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Live United by Erin Haag

Above my computer, written in black Sharpie on a pink Post-It are the words, “Active Responsibility.” The words “active” are underlined twice and there’s a big exclamation mark.

The note has been up there for about a year. These words had resonated with me in a discussion about funded program partners. The speaker felt that some program partners did not do enough to demonstrate active responsibility in promoting their programs, adopting best practices, seeking funding or advocating for themselves and for United Way. 

What does it mean to be a partner agency? For this United Way, it means that the program was able to submit an application, including a well-articulated budget. It means that a representative of that program came to our Community Investment Panel and was able to explain their program and demonstrate the need in our community — and their ability to efficiently meet that need. That’s a key point. Many of our community’s needs are inarguable. Of course we need food, housing, education and more. However, there are different ways of approaching the problem, and different ways to achieve a goal. An excellent presentation would demonstrate not only the local needs, but also why the specific program being presented can meet that need, and how your chosen strategy is the best practice, with evidence from another authority. 

Here’s an example: Stars Mentoring is one of our funded partners. Connecting area youth with mentors, Executive Director Mary Jo Volkman sought to implement the National Quality Mentoring System to ensure that STARS had evidence-based mentoring standards and procedures. The goal is to raise the quality of youth mentoring programs using a structured systematic approach. This program is offered through the National Mentoring Partnership. After the application was submitted, the first thing I did was start reading about the National Mentoring Partnership. A nationwide program with an extensive partnership including Big Brothers Big Sisters and Boys & Girls Club of America, I immediately know that this program had serious cachet and was a good resource for determining best practices in the mentoring field. Because of Mary Jo’s diligence in seeking out best practices, having evidence-based programs behind the decision making, funding the Stars Mentoring Program was an easy decision for our Community Investment Committee. 

Yesterday, I spent an hour with another of our funded partners for this year—the free meal program at First Lutheran Church. Every Thursday night, they serve over 100 meals in a drive-through style. Joe LaFrance and Janice Hammer are the leaders of this entirely volunteer efforts, and their vision was simple, “If you’re hungry, you get fed. No questions asked.” They started two years ago, thinking they’d do it as long as they could, and it’s still going. They’re hanging on for the ride and advocating for themselves by writing grants and making their appeal. What I love is that they ask the question, “Who are we not serving?” and they actively seek solutions to make their program accessible.

I’ve had questions about why we funded a program centered around food when we have the Welcome Pantry. My answer to that is because we need all kinds of different types of food resources in our community. Food insecurity is a problem that no one organization can solve alone. At our Welcome Pantry distribution in early July, we had milk at the end of the day. We called up Joe, and he loaded up the milk and distributed it at the free meal giveaway. It got into the hands of people who need it. The power of that mutual partnership is what ensures that we’re reaching different populations and ensuring food access. 

The best practice here is that food is given with the “least restrictive access.” I get asked this question — why do you not ask for proof of income? My answer lies in the best practices in the hunger relief work — at a regional, state and federal level. Our goal is to make sure that people aren’t going hungry. Do we really want to make people prove they’re hungry? Prove that they’re poor enough to deserve the food? I’ve talked a lot about how we want to offer more choices, to have the look and feel of a small grocery store. That’s true — but make no mistake, it’s not going to be as good as going to a grocery store with a vast array of choices and brands. We’re offering one to two choices in broad categories. I hope that at our brick and mortar will be able to meet our goal of offering three to five choices in the categories. This might mean that instead of just having cheese, we’re able to offer cheese, milk and yogurt in the broad category of dairy. Or have different percentages of milk — skim, whole or 2 percent. 

Implementing best practices takes strategic planning. It requires you clearly defining your program and goals and having a defined way to measure that. It takes being willing to change your program model, and to seek out resources outside of our community. It takes professional development. The “experts” are often working at the state and federal level. It takes bringing back what you’ve learned and actively implementing those changes into your program and educating the community on what you’re doing and why. This is what we’re looking for — active responsibility to ensure programs are offering our community the best proven practices to meet the community’s needs.

The second key to active responsibility is advocacy. United Way advocates for each of its partner programs and offers an open door policy. When I’m reviewing grants potential, I will send possibilities to make sure our partners are aware of those grant opportunities. I try my best to update partners with changes and offerings, and we ask for the same. Had a major turnover in staff? Let us know! Struggling with how to solve a particular issue with a client? Nikolle spends time on the phone on a regular basis with case workers, social workers brainstorming different approaches. Are you part of a group that looks for speakers? Bring us out, we’d love to co-present. An invitation is worth its weight in gold. 

In accepting a Community Impact Grant, agencies are saying they actively support United Way. It’s a partnership that goes both ways, and can be fulfilled in simple but meaningful ways. One last example: the Albert Lea Family Y demonstrates that partnership by providing volunteers for our food distributions — including the Welcome Pantry at the Armory happening on Tuesday, Aug. 23, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. If you’d like to see best practices in food insecurity in action, we’re looking for a few more volunteers for the 4 to 6:30 p.m. shift. We have upcoming opportunities for Winter Gear Drive (yes already!) and future food distribution. We’d love to hear from you—give us a call at 507-373-8670 or email us at volunteer@unitedwayfc.org.

Erin Haag is the executive director of the United Way of Freeborn County.