As the saying goes, “Nothing ever changes until somebody motivates a critical mass of the right people to commit to change.”

It’s a good saying – and it happens to be true.

The need for change is immense. You don’t have to look far to find troubling statistics on school readiness and achievement, children and families in poverty, and individuals and families struggling to gain access to high quality and affordable healthcare.

The first step in summoning real, lasting, community-wide change is acknowledging the reality of the needs. This requires open, honest and inclusive conversations as well as coming together to organize and mobilize efforts and resources in effective, strategic ways. That’s how we collectively create meaningful change.

To take that first step, people must recognize that money alone is not the answer. If it were, we would have “fixed things” by now. We live, work, play and innovate in a region that is home to extraordinarily generous companies, foundations, nonprofits and individuals. That’s a critical part of the mix. Beyond that, transforming the community requires all of us to have shared goals, awareness and commitment to working together to achieve success.

The good news is, United Way has always partnered across all sectors to identify the greatest needs in the community, define their root causes, and mobilize human and financial resources to accelerate change and advance the common good for all. Even better, we’ve succeeded because so many in our greater community have been willing to partner as well.

That’s the call to action I want to make today. Each person’s willingness to provide the “critical mass” to bring about change is crucial to achieving specific goals in the areas of EDUCATION, INCOME and HEALTH. Our collective success hinges on our ability to continue and grow these partnerships.

We all win when a child realizes his or her full potential.  We all win when individuals and families have enough income to support themselves through retirement. We all win when individuals and families have access to high quality and affordable healthcare.

If you’re already engaged, thank you! If you’re looking for the opportunity to join us, welcome aboard! To LIVE UNITED, you can GIVE, you can ADVOCATE and you can VOLUNTEER. I look forward to showing you how! Please email information@uwbckr.org