Fifty-nine percent of New Yorkers cannot afford the rising costs of basic needs—with the costs of housing, food, childcare, transportation and health care more than doubling over the past 15 years—making back-to-school expenses a real stressor for many families. The Build-A-Backpack Drive helps ease that burden, giving students the supplies and confidence they need to begin the school year ready to learn. 

Throughout the summer, 730 corporate partner volunteers came together through backpack-packing events organized by United Way of New York City. The initiative pairs the resources and volunteer power of corporate partners with the reach of 19 trusted community-based organizations, which distribute the backpacks to families in their communities.

“Every backpack represents one less expense a family has to worry about and one more student who can walk into the classroom feeling prepared and supported,” said Kanchana Suggu, Chief Impact Officer at United Way of New York City. “At a time when the rising cost of basic needs is straining household budgets, 730 volunteers joined corporate and community partners to ease that pressure for thousands of New York families. That is community power in action.”

Middle school-age backpacks included notebooks and folders, pencils and pens, highlighters,  a pencil case, erasers, a ruler, scissors, glue sticks, hand sanitizer, and a tissue pack. High school-age backpacks included mechanical pencils, gel ink pens, folders, spiral notebooks, and a water bottle with a string bag.

“Back-to-school expenses place real pressure on families, and JPMorganChase is proud to partner with United Way of New York City to help ease that burden,” said Tynnetta McIntosh, Head of the Office of Women’s Affairs at JPMorganChase and United Way of New York City board member. “Our employees came together to provide practical support for students across the city, helping them begin the school year with the tools they need to succeed.” 

“Every student deserves to start the school year feeling prepared and excited for what’s ahead,” said Carolyn Bidwell, Managing Partner at Brookfield and United Way of New York City board member. “Brookfield is proud to join United Way of New York City and so many others across the city in helping make that possible for thousands of young New Yorkers.” 

The Build-A-Backpack events took place at various corporate partner locations, including:

• 5C Investment Partners
• Brookfield  
• CIBC  
• Con Edison West Monroe
• Deloitte  
• DTCC  
• Eli Lilly  
• Ernst & Young  
• Fifth Third Bank
• Hellman & Friedman
• ING  
• Jefferies
• JPMC  
• Kyndryl, Inc.
• LVMH
• Petretti
• S&P Global
• Wolf Greenfield

For photos of the events, see here. For more information about United Way of New York City and how to get involved, please visit unitedwaynyc.org. 

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About United Way of New York City:

United Way of New York City works with a coalition of trusted partners to unite community power with citywide possibility, working at the intersection of government, private, and public partners to make a positive impact in our communities. We meet today’s most urgent needs while building transformative solutions for tomorrow by coordinating and aligning service providers, companies, local government, and New Yorkers to help families eliminate barriers and gain the agency to improve their lives for the better. Our core program areas are Food & Benefits Access, Health Equity, Justice & Opportunity and Education Equity, but at the end of the day our focus is to empower all New Yorkers to thrive with dignity. To learn more, visit unitedwaynyc.org.

The post United Way of New York City’s Build-A-Backpack Drive Equips 4,095 NYC Students with Critical School Supplies as School Year Begins appeared first on United Way of New York City.

Today, we’re launching the first in a series of new resources designed to give community based organizations and individuals clear, practical information to understand and respond to changes affecting these critical benefits.

Explore United for Benefits Access

Our SNAP Resources Hub is now available, which provides community-based organizations and families with multilingual, practical outreach tools to navigate new work requirements, with multilingual resources available today and additional language options for the website coming soon. Find out who is exempt, what activities count, how to report qualifying hours, where to find volunteer opportunities, and what to do if benefits have already stopped.

Through United for Benefits Access (UBA), we’re mobilizing community organizations, government, healthcare providers, policy experts, and philanthropic partners to strengthen cross-sector coordination and help New Yorkers keep their benefits.

Later this year, we will share additional resources to help individuals and community organizations prepare for upcoming changes to Medicaid requirements.

This work is made possible by the generous support and partnership of the Altman Foundation, Trinity Church NYC, and SOMOS Community Care. Together, we’re uniting partners, resources, and expertise from across our city around one goal: helping New York families keep the benefits they rely on.

The post United for Benefits Access: SNAP Resources to Help New Yorkers Keep Their Benefits appeared first on United Way of New York City.