United We Stand

Since 1991, there has been a drop in contributions to charities that provide social services to poor neighborhoods, while people are giving more to hospitals, schools and churches closer to home. The trend has hit United Way especially hard, for alleviating poverty is the core of its mission. Donations to Los Angeles United Way last year were half of what they were in 1990, and Orange County United Way too has seen declines.

Rather than flinching from its historical commitment, however, United Way is renewing its efforts to bring together disparate communities. For the first time in its history, for example, United Way of Greater Los Angeles has promised to take a series of specific steps to help welfare reform succeed. The organization seeks to create 60,000 sorely needed day care slots for children whose parents find work and to provide mentoring and after-school enrichment programs for 400,000 children.

The trend toward giving closer to home suggests that the relatively well-off don’t connect their own lives to those of poor people. But the new projects undertaken by the Los Angeles chapter clearly show how our fates intertwine. For if United Way fails in its efforts to help welfare reform succeed, the poor won’t be the only ones hurt; all of society will be affected by increased social service costs and a fraying civic fabric.

Helping United Way is in the best holiday spirit of giving, but it’s also an investment in our collective future.