What is Place Matters

What is Place Matters?

What Is Place Matters?

Place Matters is United Way's innovative strategy to focus investments on interconnected solutions within 13 neighborhoods in northeast Winston-Salem.  By engaging residents with this work, we help ensure your investments strengthen the assets of the area, especially the people who live in and experience their neighborhoods every day. Place Matters is resident-led and inspired—we are doing "with" rather than "for" to create lasting, positive change.

Engaging the Community and Implementing New Programs

Through United Way's key partnership with Neighbors for Better Neighborhoods, we are engaging residents in a number of ways to ensure that our investments align with the priorities of those who live in this community. As part of our work, we surveyed about 200 residents to help identify existing community assets, and hear from residents about their experiences, views of the neighborhood, and how their community and lives could be improved.

A Resident Impact Council then used this data, and their own experiences and perspectives, to develop four priority funding areas: (1) Unemployment and Underemployment; (2) Multigenerational Support for Seniors, Teens, and Children; (3), Healthy Living; and (4) Housing Stock and Vacant Lots. These priority areas were used to request proposed work from organizations throughout Forsyth County, and to ensure that work aligned with the goals of this entire community.

Last year, United Way’s Place Matters initiative invested in 21 programs focused on strengthening 13 neighborhoods in northeast Winston-Salem. In just their second year of funding, these programs served over 12,000 combined residents. These are collaborative initiatives that engage existing community assets, especially the gifts, skills, and talents of residents themselves, to strengthen these neighborhoods and the lives of those who live there.

We're seeing results:

Education: In 2019, 72% of Students receiving support from our Place Matters’ educational programs improved their academic performance or learned new skills.

Housing: Since funding began, NINE new homes have been built in the Bowen Park neighborhood because of LER: Building Blocks - a partnership between Liberty East Redevelopment and Habitat for Humanity. These were the first new homes built in this neighborhood in 50 years!

Healthy Living: Over 10,000 residents received support to help live a healthier life, including doctor’s visits, counseling, access to healthy food, and classes to cook healthy food.

We know change will not happen overnight. United Way is committed to Place Matters for the long-term. We thank you for your donations and support that make efforts like Place Matters possible, and our community a better place in which to live.