United Way of Brazos Valley is more committed than ever to its mission to provide stability for its residents and to improve their quality of life as a result of an extremely tumultuous year. It does so by building relationships and connecting with the community. These relationships have been essential over the last handful of months, says Alison Prince, United Way of the Brazos Valley president and CEO, a Texas A&M graduate who has been working with the nonprofit since 2008 and has served in her current position for the past six years. “Because of existing relationships, we can help address the issues that come up because we can't always plan out everything that happens,” she says.
United Way of Brazos Valley is part of United Way Worldwide which helps support individuals who are looking for access to resources relating to education, income, and health. The local nonprofit was informally founded by a volunteer board in 1953 and was formally established in 1979 as United Way of Brazos Valley. This allowed the organization to expand its services and resources to those in need in the surrounding areas through a handful of programs and opportunities.
Its current resources include the Early Literacy Program, which provides families and children in Brazos Valley with access to books through giveaways, book drives, baby book bundles, and donations; the Youth Leadership Cabinet — a student-led organization committed to connecting with and serving the community through volunteering; and community impact grants, which are available to nonprofit organizations in the seven counties that make up Brazos Valley with a focus on health care, education, and financial stability. United Way of the Brazos Valley administers other funding opportunities as well, such as the State Employee Charitable Campaign, the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, and Community Builder grants.
According to Prince, the referral call center, 2-1-1 Texas, is the pulse of the community. It connects residents in need to specific resources such as food, shelter, utility assistance, housing and rental assistance, employment assistance, childcare, health care, and more. This program has seen a 95% increase in overall calls from across the state and a 20% increase in calls from the Brazos Valley within the past year. “A lot of the calls and the needs in the community just went up because of things related to COVID,” Prince says.
In response to the dramatic increase in needs by nonprofit organizations and small businesses hurt by the impacts of the pandemic, United Way of the Brazos Valley has teamed up with the Community Foundation of the Brazos Valley, the Bryan/College Station Chamber of Commerce, the City of Bryan, and the City of College Station to create the Brazos Valley COVID-19 Community Relief Fund. Prince explains that if they can help these businesses keep their employees, there will be a lower risk of a chain reaction for other needs.
"We were just trying to be that stop-gap,” Prince explains. “If we can help businesses keep their employees during this time, then they won't end up having needs that our nonprofit partners have to respond to.” She adds, “We knew the needs were going to be greater, anyways, but we were trying to mitigate that as much as possible and keep people employed. because if people can stay employed then they don’t need food; they don’t need rent; they don’t need all of those assistance things.”
Throughout the year, employees from a number of local businesses, including Macy’s, Wells Fargo, and Seidel Schroeder and Company, volunteer for events hosted by United Way of the Brazos Valley, such as Day of Action, a worldwide event that allows volunteers to join in United Way’s fight for stability and quality of life.
The local nonprofit continues to prepare for what 2021 has in store for Brazos Valley. “Being able to adapt in a moment's notice is incredibly important,” Prince says, “and using technology to connect has been crucial.” She reflects upon the past year and what they’ve learned as an organization: “Having those strong relationships and existing channels of collaboration is what’s key.”
For more information, visit uwbv.org.
