United Way Takes on More

Homelessness, Mental Health Become Priorities

By Valerie Vinyard

The United Way tried to make life better for more than 48 million people worldwide last year, nearly a half million of those in Southern Arizona. With its long history of tackling society’s most difficult issues, the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona is expanding its efforts to tackle two of the toughest – homelessness and mental health.

The international organization, which was founded in 1887 in Denver and is engaged in more than 1,100 communities in 37 countries and territories, boasts a tall mission: “Building a thriving community by uniting people, ideas and resources.”

It wasn’t until 1922 when the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona started as the Tucson Community Chest and ran its first annual campaign that December. 

Melissa D’Auria, VP and chief advancement officer for United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, expanded on her organization’s mission.

“I think we all know and understand the issues facing our region are complex,” she said. “We can’t solve major issues like homelessness and educational attainment with one solution for one area of town. We need the county, the city, nonprofits, school systems and community members all working together to change things at the root. 

“We break down silos, bring funding in from outside the region and create pathways for local donors to establish data-driven strategies that impact this generation and the next. That’s what United Way does.” 

Recently, the organization identified and started addressing two new issues: homelessness and mental health. United Way focuses its work on four pillars – educational success, financial wellness, healthy living, and housing stability and homelessness.

D’Auria noted that while the United Way has offered existing programs in homelessness and mental health in the past, the two issues haven’t been a part of its core strategic imperatives.

“Our United Way hasn’t ventured into these new areas before,” she said. “The community responded and wanted their United Way to focus on these critical issues affecting our community.”

United Way is already making an impact. D’Auria said more than 3,000 individuals and families have been provided with emergency support services and more than 18,000 older adults have been provided with supportive services to remain and age at home. 

This short-term help can be a life- saver. D’Auria pointed out that the majority of Arizona households who fall behind on rent only need one to two months of income to catch up. Short-term, intensive assistance is often enough to help them get back on their feet and start re-building stability.

She added that $50 million has been advocated for federal funding to create three new housing developments for 55-and-older populations.  

United Way also has made forays into protecting Southern Arizona residents from eviction. Through a partnership with the Siemer Institute, United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona is supporting four local organizations to offer eviction prevention resources such as housing case management and financial education and coaching for families.

D’Auria said that in 2022, the United Way’s eviction prevention efforts supported 116 families, which included 266 children. She said that all of the families engaged avoided a move that would have disrupted their children’s health or education.  

“United Way of Tucson belongs to this community,” said Tony Penn, United Way’s president and CEO. “We work at the pleasure of our stakeholders, beneficiaries and partners. We heard loud and clear that mental health and affordable housing need United Way’s strategic advantage. We’re primed to take a collaborative approach to increase our impact in these areas.

“There’s never been a better time to invest in these issues that are clearly visible every day.”

Another success has been the Cradle to Career Partnership, which started in Tucson in 2015. It is one of 80 chapters nationwide but the only one in Arizona.

Cradle to Career is a results-focused collaborative committed to ensuring that youth in Pima County have access to opportunities to succeed in school and life. Three goals define the work of its partnership: Thriving Futures, Empowering STEM Innovators and Leaders in Literacy.

Melissa Hernandez, associate VP of Cradle to Career Partnership, calls the program a “premiere educational initiative” and said there’s a readiness for this that they haven’t seen before.

“I think there is an acknowledgement in our community that we want better for all of us. Our community is ready for change,” Hernandez said. “We really are bringing partners across various sectors to address generational poverty.” 

As part of this, United Way offers monthly workforce readiness workshops to 16- to 24-year-olds known as “opportunity youth,” meaning they’re often not working or going to school.

That also includes Leaders in Literacy work, which helps Pima County teachers improve their skills.

“It helps teachers become master teachers, which helps teachers stay teaching,” said D’Auria, who noted that a significant percentage of K-8 teachers leave the field in less than five years.

“Our Cradle to Career Partnership is receiving national attention for their collaborative and innovative work impacting Pima County’s educational system,” Penn said. “This exciting work is reaching teachers, students, parents and administrators like never before. This designation is an honor and tells our community that the status quo is no more – we’re making moves that are already impacting the future of this region.” 

In order to do all of this good, the United Way must garner enough funds.

“More than one-third of our funding comes from grants – an incredible resource, but they can be unpredictable,” D’Auria said. “We need donors and corporations to understand that investments to United Way of Tucson stay here, help real people and ultimately bolster the economy.”  

D’Auria noted that 83 cents of every dollar donated to United Way goes back into the Tucson and Southern Arizona community. 

She said that the United Way is putting anywhere between $10 million and $24 million back into our economy annually. These funds support dozens of programs, multiple counties and hundreds of thousands of people.  

“United Way can be hard to understand and hard to talk about because of the vast and complex nature of this social service model,” D’Auria said. “What we want the community to know is we’ve been filling in the gaps and supporting Tucson and Southern Arizona for more than 100 years. Without this United Way, our donors, stakeholders and supporters, Southern Arizona would look very different.”