mission
Every child needs a safe place to call home. Our work is helping individuals and families develop the financial resources and life skills they need to find and secure safe, stable and affordable housing.
updates
Housing First
Research has shown that while emergency shelter is necessary as a safety net, it will not put an end to homelessness as currently designed. Permanent housing opportunities are much more likely to stabilize families for the long term. United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley (UWMBMV) is striving to compel community-based homeless service providers to refocus their efforts to be in line with cutting-edge research showing the benefits for families who avoid lengthy shelter stays by entering stable, permanent housing sooner.
Funding Futures
United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley (UWMBMV) in collaboration with Massachusetts Individual Development Account Solutions (MIDAS), the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA), and the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) launched Funding Futures, an asset development strategy that seeks to help more than 200 Boston-area low-income families establish Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). An IDA is an income-eligible savings account used solely for the purpose of investing in qualified assets.
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
This year, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley (UWMBMV) formed a new partnership around free tax preparation. In collaboration with One Economy, a nonprofit that uses a technology-based strategy to help households improve their lives and join the economic mainstream, we worked to help people who made less than $40,000 last year file their taxes online for free.
events, research & resources
Living the Dream: Affordable Housing Panel
Earlier this year, a United Way of Massachusetts Bay poll revealed that the majority of Greater Boston respondents believe the American Dream is somewhat broken. An even greater number, 76 percent, believe that it is harder to achieve today than it was just ten years ago. In response to the poll, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley (UWMBMV), in partnership with the Bank of America and Northeastern University, has launched Living the Dream - a series of action-oriented panel discussions spread across the 2006-2007 calendar year that will take a hard look at the status of the American Dream in Greater Boston through a multi-faceted lens. We hope to jump-start the dialogue, engage the citizenry and create a community blueprint that identifies the action steps and commu nity groups needed to make social, economic and education al opportunities available to everyone in our community .
United Way staff
- Christie Getto Young, Sr Director - CI
- Elizabeth Curtis, Director - CI
- Danielle Luber, Assistant Director - CI
- Kory Eng, Director - CI