How United Way of Stanislaus is changing its focus

United Way of Stanislaus County on Tuesday announced a major shift in direction, toward becoming a “backbone organization” to support the county’s Focus on Prevention initiative.

The next year will be a time of transition, said United Way President and CEO Francine DiCiano. “In July 2018, we’ll hit the ground running with all the pieces in place.”

At a meeting Tuesday that included some United Way board members and leaders from county government and the Stanislaus Community Foundation, she said UW will keep its own board and autonomy but will repurpose its programs to align with Focus on Prevention.

The county launched Focus on Prevention more than two years ago to tackle social problems, including homelessness, through engaging the entire community — business, neighborhoods, education, health care, nonprofits, government and faith-based institutions.

Its goals include reducing homelessness, strengthening families, investing and supporting youth, and reducing recidivism and re-entry into the criminal justice system.

What United Way is doing is “huge,” County Supervisor Terry Withrow said. There are many groups within the county that have the best intentions but operate within their own silos, he said, and United Way is tearing down a very large one.

Another big one is the county itself, which has an annual budget of more than $1 billion and many mandates on how it operates, said Marian Kaanon, president and CEO of the Stanislaus Community Foundation. United Way’s alignment with Focus on Prevention will allow the government and the nonprofit to increase their impact.

“The county has a lot of work to do for ourselves,” said its CEO, Jody Hayes. “This allows us a the county to focus internally. The United Way and its board represent the external capacity and backbone.”

That need to strengthen the external component was was discussed by Focus on Prevention’s Stewardship Council, but no one wanted to create something new, said Ruben Imperial, community development manager for the county chief executive’s office. Imperial is the Focus on Prevention project manager.

What was needed, Kaanon said, was an organization with great fundraising experience and deep roots in the community that already was “working in the space of social innovation. That left just a handful of organizations.”

And the United Way board already was looking at its strategic plan, she said.

“Our organization was facing an adaptive dilemma, said United Way board member Clint Mort. “We could have continued to have some level of success for five, 10, 15 years, but it wasn’t going to have the continued positive impact we wanted to see. If we didn’t change, we weren’t going to be the proper stewards of our donors’ money and impact the county in the best way possible.”

Fellow board member Fred Cruz said that as donations have trended downward, United Way has been considering its direction. “Continuing the way we worked in the past was no longer a successful model,” he said.

As for what, exactly, the nonprofit will be doing this time next year, he said he can’t answer that right now. “We could be a facilitator of funds,” he said.

“We could be capacity building with neighborhoods and faith groups,” DiCiano said.

Hayes said he doesn’t see funding as a major concern. More important is aligning the energy that exists in this county — the desire people have to help — with the needs that exist, he said. “A key component will be at the neighborhood leve, the household level, helping them find a way to connect with Focus on Prevention.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2017 at 3:05 PM with the headline "How United Way of Stanislaus is changing its focus."