Community Investments and Partnerships

 

United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County holds a vision of a united and resilient community where everyone belongs and everyone thrives. To help achieve this vision, we mobilize and support a robust network of people, partners, and resources to co-create opportunities for every person in our community to live free from poverty and injustice. We believe that all of our work is integral toward achieving this focus and that the financial investments we make through our Community Partnerships are a critical part of that strategy.

 

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Hubs of Service Contracts with Community Partners

These contracts seek to:

  • Work in tandem with community partners to increase mental health counseling services to students in Community Schools through individual and group counseling opportunities (Access Family Services)
  • Increase parent engagement and leadership opportunities within Community Schools, both virtually and in-person as able during COVID (Asheville City Schools Foundation, Enka Middle Coeur Conscious Counseling)
  • Provide Restorative Practices Training to Community Schools and Community Partners (Center for Relational Practices)
  • Provide small in-person learning pods to support middle school students with virtual learning (Asheville City Schools, YMCA, Land of the Sky UCC)
  • Provide high-quality after-school programming for all Asheville City Schools middle school students (Asheville City Schools Foundation)
  • School-based Health Clinics 

Competitive Grants

31 nonprofit organizations currently receive core operating support for their efforts to improve the education, health and financial stability of community members throughout Buncombe County. 

Advocacy

In order to address policies that impact the education, health and financial stability of our neighbors, and directly address issues related to poverty, we support the work of Children First/Communities In Schools' Success Equation through an ongoing contract and provide staff representation on their leadership team. From time to time, we share their advocacy agenda and calls to action on our website and social channels. We encourage you to sign up for their Advocacy Alert Newsletter to stay better connected in how you can get involved in efforts to support early childhood development and family economic stability.

Non-Profit Capacity Support

WNC Nonprofit Pathways -- WNC Nonprofit Pathways is a collaborative of the funding organizations Cherokee Preservation Foundation, The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, and United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County. These funders came together recognizing that nonprofits must operate from a place of organizational strength in order to carry out their missions effectively.

** A full list of partners supported through grants and contracts can be found here. 

Why Invest with United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County

For almost 100 years, United Way of Asheville and Buncombe County has financially invested in the education, health and financial stability of our community by making grants to high impact nonprofit organizations that serve a wide range of people across our county. In recent years, we’ve broadened our investment tools to include short and long term contracts that allow us to tailor and anchor needed services around specific issues or in specific communities, using middle schools as a hub for these services.

We believe that our investment tools, coupled with our Community School work, our NC 2-1-1 call center's ability to connect people to the health and human resources they need during a crisis, and our volunteer center's ability to mobilize people to take action, provide the powerful combination of resources we need to tackle critical issues here in Asheville and Buncombe County.

Make a donation to support this vital work in our community today.