United Way of Southern Alleghenies
Suite 203
Johnstown, PA 15901
Key Community Partners
Alternative Community Resource Program, Inc. (ACRP), Beginnings, Inc., Boys Scouts of America, Laurel Highlands Council, Boys & Girls Club of Western PA, Cambria County Drug Coalition, Catholic Charities Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown, The Family Center, Flood City Youth Fitness Academy, Girls Scouts Western Pennsylvania, Greater Johnstown Community YMCA, Home Nursing Agency, The Learning Lamp, Next Step Center, Peer Empowerment Network, The Salvation Army Johnstown, The Salvation Army Somerset Service Center, Small Town Hope, Somerset County Blind Center, Somerset County Mobile Food Bank, Victim Services, Inc., Women’s Help Center, and YWCA of Greater Johnstown
Mission
To improve lives by mobilizing the caring power of community.
Vision
United Way of the Laurel Highlands strives to be a volunteer driven, community leading organization, responsible for creating, expanding, and accelerating positive social change in Cambria and Somerset Counties.
Our Programs
Nurse-Family Partnership is an evidence-based home visiting program, which is rated as a “gold standard” and #1 program in the United States. NFP is for first-time income eligible mothers, and delivers proven outcomes such as a 48% reduction in child abuse and neglect and 50% reduction in infant language delay. NFP mothers are twice as likely to remain in or enter into a healthy stable relationship, and have 43% fewer subsequent pregnancies. Mothers work with a registered nurse to ensure a healthy pregnancy, and that the baby is reaching critical developmental milestones. The nurses help new mothers develop educational and career pathways that lead to financial stability.
Parents as Teachers is a highly rated, evidence-based home visitation program. Proven outcomes include 85% of parents showing an increase in knowledge related to developmental milestones and 85% of children receiving annual developmental screenings. Ninety-five percent of children have up-to-date immunizations as well. The program is open to any family in Cambria or Somerset County who have children up to the age of 5.
The Botvin LifeSkills Training (Botvin) program, fosters youth development by teaching personal coping skills, general social skills, and skills for resisting pressures to smoke, drink, use drugs, and engage in other risky behaviors. Through the Botvin program, students learn not only how to resist pressures to smoke, drink, and use drugs, they also learn important life skills such as how to make informed decisions and solve problems, how to manage stress and anxiety, and how to communicate clearly. The combination of drug resistance skills and life skills has proven to be a powerful formula for preventing drug use and even violence. Middle and elementary school students across 24 school districts in Cambria and Somerset Counties are served through this program. In the decade this program has been offered, the community as seen a strong decline in students use of alcohol and cigarettes and a limited use of elicit substances.
