Most Texans today struggle with the reality of living paycheck to paycheck, especially as the strain of the recession continues to hit wallets. Depending on the next payday leaves zero wiggle room in case of an emergency, like the loss of a job. In fact, more than half of Texans cannot cover household expenses for more than three months without a steady income. In the face of job loss, many Texans will go into debt to make ends meet. Austinites, according to our data, deal with an average of $16,000 in debt.

The situation in Central Texas is dire. Almost half of us are living in or near poverty and 40 percent of us don’t make enough to cover the basic cost of our family expenses. This impacts the education, economy and social fabric of our entire region.

These issues are bigger than individuals or segments of the community can address completely. United Way Capital Area (UWCA) works to address these critical issues by bringing together businesses, nonprofits and communities to provide comprehensive and holistic approaches that improve Austin sustainably.

UWCA's Bank On Central Texas (BOCT) program exemplifies the United Way model of forging partnerships to effectively and efficiently drive social change. The program brings together nonprofits and financial institutions to tackle poverty. BOCT empowers people to make better financial decisions and provides access to financial services and strategies to maximize their income.

There's power in partnerships. We're stronger, more effective and efficient together. The issues here are bigger than any one group can solve.

Finding out what Austinites need and how to improve the local community.

UWCA alleviates poverty through three focus areas — education, income, and health. In Austin, research along with community input determines the specific needs locally. Our experts understand how to make a corporation’s investment have a bigger impact.

“Particularly younger companies are more challenged in understanding who they should give their money to and what’s the best way to do that,” said our colleague Meredith Cohen, Vice President of Resource Development at UWCA. Companies that are new to the area, she said, also find that a partnership with us comes with the added benefit of helping introduce them to Central Texas’s key people and issues.

“A semiconductor company,” she added, “is not in the business of researching what’s the best way long-term to solve a community issue.”

UWCA’s research has revealed some of Austin’s income problems. About 47,000 Austin households do not have a bank account and are spending between $230 to $918 to cash paychecks annually.

So what can we do as a community to stretch the dollars of our residents? Bank On Central Texas helps families take the first steps toward saving money and becoming financially stable. The program aims to have 6,000 Austinites open a depository account by the end of this year. In its first nine months, more than 4,300 accounts have been opened.

Forming unique private-public collaborations to make a bigger impact on alleviating poverty in Central Texas.

Usually when UWCA talks with a company, there’s a desire to be philanthropic and give back.

“We want buy in and enthusiasm from companies and that often gets the best results,” Cohen said. “We have a great understanding of how a great campaign can work and the best way to connect a company to different partners in the community, but if we don’t partner and understand what the companies’ needs are as well and how they want to do it, we are not providing them with the best solution.”

A strong collaboration between UWCA, companies, and communities helps move the needle forward on social issues.

Companies become part of the solution through employee giving campaigns, volunteerism, and partnerships.

Employee giving campaigns don’t simply mean handing over a donation. It means learning about the needs of Central Texas and why giving back is important. The campaigns evolve into team building, morale boosting experiences at the workplace. Make a pledge and get to wear jeans on Friday—that’s just a simple, fun way to get involved.

Whether it’s cleaning up a park or playground, the volunteer opportunities that UWCA coordinates always make a tangible change in the community.

Employers who have partnered with UWCA’s Bank On Central Texas program and offer financial coaching for their employees have seen the benefits of their unique collaboration.

More and more, these businesses are finding that there is more worker productivity because their employees are not worried as much about finances at work and employees don’t take as much time off to deal with financial emergencies. Meanwhile, employees who participate in financial education programs often see their money balances and 401K plans increase by 70.3% after two to three years following enrollment.

United Way Capital Area makes investments with community partners and in the lives of the people affected — not just grants or donations.

When Samsung partnered with UWCA last year and contributed one million dollars to early childhood education, they didn’t just hand a check and walk away.

Samsung became committed to making sure their dollars would be a long-term investment. They wanted to ensure a big impact on early childhood education. Now a Samsung representative sits on the UWCA board, further cementing their investment and partnership.

UWCA applies evidence-based principles toward evaluating and analyzing success.

The Bank On Central Texas initiative, for example, helps support UWCA’s income goal for Central Texans to become financially stable by increasing income, building savings and obtaining quality financial education.

With corporate dollars not as free flowing anymore, now more than ever companies have a bigger focus on tracking results and outcomes, they hold people accountable and are more specific on the areas they want to support when they make an investment. Companies want to know, what did I change?

Employees at these companies are also much more hands on, especially when they contribute money to a campaign. We see a lot of these individuals wanting to go a step further and volunteer in order to see all aspects of the community problem and solution.

That’s the sweet spot of getting public and private entities working together. You get innovation and you get to know each other during the process. UWCA is a critical component of that mixture because we have the breadth and depth to bring about effective partnerships.