Valley of the Sun United Way releases its report card

The Valley of the Sun United Way has released its report card, and it shows the organization is making progress toward its goals of improving education, healthcare and housing in Arizona.

“The scorecard is showing definitely some progress in some areas, and specifically in health. We saw some great progress in terms of access to health, but know that might be a little bit of a temporary situation. There were so many relief efforts through the pandemic where people were provided that access,” Emma Garcia said, Chief Development Officer of Valley of the Sun United Way.

Progress was also seen in the area of food insecurity, as the pandemic issued likely benefits that were sustained during that time but are starting to dissipate. Figuring out ways to sustain these efforts is crucial, Garcia said.

In terms of education, reading levels at the third grade have maintained for the most part, but there are potential challenges present with the chronic absenteeism in the community, according to Garcia.

“In the area of workforce development, we’ve seen some great progress, in particular as it relates to helping people to secure higher paying employment. We think that coming out of the pandemic actually was a plus because people are coming back to work, employers are really looking to bring people back into higher paying jobs, so we’ve seen some great success there,” Carla Vargas Jasa said, president and CEO of Valley of the Sun United Way.