United Way Hosting Synergy Session to Generate Ideas for Financial Stability Initiative

United Way of Hancock County will be hosting a fast-paced, idea-generating event on Thursday, November 16 from 1-5 p.m. at the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts Armes Event Hall. The “Synergy Session” is open to nonprofit organizations, companies, businesses, churches or education representatives who have an interest in working together to addressing financial stability for at-risk or low-income families in Hancock County.

John Urbanski, president and chief executive officer of United Way said, “To quote 7 Habits of Highly Effective People ‘synergy lets us discover jointly things we are much less likely to discover by ourselves.’ Our goal for this event is to encourage the exploration and development of collaborative projects that will qualify for funding through the Financial Stability Initiative.”

Participants will have an opportunity to network with other organizations and share information about their programs, products or needs as related to financial stability. The event organizers will encourage the identification of gaps and the development of new ideas to build a stronger web of financial stability for Hancock County residents.

“United Way of Hancock County is a facilitator and a convener. This event is just one example of our desire to gather like-minded individuals to tackle a major issue in our community,” said Urbanski. “

The event is a follow up to the recently unveiled Financial Stability Initiative which was presented to the community on October 10th.   United Way of Hancock County has committed to making five million dollars available over the next five years to fund collective impact driven, collaborative projects that will improve financial stability of hundreds of families in the community.

The timing of the event is purposefully scheduled to be shortly after United Way’s new “request for proposal” process is made public on November 10. The first round of grants will be due on February 1, 2018. As an alternative, grant applicants may choose to apply for funding later in the year during a second round of grant applications due on May 31, 2018. More information on the timeline and requirements will be shared at the event.

“It is our hope that the timing of this event will allow for new programs or collaborative efforts to develop with plenty of time to submit a grant application by February 1,” said Urbanski. The grant requests will be reviewed by a team of local leaders and grants will be awarded by April 1. For the first time, United Way will consider multi-year grant awards. Urbanski stated, “We know that many years are needed to make major, positive change happen in a community. We recognize that groundbreaking programs need time to show results.”

The event is free. Refreshments will be served. Attendees are asked to register at http://liveunitedhancockcounty.org/synergy-session.