The sun is shining bright in Seattle and we’re gearing up for summer.  As we start daydreaming about backyard barbecues and trips to the beach, the United Way team is hard at work building our effort to fight summer hunger.

One in five kids is at risk of hunger in our community.  The number of Latino and African American children struggling with hunger  is even higher. In King County there are 99,000 kids who take part in the free and reduced-price lunch program for low-income families. …

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This was prepared by Amnon Shoenfeld, Director of King County Mental Health, Chemical Abuse and Dependency Services Division, DCHS

The House, Senate and Governor’s budgets all book savings from Medicaid expansion based upon numbers of new people enrolled in Medicaid and savings to the system resulting from integration of medical, mental health, prevention services resulting in less costly outpatient visits.  These savings assumptions, however, may prove inaccurate for several reasons.

Mental Health

The Governor’s budget and the House and Senate budgets assume that the…

Welcome to day two of Hunger Action Week!

Yesterday, we stated that food insecurity is a widespread, national problem. However, we also stated that inability to access healthy and nutritious food is a symptom of bigger socioeconomic factors, which affect thousands of American neighborhoods. Okay, but what does hunger look like in my neighborhood, and what am I supposed to do about it? I am so glad you asked.

The Communities Count website does a pretty good job of demonstrating food insecurity across…

Great news! Hunger Action Week is next week, March 25-30. The truth is, 1 in 5 kids in King County is at risk for hunger. United Way of King County is giving everyone the perfect chance to shine a spotlight on this issue and do what you can to spread awareness.
This is how I plan to spend Hunger Action Week:

Monday: Post on my Facebook facts on local hunger with this link, www.uwkc.org/hunger, and encourage all of my friends to “sign up”…

I have a confession……I love AmeriCorps. Like traveling in Barcelona, sipping red wine, and watching West Wing, AmeriCorps is a passion, a hobby, and something I treasure. Over the last decade I’ve served as in AmeriCorps, mentored dozens of National Service members, watched Alums grow into community leaders, and been dazzled by the impact this program has on our community. Nationally, 75,000 AmeriCorps members will serve at 15,000 locations and mobilize 4 million volunteers. Right here is WA more than 13,000 are strengthening our schools, non profits, and faith based organizations AmeriCorps is high impact, high quality, and high return on investment.

AmeriCorps transformed my life. As a college graduate, I lacked a clear vision of the contribution I wanted to make to my community. I joined AmeriCorps, also known as the domestic Peace Corps, and spent two years tutoring and mentoring students in Federal Way. Engaging with Federal Way’s Latino community inspired me to spend a subsequent year as a volunteer English teacher in Chile and solidified my career path in public service. Today, service remains a central part of my professional and personal…

Mark your calendars for Financial Fitness Day on Saturday, March 9, 2013, at the Rainier Community Center! Don’t miss this unique event that offers one-on-one help for many financial issues all in one location—brought to you by the City of Seattle and the Seattle-King County Asset Building Collaborative, with the support of United Way.

People who attend Financial Fitness Day will receive help filing their tax returns with United Way’s Free Tax Campaign volunteers, plus assistance with getting free credit reports; opening bank accounts;…

Positives aside, the numbers are alarming. 50 million Americans, including 1 in 4 kids, are at risk of hunger. 53 percent of babies born in the US rely on the WIC program. It doesn’t take 800 anti-hunger advocates and thought leaders to tell you why……it’s about education, jobs, income inequality, and poverty. This national travesty will not be solved until we the people stand up, step out and don’t retreat. The challenge ahead is how we organize our work, leverage resources, and build our movement to feed hungry families today while aggressively advocating for the policies needed to tackle these HUGE social and economic issues.

Last week leaders from across the country came to Seattle for the National Conference on Ending Family & Youth Homelessness.
Throughout the presentations, workshops and networking events one thing became clear to me…. our field is getting smarter about what it takes to end homelessness. We have data, tools, policies and partnerships that we didn’t have when most Ten Year Plans were developed. These new tools are the catalyst for moving the needle on family and youth homelessness. To be successful we must push harder than ever before, become more accountable for results and make big changes in the way we do business.