When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, two area United Way affiliates—the Inland SoCal United Way (ISCUW) and the United Way of the Desert (UWD)—joined forces to respond to the extreme levels of need.
The organizations worked to provide assistance in paying for housing, health care, food and utilities via a remarkable direct-cash-aid program, at a time when many people found themselves without paychecks. This partnership wound up serving as a “proof-of-concept” for more dual efforts—eventually culminating in a merger of the two affiliates.
“This really was the impetus for us to move forward with the (merger),” said Kimberly Starrs, president and CEO of Inland SoCal United Way, in a recent interview. “At the height of the pandemic, our agencies both had to move to remote work, and had switched over to emergency-response mode from the regular programs that we typically offer. We had an opportunity to work together on an immediate cash-aid distribution project that worked out really nicely for our agencies and for the community. We were able to distribute about $4 million in direct cash aid to the region, and we thought, ‘You know, this felt really great. This was an awesome opportunity. What other things can we do well together?’”
That led to about two years of discussions and more partnerships.
“We assisted each other with different staffing projects. Also, the team at ISCUW has been working with the UWD team on fundraising for the last two years, so we’ve learned that we do a great job working together,” Starrs said. “The model for us has always been: ‘Let’s talk about it? What are our values, and how do they align? Let’s give it a test. Then let’s test it a little more.’ It’s the dating, get engaged and then get married type of model.”
On July 1, the merger of the two entities took effect, with Kristal Granados, the former CEO of United Way of the Desert, becoming the executive director of strategy for the merged affiliates. Interestingly, it was preceded three years earlier by the merger of the former Riverside County and San Bernardino County United Way affiliates, which resulted in the creation of Inland SoCal United Way.
“We were able to build on the efficiencies that existed,” Starrs said. “The Inland Empire United Way (of San Bernardino) had traditionally been heavily involved in direct-service programs, and at Inland Valleys United Way (in Riverside), we were heavily involved in fundraising and administrative support services. … So we were in the planning phase for about 18 months, and completed a major merger—remotely and at the height of the pandemic.”
While the two organizations have merged under the ISCUW umbrella, the United Way of the Desert name will continue to be used.
“(People will) continue to see the name of United Way of the Desert attached to things that happen in the desert,” Starrs said. “We’ll take a regional approach to rolling out more programming across the entire inland region of 5 million-plus residents. While UWD will continue to have their flagship programs that they’ve been running for quite some time, we’ll take a careful and data-driven approach to how we roll out some of the other 50 programs that ISCUW offers currently. … What residents can expect to see is an increase in service, while maintaining that UWD experience.”
One of the most-utilized services provided locally by the United Way is the 211 Contact Center. In the 1990s, the Federal Communications Commission set aside the phone number 211 to help with health and human services. Since then, United Way affiliates and other organizations throughout the United States have been managing this resource. On their website, the ISCUW describes their 211 service as “a designated number for information and referrals to social services and other assistance. Callers are referred, and connected to, appropriate agencies and community organizations that provide health and human resources and services.”
Starrs said the 211 Contact Center is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.
“It’s more than just information and referrals,” Starrs said. “It’s a connection to the programs that we offer. We do enrollment directly into benefit programs on the line.”
In years past, Starrs said, there were frequent caller complaints about slow response times and long hold times.
“We’re really proud of the improvements we’ve made in our contact center,” Starrs said. “Because of the mergers and the additional talent we were able to bring on, along with the significant investment made there, when folks call now, they have about a two-minute wait time. Also, we now have the technology for callbacks, so if people call and they don’t want to wait … we’re able to put them in the queue for a callback.”
Callers most often are seeking housing, utility and/or food assistance.
“Rental assistance, rapid re-housing, deposit assistance—all of those housing programs are very much in high demand,” Starrs said. “… On the utility-assistance programs, we work in partnership with several agencies. There’s the Help2Others water program that’s been a hallmark program of UWD for a long time. Living in a desert, working in a desert, water is life. Being able to offer assistance with water bills from all of the different water agencies in the Coachella Valley is something that we’re committed to continuing, and we’re looking to expand that out to the rest of the region as well.”
The United Way administers numerous programs, raging from an emergency assistance fund for nonprofits dealing with COVID-19-related expenses, to the popular Kids Pack program (in which backpacks of food are given to local children each weekend, ensuring they arrive at school Monday morning ready to learn), to the Inland SoCal Crisis Helpline, to Cal Savers, a workplace retirement savings program providing a simple, low-cost way for workers to invest in their futures—to name just a few.
The United Way is also working to espouse values such as equality and respect for diversity. Starrs recently wrote a statement titled “United for All” in support of LGBTQ+ students, school staff and school boards that have recently faced “attacks … driven by hate and intolerance.” We asked if the statement led to any backlash.
“We are an organization that values each individual’s right to live and thrive as they see fit, and our goal and our mission is to unite people, ideas and resources to improve lives.”
Kimberly Starrs, president and CEO of Inland SoCal United Way
“No, it hasn’t resulted in any backlash against our organization,” Starrs said. “And I would welcome a conversation with anybody about that, and how it absolutely aligns completely and without question with the values that we hold as an organization.”
Why did she feel it necessary to issue the statement?
“I took over as CEO on April 1, so this has been my first opportunity to (take such an action) on behalf of the organization,” Starrs said. “Looking at what’s happening across the country, and what’s happening locally, it’s shocking to me personally. I’m thinking, ‘We’re in the year 2023 and having this conversation, and the way that it’s going feels really terrible.’ … After hearing feedback from our staff members who identify with this community—I identify personally with the community—and knowing that our continued silence could be viewed as a lack of support, it was very important to make it clear where we stand, who we are, and the values that we hold and what we do support in the community. We are an organization that values each individual’s right to live and thrive as they see fit, and our goal and our mission is to unite people, ideas and resources to improve lives. … You can expect to see more positions like that come from our United Way, speaking about the values that we hold and how that aligns with the values of our community.”
We asked Starrs what the new ISCUW has planned for the future.
“The next challenge for United Way is to take the learnings we’ve received over the last several years with the pandemic, and figure out how we can translate that into action for the future,” she said. “I think one thing we saw that was really evident across the board was that we really do have the ability to make incredible things happen if we have the will and the support to make those things come true. A great example is the rental assistance program. We distributed $300 million of rental assistance into this community. If you would have told me that five years ago, I would have laughed at you.
“Another program … that I think we’ll look back on as a major shift is the guaranteed-income pilot project that we’re doing in conjunction with the state. Over 18 months, we’ll be doing ($600 monthly) payments to pregnant people and to transitioning foster youth. We’ll have both local and statewide evaluation studies come out of that, and we’ll be able to look at the indicators for what kind of change is possible when we offer people this level of support. We’re in the planning phase of the program. Enrollment will begin in the next few months, and we expect payments to begin in January 2024.”
For more information on any of these programs, visit inlandsocaluw.org.
