On Monday, the Strengthening Our Community Council had a very informative meeting.  In preparation for our upcoming application review and allocation process, we learned about two key subject areas under our council’s umbrella Youth Development and Older Adults.  These are the only two subject areas that we will have Outcomes open for non-profit agencies to apply for funds under in January 2010.  We had two wonderful panels (one for each subject matter) made up of persons who are leaders in these fields in the King County area.  In Youth Development, we learned about many of the different facets of this area and it gave us things to think about as we prepare to make funding decisions.  Agencies who involve the youth in their own development, encourage and provide ways for the youth to get involved in their community, providing youth with the support from adults that they need and programs who are connected to other specialized services that some youth need (i.e. case management services) among other factors we learned, are ones that are the most successful for the young people that they serve.  For more detailed demographic information in this area, please take a few minutes to look at United Way of King County’s Community Assessment at the following link: http://www.uwkc.org/kcca/impact/YouthFamilies/healthyYouth.asp.

 In the Older Adults arena, we found out about many different demographics in King County including one very key piece of data that projects how many older adults over the age of 60 will live in King County as of 2025.  We also learned about what types of social service agencies serve older adults and their families many needs and how.  Seniors most need services such as prevention of injuries, nutrition and our local community needs to be aware of such things as how the poverty level has increased in our area by 15% for older adults of color and those over the age of 75, adult day care services (which are relied upon for many seniors and their adult children) are not going to be funded in 2010 forcing many older adults to play a much larger role in their own care than before.  Due to the economic downturn, meal programs have seen a dramatic increase.  There is also a detailed demographics section regarding this subject at United Way of King County’s Community Assessment page at the following link: http://www.uwkc.org/kcca/impact/OlderAdults/default.asp.

 We here at United Way of King County encourage you to familiarize yourself with these issues facing the youth and older adults in our local community.  It will be eye-opening for many but please keep in mind that when you give to United Way of King County, we do invest in these two areas to agencies who directly serve those most in need.