United Way of Southern Chautauqua County Announces $1,045,000 in Funding to 29 Agencies
United Way of Southern Chautauqua County is pleased to announce the organizations and programs that will receive awards through United Way. In total, 42 programs at 29 agencies will receive $1,045,000 in funding. The agencies include: A Children’s Place, Allegheny Highlands Council Boy Scouts of America, American Red Cross, Chautauqua Blind Association, Chautauqua Adult Day Care, Child Advocacy Program of Chautauqua County, Chautauqua Lake Child Care Center, Chautauqua Opportunities, Chautauqua Safety Village, Chautauqua Striders, Community Connections at Findley Lake, Community Helping Hands, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Chautauqua County, Family Services of the Chautauqua Region, Girl Scouts of Western New York, Jamestown Community Learning Council, Jamestown Public Market, Junior Achievement of WNY, Meals on Wheels, Mental Health Association in Chautauqua County, Prevention Works, The Relief Zone, The Resource Center, Salvation Army, UCAN City Mission, Winifred Crawford Dibert Boys and Girls Club of Jamestown, YMCA Jamestown, and YWCA of Jamestown.
Funding decisions are made by panels of community members from different sectors of Chautauqua County. This year, 48 volunteers, placed on 8 panels, went to 37 different site visits at each organization that applied for funding. The panels then met to make funding decisions, which are approved by the UWAY SCC Board before funding is released in July. Allocations volunteers included representatives from Alliance Advisory Group, Inc., Bush Industries, Chautauqua County Government, City of Jamestown, Community Bank, Cummins, Hope's Windows, Lake Shore Savings Bank, Lockwood Insurance, M&T Bank, Monofrax, Northwest Savings Bank, Northwestern Mutual, Paychex, Southern Chautauqua Federal Credit Union, Tim Hortons, TITAN X, UPS, UPMC Chautauqua, Weber Knapp, and Wegmans.
During the allocations process, panel volunteers were interviewed for a special video series, #KnowYourWhy, where they explained what got them involved with allocations at United Way, what they learned, and why they enjoy this volunteer effort. You can find the playlist of videos on United Way’s YouTube channel.
“It’s the community that raises the money during our annual campaign, and it’s the community that decides where the money goes during our allocations process,” said Amy Rohler, Executive Director. “This year, we had significantly more requests for funding than money we had to allocate. The allocations panelists make very difficult decisions to ensure we are putting the community’s money towards its best and highest use.” Rohler added, “I am looking forward to another successful campaign in 2022 so that these essential programs and services can continue to meet the needs of the community.”