United Way Advocates for Federal Support to Strengthen Communities Nationwide
This week, United Way leaders from across the country, including Kristen Rotz, President of United Way of Pennsylvania, and Melody Zimmerman, Public Policy Director, are on Capitol Hill as part of United Way Worldwide’s Advocacy Forum and Hill Day. Nearly 450 advocates have gathered in Washington, D.C., to meet with lawmakers and urge support for federal policies that strengthen communities, expand opportunity, and provide stability for families.
As one of the largest nonpartisan, charitable networks in the country, United Way serves 95% of U.S. communities and understands firsthand what families need to thrive. United Way’s 2025 federal policy agenda reflects urgent and long-standing challenges that affect communities large and small.
Key advocacy priorities this year include:
- Encouraging federal funding be provided to strengthen 211.
- Giving our youngest children a strong start by investing in childcare and early learning through Head Start and CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) funding.
- Protecting AmeriCorps, which provides “people power” that local nonprofit, faith-based, and community organizations rely on to deliver services and make a difference in local communities – especially in responding to natural disasters, tutoring students, combating hunger and homelessness, connecting veterans to services, fighting the opioid epidemic, and more.
- Protecting Medicaid and SNAP, which provides health care and food to millions of vulnerable Americans.
- Strengthening the Child Tax Credit, which has helped middle-class and low-wage families with children and provided tax relief.
United Way’s strength lies in our deep local relationships and community insight. When United Way visits Capitol Hill, we bring the voices of thousands of Pennsylvanians we serve each year and the solutions we know can make a difference.