EDUCATION

Our Partners
Your Gift at Work
Key Community Indicators

In 2006, United Way of Pierce County polled the community to find the most critical issues affecting our area. Education was one of the top three areas. Kindergarten teachers revealed that nearly 60 percent of the children entering school aren't ready to learn. This means they don't possess the social, emotional and behavioral skills necessary to participate in a classroom setting.

We also realized that fewer students were graduating with the skills they need to be successful. More than 23 percent of kids who enter high school don't graduate on time, and some don't graduate at all. In Pierce County, this means that three out of 10 students aren't graduating on time. In Washington state, Pierce County has a higher percentage of young adults age 18-24 with less than a high school diploma or GED (19.2%). The state average is 17.6%.

Our Focus

United Way is focused on helping children and youth achieve their potential through education.

Our Goals

Help more kids start school with the skills to succeed.

Improve the number of teens graduating from high school on time.

How We Can Achieve Our Goals

The first steps to achieving our goals was to learn as much as we could about the challenges facing our children and find partners who could help us make systemic changes in these areas. What resulted was a focused plan to improve our community as well as help guide funding guidelines for contributions made to United Way of Pierce County.

In 2007, First 5 FUNdamentals was born. First 5 is a consortium of early learning partners working together to leverage efforts and make a more significant impact on the issue of preparing kids to learn. Additionally, we partner with the Children's Museum of Tacoma and Promoting First Relationships to help parents be their child's first teacher. They are developing better relationships, learning more about kindegarten readiness and incorporating learning into play.

In 2010, United Way also implemented a new funding strategy that aligns our program funding with our efforts in Education. United Way currently funds 37 Education programs, including 15 focused on early learning and 22 around graduation.

We also joined forces with Tacoma 360 in 2010. Tacoma 360 works to improve student success by strengthening and aligning school and community services. With goals of building community-school connections to advance academic achievement while addressing the opportunity gap, empowering community organizations to better serve children and youth and increasing community awareness of the challenges and opportunities Tacoma students face, Tacoma 360 was a natural partner for our focus on graduation rates.

United Way of Pierce County works closely with both groups to help our children be successful in school and in life.

How You Can Help

To reach our goals, we need your help. There are many ways you can get involved:

Make a financial gift to United Way of Pierce County
As a parent, get involved in your child's education
Volunteer your time to tutor kids
Use your role as a business leader to advocate for education issues
Serve as a mentor
Write a letter to your political leaders or local editor

Back to School United Way of Pierce County believes in education and wants every child to have the opportunity to reach their full potential. Due to financial struggles, school supplies are some of the basic needs many children go without. United Way wants to change that and you can help. READ MORE

Off to College Campaign More than 1,000 students in Tacoma are homeless. In June, 45 of those students will be graduating and you can help them head off to college with the necessities to be successful. READ MORE

Kindegarten Readiness Calendar Help your child prepare for kindegarten with a little help from United Way.

Nick Jr. Beyond the Backpack or Nick Jr. Boost Take a quiz to find out if your child is ready for kindegarten, get learning tips and help your child learn through play with their favorite Nick Jr. characters.

ABC Mouse.com Use their step-by-step learning curriculum to prepare your child for success in the classroom. Pick their level, track their progress and watch them learn