1. UNITED WAY OF ERIE COUNTY
COMMUNITY
IMPACT STRATEGY
United Way of Erie County
unitedwayerie.org
GIVE. ADVOCATE. VOLUNTEER.
REDUCING POVERTY
IN ERIE COUNTY

2. Too many families in our region are forced to forgo one basic need over another - such
as housing, healthcare, childcare or food - due to lack of income. According to some
estimates, a typical family of four needs to earn as much as two and a half times the
federal poverty level ($22,050) to be able to survive without any form of public and private
assistance. In 2010, approximately 30,000 Erie County families were below this self-
sufficiency benchmark.
United Way of Erie County’s Bold Challenge to the Community:
Reduce the number of families struggling to meet their
basic needs by one-third before 2025.
We have embarked on a bold journey: one that links solid, research-based community
strategies to the resources needed to implement them. By connecting families to the
building blocks of economic stability - Education, Income, and Health - United Way and our
partners will ensure people have the tools they need to thrive.
United Way’s work goes well beyond our historical role of funding strong nonprofit
partners. Today we are mobilizing all our assets: funding, volunteers, legislative advocacy,
technology, in-kind resources and corporate partnerships to deliver transformative,
measurable results.
15,142 CHILDREN
IN ERIE COUNTY LIVE IN POVERTY.
HELP US CHANGE THAT.
United Way of Erie County Community Impact StrategyPage 2 Page3
TOGETHER,
WE CAN DO MORE.
Food or gas. Heat or clothing. Daycare or the doctor. These are choices
no one should have to make. Yet nearly one in four of us in Erie County
struggle to meet our basic needs. And those numbers become even
more unacceptable when we look at our children: 16,066 children in our
region live in poverty.
In Erie County, we care and know we can do better. That’s why United
Way of Erie County is declaring a bold, long-term challenge to reduce
poverty in our region. The Community Impact Strategy you are now
reading lays out our plan for making that vision a reality.
We fully understand we cannot achieve these results alone. We are
convening people from business, labor, government, educational
institutions, faith-based groups and other nonprofits to reach clear
goals in Education, Income and Health.
So let’s roll up our sleeves and help people move out of poverty one by
one, family by family, neighborhood by neighborhood. That’s what it
means to LIVE UNITED.
Bill Jackson
President
James W. Martin
Chair, Community Building Committee
*Source: 2011 Census Bureau data

3. United Way of Erie County Community Impact StrategyPage 4 Page 5
To achieve our goal of 10,000 more self-sufficient families by 2025, we as a community
need to significantly increase the number of prepared high school graduates.
According to 2010 data from Erie Vital Signs, 41% of 18-24 year olds in Erie County had
no more than a high school diploma and only 10% had a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Research shows that a strong educational foundation leads to better employment
opportunities and a more competitive workforce. Higher educational attainment is a
direct corollary to higher income, better health, and a host of other factors that make
individuals, and communities, more productive.
By 2025, United Way challenges the community to prepare
at least two-thirds of our high school graduates to succeed in
education after high school.
REDUCING POVERTY BY
INVESTING IN EDUCATION
To accomplish that, our community must transform the educational environment by
working to ensure that these key milestones are met:
• Children are prepared socially, emotionally, physically, and
intellectually for Kindergarten
• Children are proficient in literacy by the end of third grade
• Students are engaged in school and hopeful about their futures
• Students of all ages articulate age-appropriate career paths
• Students graduate from high school on time with a career plan and the skills
necessary to be successful in post-secondary education
The next step in this process will be to identify the agencies
and programs in Erie County working to address these five key
milestones for Education. To do this, we will release a request
for information (RFI) to all qualifying organizations over the
next few months, including all agencies currently receiving
program funding from United Way. Based on the results of this
RFI, a restructured allocations process will be developed for
the Education Impact Area to align our investments with those
organizations specifically and effectively addressing one or more
of the milestones for Education.
But we need to do more...
In addition to this bold goal for Education, United Way of Erie County is convening panels
of experts in the areas of Income and Health to develop community goals for household
economic stability and physical & mental health which will be announced at a later date.
And across Erie County, we will continue to answer the immediate critical needs of over
40,000 people every year by supporting Crisis and Essential Services.
Accomplishing our goals will take a broad movement of people leveraging our time, our
collective voice, and our resources. Together we have the opportunity to change the lives of
thousands of people across our region, generating a ripple effect of economic growth and
stability.

4. At United Way, we realize more is accomplished collectively than individually. Change
can only happen when the entire community joins together to confront an issue. That’s why
United Way of Erie County is involved with three breakthrough opportunities that can advance
the common good and help reduce poverty in our region.
Erie Together, the region-wide initiative to reduce poverty, is finding new
and different ways to work together. Hundreds of local residents and
organizations have come together to join Action Teams working to align
resources and address outcomes necessary to achieve the community aspiration “to make
the Erie region a community of opportunity where everyone can learn, work and thrive.”
The results coming out of Erie Together have played - and will continue to play - a large
role in United Way’s work to reduce poverty. Learn more by visiting www.ErieTogether.org.
United Way, in collaboration with Erie Together, The Erie
Community Foundation, The Nonprofit Partnership, and the Erie
Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, is utilizing Erie Vital
Signs to monitor community progress in major topical areas for the next decade. The goals
set by United Way in Education, Income and Health will be measured against objective data
obtained through Erie Vital Signs to maintain focus and achieve lasting results to create a
better tomorrow. Learn more by visiting www.ErieVitalSigns.org.
However, much of our work depends upon people knowing how to get help
when they need it. Every hour of every day, hundreds of people need essential
human services - they are looking for training, employment, food pantries,
affordable housing options, support groups and ways of becoming part of their community.
Across the nation, 2-1-1 is changing the way Americans find and give help. It is an easy to
remember telephone number that United Way is working to make a reality in Erie County.
Once in operation, it will connect people with important community services and volunteer
opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.UnitedWayErie.org/211.
Erie Together, Erie Vital Signs and 2-1-1 represent unprecedented breakthrough opportunities
that are bringing the community together to inspire hope and create real, lasting change.
These efforts will be critical as we work to reduce poverty in Erie County.
United Way of Erie County Community Impact StrategyPage 6 Page 7
James W. Martin
Chair, Community Building Committee
Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield
Charlotte A. Berringer
Chair, Health Impact Council
Erie County Department of Health
Danny Jones
Chair, Education Impact Council
The School District of the City of Erie
Jennifer L. Schade
Chair, Income Impact Council
First Niagara Financial Group
Lance L. Barclay
County of Erie (Retired)
James B. Ohrn
Custom Engineering
Bruce Skolnick
Edinboro University
Gwendolyn White
Erie Insurance
COMMUNITY BUILDING COMMITTEE
ACCOUNTABILITY
We earn your trust through the transparent way we operate our organization, as
evidenced by meeting and exceeding national standards for governance and financial
accountability, as well as our volunteer-based method of allocating and disbursing funds to
meet community needs.
We utilize local experts to identify pressing needs and best practices in the areas of
Education, Income, and Health. Panels of trained volunteers then review program
applications to allocate dollars based on effectiveness and efficiency.
Finally, these programs are tracked throughout their three-year funding cycle to ensure
ongoing success in achieving desired outcomes.
BREAKTHROUGH OPPORTUNITIES
TO HELP REDUCE POVERTY.

5. 420 West 6th Street, Suite 200
Erie, PA 16507
(814) 456-2937
UnitedWayErie.org
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE
P A I D
ERIE, PA
PERMIT NO. 370
Community Invests $5.9 Million
in United Way To Help Reduce Poverty
Want more information? The most recent complete auditied financial report for United Way of Erie County is available at UnitedWayErie.org/about/accountability
14,000+
330+
100,000+
...investors supported United Way
during the 2011 Campaign.
...people in Erie County were touched
by a program or initiative funded by
United Way of Erie County last year
...organizations in Erie County made
a corporate donation to United Way.
THANK
YOU!