United Way of Southeast Missouri

Year established: 1953

Product or service offered: Uniting people with resources to build a stronger and healthier community. Mission Statement

Number of employees: 3

Location: 430A Broadway, Cape Girardeau

Owner(s): Governed by a board of directors comprised of people from the community we serve

Describe your organization in exactly five words.: Uniting people with community resources

What is your vision for your business and/or your industry in 2012?

Nancy Jernigan, executive director: The vision for our organization in 2012 is to engage more individuals in our work through volunteerism and/or financial support, to encourage collaborations in lieu of shrinking resources and to connect more individuals to needed resources.

Give us an example or two of an idea that came to fruition in the last couple of years, and how has that helped your consumers or clients?

NJ: Through our focus on education, we identified a need and developed a reading intervention program, Read to Succeed, that is helping our young students develop solid reading skills early. This program is helping dozens of children while engaging over 150 community volunteers as reading tutors at no cost to the school district -- a win-win-win for all involved.

What role does your business play in the betterment of the community?

NJ: The United Way has the unique role in the community of bringing together people with passion, expertise and resources needed to deal with social issues faced by many families in our community. We serve as convener, leader, or participant in cross-sector collaborations focused on critical community issues.