United Way Muscatine County outlines housing, education programs and asks supervisors to permit payroll deductions

United Way Muscatine County updated the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors on July 21 about a set of housing and education programs aimed at households the group classifies as ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, employed) and asked the board to permit county payroll deduction via a new electronic form so county employees could contribute easily.

Shane Orr, president and CEO of United Way Muscatine County, said the organization has shifted focus toward the 24 percent of households the group classifies as working but unable to meet monthly basic needs and noted 37 percent of county households fall below the ALICE threshold. "A family of four in Muscatine County would have to earn almost $77,000 a year in order to meet their basic needs," Orr said.

The nonprofit described housing and education work as its principal areas of funding. On housing, Orr said United Way administers a local housing trust fund funded by the Iowa Finance Authority that provides roughly $150,000 annually for needs such as emergency home repair, first-time homebuyer down-payment assistance, rental and deposit assistance, and utility support. "We administer the local housing trust fund in Muscatine County," Orr said.

Hillary Hanke, community engagement manager, reviewed United Way’s direct programs. Hanke said the Kids First Fund served 2,168 children in Muscatine County last year and provided 200 shoe vouchers for back-to-school. She described reading- and math-mentor programs run with local schools and corporate volunteers; Hanke said one classroom saw a 33 percent increase in FAST assessment scores from fall to winter during the first year of the reading-mentors program and later reported a classroom-level reading proficiency of 91 percent compared with 47 percent overall in an example cited by staff.

Hanke described other operations United Way now runs directly: the Imagination Library book-delivery program for ages birth through 5; a volunteer center and Day of Caring events (more than 2,000 volunteers and 138 projects in the last year); a volunteer income tax assistance program for low-income residents; a community diaper bank that delivered more than 42,000 diapers last year after United Way assumed that program; preschool transportation and scholarship administration previously run by another early-childhood organization; and a summer enrichment program called SPARK that provides hands-on experiences intended to reduce the summer learning gap.

Orr asked the board to permit county human-resources or payroll distribution of an electronic payroll-deduction form so county employees could opt into giving. The board did not take formal action during the July 21 meeting on that request.

United Way staff said the organization also requires that any agency receiving funding participate in a shared data system for education programming (Aligned Impact Muscatine County) so United Way can track which interventions appear to produce measurable impact across the three participating school districts.

The supervisors asked brief clarifying questions but made no immediate changes to county policy. United Way representatives left printed materials for supervisors and said they would follow up on the payroll-deduction form if the board agreed to distribution.

The board did not vote on the payroll-deduction request during the meeting.