News / 

UNITED WAY COMMON GOOD AWARD


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

This is Chris Redgrave for Zions Bank Speaking on Business.

United Way of Salt Lake has a reputation for putting their head down and going to work. Recently they received national recognition for their strategic work in collective impact, with their targeted efforts in neighborhoods and communities, addressing health and education. It's called the Common Good Award for Innovation, and only three out of 1,800 affiliates worldwide to receive this award. Folks, this is a big deal!

The three Common Good Awards — Innovation, Impact and Turning Outward — were designed to recognize partnerships that strengthen and advance communities through original practices that are achieving results and making measurable impact. United Way of Salt Lake received the Innovation Award for their efforts to dramatically change the delivery of early education in Utah.

A major concern United Way of Salt Lake discovered is that in many communities 6, or more, out of 10 kids are not ready for kindergarten, which means they aren't prepared to learn on the same level as their peers.

United Way of Salt Lake was recognized for their forward-thinking on early education programs in South Salt Lake. In partnership with the City of South Salt Lake, Granite School District, Voices for Utah Children and many other supporters, they created the Early Learning Network whose efforts highlight the crucial need for improved access to early learning opportunities. This has helped at-risk children close the achievement gap and be on grade level.

When you unite through collective impact, which in this case is private sector, nonprofit sector, schools and government, you can see significant changes. In the words of United Way of Salt Lake, "We can solve big social problems if we decide to work collectively."

In order for this approach to be effective, you must: 1) agree on a common agenda; 2) use data to drive decision making; 3) work together in new and different ways; 4) commit to constant communication and 5) have a backbone organization bringing people together. United Way of Salt Lake is playing that role, so every kid comes to kindergarten ready to learn and achieve in all study areas.

For Zions Bank, I'm Chris Redgrave, speaking on business.

United Way of Salt Lake 257 E. 200 South Salt Lake City, UT 84111 801-736-8929 www.uw.org

Most recent News stories

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast