Help Local Children and Families with a Year-End Gift

As we celebrate the season of giving, we invite you to join us by supporting children and families here in Lake County. Your gift will make it possible for us to make an even bigger impact on our local community to help improve and save lives.
We hope we can count on your support this holiday season. This year, your gift goes further thanks to a matching gift from our UWLC Board, who will match all gifts up to $7,000.

In 2019, our early learning programming prepared more children to succeed in a changing world and break the cycle of poverty. Some highlights:

• Our Kindergarten Countdown Camps—for incoming kindergarten students with limited to no preschool experience—expanded to new communities, enabling even more children to learn key readiness skills and thrive in school.
• Our Reading Success program expanded to new schools and classrooms, helping kindergarten through 3rd grade students develop strong reading skills with improvement rates 25%-33% greater than their peers.
• We introduced a new volunteer opportunity—Stuff the Bus—partnering with 19 companies and collecting 861 backpacks with essential school supplies to help children from low-income families start school ready to succeed.

Finally, thanks to the incredible support and collaboration of many individuals, community leaders, and partners, we fulfilled a decades-long vision to bring a best-in-class 211 solution to Lake County. Our new 211 helpline is now Lake County’s one-stop shop for help connecting everyone in our community to critical services. Since late September, our 211 specialists have answered more than 1,000 calls and texts guiding people to the life-changing help they need.

Together, we are achieving long-lasting results for our community, our neighbors, our children.

Wishing You a Warm and Bright Holiday Season!

You helped us accomplish so much this year! Thank you for supporting our mission to create lasting change in the Lake County community. We are grateful for your kindness and generosity. Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season.

– Your friends at United Way of Lake County

Thank You, Reading Success Tutors!

Reading Success volunteers recently came to United Way to meet other volunteers, share tutoring insights and tips, enjoy light refreshments and pick up their winter break book selections to give to the students they tutor. Giving a book to students prior to break helps encourage them to continue reading over the holidays.
Thank you to all our amazing volunteer tutors for helping students develop strong reading skills and improve reading performance so they can be on track to succeed in school. You all truly embody what it means to LIVE UNITED!

Celebrate the Season of Giving

This GivingTuesday, Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County (HFNLC) sponsored our campaign and matched all new or increased gifts up to $5,000. We are thrilled with the support of our community and happy to announce that we exceeded our goal! A huge thank you to HFNLC and everyone who made a GivingTuesday gift.
The funds raised will sustain our new 211 program for years to come. That means that all 703,000 Lake County residents will have access to critical information and resources in their times of need.
Everyone who made a gift of $211 or more is now a part of our 211 Club. You can join our 211 Club or learn more here.
If you missed out on GivingTuesday, consider making a tax-deductible, year-end gift to support our programs. This year, your gift goes further thanks to a matching gift from our UWLC Board, who will match all gifts up to $7,000. Click below to make a gift or learn more.

Now Recruiting: Leaders United of Lake County

Leaders United of Lake County (LULC) is a new group of volunteer, young professionals who strive to help local students achieve success and become the future leaders of tomorrow.

At the end of November, LULC started a new morning program with Robert Abbott Middle School (RAMS) in Waukegan. Members meet with students before school and focus on tutoring, academics and mentorship. Working one on one or in small groups with RAMS scholars helps students achieve success and gain confidence to build leadership skills. These leadership skills help students navigate through the remainder of the school year and will prepare them for success in high school.

On December 5, LULC held their first recruitment event at Bosacki’s Brewery in Mundelein where they sampled brews and spoke with potential new members about how this new group creates positive change in Lake County. They have recruited seven new young professionals, for a total of 17 members!

Follow LULC on Facebook for invitations to future events and updates on the meaningful work they’re doing in the community. Interested in joining? Contact Bobbi Selvik via email at Bobbi.Selvik@uwlakeco.org.

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Meet Our New Interns

United Way of Lake County relies heavily on the work of volunteers to help make an impact on our local communities. This includes our interns who are ready to volunteer their time and effort to help make a difference. These interns are a valuable part of what we do and how we do it.

Our Success By 6 program has welcomed two new interns to their team: Maria Martinez and Monica Carrasco. Click on their names to learn more about them and their projects.

Interested in interning with us? Click the button below to learn more.