Our Work

Each day people in our community face personal and social crises. Homelessness. Hunger. Addiction. Lack of affordable pre-k programs. Quality healthcare that is out of reach. We – the team at United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties, our partners and supporters like you – surround tough problems like these and we fight. We fight to make the lives of every person in our community better by improving their health, education and financial stability.

It's the strength of our community partners that drives real change. United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties is unparalleled inourpower to convene partners, providers and resources to address the needs of our community. This has never been more important than now.Wevebeenresponding tolocal needs and societysmost pressing problems for 65 years.

The United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties is tackling our community’s most challenging problems with innovative and collective strategies through the Bold Goals 2030 initiative. To succeed, we need a collation of partners providing support to create lasting change. Together, we can drive change on a larger scale than any single organization can accomplish alone.

Check out our recent work in our 2022-2023 Annual Report.

Internal Programs and Initiatives

211 is a free and confidential service that connects people to the local resources they need. 211 can be accessed by phone or computer. A toll-free call to 211 connects you to a community resource specialist in your area who can put you in touch with local organizations that provide critical services that can improve—and save—lives. Learn more.

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program is a financial stability initiative of the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties. IRS-certified United Way volunteers provide free, basic income tax return preparation with electronic filing to qualified individuals each tax season. Learn more.

SingleCare is a free prescription discount program. Prescription costs are reduced on average by 45%. Learn more.

Your local Imagination Library, Rutherford Books from Birth and Cannon Books from Birth, builds a foundation for reading and learning for ALL children from birth to age five in Rutherford and Cannon counties by providing a new, age-appropriate book each month at no cost to the families enrolled. The United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties serves as the local sustaining partner of Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, in partnership with the Governor's Early Literacy Foundation. Learn more.

The Family Collective is an initiative of the United Way of Greater Nashville, in partnership with the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties. The Family Collective has expanded to Rutherford County through a grant from the Tennessee Department of Human Services. The initiative was established in 2014 to prevent and end homelessness. Families receive at least one core wrap-around service and select the service mix that best meets their needs. Learn more.

Launch Point is a financial empowerment program that provides pathways for participants to increase savings, improve credit, purchase a home or car, pay off debt and increase earning potential. Launch Point offers individuals with trusted resources to help them gain greater control over their personal financial goals. Learn more.

Your local United Way is teaming up with CharityTracker to help you do what you do best, drive change in our community. CharityTracker streamlines client intake and provides accurate records to assist you and the other agencies in our community. Easy access to accurate data means better service for our clients.Unlike similar programs, which have too many features and can be difficult to use, CharityTracker was designed to get you communicating with your community right away.

Interested in signing up for CharityTracker? Contact Kristen Swann at Kristen.Swann@YourLocalUW.org

Bold Goals and Partners

Bold Goals 2030 is a strategic vision for making our community a stronger place for everyone who calls it home. Developed by key leaders, experts and community members like you, Bold Goals 2030 outlines key strategies that will help transform our community by addressing our most pressing needs.

As we continue to work toward achieving our Bold Goals 2030, we are utilizing a new platform to track progress and share our collective impact. The links below provide a comprehensive snapshot of outcome reporting for all of our 2023-2024 grant recipients and internal programs. Thanks to the support of Redstone Federal Credit Union, the Clear Impact platform allows us to share these results with intuitive data visualization and analytics. Over time, as we accumulate more data points, these dashboards will enable us to celebrate our successes, identify areas requiring more focus, and pinpoint systemic challenges within our community that warrant change. We are committed to transparently sharing the tangible impact of our collective efforts. 

Early Childhood Development
Financial Stability
Healthy Behaviors
Mental Health & Substance Abuse

United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties invests in local partners aligned with our Bold Goals 2030 initiative. Together, we will make meaningful, measurable improvements in the lives of people in our community by the year 2030. Click here to view our listing of grant partners.