Dear Friends and Family,

Spring is a time for fresh starts, growth and renewal, and UAC and our 80+ nonprofit partner organizations, both large and small, are no exception. After a tumultuous year, it’s heartening to see our communities begin to re-open, while our partners continue to address the diverse issues that impact the day-to-day lives of individuals, families, and communities in the Greater Philadelphia region. Through the Power of Coalition, we are working together to address everything from positive youth development, adult education and job training, health and wellness-related services, financial education and empowerment, housing support and services, economic development and inclusion, and LBGTQ+ advocacy and services – just to name a few.

In this week’s newsletter, I want to shine a light on several of our partners and programs that have made a positive impact in recent months.

Coalition U is an ongoing collaboration between UAC and the Independence Blue Cross Foundation, which offers a free web-based learning hub exclusively for eligible nonprofits across southeastern Pennsylvania, from established nonprofits to individuals who are just getting started. Coalition U offers education modules on Board Development and Engagement and on Innovation in the Nonprofit Sector, providing access to resources for professional development, best practices in innovation, and building organizational capacity. I urge you to take advantage of Coalition U today!

SELF, Inc., a UAC Partner, is the largest provider of emergency and permanent supportive housing services and resources to single adults in Philadelphia’s vulnerable communities. As part of a new initiative open to individuals who identify as LGBTQ, SELF launched the Way Home Project in collaboration with the William Way LGBT Community Center with funding from the Office of Homeless Services (OHS). The innovative, cutting edge program, unlike any other of its kind ,was recently featured in an April 24 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. Through the project, OHS is offering one year of rental assistance – around $400,000 – to landlords who support the program. To date, 12 LGBTQ individuals who were experiencing homelessness have been housed, and by June 2021, a total of 40 LGBTQ individuals will have their own rooms in various buildings. The program’s founders hope that the Way Home Project will serve as a sustainable and replicable model for other efforts. I applaud SELF’s and OHS’s leadership to care for these individuals and for their efforts to serve more.

Finally, I want to highlight the incredible work of the Philadelphia Housing and Development Corporation (PHDC) in working with UAC to expedite the process of getting rental assistance into the hands of tenants facing financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Emergency federal funding was made available to states under the CARES Act to stem the growing rental housing crisis, but distribution of the funds was tied up due to long-standing bureaucratic hurdles. UAC was ready to step up as a trusted community entity, and is working closely with PHDC to help distribute $65 million in rental aid – $24M of which UAC is distributing. PHDC and its senior vice president for community investment, Gregory Heller, were featured about this work in a December 2020 article in the New York Times.

Please join me in applauding the incredible work of our partners. Together, we are truly making a difference in our communities.

 

Sharmain Matlock-Turner

President/CEO
Sharmain@uac.org