How The United Way Is Helping Build Stronger Neighborhoods In Chicago

This Patch article is sponsored by United Way of Metro Chicago

Local businesses are the heart of our communities. Patch had a chance to talk with Sean Garrett, President and CEO of United Way of Metro Chicago.

Patch: Tell us a bit about your organization.
Sean Garrett: United Way of Metro Chicago is a nonprofit organization that mobilizes private and philanthropic support and public sector resources to help our neighbors meet their basic needs and support our community partners’ goals for equitable transformation in their neighborhoods.

Our goal at United Way is not to create pathways out of our neighborhoods, but to support and fund collective efforts — neighborhood-led coalitions — that galvanize resources, ideas, and energy so neighborhoods and our region become stronger and more equitable. We do this work through a dual approach strategy. We meet basic needs by funding local nonprofits that address food, shelter, health care, and other needs of residents in the Chicago region. We also transform neighborhoods from the inside out through our Neighborhood Network Initiative, working alongside hundreds of agency and community partners to respond to their neighborhood’s most pressing needs. And then we help scale that across the region. We also connect donors and organizations that want to invest in the Chicago region with opportunities to make an impact.

Patch: How long has your organization been around in the community?
Garrett: United Way of Metro Chicago has worked side-by-side with agency and community organizations for 90 years and in individual neighborhoods across the region since 2013 through the Neighborhood Network Initiative.

Patch: What attracted you to the line of work you’re in, and how did you get started?
Garrett: I first came to United Way because I wanted to be a part of something that helped make communities better and stronger. During my first year as a community fellow at United Way of Dane County in Madison, Wisconsin, I saw what could happen when individuals come together to drive the work of making their community stronger. I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of those efforts in various capacities in various communities through United Way of Metro Chicago, Worldwide, Central Carolinas, and now back in Chicago.

Patch: If you had to sum up your business mission to a stranger in five words, what would those words be?
Garrett: Building Stronger, More Equitable Neighborhoods

Patch: What’s the biggest challenge or most difficult moment you’ve faced in your job?
Garrett: The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges for everyone. In March 2020, I remember feeling a great deal of fear and uncertainty. But the one thing we were certain about at United Way was that we needed to act quickly to help our neighbors. The result was the launch of the Chicago Community COVID-19 Response Fund, in partnership with The Chicago Community Trust. Together, more than 6,000 philanthropies, corporations, and individual donors raised $35 million, which was distributed to more than 400 organizations providing emergency services to people most impacted by COVID-19. We quickly deployed those dollars to large networks and hyper-local organizations to supply food, financial aid, PPE, and other necessities. Essentially, we did three years of grantmaking in just three months.

Patch: What’s the most satisfying part of your job?
Garrett: Every day, through our work, I see people coming together to solve community problems. The Chicago region is a collective of neighborhoods, and neighborhoods impact our individual outcomes and can predict how families are able to manage the challenges we all face in life. United Way’s efforts to partner with neighborhoods through our Neighborhood Network Initiative is a transformational strategy to making our neighborhoods better places to live. I believe in this model, and I’ve seen that it works — by being a partner and helping advance the work that these communities have already started.

Patch: How would you say your business or organization distinguishes itself from the others?
Garrett: One of the most common questions I get is, “What exactly does United Way do?” I think that really speaks to our role as a convener. We walk alongside and support community partners and agencies providing critical health and social services for our neighbors and connect them to funding and resources to make that work possible.

Patch: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given when it comes to success?
Garrett: The best piece of advice I’ve received is that we all have the ability to do something, and collectively we can do a lot more. I think about what we can do that inspires somebody else and ultimately creates a tidal wave of support, to make sure our community can be stronger than before.

What’s always attracted me to our work through United Way has been the core belief that if you bring people together, you can solve community problems. The challenges and the ways we do this work have evolved over time. But we continue to be rooted in the belief that we can do more together than we can do alone.

Patch: Are there any new projects or endeavors you’re working on that you’re extra excited about?
Garrett: The last couple of years have been exciting—and very busy! Last year, we expanded our Neighborhood Network Initiative for the first time in six years into three new communities: Englewood, Far South, and Garfield Park. This model of resident-led neighborhood transformation is so successful that we look forward to continuing to expand in more communities throughout the Chicago region.

Most recently we announced the launch of 211 Metro Chicago, in partnership with the City of Chicago and Cook County. 2-1-1 is a gamechanger for residents looking for health and social services. They can call, text, or web chat at 211MetroChicago.org with a local, trained, compassionate Resource Navigator 24/7, seven days a week, who will help connect with them food, housing, utility assistance, access to health care, and other vital resources. 211 Metro Chicago has been years in the making, and we’re thrilled to see it come to fruition. It really is the culmination of having the right partners at the table at the right time — public, private, and philanthropic leaders coming together to build a critical resource for Cook County residents.

Patch: Do you have any events coming up in your community?
Garrett: On March 23, our chapter of Women United is hosting the breakfast networking event “Purposeful Transitions” with keynote speaker Angela F. Williams, president and CEO of United Way Worldwide. This is a great opportunity to hear about Angela’s incredible career and be inspired by her leadership and wisdom in the sector.

We’re coming together with our partners in the Southland on April 27 for April Food Day, a two-part event supporting food security for our neighbors in the south suburbs. The first part is a food collection and distribution effort led by our generous volunteers and then followed by an awards luncheon recognizing our community leaders advancing equity in the south-southwest region.

We’ll also honor our amazing partners at our Stronger Neighborhoods Awards Luncheon on June 21, which celebrates the commitment of business, civic, nonprofit, and community leaders who exemplify what it means to LIVE UNITED.

More information about upcoming volunteer opportunities and events is on our website at LIVEUNITEDchicago.org.

Make sure to follow United Way of Metro Chicago on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn!