United Way of Western Connecticut has officially announced the addition of four new members to our Board of Directors. Doreen Bentson, Luis Diez, Dr. Michael Stern, and Katherine Webster-O’Keefe will assume their roles on the board through 2025. They are the latest addition to the group of local community leaders who work together to support the organization while providing expertise and perspective on a regional level. 

United Way of Western Connecticut is pleased to announce this month’s Hometown Hero! Meet Mini Santosh, a local leader from Danbury, Connecticut who has been nominated for her work with the Action Early Learning Center.  

United Way of Western Connecticut is pleased to announce this month’s Hometown Hero! Meet Joan Laucius, a local leader from Sherman, Connecticut who has been nominated for her work with the Matthew 25 Project. 

United Way of Western Connecticut is thrilled to announce that two members of our team, Ashley Gaudiano and Elizabeth Quiñonez, have been selected as honorees for Fairfield County’s 40 under 40 by Fairfield County Business Journal. Ashley Gaudiano, Vice President of Resource Development and Marketing, and Elizabeth Quiñonez, Early Child Care Initiative Director, will be recognized for their accomplishments at an event on June 16, 2022 in Stamford alongside fellow changemakers from our region. 

United Way of Western Connecticut has announced the names of two Stamford High School Students as the recipients of the Roberta K. Eichler Heart of Gold Scholarship for 2022. Breana Chery and Dante Ayars, both students at the Academy of Information Technology and Engineering in Stamford, were selected by the Heart of Gold Scholarship Committee as this year's recipients. 

It’s National Small Business Week and we are fortunate to have hundreds of small businesses right here in Western Connecticut. They are the backbone of our local economies and in many ways, the heart of our local communities.

“Word of Mouth”—that’s the way many parents learn what’s going on in their neighborhood, their community, and their child’s school. When parents need the name of a good pediatrician, wonder if they should worry about a persistent cough, or need to know when the soccer sign-ups are, they usually ask a trusted neighbor or friend.

No child should grow up without access to the resources and opportunity to meet their potential. 

New ALICE in Focus: Children research launched today reveals that 304,982 Connecticut children—42%—live in financially insecure households. And this is pre-pandemic, making it likely that today’s numbers are even higher. These families often face difficult trade-offs that can affect a child’s health, education, and future well-being.

Nearly 5 million families in the U.S. are eligible but have not received the Child Tax Credit — including more than 48,861 eligible families in Connecticut. The benefits of the expanded and advance Child Tax Credit (CTC) implemented through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 have been widely reported; yet millions of eligible low-income families have not yet received their credit.