Newsletter March 2022

United Way of Southwest Virginia NEWSLETTER Issue No. 2 | March 2022

CELEBRITY BAGGING UWSWVA’s annual fundraiser received a boost from Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who spent an hour bagging groceries at the Abingdon, Va., Food City store. READY SWVA UWSWVA announced a regional, transformational project on December 8th. See how this initiative will transform the Southwest Virginia Region! HURLEY DISASTER RELIEF See how the Southwest Virginia community came together in times of need as a result of the devastating flooding in Hurley, Virginia.

IGNITE INTERNSHIPS R ead more to find out

EVENT SPOTLIGHT: Rural Resilience Summit! Ex plore our first ever Rural Resilience Summit featuring keynote speaker, J.R. Martinez!

What’s Coming Up? Check out the back cover for our upcoming events, an exciting announcement and more!

how Ignite Internships are creating opportunities for Southwest Virginia students and businesses

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“We believe Ready SWVA will be a model to be replicated in rural communities across the Commonwealth and beyond. But first, we need to succeed in addressing the problem here.” - Travis Staton

Ready SWVA initiative kicks off with public/private support

“The big goal of Ready SWVA is to build public-private partnerships to address child care issues that are preventing folks and families and individuals from re entering the workforce or remaining gainfully employed,” Staton explained.

United Way of Southwest Virginia (UWSWVA) announced Dec. 8 a new initiative to address the economic and social impacts of the child care crisis in the region. Ready SWVA will create five new child care centers with a minimum of 324 new child care slots across the UWSWVA coverage area, while also supporting the 206 existing centers that already work with UWSWVA. The eventual potential upside is the creation of 1,500 new child care slots in Southwest Virginia. At a Dec. 8, 2021 kick-off event at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, UWSWVA President and CEO Travis Staton told more than 150 leaders from Southwest Virginia’s public, private and social sectors, “Southwest Virginia employers have told us the region is losing the young, talented workforce in the labor ecosystem. A major barrier to retaining those talented young employees and potential employees is insufficient access to child care.

In addition, Ready SWVA will:

• Develop a regional cohort of professional, credentialed early childhood educators • Support regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategies created by each planning district commission to attract new talent, young families and higher-paying jobs • Support entrepreneurs in Southwest Virginia by developing an emerging industry sector as a sustainable small business with support from a shared services alliance, and • Provide long-term outcomes of a healthy, appropriately educated and trained, financially stable workforce through high quality curriculum preparing young students for school success.

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The work that United Way is doing with Ready SWVA will go a long way to craft a solution to quality, accessible child care. - Todd Norris, Ballad Health Senior Vice President of Community Health and System Advancement

Regionwide, Southwest Virginia faces a much greater child care availability shortage than the Commonwealth of Virginia on the whole. While Virginia faces a child care slot deficit of roughly 11 percent, that number in Southwest Virginia is closer to 30 percent. That, Staton said, amounts to around 7,000 children who would be eligible for child care if it were available and affordable in their community. Because the problem is region-wide, so too is the effort to address it. Through utilization of a hub-and-spoke model, the Ready SWVA initiative will use the community college footprint to strategically locate four “spoke” centers, benefiting communities throughout the region. “Over the next three years, this initiative will work across 21 localities to build an effective quality child care supply that can help address this problem in our region,” Staton said. The hub, to be located along the Interstate 81 corridor in Washington County, will include a shared-services center that will operate as a single back office for every existing child care center in Southwest Virginia that chooses to take part, creating cost savings and increasing efficiency. United Way of Southwest Virginia will not operate the child care centers. By adapting existing vacant properties for use as child care centers, UWSWVA will help develop the spaces and facilities in which private-sector partners will operate and expand publicly-available child care centers. Ready SWVA immediately garnered the support of the Southwest Virginia legislative delegation. Senator Todd Pillion carried a budget amendment to help fund the initiative. House Majority Leader Terry Kilgore sponsored the companion amendment in the House of Delegates. “This is transformational. I think it gives us an opportunity to lead.” Kilgore said. “Bringing business training, education and childcare all into the same room is going to create a win-win for everybody.” Ready SWVA immediately received support from private sector partners. Whitney Czelusniak, economic and business development manager for American Electric Power, said Ready SWVA has the opportunity not only to keep Southwest Virginians gainfully employed and to keep businesses running at their full potential, but also creates a unique opportunity to attract young talent and young families back to the region. “Access to childcare impacts a lot of different industries and a lot of different occupations. Ready SWVA is a great way for our region to begin to lay a strong foundation to support the early childhood system in a very robust way.” Concluded Staton, “We believe Ready SWVA will be a model to be replicated in rural communities across the Commonwealth and beyond. But first, we need to succeed in addressing the problem here.”

I’m excited about the leadership shown by United Way, the inertia that UWSWVA has unleashed in our region, and I’m looking forward to the results and successes of Ready SWVA. - Jonathan Sweet, Pulaski County Administrator Panelists (L-R) Smyth County Schools Superintendent Dr. Dennis Carter, AEP Manager of Economic and Business Development Whitney Czelusniak, United Way of Southwest Virginia (UWSWVA) President and CEO Travis Staton, Ballad Health Senior Vice President of Community Health and Sys tem Advancement Todd Norris and Pulaski County Adminis trator Jonathan Sweet. UWSWVA’s Scott Robertson, far right, served as moderator.

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then help with credentials for folks coming right out of high school. “And, I believe there is a real opportunity in early childhood education to enable our children to be better prepared for kindergarten. I’ve visited some really innovative early childhood education opportunities, and again, businesses want this in their communities because they need a workforce that’s reliable for a long time.” Youngkin also made a promise that probably pleased everyone in the store. “We’re going to go to work to get the grocery tax eliminated.” Food City opens its doors to United Way organizations in Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama for the annual fundraiser the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. United Way of Southwest Virginia benefits from events at 12 stores from Pennington Gap in the west to Pulaski in the east. United Way of Southwest Virginia recruits teams of four to six volunteers in each community to take hour-long shifts bagging groceries. Any tips the volunteers receive are donated to United Way of Southwest Virginia to support its work in an area that covers around 20 percent of the Commonwealth. Youngkin said he was happy “to stand up for United Way,” adding that he appreciates United Way of Southwest Virginia’s cradle-to-career approach. “This is all about making sure that Virginians have an opportunity from the minute they come into this world to actually live their dreams.” opportunity from the minute they come into this world to actually live their dreams.” - Glenn Youngkin, Governor of Virginia [United Way of Southwest Virginia] is all about making sure that Virginians have an

Governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin interacting with a Food City customer at UWSWVA’s Celebrity Bagging event

Youngkin takes part in UWSWVA Food City Celebrity Bagging event The annual Celebrity Bagging event at Food City stores has become one of the most popular events of the year. The fundraiser invites members of local communities throughout the region to bag groceries at their local store to benefit United Way activities, programs and initiatives. The 2021 event kicked the “celebrity” portion of the event up a notch, when then-Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin spent an hour bagging groceries at the Abingdon, Va., Food City store. The Celebrity Bagging event dovetailed nicely with the agenda on which Youngkin campaigned. It helps support programs including early childhood education initiatives and education-business collaborations, both of which Youngkin has said he prioritizes. “We can bring businesses in and those businesses can tell us what skill sets they want in the folks graduating from our high schools,” Youngkin said at the event. “Then we can partner with our local community colleges – and we have some fabulous ones in Southwest Virginia – who can

Celebrity bagging volunteers Tish Jackson and Lisa Brooks, Blue Mountain Therapy

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United Way of Southwest Virginia remains committed to long term relief for Hurley O n the morning of August 30, 2021, floodwaters inundated the small community of Hurley, killing one resident and causing landslides on the mountains surrounding the community. After first responders completed their work and officials estimated the total damage, it was determined that 40 homes were completely destroyed and more than 200 were in need of repair. United Way of Southwest Virginia (UWSWVA) swiftly mobilized volunteers, coordinated relief efforts with community partners like American Electric Power and Food City, became the fiscal agent of the Hurley Long-Term Recovery Group (LTRG) and began the long job of helping the community. UWSWVA stood up the Hurley Disaster Relief Fund and the region answered Hurley’s call, with donations raging in size from $5 to six figures coming from private individuals to large employers including Food City and Buchanan General Hospital, and private foundations. Even inmates at the Pocahontas State Correctional Facility chose to donate their own commissary funds. When the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied individual assistance and rejected the appeal filed by the Commonwealth of Virginia, Travis Staton, president and CEO of United Way of Southwest Virginia, wrote a letter to Governor Glenn Youngkin urging him to allow residents of Hurley access to the Virginia Disaster Relief Fund. The LTRG continues to coordinate volunteer efforts using the relief fund to purchase materials which volunteers from “We need other people to step up, and what better way they can do it than through United Way,” President and CEO of Food City Steve Smith stated after donating over $106,000 to the Hurley Disaster Relief Fund, “Travis and his staff at United Way are seasoned professionals in dealing with tragedies like this and when you give money to United Way and designate it to the Hurley flood situation, I know those dollars will get to the right places, to the right people, and be spent wisely.”

Repair and rebuild efforts in Hurley, Va.

other, mostly faith-based, organizations use to repair and rebuild the homes of Hurley. To date, $542,500 has been allocated from the relief fund in 61 cases considered by the LTRG. There remains much to do. The floodwaters changed the course of the stream that flows through Hurley, in some areas drastically. Permits cannot be issued for rebuilding some properties until the federal government completes a survey to establish the new boundaries of the floodplain. According to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, that process could take upwards of 18 months, leaving some property owners in limbo. In the meantime, UWSWVA is devoted to serving the residents of Hurley by continuing to work with the LTRG to complete the work that can be done.

From L to R: Buchanan County Supervisor Trey Adkins, Food City President and CEO Steve Smith, WCYB-TV General Sales Manager Ginger Lawson and United Way of Southwest Virginia President and CEO Travis Staton

To donate or learn more, visit unitedwayswva.org/HurleyFlood

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Ignite Internships create win win for Southwest Virginia students and employers Ignite Internships, an initiative of United Way of Southwest Virginia (UWSWVA) have proven to be invaluable to the businesses and students, who have been part of the program. The experience is designed to bridge the gap between work and learning in such a way that students will complete the program with knowledge of critical workplace skills gained through hands-on work experience. Employers gain eager, hard working interns with a real interest in learning the business. The internships, in some cases, have even led to full-time, long-term work opportunities for students. Employers in Southwest Virginia have a unique opportunity through Ignite Internships to show the next generation of employees they can be successful in long-term careers while remaining in the region after high school graduation. Jessica Vanover, Human Resources manager at West River Conveyors in Oakwood, Va., says, “For us as a company and for other businesses in our area, I think that it is important for us to let [students] know that we are here, that there is still an opportunity to stay here and be successful.” West River Conveyors has participated in the Ignite Summer Internship Program since the program’s first days and currently employs Ignite Interns from previous years. Employers also “For us as a company and for other businesses in our area, I think that it is important for us to let [students] know that we are here, that there is still an opportunity to stay here and be successful.” - Jessica Vanover, Human Resources manager - West River Conveyors

I think this internship will impact me and my life through college, through anything else that I do afterward, in a positive way. I think I really increase brand awareness and demonstrate commitment to their communities. Often described as a ‘win-win’ opportunity for students and businesses in our region, the Ignite Program had 52 interns participating in 2021 with 25 regional employers offering students positions in various sectors. Over the course of the program, with the help of 58 companies and 45 high schools, 102 summer interns have been placed. More than 50 percent of Ignite interns are experiencing their first job. Interns gain soft skills training by UWSWVA, go on to complete their internships, and deliver presentations about their experiences at the end of the program each summer. The Ignite Program receives overwhelmingly positive feedback from participating students and businesses each year and is looking forward to expanding internship offerings as more regional businesses get involved. UWSWVA encourages you to participate in the Ignite Internship Program by applying for a position or hosting an intern this summer. gained a lot. - AJ Bucy, Ignite Intern

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J.R. Martinez highlights 2021 Rural Resilience Summit A round 200 educators, healthcare providers, elected officials and community leaders from rural Virginia learned strategies to encourage individual and community resilience October 28, 2021 at the annual Rural Resilience Summit. The event, which utilized a hybrid live-online program, featured more than 20 speakers in the fields of kindergarten readiness, workforce readiness, mental health and collective impact (collaboration). “Over the last year-and-a-half, resilience has become a key to establishing, or re-establishing, a better quality of life,” said United Way of Southwest Virginia President and CEO Travis Staton. “Concurrent, modern, formidable issues are affecting our rural communities not only throughout theCommonwealth of Virginia, but all across Appalachia, and indeed, all of rural America.” The Conference Keynote Speaker was U.S. Army veteran J.R. Martinez, who survived extensive burns after being trapped inside a burning vehicle that had struck an improvised explosive device in Iraq. Martinez told of his experiences following the explosion, from multiple surgeries and depression to his first chance to help another soldier begin the process of recovering from his own mental and physical wounds, to reaching an understanding of how he could lead not only a productive life, but a remarkable one. There had been times while he was in the service, Martinez said, that he was leading an uninspired life because he felt alone and exploited. But by reaching out, he found his inspiration. Martinez explained howhe has been able, with help, to develop the personal resilience to lead a successful life. “You have to find your ‘why,’” Martinez said, adding that he had found meaning and purpose in his life through service to others. Morning Keynote Speaker Gayle Conelly-Manchin, federal co chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission, discussed the ARC’s five priorities for bringing Appalachian communities to parity with other American communities. Afternoon Keynote

Speaker Gerry Brooks, a school principal from Kentucky who has more than 3.5 million social media followers, demonstrated how the smallest moments of communication and understanding can have lasting impacts on children and teachers alike. The Summit was hosted by presenting sponsors Ballad Health, the Virginia State Office of Rural Health and United Way of Southwest Virginia. Other sponsors included the East Tennessee State University Center for Rural Health Research, General Dynamics, LGE&E and KU Foundation, the Rapha Foundation, and Verizon.

Rural Resilience Summit Keynote Speaker, J.R. Martinez

Everybody understands United way. Everybody understands that logo. When they see it, it brings peace. It brings comfort. It soothes people, not just because they see the word United way, because they know at the root there’s people that are involved that care - J.R. Martinez

Travis Staton United Way of Southwest Virginia President and CEO

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2022

MAY 17-18 Impact Awards and Rural Resilience Summit

Join us as we honor our community leaders and partners who have made a significant impact across all sectors in the Southwest Virginia region. Come and expereince the 2022 Rural Resilience Summit, where attendees will learn best practices and strategies to continue building relationships that support an equitable early childhood system, strengthen the cradle to-career pipeline, and engage families to build a healthier, more resilient community.

Visit our new, refreshed website! UNITEDWAYSWVA.ORG Featuring our new professional development portal and digital media hub!

D on’t let the impact stop there, use the enclosed envelope to make a donation to UWSWVA now! Y our generous contribution will help us continue to fight for the health, education, and financial stability of every person in Southwest Virginia.

Thank you to our Elite Partners for helping us make an impact on the Southwest Virginia Region!

Glade Spring

Atkins