The university's 2007 United Way of
Central Maryland campaign, which kicks off today, will
feature two new ways of giving.
Most notably, employees will be able to designate all
or part of their donation to the new Johns
Hopkins Neighborhood Fund, which supports agencies that
serve communities in close proximity to
Johns Hopkins campuses and have a strong relationship with
the university and its employees. The
fund, which will be administered by United Way of Central
Maryland, was created to assist community-
oriented organizations and agencies that may not currently
receive United Way funding.
The fund applies to both the university's effort and
Johns Hopkins Medicine's campaign, which
kicked off last week and runs until Oct. 26. It has been
seeded with a $10,000 donation from the
President's Office.
The Applied Physics Laboratory campaign will not
change, and SAIS' donations are reported to
the Washington National Capital Area campaign.
A committee representing a cross-section of Johns
Hopkins employees will oversee the
allocation of the Neighborhood Fund, which focuses on five
key areas: health, education, public safety,
employment and community strengthening. To be considered
for funding, nonprofit organizations must
be associated with JHU through employee and/or
institutional involvement and deliver services to the
communities near JHU campuses.
Employees will still be able to donate all or parts of
their gift to United Way of Central
Maryland, a specific agency or one or more of the four
United Way "impact" areas: Basic Needs,
Family Safety, School Readiness and Youth Achieving
Potential.
Charlene Hayes, the university's vice president for
human resources, said that the new Johns
Hopkins Neighborhood Fund provides a way to leverage
donations and provide needed support to
agencies with close physical and relationship ties to Johns
Hopkins.
"The neighborhoods these agencies support are very,
very important to us, and they need our
assistance. This new fund gives our employees a better way
of investing in our surrounding
communities," Hayes said.
The campaign also features a new streamlined and
secure online pledging system, United eWay,
which replaces the one formerly used. The eWay system is
reachable through
www.jhu.edu/unitedway
and
donor.unitedeway.org .
The combined university/Johns Hopkins Medicine
financial goal for the 2007 campaign is
$1,992,510. The Applied Physics Laboratory does not set a
financial goal but chooses to focus on its
Days of Caring, during which time employees may volunteer
at various Howard County agencies. This
year's Days of Caring will run from Oct. 1 to Nov. 30.
In 2006, employees and students from the combined
Johns Hopkins Institutions, which include
APL, pledged more than $2.5 million to programs funded by
United Way of Central Maryland.
Among the events highlighting this year's campaign are
the new JHU Community Block Party,
which will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Monday,
Oct. 29, on Homewood's Levering Plaza. It will
feature food, games and representatives of the United Way
and agencies from each of the
organization's four targeted impact areas. For admission,
participants need to bring a completed
pledge form, receipt from an online pledge or a $5
donation.
Other important activities are National Community
Service Day, Saturday, Oct. 27, and a Chili
Cook-Off, Friday, Nov. 30.
The first campaign-related event, the Share Yourself
Makeover II, took place on Sept. 25 at
the YMCA of Central Maryland's Owen Brown Child Care Center
in Howard County. The center is
currently undergoing an accreditation process and lacked
many required items, such as age-
appropriate furniture, games, books and other educational
resources. A six-member team from the
university, with help from Baltimore Ravens players, helped
transform the center's room for 2-year-
olds.
James Zeller, chair of the university's campaign and
vice provost for budgets, said that United
Way "remains of utmost importance because we still have
individuals out there in the community with
need and agencies that need our support."
One agency he cited specifically was the House of
Ruth, the domestic violence shelter in
Baltimore that requires expanded facilities in order to
deal with issues related to overcrowding. "It's
one of those tough stories that is hard to accept," Zeller
said. "There are a lot of agencies like this
out there that do great work but need our help, ones we
have to focus on."
Like last year, the campaigns will feature department-
and office-level events that seek to
educate Johns Hopkins employees on the work of United Way
of Central Maryland, which supports
human service agencies in Baltimore City and its five
surrounding counties.
The university's campaign, which will continue until
Dec. 14, will be rolled out by its
"ambassadors," selected Johns Hopkins employees who will
distribute pledge forms, educate others
about United Way and answer questions.
Joanne Pollak, chair of the Johns Hopkins Medicine
campaign, said that as part of an effort to
increase participation, all pledge forms will be hand
delivered, and departments will take part in a
"friendly competition" to see who can reach the highest
percentage increase in dollars raised and
employees participating.
"We're trying to build up some excitement and make
participation in United Way more personal,"
said Pollak, vice president and general counsel for Johns
Hopkins Medicine.
For more information on the Johns Hopkins campaigns,
go to www.jhu.edu/unitedway or contact
Matt Smith in the Office of Faculty, Staff and Retiree
Programs at 410-516-0345 or
unitedway@jhu.edu.
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