From the Director
Recently, I had the honor of joining a panel focused on barriers to employment with an emphasis on youth aged 19-24. The event was sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, where it was held. (Did you know Missouri is the only state with two Feds? The second is in Kansas City.)
I was joined on the panel by Esther Shin, President at Urban Strategies, Inc., and Robin Phillips, CEO of Childcare Aware of Missouri. Our moderator was Nikki Carter with MU Health, and guest speaker was Ronda Anderson with Missouri’s Dept. of Higher Education and Workforce Development. Each of us was there to speak about the top barriers to employment that impact all ages, not just youth. Transportation, housing, and childcare are becoming universal challenges to many employees everywhere.
In describing Urban Strategies’ approach to creating life-changing solutions, Esther used the term “data walk.” Each month she and her team dig into data to ensure they are capturing, measuring and sharing effective data, while assessing progress indicated by the data. I’ll admit that I am envious that her team can do this on a monthly basis. As our donors know, we collect data from our partners every year. We are monitoring data on our new internal program, United We Work, and have already made slight adjustments based on our first six months. The insight provided by a monthly “data walk” of the entire scope of our collective impact efforts could be amazing!
Robin Phillips spoke at a luncheon I attended over a year ago that was the catalyst for our Childcare Coalition. Connections made there helped us to partner a childcare center with a business willing to commit to a certain number of slots each month. This consistent income helped the center survive while awaiting subsidies paid by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) that are months behind. Small childcare providers simply are not financially able to pay staff and expenses while waiting for Uncle Sam to deliver the subsidies that are critical to helping low-income families continue to work. We are eager to tap into Robin’s expertise as we explore solutions to childcare shortages and challenges in our community.
This event initiated by Neelu Prath of the Federal Reserve served as yet another reminder of the importance of networking and collaborating. As we frequently say in workplace kickoffs, rarely does a family or individual need help due to one circumstance, and rarely can one organization provide everything they need to thrive. The power of the United Way network in our community and globally empowers us to take on overwhelming challenges, like transportation and childcare, that no one organization could tackle alone. People and organizations across the state and across the country are facing the same challenges. Sharing our efforts at conferences and on panels like this one allows us to make even more connections to serve our community. I was honored to be a part of it and heartened to be reminded we are in good company when it comes to knocking down obstacles to employment. United Way of Southeast Missouri is proud to be part of the changing tide rising to lift all boats.
