Community Impact
2025-27
2025-27 CI Letter of Intent Guide
2025-26 UWSC RFP Outcomes Chart
2025-27 UWSC Community Impact RFP
Important Dates
HELPING CHILDREN DO WELL
UWSC’s Community Impact Goal is: Helping Children Do Well by providing services to children and their families which foster the improvement of Academic Readiness, Mentorship, Child Wellness, and Family Development and/or Stability.
Did you know that 81% of children under the age of 5 in Susquehanna County are living in economically at-risk households?
To address this, United Way of Susquehanna County has changed the way it helps the community.
It’s become an “issue-driven” organization.
In 2014, the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development completed a study on UWSC’s behalf. Despite the many good things happening in our community, it was clear the indicators pointed to kids being left behind. The study revealed a sharp increase in:
- Increase in childhood poverty rates
- Increase in the number of children qualifying for free or reduced lunches
- Single-parent households
- Grandparents raising grandchildren
Through its “Helping Children Do Well” movement, the United Way is focused on making lasting change by investing in local community agencies that support academic readiness, mentorship, childhood wellness and family stability. In addition, UWSC is funding agencies that provide safety net services to individuals and families in need.
FUNDED PROGRAMS:
Adulting 101
Helping Children Do Well: Mentorship
Lead Agency: Susquehanna County Interfaith
Description: Adulting 101 is a FREE 10-week, one hour group program open to all high school aged students. The goal is to help prepare individuals for independent living, workforce readiness, continuing education as well as learning life skills.
Career Mentorship
Helping Children Do Well: Mentorship
Lead Agency: Northern Tier Industry & Education Consortium
Description: Northern Tier Industry & Education Consortium is a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a highly skilled workforce in Northeastern Pennsylvania through the integration of school, employment, and training processes. The NTIEC offers Youth apprenticeships, Job shadowing, Hospital internships, Educators in the workplace, Career fairs, and Business professionals in the classroom. Each program brings many opportunities to students that they would not otherwise receive. Students are provided with hands-on work experiences as well as real‐life lessons. The NTIEC wants to make it so all students have the opportunity to jobs and future opportunities.
One-on-One Mentorship
Helping Children Do Well: Mentorship
Lead Agency: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeastern Pennsylvania
Description: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BBBS of NEPA) is a one-to-one youth mentoring program covering seventeen counties in Northeastern PA that is dedicated to igniting the potential of local youth through mentorship. BBBS of NEPA’s one-to one youth mentoring program matches adult volunteers or high school seniors or juniors (“Bigs”) with children (“Littles”) facing adversity, providing them with guidance, encouragement, and positive role models.
Plant Yourself at Camp
Helping Children Do Well: Mentorship & Academic Readiness
Lead Agency: Supporters of Camp Archbald
Description: Supporters of Camp Archbald will reach out to girls in Susquehanna County foster care by working
with Children and Youth, Interfaith, Girl Scouts, daycare and Women’s Resource Center so they can build
experiences that will help them value a connection to nature at Ely Lake. They will have opportunities outside of the
foster system to make friends, have fun with their unit, and learn how to get along with others. These experiences
will teach them how to be brave, try new things, and be a leader. They will be taught new skills like archery, hiking,
flag ceremony, campfire cooking, swimming and boating and will be taught to find ways to express their feelings
and observations in arts, crafts, journaling and skits.
Promoting Healthy Relationships
Helping Children Do Well: Child Wellness
Lead Agency: Women’s Resource Center
Description: Women’s Resource Center (WRC) will collaborate with The Children’s Center of Susquehanna and Wyoming Counties (CAC) to provide programming in schools and to local community groups and organizations. The WRC Teen Advocate will maintain a regular presence in middle and high schools through Susquehanna County. The CAC staff will focus on programs for elementary schools, pre-schools and head start programs. Both agencies will provide programming to local groups and organizations such as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and faith-based groups. WRC and the CAC will also provide training and education to staff and teachers within the schools and community organizations. Age-appropriate and current topical curriculums will continue to be developed.
In addition to education and outreach, counseling and advocacy services will be provided to those students and families experiencing dating violence, sexual abuse, stalking, domestic violence, and/or child abuse. The overall goal of the project is the educate and inform children and teens about the dynamics of domestic and sexual abuse among families and within dating relationships in order to promote an understanding of healthy relationships to break the intergenerational cycle of family violence and work toward our common goal of ending domestic and sexual violence in our community.
Summer Rocks
Helping Children Do Well: Academic Readiness
Lead Agency: Susquehanna County Library System
Description: The Susquehanna Country Library System participates in a nationwide summer learning program. This free program features a fun-filled summer of activities, book giveaways, and field trips. Interactive programs will be available for all age groups, infants to teens.
Summer Reading programs help your children continue learning throughout the summer to combat the regression of skills that many children experience over the summer and to give them an opportunity to experiment with interactive STEAM tools and projects.
Youth Development
Helping Children Do Well: Mentorship
Lead Agency: Susquehanna County 4H
Description: 4-H is a youth development program that teaches leadership, citizenship, and life skills in project clubs all over Susquehanna County.
4-Hers participate in community service projects, fundraisers, project-specific training, clinics, leadership events, and competitions at 4-H State Achievement Days and the Harford Fair. 4-H is extremely educational and gives youth the opportunity to learn things that they might never learn anywhere else!