Dear Community Partners,

  I invite you to review our 2009 Report to the Community by clicking on the cover page at the bottom.  In this report you will see all the ways United Way of Fresno County helped our communities get through a very difficult year.

  To summarize the report, in 2009 many of our friends, family members and colleagues lost their jobs, homes, healthcare coverage and faced increasing economic difficulty caused by a deepening recession.  Community organizations faced unprecedented demands for service.  There simply was not enough money available to meet the demand for basic subsistence needs of food, clothing and shelter.

 

  To respond, United Way of Fresno County advocated for more funds to come to Fresno County and the valley, we provided expert advice through aggregate data provided by 2-1-1 Fresno County, focus groups, and needs assessments.  We offered more hours of staff time than ever before to address the mortgage crisis, homelessness, covering California's children with healthcare, and access to health and human services.  We worked with many community benefit organizations to build their capacity and find sources of funding streams.

 

  I hope you will take a moment to learn more about our work by reviewing this report.