CICOA Earns United Way Accreditation

United Way Accreditation Opens Doors to New Opportunities

For more than 100 years, United Way has worked to fight poverty by coordinating its fundraising efforts and allocating funds to agencies. For the first time, CICOA will be able to apply for those grants as CICOA now joins United Way’s network of 84 accredited partners throughout Central Indiana. We could not be happier. 

Receiving the accreditation will open the door for us to collaborate with more organizations and to stretch dollars and combine resources to help the most vulnerable citizens in our communities. This has never been more important as CICOA struggles to find adequate resources to support services for the burgeoning population of older adults and people with disabilities. 

“CICOA demonstrates an ability to forecast and adjust for the changing landscape of our community’s needs, and their programming aligns with multiple outcome measures around our Basic Needs strategy,” said United Way’s Chief Impact Officer Sara VanSlambrook. 

United Way also noted that CICOA’s strategic plan includes intentional equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives, a strong financial standing, and management of financial and organizational risk—all keys in helping us grow and respond to community needs.

While being able to apply for United Way grants is a huge plus, being part of United Way means so much more. Like United Way, CICOA has been rooted in community collaboration, which allows us to expand those community partnerships to help even more people. United Way, like many funding organizations, wants to see how we can stretch those dollars by working together, not in silos. We intend to do just that.

Accreditation also helps us open our minds and learn from other organizations. Together, we can enhance what we’re doing and help elevate and support others by pulling the best from each of our organizations. 

That work begins now. The next round of United Way grants is for basic needs, so our senior leadership team will look at how additional funds can best be put to use to make a real impact. 

One of our key concerns is transportation, which is more than getting from point A to point B.  Transportation impacts the quality of life for so many people in Central Indiana and beyond. We’ll be looking at what we can do with other like-minded organizations to offer new solutions and to fill the gap in basic needs that prevent people from living their best life as independently as possible. 

These are the same issues at the core of United Way’s vision, and we are eager to get started working together to help Central Indiana individuals and families thrive.

Related: Read more at uwci.org: United Way Approves Accreditation for Three Community-Based Organizations

Tauhric Brown

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