United Way provides grant funding for innovative solutions to our community’s issues. Take a look at this list of our current grantees and all of the good they’re doing. Click here to learn how to apply for a grant.
GRANTS FUNDED 2018 – 2022
Health Grants |
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Catalpa Health Catalpa Health serves more than 8,500 kids annually in the Fox Valley, with some families traveling from outside of the Fox Valley to receive care. Half of the clients served are of financial need and often have additional, significant barriers to accessing mental health services and completing treatment. The expansion of the program will add three full time cases managers over two years and will significantly increase the number of children served. It will also serve more children through the urgent care clinic and provide more comprehensive wrap around support for families with significant needs such as connections to community resources and navigation through the mental health continuum. |
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Community Benefit Tree When serious illness or disability strikes, the whole family is affected. Each person in a family plays a specific role that is part of the family’s everyday functioning, meaning the illness of one family member disrupts the whole family. It is through this lens that the Family Support Program works towards supporting families in medical crises by offering case management, resource navigation, financial planning, basic needs support, and more. Families receive ongoing guidance as they navigate a stressful season, leading to better mental, emotional, and financial well-being. At any time, there are between 35-45 families on the long-term caseload. Family support specialists help these families set and reach goals over 1-5 years. |
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Family Services of Northeast WI Community Connections is a collaboration between Family Services and Outagamie County, Department of Health and Human Services, Children, Youth and Families Division to prevent the incidence of child abuse and neglect. The rapid-response program will provide 24-weeks of voluntary, pro-active services to families at-risk for child maltreatment, but not currently involved in the child protection system. |
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N.E.W. Mental Health Connection The Qualitative Study of Teen Suicide-Related Behaviors is designed to identify the reasons why our youth are attempting suicide at twice the rate of the rest of the state and the nation. The research will also include an environmental scan of social media to better understand its role in self-harm and suicide-related behaviors. The project will be led by a research team from the Medical College of Wisconsin, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine. |
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N.E.W. Mental Health Connection, Appleton Police Dept., Outagamie County Mental Health, and Medical College of WI The Crisis Response Team is a co-responder model, where a mental health clinician, employed by Outagamie County, will be embedded in Appleton Police Department. Together, the behavioral health officer, dressed in plain clothes, and the clinician will respond to calls for service that are related to mental health. Meeting individuals who are having a mental health crisis in their home allows that individual to have a greater sense of security, safety, and autonomy. This coupled with a response in an unmarked police car and an officer in plain clothes will decrease the likelihood of the crisis escalating unnecessarily. |
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N.E.W. Mental Health Connection The Mental Health Navigator assists law enforcement, across the Tri-County, in getting individuals in crisis connected to the mental health system of care. The primary responsibilities of the MHN are to provide case management services to individuals referred, which includes connecting them to an outpatient mental health provider, ideally within 7 days, and providing follow-up through three complete appointments to ensure engagement. The MHN also has the ability to assist individuals with transportation to/from community mental health appointments (within a 30-mile radius) through prearranged transportation services, support to meet basic needs, and reminder calls to prevent no-showing. |
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Samaritan Counseling Center Currently, clients who call for an intake have to wait between 2 and 4 weeks for the appointment. In order to address the wait time two Centralized Clinical Intake Specialist (CCIS) positions have been created. There will be one point of entry for clients that is more therapeutic in nature and responsive to the level of care needed and provide therapeutic point of triage, assessment and referral by a treatment provider. The positions will allow clients who have concerns of a more urgent nature to be seen more promptly. The CCIS will gather a brief screen from the client regarding their needs. If the client is determined to be appropriate for outpatient treatment they will be scheduled with one of the CCIS or another therapist for further assessment. If they are determined to not be appropriate for outpatient care during the screening process, or if a different treatment specialty is recommended, an appropriate referral will be made. This will enable Samaritan to refer the client to the most appropriate care provider before having to come in for an intake only to have to be referred elsewhere. |
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Tri-County Dental The Dental Bus offers free dental care to all children who qualify for the free or reduced lunch program in their schools in the three counties we serve; Winnebago, Outagamie, and Calumet. This grant allowed for the purchase of a new dental bus. Services are provided to children Pre-K through 6th Grade. Typically, the bus arrives at a school on a Monday to do the exams including x-rays. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the bus returns to clean their teeth, apply sealants, and provide oral health education. On Friday, restorative work is performed on the bus. |
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Us 2 Behavioral Health Since inception, the agency has grown from two unpaid volunteers (the Founders) to 18 full-time employees and with the intent to increase clinical providers during 2023. With this growth strategy, Us 2 has identified a major constraint; business/operational resources have not grown in parallel with clinical department. Today, the Director of Operations & Finance is bound in managing day-to-day business tasks. This includes bookkeeping, marketing, website management, technology, procurement, project management, human resources, etc. Us 2 reached a point where this is no longer feasible for an agency of this size. The solution to this problem is to hire a full-time Business Manager to free up capacity of this Director role that will enable them to allocate incremental resources. |
Education |
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Boys and Girls Clubs of the Fox Valley STAR is a collaboration among school districts, post-secondary institutions, and community partners to improve the academic achievement levels, graduation rates, and post-secondary enrollment rates of African-American youth. |
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Boys and Girls Clubs of the Fox Valley Page Turners aims to reduce the disparities in third grade reading proficiency by providing individualized reading instruction to kindergarten through third grade students who are ranked in the bottom 25-30% of reading proficiency. The program will be offered at five elementary schools and the Boys and Girls Clubs locations in Appleton and Menasha. The school sites include: Badger, Columbus, Foster, and Highland elementary schools in Appleton and the Little Chute elementary school. |
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Catalpa Health Funding will help Catalpa Health provide a one-day training session in September 2020 for Catalpa Health team members as well as providers within the community, centered around deconstructing systemic racism and exploring ethical considerations related to cultural diversity. The goal is to increase provider competency in serving different populations and to consider how to better recognize concepts of marginalization and privilege. The training will also increase equity and inclusivity both within Catalpa Health, and also the community at large. |
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Empowered Tutoring (formerly Life Tools Foundation) Empowered Tutoring was created in 2014 to provide quality 1:1 tutoring for students in Grades K-12 whose families could not otherwise afford the cost of tutoring. The agency provides math, reading, science and ACT prep tutoring, plus they mentor students in life skills (organization, accountability, perseverance, confidence, etc.). These skills allow other students to excel academically and to pursue whatever it is they are called to do with their lives. The families served must meet a specific level of financial need. The families live in the greater Fox Cities area, from Oshkosh to Green Bay. Empowered Tutoring have served 500+ students since the agency began. The Shoulders to Stand On program is in partnership with schools in the Fox Cities where they provide mentoring to high school girls who need extra help in life skills, academics and taking that next step after high school. They project to serve 70+ students this academic year. With the possible expansion to the Appleton area high schools, this number could increase to that of 85-90 young people. |
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Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin Parent Connection serves first time parents prenatal to age three with home visitation, screening, and developmental information. Family Wellness serves any parent or caregiver with children birth to 18. The outpatient counseling program provides therapy services to individuals and families from age five to senior. Clients have mental health concerns such as depression, anxiety, trauma response, family conflict, and serious mental illness. The therapy team provides school based mental health providers in the PATH program and to high school students in Triumph program. |
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Goodwill North Central WI Goodwill NCS programs provide opportunities to people with barriers and disadvantages and arm them with tools to reach their full potential. Focus on skill building by teaching social skills, digital skills, and employability skills to help individuals overcome their barriers to reach their goals. The Skills to Build Program will serve individuals and youth in the Fox Cities who face barriers or disadvantages. This includes at-risk youth, youth, individuals with disabilities, individuals experiencing poverty or lack of affordable housing, and veterans. |
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Menasha Joint School District and Fox Valley Technical College Even Start Family Literacy Program helps low-income families increase their educational attainment and potential for economic stability. Parents and children go to school together; the children receive early childhood education and the parents learn skills to become more self-sufficient. |
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Pointters Community Initiatives Workforce development is a career focused program designed basically for black students within the Fox Valley Area to prepare for future career and opportunities. The program provides students with relevant skills and training needed to reach goals. PCI successfully presented a workforce and entrepreneurship workshop in March 2022. 60 Black high school students from the Appleton Area School District actively participated in this program, and 95% of the students would recommend it to others. PCI is planning to run a similar program this Fall to target incoming Freshman and Sophomores. Pointters plan to use this as a model that can be expanded for use in all schools throughout Outagamie, Calumet, and Winnebago counties. |
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Volunteer Fox Cities Volunteer Fox Cities assists isolated adults age 65 and older in Outagamie County in Tech-Ed for Older Adults. This one-on-one technology education program is designed to teach older adults how to use their own electronic devices and to introduce them to other forms of technology and social media in order to reduce their social isolation and give them the tools and training they need to be socially connected to their community and helping them to live independently. |
Financial Stability |
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Community Clothes Closet This is a trial program to bridge the gap between the current inventory and existing need. Funding to provide new men’s and women’s underwear on Community Clothes Closet general shopping floor. Clients are referred from several different social agencies, churches, schools, and food pantries around the Fox Valley. CCC serves ALICE families, students, foster children, single parents, veterans, disabled, victims of domestic abuse, and people who have experienced a fire, flood, or other natural disaster. Currently, CCC accepts gently used underwear to provide to clients. This program will strictly focus on adults ages 18+ in the trial run. Providing new underwear to clients is important for their health, self-confidence and restores an individual’s sense of dignity. |
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Fox Valley Veterans’ Council The Fox Valley Veterans Council executes a dual mission of assistance and outreach. The Veterans Emergency Fund (VEF) Program provides assistance to local veterans for basic needs. This includes housing, utilities, transportation, dental, food insecurity, and education. The Outreach Program facilitates our role as a Community Veterans Engagement Board as designated by the Federal VA. Both programs are permanent, ongoing functions of the organization. |