United Way of North Central Oklahoma (UWNCO) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit program located in Ponca City with a mission to “improve lives with the caring power of our community.” It envisions “a community working together to ensure all of its members flourish and thrive.” Our United Way offers its services to all of North Central Oklahoma. It facilitates an annual fundraising campaign each year to fund projects and initiatives within our area that make life better for our citizens. With a staff of just two, Executive Director Tara Goldman and Administrative Assistant Krista Urioste are an incredibly hard-working and efficient team.
United Way is a global network spanning 37 countries and 1,100 communities. Our local program began in 1938, raising $19,500 in its first year under the name “Ponca City Community Chest.” Now called United Way of North Central Oklahoma, the program has raised over 30 million dollars during its 85 years of service to our area. United Way is not just a fundraising organization though. So much of what it does involves connecting community partners, donors, volunteers, and leaders within our area to “focus on the root causes of our community’s most critical issues,” as Goldman puts it.
UWNCO raises money to fund programs that improve lives in three over-arching areas: Education, Financial Stability and Health/Safety. Agencies that wish to receive funding from United Way must complete an application in the spring. The application must outline their plans for the funding and how the plans fit into one of UWNCO’s three tenets. Agencies are required to be a 501(c)(3), with a proven track record of running effective programs and being financially stable. UWNCO has an Allocations Committee that reviews all applications and makes decisions based on the “merit of organization and program performance and the resources that are available for investment.” Simply put, it strives to do the best that can be done with the funds donated each year.
Education initiatives aim to help children and youth achieve their potential by ensuring access to quality childcare that prepares children for school and learning, offering programs that teach young people positive life skills and helping students maintain or improve grade point averages and stay in school. United Way supports education efforts at the Child Development Center through a program that emphasizes life skills and school readiness through creative “hands and minds.” It also sponsors Leadership Camps for the Boy and Girl Scouts of America. These camps train through programs meant to build personal character on several different levels.
Financial Stability initiatives work to promote greater financial stability and independence through meeting basic needs of food and shelter, stable housing and senior access to healthcare resources. UWNCO partners with New Emergency Resource Agency (NERA), Peachtree Landing, Survivor Resource Network’s Reach & Rapid Re-Housing and the Retired Senior Volunteer Medical Transport Program in these efforts. The medical transport program alone has aided elderly residents in our area in getting to over 270 medical appointments. United Way also partners with NERA to help provide food to our community. It has partnered with Peachtree Landing and Survivor Resource Network to help house citizens in our area.
The Health and Safety tenet involves improving access to healthcare services, promoting a healthy lifestyle, promoting safe environments for seniors and those in need; children and youth advocacy, and health and safety investments. To reach this goal, UWNCO has worked with the Retired Senior Volunteer Ramp Program, Northern Oklahoma Youth Services (NOYS) and the Survivor Resource Network’s Child Advocacy Program. United Way has facilitated RSVP volunteers building over 50 ramps through the ramp program. The program has also supported efforts of NOYS and Survivor Resource Network in protecting the children of our area.
Partnerships listed above reflect efforts that have been funded in the past through annual allocations. That is already a lot. However, United Way is doing so much more in our community! On top of the projects, its annual allocations fund, United Way also partners with various agencies on additional projects to further meet needs in its three areas of concern.
Through a partnership with the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, local children can sign up to receive an age-appropriate book each year until they are five years old. Since launching the program in 2020, United Way has funded the distribution of over 16,500 books for children in Ponca City, Tonkawa, Newkirk, Burbank, Fairfax, Shidler, Marland, Red Rock, and Kaw City.
Each year United Way hosts an Annual Days of Giving food drive to help those with food insecurity over the holidays. The food is given directly to those in need, as well as used to fill local blessing boxes and donated to nonprofits. United Way recently started the first Day of Caring. This project organized over 100 volunteers who engaged in 16 different service projects at eight nonprofit agencies in our community. This year, United Way is running its first Cover Me Campaign. It is partnering with Survivor Resource Network and others to address needs of the unhoused population by providing blankets, sleeping bags, hats, gloves, coats, and more. United Way also facilitates a program called the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA). Through this program, volunteers helped prepare 726 tax returns in 2023.
For several years, UWNCO has partnered with community organizations to host the Drug Store for local 5th-7th grade students. Its goal with this event is to “take area students on a journey that will teach them the deadly truth about drug abuse.”
An exciting new venture for 2024 is United Way’s Collaboration with the Community Health Foundation of Kay County to improve the health of our community. Through this combined effort, Goldman and Community Health Director Kelli Northcutt have created a calendar for 2024 that has monthly and daily prompts encouraging users to make healthy choices. Each month has a different theme to keep things interesting throughout the year. Anyone can get the calendar by signing up for a copy (or copies) on UWNCO’s website. This would be a great tool for offices to use throughout the year to encourage their staff to stay healthy. Some of the themes are healthy goal setting, heart health, building a balanced diet, stress awareness, mental health and exercise.
These are only a handful of the programs and initiatives United Way is facilitating in our community. The work it is doing is vital to our citizens. United Way believes when we “Live United, We Thrive.” Our local office is certainly proving that to be true. If you’re looking for a place to share your time, treasure, or talent this year, United Way would be a fantastic place to start. Goldman stresses that UWNCO is volunteer-driven, and she and Urioste could not accomplish all they do without the help of our incredible community. Goldman says, “United Way brings people together from all walks of life to be a part of local solutions. Hundreds of local citizens and corporate partners are engaged in improving our community by raising money, volunteering their time, and advocating our message.” You can find out more about its work on its website at
https://www.uwnco.org/
or on its Facebook page by searching for United Way of North Central Oklahoma.
