History of the United Way of Carlisle & Cumberland County

Established in 1918, United Way of Carlisle & Cumberland County is 94 years old. 2012 will mark our 95th consecutive campaign. The organization has had many familiar names including the Red Feather, Community Chest, and United Fund. In 1970 when United Way became a cohesive national organization, we changed our name to United Way of the Greater Carlisle Area. In June of 2001, United Way was able to create a “Community Services Center” at 145 S. Hanover Street, offering incubation services to small nonprofits. They also adopted a new name reflecting our increased presence in the region – United Way of Carlisle & Cumberland County.

The current United Way of Carlisle and Cumberland County provides funding to 28 partner agencies and 44 programs. It also runs a very successful Success by 6 program, heating assistance program, tax assistance programs and a prescription assistance program. They have a successful history of partnering with local agencies on projects such as Pandemic Preparedness, transitioning teams when local companies are closing or significantly downsizing, agency fairs and financial management courses.

New initiatives that began in 2010/11 include a Student Leadership Council consisting of 26 middle and high school students and a Women’s Leadership Initiative. New initiatives that began in 2012 include the Taking it to the Streets Project, designed to educate all served communities of the many available United Way funded programs and services, and the Community Needs to Community Impact Transition Process, designed to align United Way’s funded programs with current, most pressing health and humanities needs of the local community.