As United Way of Massachusetts Bay celebrates its 90th year of impact in our region, we’re reflecting on the stories and the people who have shaped our work. This anniversary, we’re shining a light on five stories that show what happens when people and partners come together through United Way to create a legacy of lasting change. From housing and early childhood to crisis response and systems change, each story reflects United Way’s role in advancing bold solutions and strengthening communities across Massachusetts. Together, these stories celebrate a legacy in motion, one built on partnership and leadership over decades that is still unfolding today,  

Over the coming weeks, we will dive deeper into each story, sharing a piece of our history, the lessons we’ve learned, and our commitment to continuing the work to advance a stronger, more equitable future for all. 

United Way has long fought for everyone’s right to safe and stable housing – so when we realized that Massachusetts’ decades-old shelter system wasn’t meeting this goal, we worked with the Commonwealth to propose a new approach: a model called Housing First. Housing First eliminates barriers to housing and gives people a chance to work towards their goals with a home as a foundation. Today, United Way continues to pave the way in this space through our co-leadership of the Supportive Housing Pipeline Coalition as we work towards the goal of ending homelessness. 

“No one can do it alone.” This sentiment was the driving force behind United Way’s early childhood development work and the launch of Success By 6 – a pioneering movement that mobilized business leaders to advocate for young children on Beacon Hill in the mid-1990s. Giving children the best chance at success means bringing everyone to the table: teachers, childcare providers, parents, legislators, business leaders, and the media. Through memorable public awareness campaigns paired with public policy advocacy supported by a diverse coalition, United Way helped drive statewide early education outcomes that created lasting change in Massachusetts. 

Over the past year, when the federal government shutdown disrupted food benefits to households in Massachusetts, United Way quickly mobilized and took action to provide emergency financial assistance to individuals and families. While the challenges we face today with ongoing federal policy changes may be new, our response to crisis is not. From wartime efforts in the 1940s, to disaster response after the Great Blizzard of 1978, through our Covid-19 Family Support Fund in 2020, we are built to respond quickly when our neighbors need help. 

Change doesn’t come without innovation and creativity – two things United Way has embraced over decades of looking for ways to reimagine the delivery of services to people in the Commonwealth. Innovation takes some amount of risk, but through data-driven decision-making and trust in our partners and our communities, we’ve put resources into initiatives that have led to groundbreaking successes. These include programs like Pay for Success, a social innovation financing model, and Chelsea Eats, a large-scale Guaranteed Basic Income pilot born out of a pandemic response. Our innovative work has improved wellbeing in our communities while also serving as a model for organizations nationwide. 

United Way has been a part of nearly a century of massive societal change. We’ve seen the post war period and the Civil Rights Movement, battles for equal pay and marriage equality, through the fight for immigrant rights today. We have not always addressed these head-on – but we have always strived to learn from the change happening around us and apply those lessons to work towards inclusivity and prosperity for all. Today, that evolution shapes how we lead: working to advance thriving, equitable communities and uplifting our neighbors who have been historically marginalized. 

These five stories show our work and evolution as an organization – and what we can do together. None of these achievements could have been done without our partners, supporters, volunteers, our neighbors with lived experience, community leaders, elected officials, and everyone who has contributed to our shared mission of unlocking opportunity across the Commonwealth. Over nine decades, we’ve made a difference, united – and we will continue the work for decades to come.