It has now been one year since United Way of Tucson implemented the United for Southern Arizona COVID-19 Fund to provide immediate help to our neighbors struggling in this pandemic. In that time, we have partnered with 35 local agencies to fulfill 1,412 critical needs. We have raised $1,346,689 that has helped 69,479 individuals and families in need. And now, a year after all our lives were turned upside down, that need continues to grow:

Here's one example of how the fund has helped a local family:

Click here to learn more about the United for Southern Arizona COVID-19 Fund.

Mark your calendars! Arizona Gives Day is this Tuesday, April 6th. We invite you to join the statewide movement, make the most out of your donation and GIVE UNITED. The need for help is unprecedented this year as Southern Arizona works to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Every dollar you donate stays right here to help those most in need. You don't have to wait until Tuesday. Pledge your support now to help preserve a thriving Southern Arizona Community.

Check your email for your invitation or click here to email Meredith Bode for more information.

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Attention Workplace Campaign Leaders: It’s almost time for our annual Circle of Excellence event, honoring the companies and volunteers who helped create a successful United Way workplace campaign. We hope you’ll make a plan to join us Wednesday, May 12th. Each year, this event recognizes outstanding community champions who volunteer their time, talent and resources to help promote the mission of United Way. This celebration highlights all the successes and hard work put forth by our valued business and community partners.

United Way of Tucson is made up of so many inspiring employees who work behind the scenes to serve our community. This month, we'd like to introduce you to Susan Koza. She's a Resource Development Officer who works with companies of all sizes to plan and run their workplace giving campaigns. Susan's fundraising career began in Monterey, California, where she spent seven years as the Director of Marketing and Development for the Monterey Symphony and then twenty years as the VP of Development for SPCA Monterey County. Susan was born in Cincinnati and graduated from the University of Cincinnati. A few months after graduating, she got married and moved to Cleveland, where her husband, John, lived and worked. John’s first career as a Controller for major hotels took the two to Atlanta, Miami, San Francisco, Tucson, and Monterey. Susan says it was a great way to experience living in much of our country and that is how they discovered and fell in love with Tucson. It was thirty years before they could return in July 2020 and now they're thrilled to have made Tucson their permanent home. Now, Susan and John are enjoying discovering the many great treasures in their backyard. They're members of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Tucson Botanical Gardens, Arizona Public Media, and the DeGrazia Gallery of the Sun. They bought a lifetime National Park Pass and enjoy weekend hikes and birdwatching at Sabino Canyon and Saguaro National Park East. They love taking day trips to Bisbee and Tubac and look forward to exploring parts of Arizona they’ve not yet seen including the Grand Canyon, Jerome, and Prescott.

I truly enjoy getting to know the people associated with each company I work with. And I know that every contribution pledged means that more resources will be available to help families in Tucson and Southern Arizona receive the help they need. I’m especially impressed with the work being done to improve education outcomes as that will reduce poverty and lead to a stronger, more healthy community. I know my support as a member of Women United will make a difference. 

United Way of Tucson is proud to return to be a part of the IdeaFunding Pitch competition this year. We will once again be awarding the Social Impact Award which we founded in 2016 to acknowledge and inspire local talent and entrepreneurs to use innovation and technology to create solutions for the issues facing our community. Each year, we choose a winner whose business positively impacts Southern Arizona. You can watch the online pitch competition on April 15th from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Click here for more details.

Last month, we told you that the Cradle to Career Partnership (C2C) was awarded funding from StriveTogether to aid in an equitable recovery for Pima County from the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding is already making a major difference. It has allowed for C2C to start expanding their work in post-secondary enrollment and completion, as well as increasing involvement with the community and co-designing solutions with those who are most impacted by inequitable systems in education.

With this grant, C2C was able to hire a Family & Community Engagement Director, a position focused on building relationships with parents, caregivers, and students to empower their voices within our partnership. C2C was also able to hire a new Change Network facilitator focused on building and strengthening relations between K-12, higher education, and the business community to improve post-secondary attainment in Pima County, which addresses two key outcomes in the Cradle to Career continuum, post-secondary enrollment and completion. Click here to learn more about Cradle to Career and the important work they're doing here in Southern Arizona.

In case you missed it, United Way announced a new partnership with Million Stories Media, "entertainment that’s right on the money." MillionStories.com is a free digital content platform filled with original programming all aimed at educating and sharing the realities of and tips for financial wellness, particularly for young people. Million Stories is a project of the Singleton Foundation that highlights familiar faces and real people coping with financial hardship, how they raise children, how they earn their money, how they find work and how they learn to succeed.



Richard Sherman in Million Stories

Late last month, the Treasury Department and IRS announced that the national tax deadline will be extended from April 15th to May 17th. Our Volunteer Income Tax Assistant (VITA) program will continue to make sure you get the most out of your return. If you made $66,000 or less last year, you do NOT have to pay to file your taxes. VITA can help you file for free without you leaving your house! We've teamed up with GetYourRefund.org to provide free, online one-on-one tax assistance from IRS-certified tax preparers. VITA tax preparation saves taxpayers an average of $250 per return. It also helps taxpayers access all tax credits for which they are eligible – including the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) which has been recognized as the single most powerful tool to lift children out of poverty.

-GetYourRefund.org/uwtsa – taxpayers can connect with VITA volunteers online

-In-Person Assistance – limited in-person assistance is available at select sites

-DIY Self-Prep Software – online services for those who feel confident in filing on their own

Click here for more information. Click here to see KGUN 9's story about VITA and why it's especially important this year.

A special delivery is on the way to thousands of local children. My Summer Library is back and delivering books to young students in 18 local elementary schools. The goals of My Summer Library are to improve 3^rd grade reading proficiency, build student’s home libraries and mitigate summer learning loss. My Summer Library works to accomplish that by increasing access to free age-appropriate books for students (kindergarten to first grade) so they can build a home library, practice their literacy skills, and develop a love of reading in the comfort of their home. My Summer Library also helps in mitigating summer learning loss by making books available to keep in the home, developing literacy skills that can continue through the summer break. This year, the goal is to reach 2,100 readers over the next two months. Books will be delivered directly to each school where staff volunteers will sort, bag, and distribute them to the students. Taking into account the disruption that COVID-19 pandemic has introduced to the classroom, My Summer Library is proud to present a set of matching books to each participating teacher this year. These books are intended to help strengthen the sense of community felt between school and home, and encourage the love of literacy in our youngest readers. 

We have a success story from and action team of United Way of Tucson's ELDER Alliance. Sunrise Neighborhood Association Program (SNAP) members are a diverse and lively group of older adults who have chosen to age in place in their own homes for as long as possible. Lexie is one of SNAP’s most beloved nonagenarians. She was born 95 years ago in London, England. In order to become eligible for admission to the Army Nurse Corps at Columbia University, she became a US citizen. Lexie’s career spanned nearly seventy years of nursing service, many of which were spent in public health and hospice care in Tucson. One of her neighbors introduced Lexie to SNAP in 2014. Lexie’s begin volunteering, working Phone Patrol duty, client transportation, Education Committee, and Lunch Bunch participation. While she remains an active volunteer, the time has come for Lexie to consider the client role also. She has taken a number of falls at home and in public places and plans to start employing part-time in-home care to help with meal preparation, shopping and laundry. Lexie is one of 24 SNAP clients aged 90-98, who are appreciative of SNAP’s assistance to help them age in place longer than most felt might be feasible! Click here to learn more about United Way's ELDER Alliance.

Arizona Gives Day April 6th, 2021

Join the annual online giving movement that supports local nonprofits. Click here for more details and to donate.

United Way presents the Social Impact Award at IdeaFunding Thursday, April 15, 2021 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Watch to find out who will win this year's $5000 Social Impact Award at the online pitch competition. See story above or click here for details.

Circle of Excellence May 12, 2021

Join us for a virtual day of recognition for our workplace campaigns and the generous companies and individuals who help build a thriving community. See story above for details.

ACA Open Enrollment Now- May 15, 2021

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, open enrollment for Affordable Care Act healthcare coverage has been extended. Click here for more details.

New IRS Tax Filing Deadline May 17, 2021

The Treasury Department set a new deadline for filing your 2020 tax returns. Click here to learn how you can file for free with VITA.