Financial Stability

Having an income that can support you and a family through retirement is key to maintaining a good quality of life. Financial stability is something that is often taken for granted.

United Way is helping families in the Cedar Valley become financially stable and independent by

  • Increasing income by helping hardworking people obtain job training and family-sustaining wages
  • Encouraging savings as a financial safety net

In the Cedar Valley, 1 in 5 children in our community live in poverty ($26,200 for a family of 4). Families earning the median household income of $50,916 spend 15% of their income on child care if they have a baby at a licensed child care facility. Nearly half of the students in our community receive free or reduced lunches. 50.2% of rental households in the Cedar Valley spend 30% or more of their household income on housing and utilities.

We are working to make families financially independent. Cedar Valley United Way is providing the following funding grants in the income area:

2024-2026 FINANCIAL STABILITY GRANTS:

Achieving Financial Stability:

Americans for Independent Living
Housing and Transitional Resources for Veterans | $15,000

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Dubuque
Immigration Legal Services | $20,000

Cedar Valley Friends of the Family
Black Hawk County Housing Project | $18,000

Commonbond Communities
Adult Education and Advancement* | $5,000

Community Housing Initiatives 
Permanent Housing | $20,000

Growing Minds Early Learning Academy (Formerly Grin and Grow)
Removing Childcare as a Barrier to Work for Low-Income Families | $22,900

Habitat for Humanity
Homebuyer Education and Financial Counseling | $12,000

Iowa Legal Aid
Solutions to Systemic Poverty through Legal Assistance | $20,000

The Job Foundation
Financial Stewardship Mentoring Program | $8,650

Operation Threshold
Refugee Services | $8,000

Pathways Behavioral Services 
Junkman-Knoebel Transitional Housing | $13,850

The Salvation Army
Pathway of Hope | $8,000

Try Pie
Try Pie Bakery* | $8,000

YWCA of Black Hawk County
Summer Daze Child Care | $8,000
Y's Kids Before and After School Care | $12,000

Workforce Development:

Commonbond Communities
Adult Education and Advancement* | $5,000

Hawkeye Community College Foundation
WE Build Waterloo | $20,000

One City United
One City Momentum | $18,000

Try Pie
Try Pie Bakery* | $8,000

* Denotes program covers more than one funding category. Amount listed is total grant dollars received for all categories.

TOTAL FINANCIAL STABILITY GRANTS | $237,400