By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – There are State of the Union and State of the State addresses. But to let people know how things are going even closer to home, the United Way Wednesday held its first State of the Community Address.
There was no sugar coating this message. The statistics projected on a giant screen painted a grim picture of the state of the Western New York community.
Fact one - Buffalo is the second poorest big city in the nation. Nearly half of Buffalo's children live in poverty, one out of four region-wide. United Way officials say poverty underscores every problem their agencies tackle. Pam Brown works as a facilitator at school #53 with some of the children most profoundly effected by poverty. She talks about one scond grade, little girl whose mother died last summer. Brown says many of the children in the city face loss from violence and drugs.
The United Way supports the "Close the Gap" program that employs facilitators like Brown at six high-risk schools in Buffalo. The program is seeing ressults, with students at the schools showing improved behavior social connectedness, and academic performance.
United Way President Arlene Kaukus said highlighting success stories like this and others will be part of the annual address to the community.
She said the information inspires a spirit that has created other collaborations and programs that are dealing with everything from domestic violence to homelessness.
But, right now, the agency that supports these and hundreds of other programs is also struggling. The United Way annual campaign is about three million dollars behind its goal of fifteen million. Kaukus, urged people to donate or pledge, saying everyone needs to pitch in to raise the community out of poverty.
The United Way Community Care campaign ends on March 31.
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