Community Impact

^{Your Titusville Area United Way is a driving force in improving the lives of the residence of the Titusville region. We do this by working with our community partners to provide solutions to the problems that you have identified as the most important to our area. Below are just of few of the initiatives that the Titusville Area United Way is working on to improve your life.}

^{PA CareerLinks BEST Program}

Terri Ann Wig, Chief Professional Officer of the Titusville Area United Way and Lynn Cochran, Director of the Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce, announced today the beginning of a new program to address the needs of employers and job seekers in our region. The PA Careerlinks BEST program will be offered at the Titusville Area United Way during the first quarter of 2006.

The BEST Program has been designed to give job seekers the skills that area employers are looking for based on surveys returned by the employers. The program is a 40 hour, 2 week program that includes instruction in such topics as teamwork, communication skills, workplace ethics, computer basics and basic math refreshers. Drug testing and resume building are also part of the program.

Terri Wig learned of the BEST program late in 2005 and contacted Beth Repasky, Coordinator for the program. "One of our Impact or need-based areas of funding and programming includes Economic Self Sufficiency, stated Wig. When we learned of the BEST program and its emphasis on meeting the employers’ needs as well as improving the job seekers skills, we knew we wanted to bring the program to Titusville. The program currently has a 75% success rate in placing its program participants." Terri went on to state, "We not only want to help those who are unemployed or under-employed to become self-sufficient, we also want to aid our area businesses in attracting the best possible employees to their businesses. This is just one small way we can do something for the corporate citizens who help us to achieve our organization goals each year. Contact Titusville Area United Way at 827-1322 or call CareerLink at 678-5096 fosr information on being one of the BEST!

Partnership for Perscription Assistance A national coalition - the Partnership for Prescription Assistance - has launched the largest-ever private-sector program to help patients who lack prescription coverage get access to the medicines they need. The partnership includes pharmaceutical companies, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, other health care providers, patient advocates, and community leaders. UWA is working with PhRMA (the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America) to make information available via 2-1-1 and local United Ways about this new program. The following NCL companies are members of PhRMA: 3M, Abbott Laboratories, Aventis, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Eli Lilly and Company, Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer and The Procter & Gamble Company.

If you need help paying for medicine, call toll-free 1-888-4PPA-NOW (1-800-477-2669) or visit the Partnership for Perscription website.

In conjunction with the PPA program, the Titusville Area United Way has established an emergency perscription fund for those who are un-insured and have a one-time perscription need. The Titusville Area United Way will work with individuals requesting funds to aid them through the PPA process to obtain free or low cost perscription assistance in the future. If you or someone you know need emergency assistance or help in registering for the PPA program, Contact Us.

Success By 6® United Way Success By 6® is the nation's largest network of early childhood coalitions, bringing together business, government and non-profit sectors in new ways to give young children the best start in life.

More than 350 Success By 6 coalitions are galvanizing communities and states around early childhood development. They're raising awareness, improving access to services and advocating for public policies -- especially around early learning and child care -- to improve the lives of young children and families.

United Way Success By 6 has a national strategy to address root problems that prevent children from entering school prepared to succeed. That's why United Way Success By 6 is joining with the Ad Council and Civitas to launch the Born Learning public engagement campaign, designed to help parents, grandparents and family/friend caregivers create early learning opportunities for young children.

Through national public service advertising, a Web site, educational material and community mobilization support, Born Learning provides "doable" action steps for parents and caregivers that are fun, easy - and can be done in everyday moments - to help prepare young children for school. [Find out more by visiting www.bornlearning.org

Success By 6 Vision:
All children will enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

Success By 6 Core Beliefs:

The period of life from birth to age 6 offers a crucial window of opportunity to establish a foundation for a child's future success.
Children 0-6 depend on their parents and caregivers for early learning experiences that prepare them to succeed in school - and life.
It's up to all of us to create communities and systems that support young children, their early learning and their families.

Each Success By 6 initiative is organized through a local United Way, and engages as community partners a variety of business, government and non profit organizations. Success By 6 initiatives are generating long-lasting community change to support young children by bringing stakeholders together and galvanizing communities to solve problems and create strategies for system and policy change. To learn more about United Way's Success By 6 initative click here SB6

Your Titusville Area United Way is actively working to establish a Success By 6® collaborative initiative within the Titusville Area School District boundries.

Legislation and Public Policy Pennsylvania Legislative Updates - Link to the United Way of Pennsylvania Legislative Updates Newsletter. This Newsletter helps local United Way organizations to better understand the Public Policy and Legislative issues and how they effect the human service organizations in the communities they serve.

2-1-1 an easy to remember three digit telephone number that connects people with professionals trained to listen and find help for people with non-emergency individual and family problems.

Every hour of every day, someone in the United States needs essential services-from finding substance abuse assistance to securing adequate care for a child or an aging parent. Faced with a dramatic increase in the number of agencies and help lines, people often don't know where to turn. In many cases, people end up going without these necessary and readily available services because they do not know where to start.

While services that are offered through 2-1-1 vary from community to community, 2-1-1 provides callers with information about and referrals to human services for every day needs and in times of crisis. For example, 2-1-1 can offer access to the following types of services:

Basic Human Needs Resources: food banks, clothing closets, shelters, rent assistance, utility assistance.
Physical and Mental Health Resources: health insurance programs, Medicaid and Medicare, maternal health, Children’s Health Insurance Program, medical information lines, crisis intervention services, support groups, counseling, drug and alcohol intervention and rehabilitation.
Employment Supports: financial assistance, job training, transportation assistance, education programs.
Support for Older Americans and Persons with Disabilities: adult day care, congregate meals, Meals on Wheels, respite care, home health care, transportation, homemaker services.
Support for Children, Youth and Families: child care, after school programs, Head Start, family resource centers, summer camps and recreation programs, mentoring, tutoring, protective services.
Volunteer Opportunities and Donations.

Click to learn more about 2-1-1 in Pennsylvania.

Click to learn more about National 2-1-1.