United Way of Greater Fall River supports programs in Greater Fall River that support the health, education, financial stability & basic needs of our community.
In our 2020-2021 campaign, we raised $1.1 million to fund programs throughout our service area. Below are just a few of the stories our agency partners shared with us about their UWGFR-funded programs.
“Joanie’s Place” – The Balanced Learning Center
John (11) has been to many schools in his educational career due to trauma and family changes. The COVID-19 pandemic caused him to experience even more loss within his family. John has been on a waitlist for therapy for over a year, due to limited availability of therapists, his insurance, and his family’s lack of access to transportation. He was identified as a student that needed significant academic and behavioral support by his teachers. Balanced Learning Center was able to start working with him and his family right away, since funding is not a barrier to access for them. We’ve worked on his therapeutic needs, helping him process grief and loss, but also focused on tangible supports his family identified. Since September, John has been able to stay in class with minimal behavior supports, develop a system with his family to complete homework consistently, and address the family’s basic needs sustainably.
“HiSET Program” – Greater Fall River RE-CREATION
Passing HiSET exams on the first try is common for Greater Fall River RE-CREATION students due to the individualized support they receive from staff.
Kristen started her HiSET journey during the initial COVID pandemic. She tutored virtually for several months of 2020 and into 2021. She wanted to get her HiSET because her and her partner wanted to adopt a child. Having a HiSET credential helps the adoption process immensely. Determined to get the tests done, Kristen signed up for all her tests in one week. Despite her initial reservations about writing and math, she passed every exam on her first attempt. She is now starting her journey into parenting with her partner and couldn’t be happier.
“Special Education Empowerment Program” – The Arc of Bristol County
Cal is a 6 year old kindergarten student who is autistic and was mostly non-verbal when we started working together in preschool. The early part of our work together in pre-school was to seek an alternative and augmentative communication evaluation (AAC). Cal started using an Alternative and Augmentative Communication (AAC) device in preschool based on the results of the evaluation we requested. In addition, we requested that training be provided to Cal’s family on the use of the device and implemented a consult time in the IEP for the speech and language provider and the parents so that effective strategies for communication development could be shared. Cal thrived and made great progress in pre-k in a partial inclusion placement (mornings in a substantially separate class for children with autism and in afternoons in a general education classroom). Cal transitioned to a full time placement in a general education classroom for kindergarten. At Cal’s recent 3 year re-evaluation meeting, his parents were quite concerned with the school districts evaluations. These evaluation reports contain a lot of data and jargon that can be hard to understand for parents and guardians. Our educational advocate spent time training the parents on how to decipher and better understand the data in the reports and how that translates into developing new goals in the IEP. Cal’s parents can now better understand the report and Cal can continue to get the support and services he needs in order to keep making progress.