Tis the season for thank you notes. As we start the new year, many of us may be writing thank you notes to acknowledge the kind and generous gifts received over the holidays. One gift, now received over a year ago, continues to fill me with hope and gratitude on a daily basis. So, before I write another thank you note, I needed to sit down and write this one. No strings attached. Three simple reports annually. We could spend it on anything we wanted, in whatever timeframe we chose.
Completely unrestricted. I had never heard of such a generous, transformational gift. United Way Bay Area UWBA was included in the list of organizations addressing the basic needs of the most vulnerable community members to those addressing long-term systemic inequities that have been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic.
She also wrote about the hope that this had given her. Looking back at this moment, I am reminded by the sense of hope that this news brought β hope for UWBA and, more importantly, for the communities we serve. In the midst of this pandemic, it was a beacon of hope. For me, it reaffirmed the importance of the work UWBA had been doing for almost years and provided a new level of excitement about the work ahead.
The impact that this had on our organization, our staff, and most of all, our community members β it simply cannot be overstated. In laying out a plan to maximize this transformational impact, we surveyed staff, spoke with our Board and Advisory Council members, and conducted multiple internal discussions.
We first prioritized the urgent needs of our community, still reeling in the wake of COVID and regional wildfires. Our next most pressing need was to address Bay Area housing inequities more meaningfully by launching a new Housing Justice Initiative. With those two needs addressed, we were able to make key investments in organizational capacity as we enter our second century of service, including a strategic plan to guide us through and more focused work on diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism.
