As new Hunger-Free King County AmeriCorps VISTAs at United Way, Nora and I wanted to engage with some of UWKC’s anti-hunger community partners and see what’s happening on the ground. So this past Saturday we ventured out to the Rainier Beach Urban Farm and Wetlands (formerly the Atlantic City Nursery) for the groundbreaking ceremony and the Community Farm Festival, hosted by the Friends of Atlantic City Nursery and Seattle Tilth. We had previously visited the farm for a meeting with the Rainier…

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY: The SOC Funding Committee is a sub-committee of the Strengthening Our Community Impact Council made up of a diverse group of community volunteers and human service professionals for the purpose of evaluating funding applications and making allocation recommendations to the Strengthening Our Community Council.

If you have time for a short-term volunteer commitment (December 2011 – March 2012), or know someone who does please contact NaKeesa Frazier at nfrazier@uwkc.org for more details!

Did you know that thousands of people visit food banks in King County every single day just to get by? By the end of 2010 they were
visited over 200,000 times each month. We can all do our part to make sure our food banks are fully stocked to meet this increased demand. The
more who get involved, the better, which is why we have added a Food Drive to the Day of Caring on September 16th which has signed up 11,000 volunteers to participate! We ask, in addition to graciously volunteering time and resources, that people also spare a bit of non-perishable food for those in need.

United Way of King County is launching a new effort to increase the economic stability of 1,600 members of the immigrant and refugee community. Six local service providers were selected though a highly competitive process to provide employment and job training services to immigrants and refugees living in King County. United Way is investing $454,000 in this effort in each of the two next years.

Earlier this week, our Public Policy department decided to reach out to community members involved in our Volunteer Reader Program. Via e-mail, we asked volunteers to do more to help support early learning in our state.

 Volunteers were asked to sign on to a letter thanking our King County Legislature for its outstanding bipartisan effort to support early learning in Washington. We were very excited when enthusiastic and highly positive responses came flying in. In all, a total of 35 Volunteer…

This blog was prepared by Nick Federici, contract lobbyist for United Way of King County.

The 2011 Legislative Session was the most challenging I’ve experienced in my 18 years working in Olympia, resulting in 135 intense days of Regular and Special Sessions, due to the combination of many factors: 

Budgetary Circumstances

The Great Recession’s impact on the economic growth of Washington, as with the rest of the nation, has taken the same kind of toll on the state’s budget as well.  The 2010 Legislature cut…

Are you a leader of volunteer engagement (AKA volunteer program manager/ coordinator) in your organization?  Are you looking to connect with your peers?  Then mark you calendar for June 22^nd and join VAN for a day of peer networking and learning at the Annual Conference for volunteer administration professionals.

The primary objective of the conference is to support and promote a powerful community of volunteer administration professionals, support best practice in the field, and enhance the vitality of the volunteer sector.

As a volunteer administrative…

May is Get Caught Reading month!  This is a nationwide campaign by the Association of American Publishers to encourage people of all ages to read and realize how fun it can be!  In honor of Get Caught Reading Month, United Way of King County’s Volunteer Reader Program would like to encourage you to Get Caught Reading to a Child!  Many people may be aware that children who do well in kindergarten tend to be successful throughout their school careers however children who are unprepared typically…

Wednesday’s Project LEAD Graduation and Agency Fair was a great outreach opportunity for our Volunteer Reader Program, which is working to increase the diversity of its cohort of Readers.  Project LEAD—Leadership Effectiveness and Diversity– is United Way of King County’s leadership training program that prepares highly qualified people of color to become knowledgeable, responsive and strong civic leaders.  In addition to Project LEAD graduates who may be interested in the program, we extend an invitation to all potential volunteers, with a special appeal to people…

Earlier today United Way of King County staff joined more than 400 community members at the WithinReach Marking Connections for Health Luncheon. The Luncheon highlighted the work WithinReach is doing to support Hope and Health for families throughout Washington State. WithinReach is connects more than 200,000 families to food and health resources, through toll-free hotlines, ParentHelp123.org and statewide health coalitions