Char-Em United Way Inc

Community Investments - these are grants made to those agencies that meet our criteria for well-run and effective agencies and that run programs addressing local issues in our focus areas of education, financial stability and health. Char-Em United Way's focus is on supporting and reducing the number of ALICE households in our county area. EDUCATION - Helping young children (0-8) achieve their potential. Outcomes: Children exit preschool with age appropriate skills in all developmental domains (cognitive, social, emotional, gross motor, fine motor, language) including early literacy skills, and third graders reading at grade-level proficiency. FINANCIAL STABILITY - Providing a safety net for families to help ensure basic needs are met. This includes working with local businesses on recruitment and retention of families struggling to get by month to month. Outcome: A reduction in the number of ALICE households in our two county area, and assuring families have support for basic needs including food and shelter. HEALTH - Improving health of children and their families. Outcome: Ensure access to health care services including preventative and behavioral health. Young children have access to healthy foods and physical activity.

Dolly Parton Imagination Library - Char-Em United Way serves as the local affiliate for this national program run through the Dollywood Foundation. The program provides books to children ages 0-5 free of charge to the family. An age appropriate book is mailed monthly to the child's home from the time they register until their fifth birthday. The cost of the books and promotional material is covered fully by Char-Em United Way through local donations and fundraisers. The cost averages between $25-30 per child per year. Locally, Char-Em United Way launched the project for children in Emmet and Charlevoix Counties in August 2012. It is proving to be extremely well received, with new registrations occurring nearly every day. In addition to providing books, we invite all families to family literacy activities and provide additional resources throughout the year to reinforce their efforts to build language and literacy skills through a bi-monthly electronic newsletter. The short term outcome of DPIL for our community is to positively increase the literacy skills and kindergarten readiness of Emmet and Charlevoix County children. The longer term outcomes are to impact 3rd grade reading proficiency which, in turn, will result in higher high school graduation rates and adult success for the children.