Reducing Barriers to Employment & Advancement

Our Goal: 15,000 people will be ready to start stable careers having overcome key employment barriers by 2029.

The Challenges

Nearly 85,000 people across our four-county region are looking for work or working hard in jobs that leave them struggling to make ends meet.

Underemployment is widespread, with one-in-four workers in low wage positions that offer limited opportunities for advancement, few benefits, and paychecks that cannot keep up with the rising cost of housing and other basic needs.

Many people face barriers that stand between them and a stable career, including limited education or job training, lack of transportation, disabilities, or involvement with the justice system. Young people face these same challenges when they leave school or struggle to stay enrolled.

When our community works together to remove barriers to employment we:

Create stability. Good jobs provide financial security, improve mental well-being, and help people build better lives.
Create opportunity. Together, we reduce employment gaps and ensure more people have the opportunity to succeed.
Create a strong community. When more people work and earn family-supporting wages, our entire community benefits through increased spending, stronger businesses, and economic growth.

New and increased gifts to Reducing Barriers to Employment & Advancement are doubled by ManpowerGroup from 7/1/26 to 6/30/27 up to $200,000.

The Solutions

Our goal: 15,000 people will be ready to start stable careers having overcome key employment barriers by 2029.

Reducing Barriers to Employment & Advancement focuses on clear, practical strategies that help people move forward:

graphic of graduation cap

Education, training, and credentials.
We partner with organizations that help youth and adults build skills, improve reading, earn a GED/HSED, and gain credentials that lead to high-demand careers. There are a wide variety of educational opportunities, including retail banking, CNA and healthcare training, construction, and so much more.

New to the initiative are programs serving youth that are experiencing the same barriers to opportunity and who may need additional support to achieve educational workforce success.

graphic of car

Transportation.
We invest in partners that create innovative transportation solutions and help people restore their driver’s licenses so they can get to work and training opportunities.

graphic of scale

Involvement in the justice system.
We partner with organizations helping justice-impacted individuals succeed in the workplace. We advocate for policy changes that open more doors and remove barriers for people rebuilding their lives.

The REsults

We are on track to meet our goal, with 5,104 people overcoming key employment barriers since the start of the initiative in 2023.

Since the beginning of funding:

Over 17,500 people have been served by Reducing Barriers to Employment & Advancement programs.
1,089 industry-recognized credentials were obtained, including GEDs, High School Equivalency Diplomas, CNA, childcare, pre-apprentice certification, IT services, and construction certifications.
204 arrest records were expunged, in addition to 11 pardons.
214 driver's licenses were recovered.
Over 1,000 riders received frequent rides to their jobs
Over 1,200 individuals gained employment after being part of a Reducing Barriers to Employment & Advancement-funded program.

Our community saw the following results in 2024-25:

We supported over 7,600 people who were served by Reducing Barriers to Employment & Advancement programs.
We helped more than 700 individuals secure employment, turning support into real jobs and steady paychecks.
We helped over 1,000 people earn industry-recognized credentials, building skills that lead directly to better jobs.
We expunged 125 arrest records and secured four pardons, removing barriers and opening new opportunities.
We restored 91 driver’s licenses, putting transportation and independence back in people’s hands.
We provided more than 1,000 rides to work, helping people show up, stay employed, and keep income flowing.

In 2025-26, United Way provided funding to organizations focused on:

Supporting people with disabilities.
Empowering justice-impacted individuals.
Addressing the need for skilled healthcare professionals.
Moving members from “low-skill” positions to “mid-skill” positions that require more than a high school diploma, but less than a four-year degree.
Offering opportunities to participate in English language learning, adult education, and GED preparation.
Providing transportation to help someone get to wellpaying jobs.

What We Fund

View a listing of the investments

Volunteers in Action: Diaper Bank

As a volunteer, you are doing more than simply packing diapers. You are removing a hidden barrier that keeps family members from getting to work. In 2025, thanks to you and hundreds of other United Way volunteers, over 550,000 diapers were mobilized to our diaper hubs in our community. Since its launch in 2021, our Diaper Bank has delivered over 1.5 million diapers to families in need.

Please wait while we gather your results.