OUR MISSION
To improve the lives of hardworking households by mobilizing the resources of local communities to create lasting change.
OUR VISION
We are committed to ensuring that every child enters school ready to learn, every family is financially stable, and every community we serve is healthy and strong. We are the recognized leader in identifying issues and pathways to solutions.
WHERE WE SERVE
United Way of Western Connecticut serves 15 towns in three distinct communities – Northern Fairfield County, Southern Litchfield County, and the City of Stamford. The towns include Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Danbury, Kent, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Redding, Ridgefield, Roxbury, Sherman, Stamford, Warren and Washington.
OUR APPROACH
We empower ALICE to thrive through a unique, multi-pronged approach. We support existing resources through targeted community investments and, where resources do not exist, we tackle those disparities head on, developing innovative programming. Through strategic partnerships, we maximize our mission and diversify our impact.
IT TAKES A CONNECTED COMMUNITY
We are grateful to have a community committed to empowering every hardworking individual and family to thrive where it matters most: where we live.
OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION
At United Way of Western Connecticut, we have taken bold steps to demonstrate our commitment to incorporating diversity, equity, and inclusion into the organization's culture and the way we do business. United Way of Western Connecticut has addressed internal policies and practices with the support of a cross-functional equity working group, has increased staff and board-level DEI training, and led numerous public equity challenges to engage the community in this work. In 2023, in we hired a full time Senior Director of DEI and updated its bylaws to add a board-level DEI Committee, led by Carmen Hughes.
5-Day Equity Challenge Resources
The challenges serve as a powerful opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of how inequity and racism affect our lives and our community. To access resources from the previous Equity Challenges, click here.
United Way of Western CT Rejects Racism And All Forms of Discrimination
United Way of Western Connecticut is committed to building our community into a place where every child, family, and person has the opportunity to thrive. We focus on households at or below the ALICE® (Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed) threshold who have had the least opportunities for success. In doing our part to uplift this population, we are active on many fronts. Today we are speaking out louder than in the past to condemn with zero tolerance acts of racism, bigotry, xenophobia, and expressions of discrimination stemming from one’s race, ethnicity, faith, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, sex, age, or national origin.
We act by using our resources to tackle the structural barriers to equity from the long shadow of systemic racism that has impeded the health, education, safety, and well-being of many members of our society. United Way of Western Connecticut recognizes the power and privilege of our brand. As leaders in our community, we are using both to take action in being part of the solution for positive change. Therefore, we commit to:
- Transforming systems and instituting systemic changes that create a more just and equitable future.
- Requiring accountability and transparency at all levels - from our organization to all institutions with whom we partner.
- Advocating for justice and speaking up in unity and in action whenever we see justice not being served.
- Elevating the voice and power of our community.
- Learning and growing together as a community through ongoing training and conversations about race and equity.
We are committed to improving lives by partnering with the community and creating a future of greater inclusion and equity.
One Community, Living United.
Together, we can create lasting change in Western Connecticut.