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A Year of Hunger Relief in Southern Dallas

Written by United Way of Metropolitan Dallas on . Posted in News & Updates. 9 Comments on A Year of Hunger Relief in Southern Dallas

Access to nutritious meals is a key component of a healthy life. Good health affects all areas of life, impacting everything from how well a student can learn to how much an adult can earn.

At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, we lead a movement to improve and maximize access to education, income and health—the building blocks of opportunity. And food insecurity is an issue that impacts all three of these interconnected areas. That’s why we spearhead and invest in innovative programming and service provisions that support communities and families and address systemic challenges like food insecurity.

Our partnership with Goodr, a hunger relief company, is our latest charge to tackle food access needs within our southern communities. The program has provided vital food resources to thousands of students and families.

 

Food Insecurity Is on the Rise in North Texas

In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit North Texas, local families have faced one challenge after another, including loss of income, scarcity of basic resources and low-quality educational environments for young scholars. Although the worst days of the crisis are likely behind us, 2022 has caught our community by surprise with issues like high food prices and stagnant wages.

Due to inflation, the rising cost of living has had a significant impact on purchasing power for families across North Texas. This reality is even more challenging for families who are already experiencing food insecurity. Food prices have increased an incredible 11.6% since summer 2021. Today, an estimated 800,000 people in North Texas face food insecurity, according to North Texas Food Bank, meaning they lack consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life.

What does food insecurity look like for local families? For many, it means skipping meals, coping with gnawing hunger, choosing between essentials like groceries and medication, or opting for cheaper, less nutritious food just to suffice from day to day.

Food insecurity can have lasting negative impact on children and adults alike, affecting their educational attainment, mental health and financial stability. That’s why the team at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas prioritizes efforts to combat these detrimental factors.

 

Innovative Hunger Relief for Southern Dallas

Our partnership with Goodr, an innovative hunger relief company based in Atlanta, dates back to 2020. Goodr is built on the principle that food insecurity isn’t an issue of scarcity but a matter of logistics. The company leverages technology and logistics to provide meals to people who will benefit the most.

Over the last two years, Goodr and the United Way Southern Dallas Thrives initiative have worked together to mitigate food insecurity hardships in Southern Dallas. In these communities, most large grocery chains have avoided opening stores and, as a result, many residents cannot easily access affordable, fresh foods.

Created in partnership with PepsiCo Foundation and Frito-Lay North America , Southern Dallas Thrives provides vital investment opportunities to the Southern Dallas communities to create lasting change and measurable impact. In the years since its creation, the program has brought together residents, corporations, service providers, educators, funders and civic leaders to continuously identify and assess assets and needs. The initiative enables all of us to work collectively to improve educational outcomes for pre-K to high school students, increase access to nutritious food and provide workforce development support and services.

Southern Dallas Thrives first teamed with Goodr for hunger relief in 2020 as the pandemic heightened food insecurity around the nation. In late 2021, we partnered again, committing to an entire year of hunger relief activations for North Texas communities.

Since then, our partnership has brought the following resources to Southern Dallas communities:

  • Pop-up grocery markets: These events provide families easy access to free food in a store-like setting. Since December 2021, we’ve served at least 1,200 families with a full week’s worth of groceries.
  • Student snack packs: Goodr provides snack packs to local youth to bridge the gap between meals and minimize food insecurity. In August, our back-to-school efforts provided 1,800 snack packs to the United Way Resource Rooms at Lincoln, Madison and South Oak Cliff High Schools to support our educating partners with tangible resources to meet the immediate needs of their students.
  • Free grocery delivery: Goodr enables Southern Dallas Thrives to deliver groceries and meals directly to homes in Southern Dallas communities. During July and August, 200 families received free groceries each week through our partnership with Jubilee Community Center and Cornerstone.

Our food access work has had a positive and meaningful impact on thousands of local families. We plan to continue this work with additional activations during the fall and holiday seasons.

Ashley Douglas, senior director of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Southern Dallas Thrives initiative, emphasizes that “expanding access to healthy food is foundational for the rest of our work in Southern Dallas.”

“Finding innovative ways to address food access-related issues within our Southern Dallas communities is crucial to ensuring that the overall health of Dallas families remains a priority,” she said. “Our partnership with Goodr is creating a direct and meaningful impact in this area of our community, and we’re excited to have the opportunity to expand the program. This type of initiative is especially important today, as our neighbors in Southern Dallas are facing unexpected challenges like higher food and fuel prices and housing instability.”

“Goodr is very proud of the ongoing impact our partnership with Southern Dallas Thrives has created,” Goodr CEO, Jasmine Crowe says. “We look forward to continuing relief efforts in the Southern Dallas community for as long as the need is there.”

 

Together, We Can Reduce Food Insecurity

As North Texans continue to face hardships that stem from inflation, inequitable access to living wage jobs and healthcare, it’s as important as ever to work united to address the most significant challenges faced by our communities. Together, we can ensure that our neighbors have access to nutritious food and support. We envision communities where children and parents don’t have to worry about how they will receive their next meal and can succeed at school and perform in the workplace.

Ready to be part of the change? Click here to support our hunger-prevention work though programs like our Southern Dallas Thrives initiative.

Our 98th Annual Campaign Kickoff

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It’s that time of year, when United Way of Metropolitan Dallas kicks off our Annual Campaign to raise funds and energize the community around our shared mission of improving access to education, income and health in North Texas.

Thursday, Sept. 15 marked the start of our 98th Annual Campaign, and we celebrated this exciting occasion with a special kickoff event at The Fairmont Dallas. It was the first time in three years that we had gathered in person for a campaign kickoff, and this event did not disappoint.

First off, we announced new volunteer leadership, each of whom has a bold vision to drive community impact during their tenure. Our new leadership includes the next three years of our Annual Campaign chairs:

  • Jean Savage, president and CEO of Trinity Industries, is the 2022-2023 Annual Campaign Chair.
  • Curt Farmer, chairman, president and CEO of Comerica Incorporated and Comerica Bank, will be 2023-2024 Annual Campaign Chair.
  • Steven Williams, CEO of PepsiCo Foods North America, who just began his two-year term as chair of the United Way Board, will serve as our 2024-2025 Annual Campaign Chair during our 100th anniversary year.

During the event, these dedicated community leaders announced three gifts of $1 million each from their respective organizations. The investments—led by Trinity Industries and matched by Comerica Bank and Frito-Lay—are the first investments committed toward our Centennial in 2025 and will continue to fuel and accelerate the impact of the work United Way in Dallas is leading in education, income and health across the region.

The campaign kickoff was also our opportunity to announce the new co-chairs for our Ruth Sharp Altshuler Tocqueville Society: Erin Nealy Cox, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, who now leads the government, regulatory and internal investigations practice for Kirkland & Ellis; and Trey Cox, co-partner-in-charge of the Dallas office of Gibson Dunn. Erin and Trey announced their own big goal for their time as Tocqueville co-chairs: to become the No. 1 Tocqueville Society by our centennial in 2025.

Finally, the celebration included a panel discussion featuring Savage, Farmer and Williams, who discussed their commitment to the Live United movement, their goals as Annual Campaign chairs, strategies for making an impact in our community and more. Read on for highlights of the CEO panel:

 

Curt Farmer: What sort of vision do you have for the next couple years in this role?

Steven Williams: I believe in the power of giving back. I feel privileged to have the opportunity to do what I do every day. And you have to give back to the communities that you live, work and play in. And I don’t think there’s another organization finer than United Way to partner with to do that. So you’ve got my commitment. I’ll do my best to be the best chairperson for this organization that you’ve had and we’re going to make a big impact in this community.

Jean Savage: I’m honored to be able to be the campaign chair for this year. United Way sets the bar when you’re looking at access for education, healthcare and income. It creates opportunity for more than 1 million individuals each year. Now I know I’ve got a high bar. Anne Chow is hard to follow and [so are] all the other campaign chairs in the past. So I’m going to be dedicated to looking for businesses in North Texas who will allow us to come in and try to grow the campaigns and concentrate in that area to make sure we’re getting the support of more people in our community.

 

Farmer: Steven, tell us a little bit more about Southern Dallas Thrives and why it has been important for your company.

Williams: A third of the citizens in Southern Dallas are below the poverty level. And it’s just difficult to make a difference without focused effort. So we collaborated with United Way to build a program which was distinctive and [was an opportunity to] drive a catalytic effort to raise a lot of money and have an impact in a targeted way…The problem is holistic, and no one company or initiative can touch it all. And we’ve had many companies step up with us, including many in the room—AT&T, Hilti, Celanese—that have come in and matched what we’ve put in, and it has really created a virtuous cycle that’s allowing us to have a significant impact in the community.

 

Farmer: How important is [our local workforce] for the ongoing vitality of this market? Can we have too many companies here? We’re all worried about labor, but how important is it for our market?

Savage: I think it’s really important for our market. I wouldn’t say we have too many companies, but we have an opportunity. What Steven’s doing with Southern Dallas Thrives—we’re going to tap into that and work on workforce development. Because if we can get all the people in this area trained and skilled and working, I think the whole community rises and you get better schools, you get a better place to work, and I just think it feeds off itself.

Williams: Yeah, it does. Growth is oxygen. I think we should continue to stay focused on getting companies here, getting people here. I think it’s a unique place. I have the opportunity to travel all over the country, and there’s no place like Dallas. And I think we should continue to help it grow and thrive.

 

Farmer: Steven, you’ll finish your Board chair role and then head right into being the Campaign chair right on the heels of United Way’s Centennial. Tell us about that.

Williams: It’s exciting because I do think we’ll just build momentum over time, and I think we have an opportunity to just have a blowout over the next three years—not just the Centennial year. And again, it’s all fun, and I like to keep it light, but it’s about the community. It’s about the individuals in the community that we will be able to impact because we are going to feast on the generosity of this city and make a difference.

Farmer: I’ll follow Jean next year with the campaign, and when Jennifer and I started talking about it, we figured out that it’s United Way’s 100th anniversary and it’s Comerica’s 175th anniversary. We are one of the oldest banks in the United States and the largest bank headquartered in Texas. Dallas is one of our most important markets that we operate in, and there’s such alignment for us around the values and the focus of United Way with the things that are important for our company. So, I’m just looking forward for ways to celebrate both events that occur in 2025. We’ll be doing a lot at our company to celebrate with our customers, our employees and the community; at the same time, United Way is going to be doing a lot to celebrate and we’ll look for ways that we can partner together during the campaign.

Erin Nealy Cox and Trey Cox: Tocqueville Chairs 2022-2025

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Founded in 1984, the United Way Tocqueville Society is named for Alexis de Tocqueville, whose classic work On Democracy in America professes strong admiration for the American values of liberty, equality, and the spirit of neighbor helping neighbor.  Those visionary values are the guiding principles for the Tocqueville Society today as it promotes the vital role of personal philanthropic action in creating long-lasting change and strengthens local philanthropic leadership by building a network of likeminded leaders across the globe.

“We are excited to be involved in such a significant, philanthropic leadership role,” says Trey Cox, whose family has set up a donor advised fund at United Way Dallas. “The United Way team is helping us teach our three daughters about the importance of community impact investments as we established the fund in such a way that allows them to direct resources to and volunteer their time with United Way supported initiatives, interventions, and programs they care most deeply about.

“Each daughter has unique passions and interests,” continues Trey Cox. “The team met with them, listened to them, and then came back with unique opportunities for each one. We have now challenged the girls to do their own research, ask questions of the United Way team, and then come back to us with their recommendations for how and where our family can best align with the United Way’s Aspire United 2030 goals. It has been a flexible, highly personable and very rewarding experience for our family.”

“Erin Nealy Cox and Trey Cox epitomize authentic, purpose-driven, and compassionate leadership,” says McDermott Templeton President and CEO Jennifer Sampson. “Erin brings the gifts of fortitude and courage to leadership, and Trey a bold conviction and passion that inspire. Together, they are a force to be reckoned with – a force that will create opportunity and access for all North Texans to thrive.

“We are honored to embrace their visionary partnership and are confident that their leadership will drive transformational change for generations to come.”

United Way Welcomes New Board Members

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We’re honored to welcome five new members to our 2022-2023 Board of Directors and the United Way Foundation of Metropolitan Dallas Board. These civic and business leaders will serve three-year board terms to advance our mission of ensuring every North Texan has the opportunity and access to thrive.

Our new board leadership includes top-level chief executives from Kimberly Clark, JP Morgan, Hilti North America, Texas Instruments and Axxess. Each member will serve as a trusted adviser for our organization, dedicating their time and insights to help United Way improve education, income and health—the building blocks of opportunity.

“As we continue to work toward achieving our Aspire United 2030 goals, we are grateful to add this group of innovative, diverse and engaged members to our boards,” said Jennifer Sampson, McDermott-Templeton president and CEO of United Way of Metropolitan Dallas. “Their collective expertise will prove invaluable as we work to create opportunity for all North Texans.”

New Board Members

The newest United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Board members are:

Sandi Karrmann, Kimberly Clark Corporation: Karrmann is chief human resources officer for Kimberly-Clark and has global responsibility for the human resources function, including talent recruiting, development and performance management, labor relations, compensation and employee benefits. Prior to joining Kimberly-Clark in 2021, Karrmann’s experience spanned several key senior leadership roles at PepsiCo, YUM!, Pizza Hut and Tenet Health. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and communications from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in finance from the University of Southern California.
Martina McIsaac, Hilti North America: McIsaac serves as CEO of Hilti North America and plans to retire from the position this fall. Previously, she was the general manager and president of Hilti Canada. McIsaac joined Hilti in 2013 as a senior management candidate and in 2014 became a division manager. Three years later, she was promoted to general manager for the Canada Market Organization. Under her leadership, Hilti Canada received recognition as a best-in-class workplace. Hilti was named to the Top 50 list by Great Place to Work Canada with special recognition on the list of Best Workplaces Managed by Women. Prior to joining Hilti, McIsaac worked for Avery Dennison. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Western University and a master’s degree in international business from the University of South Carolina. In 2020, Hilti expanded their support of United Way with an investment in Southern Dallas Thrives.
Angela Martin, JP Morgan: Martin serves as the managing director and general manager of the US Strategic Distribution Partnership Group at JPMorgan. She was named to this role in January 2021, and her responsibilities include setting and executing against the go-to-market strategy, designing and developing new products, structuring sales, relationship management, and marketing engagement to drive adoption and revenue. Martin joined JPMorgan in 1999 as a First Scholar, where she completed several rotational assignments across the firm. She has since held leadership positions in several of the firm’s key business units including Wholesale Payments, Commercial Banking, and Small Business Banking. Martin serves as a board member of Shared Housing Center, Inc. She earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg School of Management.
Cynthia Trochu, Texas Instruments: Trochu is a senior vice president, secretary, general counsel and chief compliance officer of Texas Instruments. Prior to this role, she served as the vice president and assistant general counsel of TI, managing legal support for the company’s operations in Asia and Europe, various business entities, manufacturing and procurement, as well as corporate compliance. Earlier in her career, Trochu served as senior counsel at TI in operations and in litigation. She joined TI in 1993 after working as a commercial litigator at a Dallas law firm. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Manchester University in Indiana and a juris doctor degree from Southern Methodist University Law School. In addition to her role at TI, Trochu serves as a member of the board of the TI Foundation and has previously served on the campaign cabinet of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, the board of directors at Manchester University in Indiana and chair of the audit committee of the University of Texas at Dallas.

New Foundation Board Member

In addition, our new United Way Foundation of Metropolitan Dallas Board member is Thomas Codd from Axxess. Codd joined Axxess in 2022 as the company’s first chief people officer to help manage its growth around the world. He spent 39 years with PwC before his retirement in 2021. Codd is an engaged member of the community and has served on numerous boards, including those of Catholic Charities Dallas, The American Ireland Fund, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Purdue University Krannert School Dean’s Advisory Council, Cooper Institute, Bishop Dunne and SMU Cox School of Business. He is past chairman of the board at Dallas Regional Chamber and The Catholic Foundation. He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Purdue University.

Homelessness and What to Do About It

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At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, our housing stability work is a fundamental component of our mission to improve access to education, income and health. After all, children need secure housing to do their best in school, adults need safe and affordable homes to get and keep living-wage jobs, and we all require a safe and secure home to maintain both physical and mental health.

On any given night, more than 4,400 people are experiencing homelessness in Dallas and Collin counties. And although that number has declined in recent years, homelessness is still a significant challenge in our community. What can we do about it?

This question was the focus of the third installment of the event series Hard Conversations: Who Deserves a Shot at the American Dream? from our partner Housing Forward, formerly Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance.

The virtual event, held Aug. 23, featured Jill Khadduri, Ph.D., and Marybeth Shinn, Ph.D., authors of the book “In the Midst of Plenty: Homelessness and What to Do About It.” Ashley Brundage, executive director of housing stability and senior vice president of community impact at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, served as moderator.

The event was a fascinating discussion on topics including:

  • What causes homelessness
  • The role of housing affordability
  • How to make housing voucher programs more successful
  • The impact of supportive services, such as childcare and workforce development programs
  • How to tackle chronic homelessness
  • Homelessness prevention measures that work

View the full event below, or read on for a few of the highlights from the conversation.

What causes homelessness?

The speakers emphasized that homelessness is a result of failures that occur at a societal level—not failures of individual people.

“We spend a lot of time in the book debunking the idea that homelessness is caused by attributes of individuals,” Khadduri explained. “Instead, we look at homelessness as a systems failure—in part because of the very broad income distribution we have in the United States. Most people who experience homelessness have poverty-level incomes. What tips people into homelessness in any given year? It’s a crisis, such as losing a job, or losing the housing that someone else was providing for them.”

How common is homelessness?

“Homelessness for most people is temporary, so many more people pass through homelessness than are homeless on any given night,” Shinn said. “The most widely quoted statistic about homelessness is the Point in Time count, and upwards of half a million people (in the U.S.) are homeless on a single night. That feels like a kind of small problem. But over seven times that number of people are homeless over the course of a year…It’s a much bigger problem than most people realize.”

Indeed, homelessness is far more common than you might think. Shinn points to a study in the 1990s that found 14% of Americans surveyed said they had experienced homelessness at some point in their lives.

Who is most likely to become homeless?

Shinn says most people are surprised to learn the age at which a person is most likely to enter a homeless shelter. “The answer is infancy,” she says. “That reinforces that it’s really an economic problem. It’s a housing problem. Babies take a parent out of the workforce, and those costs of childcare, on top of the costs of housing, are often more than poor families can manage.”

What role does housing play in ending homelessness?

Shinn and Khadduri discussed a variety of initiatives that target homelessness—but housing was always the common thread in the solutions they offered.

“Contemporary homelessness that began in the 1980s is basically a housing problem,” Khadduri said. “It’s a crisis of housing affordability for the poorest people. It affects more types of people, including families with young children and people who are working but at low-wage jobs.”

Shinn and Khadduri emphasize that research has shown that “housing first” programs are highly effective at ending homelessness for families, individuals with mental illness and others who experience homelessness.

Shinn pointed to Finland, which she says “has solved the problem,” as a model that the U.S. could replicate.

“There are a number of European countries that have made ‘housing first’ their priority, and Finland has probably gone further than anyone else,” she said. “They put the resources in to create a variety of housing options for people, and they have driven the cost of housing down. And they are not a wealthier country, on average, than the United States.

“It has shown that devoting the energy and resources necessary to end homelessness is not a question of wealth but of political will,” she said. “The U.S. can afford the sort of investment Finland has made, if we choose to do so.”

Our Work to End Homelessness Continues

At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, we recognize that housing stability is foundational for supporting education, income and health—the building blocks of opportunity.

Our work in housing stability spans a continuum of services, including:

  • Supporting the creation of affordable housing
  • Eviction prevention
  • Assisting people experiencing homelessness so they can get housed as quickly as possible

As the MDHA event indicated, solutions like these can have a real impact on homelessness in North Texas. However, our community must work together to demonstrate a commitment to ending homelessness.

Interested in supporting this important work? Here are two ways you can make an impact right now:

Meet the 2022-2023 Social Innovation Accelerator Fellows

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At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, social innovation is embedded in everything we do. We’re constantly looking for and implementing innovative solutions to long-standing challenges in our community.

Embracing innovation allows us to stay nimble as we work to improve education, income and health in North Texas. It’s one of the key ways we’re driving progress toward our Aspire United 2030 goals, which include increasing the number of local students reading on grade level by third grade, increasing the number of North Texas young adults who earn a living wage and growing the percentage of individuals with access to affordable health insurance.

As we move toward these goals, part of our social innovation work involves partnering with nonprofit and for-profit social ventures that take a creative new approach to systemic challenges impacting North Texans in the areas of education, income and health. Our longest-running social innovation program is the United Way Social Innovation Accelerator in collaboration with Accenture, which encourages innovative solutions to social issues by providing entrepreneurs with funding, mentorship and community connections to grow their ventures and amplify their impact.

Since its creation in 2013, the Social Innovation Accelerator has invested nearly $6.6 million and approximately 5,000 mentoring hours in 79 North Texas social entrepreneurs. With the support of United Way’s community connections and credibility, these startup organizations have gone on to raise an additional $33 million, build more than 850 partnerships, receive national recognition—and positively impact more than 155,000 North Texans over the last nine years.

As we continue to build on this success, we’re proud to announce the fellows selected to participate in the 2022-2023 Social Innovation Accelerator in collaboration with Accenture:

 

CCA Logo

Cornerstone Crossroads Academy

Cornerstone Crossroads Academy (CCA) seeks to develop urban youth through transformative education, equipping future leaders to impact their communities for Christ. CCA looks for innovative ways to efficiently prepare students for an evolving workforce, equipping them to learn, think, plan and problem solve. Their goal is to ensure every student who enrolls at their academy graduates with a high school diploma or GED and enters college and/or the workforce.
Empowering the Masses logo

Empowering The Masses

Empowering The Masses offers short-term training programs that create a lasting impact. Their initiatives include certification programs to bridge gaps in education and to create expertise, as well as workforce training for adults to create opportunities for sustainable employment. The organization also runs a food pantry to address the lack of access to fresh, healthy and nutritious food in South Dallas.
Heart of Courage logo

Heart of Courage

Heart of Courage provides support and resources for women who have lost temporary custody of their children due to drug addiction, incarceration, domestic violence, mental health issues or homelessness, working to reunite and create a better future for their families. The organization provides an array of services, such as court advocacy, one-on-one peer mentoring, parent support groups, and educational and career support.
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ilooklikeLOVE

ilooklikeLOVE’s EmpowerU Program equips new and expecting mothers to actively expand their mental, maternal and financial capacity for building thriving, sustainable environments that shift their children’s lives toward a brighter future. The eight-week Mommy Cohort provides group and individual developmental sessions and instruction in pre/post-natal education, life skills development, financial literacy and employment readiness, with a goal of positioning low-income single mothers to be engaged in living wage employment and/or training by the time their child turns 1.
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Lullaby House

Lullaby House provides a continuum of care to pregnant and parenting teens and their children in foster care in safe, stable long-term housing. The organization’s evidence-based approaches are designed to help teenage parents and families build relationships and capacities to move them toward generational wellness. Their services include individualized case management plans, educational assistance, mental health counseling, life skills and supportive services, which are crucial to achieving independence.
March to the Polls logo

March to the Polls

March to the Polls is a nonpartisan voter empowerment organization that is focused on cultivating a lifelong commitment to voting and civic engagement in underrepresented communities, primarily youth and people of color. The organization forms partnerships with school districts to provide in-classroom voter registration and education—connecting the issues affecting students and their families’ daily lives to the power of voting—and utilizes innovative and effective ways to engage youth and people of color in the electoral process.
Reading to New Heights logo

Reading to New Heights

Reading to New Heights provides free one-on-one virtual tutoring sessions for adults with low literacy. The organization leverages certified educators who teach the fundamentals of reading as if the adult is learning for the first time, which equips them to successfully navigate many demands of day-to-day life. Reading to New Heights provides a discreet option for those who wish to avoid a group setting and prefer a personalized learning experience.
Together We Thrive logo

Together We Thrive

Together We Thrive is designed to lead their young clients—each of whom carry labels such as homeless, foster and or sex-trafficked—to a place of sustainability where they can thrive. The organization serves youth in school during the school day, in transitional homes, in youth centers or any other location where their services are needed. Together We Thrive offers life coaches who provide the consistency of a healthy adult that thousands of North Texas youth are looking for and need.
Women Rock, Inc. logo

Women Rock, Inc.

Breast cancer is the No. 1 cause of cancer deaths among Hispanic women and the No. 2 cause of cancer deaths among African American, Native American, Asian and Caucasian women. In response, Women Rock launched a Peer 2 Peer program to decrease the number of lives lost to breast cancer, with an emphasis on marginalized populations. Peer 2 Peer enables women to live longer through early detection and gives survivors purpose, pride and the power to thrive after breast cancer.
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Young Leaders, Strong City

Young Leaders, Strong City (YLSC) works to educate students on untold local histories and narratives of race and identity, equip them with tools to create equity through community change and activate them to realize their visions for change. The organization is working to scale its Race & Money Curriculum, which provides the historical context necessary to help youth not only navigate, but begin solving for economic inequities for themselves, their families and communities.

What’s Next for the Fellows

The Social Innovation Accelerator fellows are already going through an intensive bootcamp powered by Santander, with expert instruction that will help them refine their business plans and set important organizational milestone goals. They are also receiving one-on-one mentoring and coaching from a team of Social Innovation Accelerator mentors.

Early next year, five of the 10 fellows will be selected to participate in The Pitch, our annual social innovation competition, where they will compete for tens of thousands of dollars in additional seed funding.

You’ll be seeing a lot more of these incredible organizations as they go through the Accelerator and compete for a spot at The Pitch. Stay tuned!

Checking in on Progress Toward a More Equitable Workforce

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In the years since COVID-19 reached our region, North Texas workers have continued to feel the broad-reaching effects of the pandemic. Across North Texas, many of our neighbors have been unable to find and keep good-paying jobs, and every new wave of the virus has brought fresh layoffs and uncertainty.

In the midst of these workforce challenges, in early 2021 United Way of Metropolitan Dallas partnered with national research and action institute PolicyLink and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions to publish “Advancing Workforce Equity in Dallas and Collin Counties: A Blueprint for Action.” The report identifies the array of obstacles workers of color face in the local labor market, as well as steps that are required to ensure these workers can readily enter and advance in the North Texas workforce.

In the 18 months since the report’s release, our region has made some significant gains in its employment statistics. However, many challenges remain—especially for women and workers of color.

At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, income has always been one of our areas of focus, because we understand the importance of financial stability and a good-paying job in a person’s life. As our world has been reshaped by COVID-19, we’re more committed than ever to developing and investing in workforce programs that will provide a path forward for our hardworking neighbors.

Together with our committed supporters, we continually work to improve workforce equity throughout North Texas. And in the face of evolving difficulties, our initiatives are having a real impact on local workers and their families.

Progress Since the Start of COVID-19

When COVID-19 hit North Texas, our region’s workforce was devastated. Local unemployment hit a peak of 13.5% in April 2020. Women and workers of color were affected the most, because they tend to work in industries and jobs that were hit the hardest, such as food service and hospitality.

In the two years since, unemployment has gradually improved, according to the Texas Workforce Commission. Take a look at how this year’s most recent unemployment statistics compare to the two previous years:

  • June 2020 unemployment: 10%
  • June 2021 unemployment: 5.7%
  • June 2022 unemployment: 3.8%

While these numbers are encouraging overall, the effects of the pandemic are still all too real for many of our neighbors.

Our Workforce Doesn’t Benefit All North Texas

Unfortunately, many of the racial disparities that COVID-19 highlighted in our local workforce have persisted even as our unemployment figures have improved. According to the National Fund for Workforce Solutions, our region’s Racial Equity Index ranking is 27th out of the 150 largest metro regions in the U.S. That means for people of color, 123 metropolitan areas offer better access to high-quality education and training opportunities, family-sustaining wages, and employment for those who want to work.

Greg Mangum, vice president of economic mobility at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, affirms that workers of color in North Texas tend to have fewer pathways to good-paying jobs available. Plus, they’re more likely to have their careers impacted by external factors, such as access to childcare, transportation and digital literacy skills.

The “Advancing Workforce Equity” report explored several key trends that often limit job opportunities for workers of color in particular:

  • The workforce is deeply segregated. Despite the growing diversity of the workforce in Dallas and Collin counties, workers of color are crowded in lower-paying and lower-opportunity occupations; white workers are overrepresented in many higher-paying professions.
  • North Texas has a shortfall of good jobs that do not require college degrees. Overall, only 40% of workers are in jobs that are stable, are not at risk for automation and pay family-sustaining wages. That number drops to just 12% for those in jobs that require only a high school diploma.
  • Racial economic exclusion hampers the region’s economic growth. If racial gaps in wages and employment for workers could be closed, our region’s GDP would increase by 35%. With racial equity in pay, the average annual income of Black workers would double; Latinx workers would fare even better.

The report concludes that although people of color make up the majority of the region’s workers, they do not share equitably in its economic prosperity. More than 60% of workers ages 25 to 64 in Dallas and Collin counties and people of color. But Black and Latinx workers are about twice as likely as their white counterparts to be economically insecure.

Meanwhile, the cost of living has increased over the last few years. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator, a childless adult living in Dallas County needs to make $17.81 an hour to cover basic expenses and have a little money saved for emergencies. This number jumps to $33.62 if that person has a child. (Just last year, the hourly living wages were significantly lower—$15.98 for a childless adult and $31.94 for an adult with one child—proof that the cost of living has risen sharply in our community.)

“Since the start of the pandemic, everything has gotten more expensive, but wages have remained stagnant,” Mangum said. “And the workers of color in our community are up against enormous odds to find stable, good-paying jobs. That not only holds back individuals and their families; it holds back our entire community. It’s up to all of us to create and improve pathways to living wage jobs so that all of North Texas can prosper.”

United Way Improves Workforce Equity

In the “Advancing Workforce Equity” report, United Way and our partners found that we need a community-wide effort to improve racial equity in our workforce. Key steps to achieving this goal include:

  • Increase good jobs available for frontline workers of color
  • Increase the number of workers of color in pre-apprenticeships and apprenticeships
  • Use skills-based hiring strategies to reduce occupational segregation
  • Invest in digital literacy, adult literacy and integrated learning programs to reduce barriers to entry in the labor market
  • Increase investments in supportive resources like accessible childcare, affordable housing and efficient transportation

At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, we’ve taken these recommendations to heart, expanding our existing workforce initiatives and launching new efforts to improve equity in our region’s workforce.

In the 18 months since the report was published, we’ve taken several important steps to encourage workforce equity, including:

  • Digital Connections: We’re working to bridge the “digital divide” by providing jobseekers and workers with access to digital literacy training, computer devices and internet service.
  • Career Pathways Learning Network: We’re building the capacity of adult literacy providers to better connect education programs to real-world employment outcomes.
  • Journey mapping: We partnered with SMU School of Design and Innovation to document the experiences of people of color who utilize local workforce development resources. The report identified opportunities to improve workers’ experiences, including providing career counselors, closing the immigration credential gap, delivering consistent digital experiences, providing coaching through transferable skills sets and building good communication networks.
  • Skills-Based Hiring Lab: We’re also providing resources and training for employers that are seeking to use more inclusive hiring criteria and practices.

In addition to these newer efforts, we also lead and facilitate the following programs that ensure workers of color can access good-paying jobs:

  • Pathways to Work, which provides training and credentialing programs to help hard-working North Texans get better-paying jobs in the high-demand fields of IT and healthcare. Most recently, our Pathways to Work healthcare partnership has helped to improve access to living-wage career opportunities in healthcare while also working to improve job quality for frontline workers.
  • Women in Construction, which is part of our Southern Dallas Thrives initiative, a partnership with United Way, PepsiCo Foundation and Frito-Lay North America. In partnership with Hilti North America, Women in Construction seeks to attract more women to the fast-growing construction industry by providing them with training and wrap-around services, such as childcare and transportation.
  • The Women’s Workforce Readiness Initiative, a partnership with CitySquare through Southern Dallas Thrives. The initiative provides 550 Dallas-area women with the social support and technical and soft-skills training needed to secure employment in high-growth industries such as advanced manufacturing and logistics, sales and marketing, and food and hospitality management.

Be Part of the Change

Income is an area that affects our entire economy. When more North Texans prosper, our region as a whole enjoys greater prosperity. In fact, if we can increase by 20% the number of young adults who earn a living wage, we’ll add nearly $800 million to our local economy. And it is our goal to do just that by the year 2030, as part of our Aspire United 2030 goals—our North Star for driving progress in the areas of education, income and health over the next decade.

We invite you to join our movement and create opportunity for all North Texans. You can have a direct impact on workforce development in our region by:

  • Volunteering to be a digital literacy coach. You’ll coach and motivate digital learners with tasks such as setting up an Indeed and LinkedIn profile and alerts, navigating through Microsoft Office programs, and other various professional technology skills.
  • Making a donation to United Way, which will help support workforce development initiatives like the ones outlined above.

Supporting North Texans During an Inflation Crisis

Written by United Way of Metropolitan Dallas on . Posted in News & Updates. 7 Comments on Supporting North Texans During an Inflation Crisis

Across the country, rapid inflation has increased the cost of everything from food and gas to electronics and housing. Americans are struggling to pay for necessities while keeping up with their rent or mortgage, bills and other demands.

In North Texas, these trends have become a significant challenge for many of our neighbors. At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, we’re working to mitigate the effects of inflation on individuals and families. By leading a movement to improve access to education, income and health, we are creating opportunity for North Texans to thrive—despite the difficult economic conditions.

Read on to learn more about how inflation is affecting our region, as well as some of the ways we work to uplift people throughout the community.

North Texas Is Experiencing Record Inflation

The consumer price index is a good indicator of how the price of goods is impacting individuals. The index is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a variety of consumer goods and services.

Over the last 12 months, our region’s consumer price index has risen 9.1%—the largest increase since December 1981—according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The price of fuel and food are hitting North Texans the hardest. Energy prices have jumped 40.2% and food prices have increased 11.6% since summer 2021.

Meanwhile, the cost of rent in our region is up 17% year-over-year and 22.8% since the start of the pandemic, outpacing the national average.

For an average family in North Texas, that can mean spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars more every month to pay rent, buy groceries, cool their home and run errands.

The Effects of Inflation

As the cost of rent, goods and services continues to increase, North Texans need to make more money just to achieve a living wage. According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator, an adult living in Dallas County with one child needs to make $33.62 an hour to cover basic expenses and have a little money saved for emergencies. Just last year, the hourly living wage for a single parent was $31.94—proof that the cost of living has risen sharply in our community.

Unfortunately, North Texas has a shortage of good-paying jobs, and every year more occupations require a degree or certification. As a result, 74% of young adults in North Texas don’t earn a living wage.

Understandably, the results of the current inflation crisis are particularly devastating for workers who don’t have a stable income and lack financial security. Inflation and rising prices have had a significant impact on buying power, especially for families that are food insecure. As a result, 800,000 people in North Texas face food insecurity, according to North Texas Food Bank. Meanwhile, rising rents have put even more of our neighbors on the brink of eviction.

United Way Is Empowering North Texans Against Inflation

Inflation can easily impact all areas of a person’s life, including our three focus areas of education, income and health. For example, higher transportation costs make it more expensive for parents to take their children to school, rising prices make it more important than ever that workers make a living wage, and factors like the cost of food make it more difficult to stay healthy.

At United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, we lead and invest in a variety of programs that create opportunity for North Texans. Together with our dedicated supporters, we are improving access to education, income and health, a mission that is as important as ever during these challenging times.

As Susan Hoff, chief strategy and impact officer at United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, explains, “Today’s astronomic inflation rates have a significant impact on North Texans, particularly those with low to moderate incomes. United Way helps hard-working families bridge the immediate gaps with programs that provide rental assistance, health insurance coverage, groceries and school supplies. And our job training and certification programs like Pathways to Work and Women in Construction offer long-term solutions, equipping adults to get and keep living-wage jobs.”

Take a look at how many of our programs are having a positive impact on our neighbors during this time of historic inflation:

  • Dallas Rental Assistance Collaborative: In 2020, the City of Dallas chose us as a trusted partner to lead this collaborative, which provides rental and utility assistance so people can stay in their homes. Since the start of the pandemic, DRAC has provided thousands of households with rental and/or utility assistance and distributed millions of dollars in assistance to affected families.
  • The Dallas Technology Training Consortium: Funded this year through a $2.2 million grant from the City of Dallas, this initiative is providing IT and technology skills training to individuals impacted by the COVID-19 recession, opening workers up to new and better-paying job opportunities. The program will serve 630 Dallas residents over a two-year period, in partnership with Goodwill Industries of Dallas, NPower and Per Scholas.
  • Digital Connections, powered by AT&T: Starting in January, United Way began to distribute laptops and hot spots through AT&T’s $1 million grant to provide K-12 students and young people ages 18-24 across Southern Dallas with the resources needed to access education, further their learning, and stay connected in the classroom and beyond. We also partnered with Compudopt to provide refurbished laptops that come with two years of warranty and bilingual technical assistance. To date, we have distributed 1,500 hotspots and 730 laptops across Southern Dallas, creating new opportunities for students and young workers to learn key digital skills and secure a path to a good-paying career.
  • Healthcare navigators: At a time when rising costs may force some families to drop their health insurance coverage, United Way helps North Texans find and enroll in affordable plans that work for them. Our navigators assist with enrollment applications for coverage and financial assistance through the ACA Marketplace, Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), ensuring each client receives all the financial benefits for which they are eligible.
  • North Texas Summer & Supper Council: This summer meals program ensures students who rely on subsidized meal programs during the school year continue to get daily, nutritious food during summer months. During the past year, the program provided a total of 12.2 million summer meals to students across Dallas and Collin counties to combat summer hunger. Over the last few months, summer meals have provided much-needed relief for countless families who are coping with increased food prices while their children are out of school.
  • Pathways to Work, which provides training and credentialing programs to help hard-working North Texans get better-paying jobs in the high-demand fields of IT and healthcare. In our current economy, programs like this are increasingly important, since in the wake of the pandemic more employers are “up-credentialing” jobs by requiring additional preparation or training.
  • Stock the School and Stock SOC: Inflation has increased the price of nearly everything, and today the average family spends $660 on school supplies. To help our neighbors prepare for the new school year, we recently hosted Stock the School and Stock SOC, two volunteer events that enable community members to work together to ensure all students (and their teachers) have the resources they need to succeed. Each year, these types of volunteer events benefit thousands of students and educators, setting local children up for a positive experience in the fall.
  • Women in Construction: This workforce development program is part of our Southern Dallas Thrives initiative, a partnership with United Way, PepsiCo Foundation and Frito-Lay North America. In partnership with Hilti North America, Women in Construction seeks to attract more women to the fast-growing construction industry by providing them with training and wrap-around services, such as childcare and transportation.
  • The Women’s Workforce Readiness Initiative: This partnership with CitySquare through Southern Dallas Thrives provides 550 Dallas-area women with the social support and technical and soft-skills training needed to secure employment in high-growth industries such as advanced manufacturing and logistics, sales and marketing, and food and hospitality management.

See How You Can Positively Impact Your Neighbors

Amid rampant inflation, so many of our neighbors could benefit from support from the community. We invite you to join our movement and create opportunity for all North Texans.

You can have a direct impact on workforce development in our region by:

  • Making a donation to United Way, which will help support important initiatives like the ones outlined above.
  • Volunteering to be a digital literacy coach. Digital literacy opens the door to new job opportunities and higher-paying careers. In this volunteer role, you’ll coach and motivate digital learners with tasks such as setting up an Indeed and LinkedIn profile and alerts, navigating through Microsoft Office programs, and other various professional technology skills.