Blog

United Way of Southwest Alabama (UWSWA) thanks Chandra Motley for her dedicated service to UWSWA as a 2021 Annual Campaign Loaned Executive. Chandra is a Community Outreach Specialist with a focus on financial literacy and financial education for The First Bank in Mobile, Alabama. Chandra has been in the banking industry close to a decade in various roles, including mortgage lending, insurance collateral tracking, and HMDA data reporting.

By Trista Stout-Walker, Vice President of Community Impact

2022, oh my my! It is a new year that brings new possibilities. It also brings the same problems and barriers from 2021. UWSWA’s Community Impact Outlook strives to offer new solution or supports to the residents of UWSWA’s four county footprint. For example, UWSWA and 211 has partnered with Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) and Mobile County Health Department (MCHD) to offer Covid-19 quarantine support. We are working to eliminate the financial burden that quarantining may create. This is an old problem, but we are tailoring our impact to provide solutions. A full list of quarantine supports can be found on our Covid-19 information page. If you are in need of Covid quarantine support, please dial 2-1-1.

MCINTOSH, AL, December 17, 2021 – BASF contributed more than $39,000 to United Way of Southwest Alabama (UWSWA). The funds will benefit over 50 United Way partner agencies across Choctaw, Clarke, Mobile and Washington Counties.

“Our work with United Way has given BASF and our employees the opportunity to provide support to help strengthen our community,” said Marcus Pezent, Site Director of BASF in McIntosh, Alabama. “Our contribution is a commitment to invest in the critical needs facing our surrounding counties.”

By Trista Stout-Walker, Vice President of Community Impact

My favorite holiday song is Let it Snow. I know, to live in South Alabama and dream of snow is far-fetched, but I have personal experience with snow. As a child, we lived on a strawberry farm in Benton, Maine for about a year. I remember the snow and the experience through the eyes of the child. I would walk out into the yard and sink into the snow up to my waist. I even owned a snowsuit, one very similar to the one featured in A Christmas Story.

AARP Alabama Announces Relief Funding from AARP Foundation to Support Victims of Hurricane Ida

AARP Alabama CONTACT  – Jamie Harding, 205-470-1265, JHarding@aarp.org, @jhardingAL

Today, AARP Alabama announced new disaster relief funding from AARP Foundation to support victims of Hurricane Ida. The $150,000 grant will be given to United Way of Southwest Alabama to provide direct assistance to those in need in Lower Alabama. This includes services for older adults directly impacted by hurricane-related flooding and property damage. The funding is part of 10 grants from AARP Foundation totaling $2 million to organizations in the hardest hit states along the Gulf and East Coasts.

By Trista Stout-Walker, Vice President of Community Impact

Let’s talk about connections. One of the highlights of living in a small town is that everybody knows everybody, and you are connected to everyone that you encounter in some way, shape, or form. I have a personal theory that in the South, it is 3° of separation. These connections play a vital role in access to information and services.

On October 15, United Way of Southwest Alabama (UWSWA) celebrated the Project Blueprint (PBP) graduation of the Class of 2021. This year, seventeen participants from Mobile and Washington Counties completed the twenty-one hour comprehensive curriculum that covered the detailed workings of UWSWA, the responsibilities and functions of volunteer boards, time...

Brad Martin, VITA Program Coordinator, came to United Way in 2013. He is very passionate about helping people achieve financial stability. “I think that so many people today are just not equipped to manage their finances,” he said. “I help people with their taxes, but can also talk them through the steps of filing and refer them to other people to help them get in a better situation than they were before.