United Way of the Big Bend’s priorities of housing, early learning, safety net, health and mental health, and skills development. In addition, they focus on those living in poverty and the ALICE population to help stabilize families on the edge of poverty.

UWBB received funding requests from regional non-profits totaling more than $4.3 million, demonstrating the need for additional financial support for area programs.

Programs being funded assist the homeless, low-income seniors, children and families, those who are food-insecure or at risk, and those looking to improve skills to enhance self-sufficiency.  It also includes funding for programs addressing health and mental health.

The allocations funding process took place over eight months, and volunteers donated 920 hours of time to this process of financial review, performance evaluation, allocations and impacts, and strategic transformation.

Our Board of Directors Community Impact Committee members alone donated 397 hours attending training, reviewing letters of intent financial review results from 49 agencies, reviewing 41 program applications, and participating in the deliberation process.

Each program submitted was reviewed for financial solvency, program metrics, alignment with UWBB priorities and the organization’s capacity to provide the services, followed by a review by the Neighboring Counties Allocation Teams and Community Impact Committee. The final recommendations were presented to the UWBB Board of Directors on June 29, 2023. The new fiscal year began July 1^st and the funded agencies began receiving allocations in July.

Disaster Relief – August Forward

Even before the magnitude of Hurricane Idalia was felt in our Big Bend region, United Way of the Big Bend sent out a call for help through the creation of a Disaster Relief Fund and a Disaster Relief Supply Drive. Realizing that the immediate short term, storm-related needs, and the longer-term recovery would be monumental for their neighbors in at least three of the eight-county footprint in which they serve, they didn’t wait to extend a helping hand.

Just mere hours after the storm made landfall, United Way of the Big Bend helped the helpers by delivering meals to vital first responders at the Emergency Operations Center in Taylor County. They partnered with Publix Super Market Charities to deliver much needed water, sports drinks, and nutritious snacks to residents as the needs were being assessed, and quickly pivoted to providing cleaning supplies, and food items to meet their immediate needs. In the days that followed, UWBB provided $20,000 to their program partner, Second Harvest of the Big Bend, for food, and $10,000 to the American Red Cross for hotel vouchers. Florida Blue and Capital Health Plan donated significant quantities of supplies including pallets of water, cleaning & hygiene supplies, and paper towels which United Way quickly dispersed to organizations in Taylor, Jefferson, and Madison counties.

Fast forward through the three months which have followed since the storm’s landfall, and deliveries of supplies and hundreds of meals have been made to residents and organizations in Taylor, Jefferson, and Madison Counties, including last week in partnership with Second Harvest of the Big Bend where one-thousand turkeys were distributed to those affected by the hurricane and subsequent closure of the largest employer in Taylor County.

“When a category 4 storm pummels our neighbors as Hurricane Idalia did, you don’t have to wait for reports of damage to know that lives will be impacted. United Way of the Big Bend acted quickly to get boots on the ground when it was safe to do so. In the days before the storm, as the path became more defined, we knew our neighbors would be dealt a blow, and that we were prepared to help,” said President & CEO, Berneice Cox. “Having our team in Taylor County has allowed us to be there every step of this recovery process, and to fill in where gaps may otherwise have been.”

As they continue to assess the long-term needs, additional funds will be distributed. If you would like to contribute, donations to the United Way of the Big Bend Disaster Relief Fund are being used to serve neighbors in the hardest hit areas of the eight counties in which they serve. To donate to the United Way of the Big Bend Disaster Relief Fund, follow this link: igfn.us/form/OSfK-g or text RELIEF2023 to 41444.

^{Originally scheduled for Tuesday, August 29th, we quickly pivoted when the path of Hurricane Idalia revealed its path directly into our area to give our friends and families time to prepare ahead of the storm. We appreciate everyone who attended the rescheduled event and look forward to a great event in August of 2024.}

The SMILE UNITED program resumed this year on September 11^th, and over the past few months, over 250 children have participated in the SMILE program. Each participating child receives a dental exam, cleaning, sealants, and a referral, if needed. Over the course of this year, Kindergarten and 2^nd grade children in all Title I schools will have the opportunity to receive a dental exam a part of our SMILE UNITED program.

United Way of the Big Bend embarked on a major initiative to help drive a strategic vision for affordable housing in the Big Bend with the kickoff of the first in a series of four community forums. On Tuesday, October 17^th, we hosted the ALICE Housing Forum in which a two-part panel conversation with housing experts led the discussion.

Panelists included Anne Ray, Manager of the Florida Housing Data Clearinghouse at the University of Florida’s Shimberg Center for Housing Studies; Zachary Summerlin, Policy Director at the Florida Housing Finance Corporation; Commissioner Curtis Richardson, City of Tallahassee City Commission; Tawana Thompson, Director of Development & Administrative Support at the Tallahassee Housing Authority; Commissioner Nick Maddox, Leon County Commission and CEO of Family Promise of the Big Bend, Bill Enright with Coldwell Banker Hartung, and was moderated by United Way of the Big Bend President and CEO, Berneice Cox, and Liza McFadden, Liza and Partners. 

ALICE is the acronym for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed – simply put: the working poor. On average, 54% of households in the Big Bend region cannot afford the basic costs of living. The United Way of the Big Bend’s strategic plan has five outcome areas to assist families – and access to affordable housing is one of the key outcome areas.  In collaboration with Family Promise of the Big Bend, we will begin a community conversation to create a 15-year strategic plan to work on affordable housing.

Local Panel

Berneice Cox

Statewide Panel

^{Thank you, UWBB Volunteers!}

And through it all, we couldn’t do it without the help and support of our volunteers. 2023 saw the addition of our new friends at Amazon who volunteered sorting disaster relief supplies, placing stickers, and sorting books for our ReadingPals program. Our friends with Ernst & Young created greeting cards for Elder Care Services and helped at the Elder Day Stay music therapy class. Our Emerging Leaders are currently hosting an on-going Comfort & Joy Drive collecting cold weather essentials, and Middle School students at Trinity Catholic School regularly visited our office to help with our ReadingPals, and disaster relief.

We are grateful for all of our volunteers who contribute their time and enthusiasm to our programs. Thank you! 

It's a great day at UWBB when the Amazon team comes to help! Today, Amazon volunteers assembled 100 snack bags heading to the Boys & Girls Club in Perry, FL, & sorted Disaster Relief Supplies collected through our Supply Drive heading to Taylor, Madison & Jefferson Counties soon....Thank you, Amazon Team! You've made our day!

We loved having our Ernst & Young (EY) friends visit us on Friday bringing their smiles & enthusiasm to a music therapy class at Elder Day Stay (a program of our funded program partner Elder Care Services, Inc. ) & we love the joy they shared with our elderly neighbors.

Thank you, EY!

COMING IN JANUARY 2024