United Way of Central Jersey focuses on generating measurable community impact in the following four areas. Investments are made in specific programs with defined, measurable goals.

• Helping Children Succeed: Ensuring a Quality start for underserved children; reducing high school drop-out rates; improving basic literacy skills.
• Fostering Self-Sufficiency: Moving families and Individuals beyond poverty; responding to people in crisis; connecting people in need to help through 2-1-1
• Caring for Seniors and People with Disabilities: Helping the elderly and people with disabilities live independently, with dignity and respect
• Accessing Healthcare: Helping people in need get access to quality health services and identify and manage chronic disease

• Children who are abused and/or neglected are at a higher risk of academic failure, juvenile crime and adult criminal behavior.

Solution:

• The United Way of Central Jersey operates the Nurse-Family Partnership a voluntary nurse home-visitation program serving low-income first-time mothers.

Results;

• 79% less child abuse and neglect
• 25% reduction in cigarette smoking during pregnancy
• 69% fewer arrests among the mothers
• 30 month greater interval between the and first and second child
• Two and-a-half years less welfare use over a 15-year period following the birth of the first child
• Four dollars of government spending saved for every dollar invested in the program (1997 Rand Corporation Study)

• 4,527 reports of domestic violence in central New Jersey. The F.B.I. estimates only 1 in 10 instances are actually reported.

Solution: United Way of CentralJersey is addressing many of the underlying causes of poverty - inadequate workforce development, lack of affordable housing, and economic instability - through programs that:

• Provide unemployed and underemployed adults and youth with job skills training
• Provide emergency care and housing for victims of domestic violence
• Provide a 24 hour, confidential hotline, called 2-1-1, to information and resources that offer solutions. Every thing from food, housing and healthcare to legal services, drug treatment, childcare and more.

Results: United Way programs have led to:

• An increase in adults earning higher wages and employed in more stable jobs
• More people receiving immediate human care and emergency services they need

• 70% of senior citizens are impoverished within one year of entering a nursing home.

Solution: United Way of Central Jersey is helping the elderly and disabled save money by enabling them to remain in their homes and out of managed care. United Way programs:

• Provide seniors with home healthcare, transportation, and nutritious food
• Strengthen services and resources available to caregivers
• Help seniors remain physically active, the single most important step that most adults can take to improve their overall health.

Results: United Way programs have led to:

• More seniors and people with disabilities living independently, with dignity and financial security
• Caregivers who are better prepared to handle the needs of their patients
• Increasing long-term physical activity among older adults reduces medical costs, postpones disability and increases the ability of even the oldest to live independently

Solution: United Way of Central Jersey works with healthcare agencies to create and implement programs that:

• Bring medical care to underserved communities with mobile screening and pediartic health units
• Reduce the spread of communicable diseases through education, outreach and awareness efforts
• Provide counseling, nutrition assistance and transportation to doctor's appointments

Results: United Way programs have led to:

• Over 7,000 people received health screening and preventive care
• 150,000 patient in-home visits