Community Impact

Community Impact are strategic initiatives made by United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties to address social issues in our community. Beginning in 2015 with our literacy initiative, we launched the Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in Harvey County. Since then, we have grown this area of our work significantly and have many community impact projects we're working on. 

Tools for Schools

Tools for Schools is our educator initiative that aids teachers in Harvey County school districts to purchase supplies for their classrooms. As we have now expanded into Marion County, we are excited to explore brining this initiative to our new communities. 

Harvey County Child Care Task Force

With the closing of one of the largest childcare facilities in Harvey County, United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties was asked to serve on a task force to address the child care shortage in our community. We are currently leveraging federal grant dollars to tackle this issue with the support of the Task Force. 

Healthy Harvey Coalition

We serve as the fiscal manager for the Heatlhy Harvey Coalition. In this role, we serve in a leadership capacity on the coalition and help drive health related initiatives in our community. We are able to bring healthy food initiatives, outdoor activity equipment, recreational trail updates and much more by leverage millons of dollars in grant funding for our community. 

Volunteer United

As an organization that works with many nonprofits across all sectors, we heard time and again about the decrease in volunteerism following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. We felt it was our responsiblity to work with our partners to find solutions to this issue. We know our partners rely on the generosity of volunteers so we wanted to help them bolster this important part of their organizations. We were able to secure funding to support a volunteer center here at United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties. This allows us to assist in the recruitment of volunteers and our system provides organizations with much-needed stewardship and automation assistance.


If funds allow, United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties will make special, one-time investments in organizations or projects that have the potential to make a significant impact in our community. This mini-grant program has funded some exciting and innovative projects over the years. Organizations interested in receiving Community Impact Investment support should contact United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties to discuss the project, projected outcomes and financial request. These investments will be contingent on funds raised during the annual campaign and at the discretion of the United Way of Harvey and Marion Counties Board of Directors. 

Community Impact Investments

2022:

  • Clothes for Kids - clothing for children in the Halstead school district
  • Newton Public Library - contribution to the new library project
  • Railer Boxcar - clothing and food for children in the Newton school district
  • Peace Connections - transportation services for clients to attend Getting Ahead classes
  • Newton High School - financial literacy program for students
  • Hesston Public Library - WiFi hotspots so more individuals have access to the internet

2021:

  • Peace Connections - transportation services for clients to attend Getting Ahead classes
  • Prairie View - WiFi extenders to allow staff to work six feet apart while in office
  • Kansas Learning Center for Health - play area enhancements to make it more engaging and educational for students 
  • Hesston Fire/EMS - hydraulic lift system to aid with loading patients into vehicles