Uniting America: Connecting with United Way-Lake County

I spent all of my Tuesday morning this week at the offices of United Way Lake County. United Way-Lake County is very active. I had the pleasure of meeting with Carolina Herrera, the manager of community engagement.  She is in charge of identifying what is needed in the community and manages corporate accounts. She gave me some great insights into Lake County, which are always helpful for me since I am not a native to Lake County. She was also  able to give me some insights about volunteer recruitment. What was really exciting was that we talked about some potential collaborations for community service days. They are currently starting their Live United Saturdays campaign. One Saturday a month families have the opportunity to volunteer across Lake County. Uniting America and United Way might be collaborating on one of these weekends; stay tuned for more information.
    I was then able to meet with 3 AmeriCorp members that United Way has hired. They all work in the schools, and two of them were present at my kick off meeting last week. Since they have been working in Waukegan Schools they were able to provide with some great commentaries about Waukegan Public Schools. One program that they run is called Computer Learn and Earn. This program allows families who don’t have a computer at home to get one for free after being trained on basic computer functions and specifically on how to check their children’s grades on the internet.  Another program that they run in the schools is called Success by 6. This program strives to make sure that all children are reading at grade level by third grade. They also work to improve students’ attitudes towards reading so that they will read independently. It is great to see the great work that is already being done in Lake County. The more people I meet with the more I can see how Uniting America can fit into a larger already existing framework of great work.