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Author: Gilbert Venegas

A Message From Our CEO: We’re Celebrating Our 100th Year of Impact

Written by Gilbert Venegas on . Posted in Impact Stories.

A MESSAGE
FROM OUR CEO

We’re Celebrating Our 100th Year of Impact

As we enter 2025, we celebrate a century of extraordinary impact at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas—a legacy built on the unwavering belief that together, we can transform lives and communities.

For 100 years, we have united change-makers, tackled our region’s toughest challenges and driven progress in education, income and health. Now, as we honor this milestone and launch into our second century, we are fueled by a renewed sense of purpose and possibility, knowing the work we do today will shape the future of North Texas for generations to come.

Being United for Dallas has been our calling for 100 years, and with your continued support, our future shines bright. Reflecting on the past year, I am deeply thankful for how far we’ve come together. Your generous support has enabled us to make incredible progress toward our Aspire United 2030 goals, our ambitious vision for driving impact in the areas of education, income and health in our region.

Driving Real Progress

In the past fiscal year, the Live United movement positively impacted more than 1.7 million North Texans across Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and southern Denton counties, fostering generational change that is shaping our community’s future. Together, we’ve seen more students graduate high school ready to succeed, more workers achieve financial stability and more families access the health resources needed to thrive.

Our unique approach to community impact work centers on data-driven decisions. We set and track quantifiable 10-year goals, and leverage third party evaluation, to ensure we’re driving meaningful change.

And together we’ve achieved significant progress toward our Aspire United 2030 goals:

  • In education, our goal is to increase by 50% the number of students reading on grade level by third grade. Recent data shows that local third-grade reading proficiency has jumped more than 15%.

  • In income, our goal is to increase by 20% the number of young adults earning a living wage. The percentage of young adults earning a living wage rose around 2%, putting us on track to meet this goal.

  • In health, our goal is to increase to 96% the number of North Texans with access to affordable health insurance. While the coverage rate currently stands at 83%, we are doubling down on initiatives to close this gap and promote equitable access to care.
  • With your continued support, these bold goals are within reach.

A Momentous Year of Impact

Thanks to unwavering support from corporate, foundation and community partners—along with change-seekers like YOU—we achieved significant milestones. Highlights from 2024 include:

  • Volunteer Initiatives
    The Aspire United Volunteer Series, presented by Texas Instruments, kicked off with Reading Day, presented by Atmos Energy, an event featuring nearly 1,200 volunteers, including honorary chair Mrs. Laura Bush, who inspired a love of reading in more than 20,000 students.
  • Food Access
    Our Food Access Summit, supported by Bank of America, brought our community together to tackle food security issues.
  • STEM Engagement
    Our two-day STEM Fest, presented by Texas Instruments, sparked curiosity in over 1,000 students, showcasing hands-on science, technology, engineering and math experiences.
  • Workforce Development
    The Collective Work Readiness Impact Initiative at Redbird, supported by Arcosa, expanded workforce opportunities in Southern Dallas, furthering our commitment to equitable growth.
  • Health Resources
    Our Food & Health Resources Fair, presented by PepsiCo, provided thousands with essential health and wellness resources.
  • Advocacy
    To prepare for the upcoming Texas legislative session, our team hosted Keeping it 100, a special Advocacy Day Kickoff Legislative Lunch & Learn, sponsored by Haynes and Boone, LLP.





For a full look at the incredible progress we’ve made together, I invite you to explore our 2023-2024 Impact Report. It is a powerful testament to the life-changing work we’ve accomplished together this past year. Every page tells stories of impact and transformation in our region. And this is just the beginning of our next bold chapter.

Celebrating 100 Years of Impact

We began our Centennial year in October with an inspiring kickoff event presented by AT&T and held at the AT&T Discovery District in Downtown Dallas, where we were joined by an all-star line-up of supporters and partners who are working together to ensure every North Texan has the access and opportunity to thrive. During the event, PepsiCo Foods North America CEO Steven Williams took the reins as chairman of our 100th Annual Campaign. We were also honored to be joined by Curt Famer, our 99th Annual Campaign chair and the chairman, president and CEO of Comerica Inc. and Comerica Bank; Antonio Carrillo, United Way Board chair and president and CEO of Arcosa; and Jim Burke, our 101th Annual Campaign chair and president and CEO of Vistra.

The celebration also marked the launch of our Century Project, which expands our use of hyper-local data and insights on education, income and health to develop innovative solutions for our community. The United Way Data Capacity Building Initiative—a new partnership with PCCI (Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation)—will have a multiplier effect on United Way and partner programs, driving measurable progress toward the Aspire United 2030 goals. By precisely pinpointing the most pressing needs down to the neighborhood level, we’ll ensure every dollar invested creates maximum impact where it matters most.

Mary McDermott Cook, Mary Templeton, Jennifer Sampson, Terri Cook at Tocqueville luncheon

Expanding the Live United Movement

Your support fuels our work, and this year, we earned transformative investments from key partners, including:

  • $5 million gifts from both The Eugene McDermott Foundation and longtime supporters Tom and Karen Falk. 

  • $1 million investments from Arcosa, Bank of America, Boston Consulting Group, Celanese, Comerica and Vistra Energy.

  • A generous grant from Microsoft to develop a virtual workforce training platform.

Meanwhile, we continued to drive progress toward our $20 million fundraising goal for the new Southern Dallas Thrives Fund, funded in large part by current and former PepsiCo employees.

These contributions and many more underscore our proven ability to deliver measurable change, as we forge ahead into our next century.

Join Us for an Unprecedented Historic Centennial Year

As we celebrate our once-in-a-century milestone, I invite you to join the movement shaping the future of North Texas. In 2025, our Centennial Anniversary will be an extraordinary year of impact, featuring 12 months of special events, volunteer opportunities, inspiring speakers and unforgettable experiences. This historic celebration will culminate with our Centennial Celebration, a landmark event bringing together the entire Live United movement to honor our collective impact as we launch our second century campaign—a vital fundraising effort to support transformative initiatives in education, income and health for the next 100 years.

This year, I encourage you to harness the energy of our Centennial to deepen your impact. By making an investment, joining a Giving Society, volunteering your time or advocating alongside us, you amplify our collective efforts and help build a stronger, more equitable community for all.

  • Advocate: Speak up for North Texas by advocating with us during the 2025 legislative session. Sign up for our Advocacy Alerts, or make plans to join us for Texas United Way Day at the Capitol, Feb. 25-27 in Austin.
  • Volunteer: Share the joy of reading with local students on United Way Reading Day, held at schools across North Texas on March 7, or volunteer for our Thriving Communities initiative, featuring impactful projects at local schools, parks and other community spaces. Sign up for updates.
  • Celebrate: Save the date for our unforgettable Centennial Celebration on Nov. 15 at Fair Park—a momentous event uniting change-seekers from across North Texas. Sign up for updates.

Our invitation is simple: Join us and let’s make our big dreams for Dallas come true. This moment is a celebration of our past that is equal only to the promise of our future. And it will take all of us UNITED to write the next chapter of our story.

The Future is Bright For North Texas

As we honor a century of service, we also look to the future with renewed purpose. Thank you for being an essential part of our movement. Over the past century, we have touched countless lives and built a legacy of hope, opportunity and progress. Now, as we celebrate our Centennial, we have an opportunity to transform more lives and create a brighter future for North Texas than ever before.

Together, we can make our community a place where every individual has the chance to thrive, where families flourish and where dreams become realities. Let’s unite our passion, resources and determination to ensure North Texas remains the best place to live, work and raise a family— for everyone.

Here’s to another 100 years of impact. Let’s keep the momentum going!

With gratitude and hope,

Jennifer Sampson
McDermott-Templeton President and CEO
United Way of Metropolitan Dallas

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New Southern Dallas Thrives Fund to Deepen Our Impact in the Southern Sector

Written by Gilbert Venegas on . Posted in News & Updates.

At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, we celebrated Giving Tuesday—an annual day of generosity that is recognized around the globe—by announcing some historic news: the launch of a new Southern Dallas Thrives Fund.  

Supported in part by current and retired PepsiCo Foods North America employees, the fund is designed to address the short- and long-term challenges of our neighbors in the southern sector. Together with PepsiCo, we’ve set an ambitious goal of raising $20 million for the fund—and progress toward that goal is already well underway.

Uniting Around a Common Goal 

The Southern Dallas Thrives Fund may be new, but it’s already poised to make a significant impact. We’ve secured $8 million in commitments toward the $20 million goal—a milestone that PepsiCo hopes to reach by fall 2025, in time for our Centennial anniversary. We chose Giving Tuesday as the day to announce the fund in celebration of the generosity of its corporate, civic and philanthropic partners.  

“These financial commitments are transformational for the Southern Dallas community, and for current and future programs that work to improve education, income and health—the building blocks of opportunity—for residents of this traditionally under-resourced area of our city,” said Jennifer Sampson, McDermott-Templeton President and CEO of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. “As we build the Southern Dallas Thrives endowment fund, we hope this initial generosity serves as a catalyst to inspire others in the community to join us in providing the opportunity and access to thrive for people across North Texas.”

Video Source: Fox 4

Created in partnership with the PepsiCo Foundation and Frito-Lay North America, Southern Dallas Thrives provides vital investment opportunities to the Southern Dallas community to create lasting change and measurable impact. The four key goals of Southern Dallas Thrives are to:  

  • Improve the quality of preschool education 
  • Provide families with nutritious meals 
  • Prepare high school students for college or career 
  • Provide supportive services and workforce development training in high-growth industries to women 

“More than a program, Southern Dallas Thrives is a model partnership and collaboration that advances economic mobility for some of Dallas’ most vulnerable and marginalized residents,” said Steven Williams, chief executive officer of PepsiCo Foods North America and United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Board chair. “We know that in order to create a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, we also have to create the access to thrive, and that’s exactly why Southern Dallas Thrives is so successful and why we endorse and support it wholeheartedly.” 

Other organizations that have already made generous investments in Southern Dallas Thrives include Celanese, Vistra, AT&T, Comerica, Trinity Industries, Oncor, Hilti and Bank of Texas.  

Partners in Change 
Since partnering with the PepsiCo Foundation and Frito-Lay North America to launch Southern Dallas Thrives in 2018, PepsiCo has positioned itself as a leading agent of change in our region, always willing to put boots on the ground at events like its annual Day of Caring and make direct investments during its alumni dinners to improve education, income and health outcomes in the Southern Dallas community.  

In the last year alone, Southern Dallas Thrives programs impacted thousands of our neighbors in Southern Dallas, delivering more than 137,000 meals to families and community organizations, providing over 86,000 hours of childcare service through our childcare assistance initiative, and improving access to digital technology for 4,500 students, teachers and neighbors through our community hubs. 

We are so grateful to PepsiCo’s current and former employees who have committed to supporting the Southern Dallas Thrives Fund—and to those who will pledge their support between now and our Centennial. And thank you to Steven Williams for leading the way on this life-changing fundraising effort, which will benefit generations of residents in Southern Dallas.

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In The News

  • The Dallas Morning News

    PepsiCo plans to raise $20 million for Southern Dallas Thrives Fund by 2025

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  • NBC DFW

    United Way of Metro Dallas announces major fund benefitting Southern Dallas

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  • WFAA

    Midday News

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The Perot Foundation Makes a Historic Investment in the Future of North Texas

Written by Gilbert Venegas on . Posted in News & Updates.

 

United Way of Metropolitan Dallas has received a historic $15 million donation from The Perot Foundation, the largest single investment in the 98-year history of our organization. The donation will enable United Way to accelerate our work with community impact partners to drive measurable progress toward the Aspire United 2030 community goals focused on improving access to education, income and health—the building blocks of opportunity.

“This extraordinary investment will be catalytic for our community, not only for the size of the commitment but equally important for how United Way is structured to leverage it,” said Jennifer Sampson, McDermott-Templeton president and CEO of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. “With carefully researched goals for our region and strategic partners who are deeply invested in achieving them, we are uniquely positioned to create transformative change across our North Texas communities.”

The Perot gift will accelerate impact with 144 community impact partners, which range from long-standing proven impact providers to grassroots organizations bringing bold new strategies to our community’s most pervasive challenges in education, income and health. We selected these community impact partners because of their track record of creating measurable impact toward our Aspire United 2030 community goals.

Achieving these community goals for North Texas will mean more students graduating high school on a path to success in college or career, more families achieving financial stability and more North Texans having the access and resources to live longer, healthier lives.

“United, we can do more,” Sampson said. “With this investment we are harnessing the power of many to directly address systemic barriers and advance racial equity that will change lives for generations to come.”

The United Way model of working together around a shared set of community goals is what fuels the progress toward a North Texas where everyone has the access and opportunity to thrive. Driving systemic, generational change requires a collective approach—because these challenges related to education, income and health are too big for any single organization to solve. But united, we can create lasting, systems-level change that will positively impact individuals and families across North Texas. This investment by The Perot Foundation will add even more energy to our community-wide Live United movement, accelerating progress toward our goals for years to come.

As Carolyn Perot Rathjen, vice president and executive director of The Perot Foundation, explained, the Perot family has supported the mission of United Way for more than 50 years. “This investment is a testament to the meaningful impact United Way and its trusted network of community impact partners create,” she said. “We hope this gift inspires others to join us in advancing United Way’s Aspire United 2030 goals on Giving Tuesday and every day.”