Speak United

Summer Bounty

Paola Ferrer — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:12:46 -0500

Our local farmers bring the best of their harvest to convenient locations around the city making it easy for city dwellers to get nutritious, locally-grown food. Unfortunately, many of our neighbors can not afford to visit farmers' markets for their purchases. This summer, however, a partnership between The Food Project and the City of Boston is making fresh produce available (and affordable!) to individuals and families receiving SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits. read more »

A place for youth in summer months

Meghan Keaney Anderson — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 07:20:49 -0500

A state-wide survey released last week by The Afterschool Alliance showed that just 30% of Massachusetts youth participate in summer learning programs. And yet, more than 50% of parents whose children are not involved in summer programming, say they would like to see their children enrolled in such programs. read more »

State of Emergency- Fallen brown and black young men

Alicia Canady — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:34:50 -0500

I can't stop crying at work today. How can I focus on raising money when four young men were shot or stabbed this past weekend? As I returned from my weekend trip I was bombarded with news that a childhood brother was gunned down. I went to school with his sisters. I remember Cory Johnson, handsome, clean, quiet, and polite, always had a smile, loved life and lived well. How could this happen? Why not? My young black and brown brothers are gunned down like slaughtered animals each and every week as it appears and it continues. This is a state of emergency yet there is no panic, no one running out into the streets yelling evacuate, stay inside, this city is on lockdown. read more »

Another Life Lost

Lanita Tolentino — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:31:01 -0500

Memorial Day Weekend was in full swing. Warm weather- check, list of cookouts to attend- check let the fun commence. That all quickly changed when the phone rang at 7a on Sunday morning. I'm always a little nervous when the phone rings early in the morning or in the middle of the night- never know what I might hear from the other end. This call was one of those. The news was that Cory Johnson, a family friend, more like a brother to me, had died. My heart sunk and my mind immediately went to hoping it wasn't by violence. read more »

Volunteer Alert: Horizons for Homeless Children

Meghan Keaney Anderson — Tue, 25 May 2010 15:12:59 -0500

United Way partner organization Horizons for Homeless Children is seeking volunteers for its 5th Annual Young Children Without Homes National Conference, which is taking place in a few weeks on June 15th. This conference will focus on: the value of quality early education and care for young homeless children; cross-systems training and network; collaboration locally and nationally; concrete strategies for local implementation. read more »

Lawrence gets $1.5 million in tax refunds…thanks to 50 volunteers!

Donna Stiglmeier — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:28:57 -0500

Last week, United Way along with the IRS joined four community agencies – Lawrence CommunityWorks, Hispanic Office of Planning and Evaluation, Greater Lawrence Community Action Council, Centro de Apoyo Familiar – in thanking 50 volunteers for being the backbone to success of a collaborative effort! Although tax filing is a one-to-one endeavor, gathering together to celebrate was important…this was an all time high return for this third year of the Lawrence EITC Initiative! read more »

Youth Start Ventures with the Help of United Way

Meghan Keaney Anderson — Tue, 18 May 2010 07:50:26 -0500

Imagine for a moment: You have a great idea for a start-up venture. You have just won the seed money to launch it, and you've secured the brightest minds and fastest rising stars from Deloitte, Windspeed Ventures, marlo marketing/communications, Aigner Prensky and other leading companies to help you and your team make your dream a success. And one more thing... you're 15 years old. read more »

Taking a Stand Against Racism

Paola Ferrer — Fri, 07 May 2010 15:05:06 -0500

On April 30th, our United Way joined over 2,000 organizations nationally to take a Stand Against Racism. Stand Against Racism is a movement initiated by the YWCA in 2008 to raise awareness that racism still exists in our communities and that it cannot be ignored or tolerated. Its objective is to bring organizations together, who believe like we do, that united we can eliminate racism read more »

Local Teen Named Massachusetts Youth of the Year by Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Meghan Keaney Anderson — Fri, 07 May 2010 10:57:45 -0500

The following is a news brief from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Woburn. United Way knows this young woman well. She was a member of our statewide action planning team for Success 4 Life. Congratulations to both Casandra and the Boys & Girls Club of Woburn! read more »

Keeping Kids in School

Guest Blogger — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 09:34:44 -0500

The following post was written by Guest Blogger Mazy Yap, a student at Boston University.

As I went online to cruise through my high school website reminiscing my youth, I discovered that each of the past graduating classes had a graduating rate of 99%. This means that in the past 10 years, only 10 of the approximately 1,000 total graduates have dropped out. Growing up in an international school environment that maintains such a low dropout rate, I was surprised by the relatively low graduation rate in Massachusetts last year. The 2009 report released by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education indicates that only 81.5% of the 77,038 enrolled students in Massachusetts graduated last year. If my math didn't fail me, this means that roughly 14,252 students dropped out from school in 2009. read more »