Read some Success Stories

Our Mission
We improve lives by mobilizing community assets for health and human services.

Development Fund
Challenge Grants
Portfolio Councils
Program Evaluation and Community Investment Process
Annual Campaign
Planned Giving Program
Develop Multiple Revenue Sources

Issue Endorsements
211 Legislative Support
Ohio Affordable Housing Initiative

Healthy Connections – Access to Care
Offender Re-entry Initiative
Born Learning
Neighborhood Empowerment
Summit County Quality of Life Assessment
Families & Children First Council
School Board Governance Project
Greater Akron Remembrance Coalition
Youth Initiative

Our community is safer because 89% of all patrol cars are now equipped with AEDs  (Automated External Defibrillators).

Effective home nursing care helps cut medical costs by reducing emergency room visits and nursing home stays. More than 7,000 homebound persons use home health programs funded by United Way of Summit County.

Children who grow up in homes where reading is encouraged and shared are more likely to be successful in school. United Way of Summit County funds programs that help increase literacy for hundreds of parents and children through summer learning camps and year-round tutoring programs.

Portfolio Councils – Integrates United Way volunteers and staff to develop solutions to critical community issues.

Annual Campaign – Single largest annual fundraising campaign in our community; joins tens of thousands of donors from hundreds of organizations in an organized and energetic effort to raise funds needed to create sustained change in our community.  Learn more about the Annual Campaign

Offender Re-entry Initiative – United Way leads a coalition of concerned organizations, including government, business and non-profits, in this holistic and systematic approach to ex-felon re-entry that reduces recidivism by coordinating existing services for those men and women. Participate in the Offender Re-Entry Program Survey

Neighborhood Empowerment – United Way is helping to coordinate efforts of neighborhood groups, local police, churches, businesses and more to increase resident involvement and reduce crime in a 58-block area of Southwest Akron.

Project Blueprint – Minority leadership program – 76% of program graduates are currently serving on non-profit boards, bringing a diverse viewpoint and increasing the richness of community programs. Learn more about Project Blueprint

Corporate Volunteer Council – A coalition of small, medium and large companies, promotes and participates in employee volunteerism through networking and the sharing of best practices, learning about community needs and participating in joint volunteer projects such as ‘Read To Me Day’ and ‘Harvest For Hunger.’  Learn more about the Corporate Volunteer Council

Read to Me Day – Employees from all across the community donate their time to read to children in an Akron Public Schools classroom in an effort to increase literacy by motivating students to develop good reading habits at a young age.

Non-Profit Outcomes Training – United Way offers ongoing training to help agencies develop and track appropriate outcomes that can be efficiently measured to demonstrate to the community and their stakeholders the measurable difference their programs make in improving people’s lives.