New “LIVE UNITED” Campaign shifts the voice of United Way to the Community
BOSTON – Massachusetts residents have long heard United Way speak about the need to come together to advance the common good, on Sunday however, the 76 year old organization launches a new campaign that will put the microphone in the hands of the community itself. LIVE UNITED, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley’s first new brand in a number of years, aims to cultivate a culture in which everyone has a voice, whether they have one dollar or a million, hours of time to contribute or hardly a moment. United Way will publicly launch the brand at the first ever Day of Action on Sunday June 22 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m on the Boston Common.
How do you LIVE UNITED? By answering this question, individuals throughout the Commonwealth can define community engagement in their own terms, be it through volunteering, advocacy or philanthropy, and join a movement of others working to achieve shared goals for our community. From Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to Molly Walsh, a 17-year-old, from Billerica who used her birthday party to raise money for local children and families in need-- the list of individuals stepping up and speaking up about Living United is already growing. (You can access these examples at http://www.supportunitedway.org)
“LIVE UNITED is larger than United Way,” said Michael K. Durkin, president and chief executive officer of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley. “It is about deconstructing barriers throughout the Commonwealth and stewarding collaborative approaches to common challenges. “
Since becoming president of United Way in January, Michael K. Durkin has made collaborative action a clear priority for the organization and its network. In March, United Way partnered with the city of Boston to launch a 10-year effort that for the first time aligns families, educators, health care and human service providers, the private sector, and city departments – working in collaboration with state agencies – to ensure that all children will be ready for sustained school success.
The organization last year also changed its investment strategy to align its full network of agencies for the first time under a set of shared goals. “To drive lasting change in this region, we have to get organized,” said Durkin. “We have to tie together our individual efforts and set common measures of success. That’s Living United.”
On Sunday, June 22, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m, United Way will again bring people together, but this time to celebrate the power of collective efforts at the first ever Day of Action, a public, family-friendly event on the Boston Common. Attendees of the event, which will feature music, performances and speakers from throughout the community, will have the opportunity to express how they choose to make a difference in the lives of people and communities around them. Their responses will be added to http://supportunitedway.org/live-united, on the organization’s newly redesigned interactive website. Individuals unable to make the event can watch the submissions as they come in and submit their own responses remotely. The event will serve as the formal launch for LIVE UNITED which asks individuals to think, speak, and act in ways that advance the common good.
