United 2020

United 2020 is North Texas’ ten-year strategic plan to make meaningful, measurable improvements in the lives of people in our community by the year 2020. Developed by a Blue Ribbon Commission of key leaders and experts in our region, United 2020 outlines the key strategies that will help transform our community by addressing our most pressing needs:

Preparing more kids to graduate and succeed
Enabling more families to leave poverty permanently
Helping everyone to live healthy, responsible lives

To measure the community’s progress toward the United 2020 goals, United Way of Metropolitan Dallas works with the Institute of Urban Policy Research at the University of Texas at Dallas. Drawing from the institute’s analysis of local data, United Way develops scorecard graphics (which you can see below) that show where the community was in 2010 and track progress toward the United 2020 goals. United Way shares the scorecard and detailed reports with other nonprofit organizations, philanthropists, corporate partners, volunteers and others to facilitate coordinated responses to the challenges.

United Way also leverages the data to align all its work with efforts to help North Texas achieve the United 2020 goals, so that every dollar you give and every hour you volunteer makes the biggest possible difference in someone’s life. (On other parts of this website, you can see the impact United Way makes in the areas of Education, Income and Health by investing in exceptional local programs and developing initiatives that address key gaps.)

To learn even more and access the detailed reports, read the United 2020 frequently asked questions.

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To achieve the goal of preparing 60 percent of high school graduates for success in education after high school, United 2020 efforts focus on the following strategies:

Early childhood programs that enable preschool children to access high-quality early learning.
Out of school support from:
- Parents and mentors who support students and encourage them to achieve educational success.
- Afterschool and summer programs that offer students high-quality, enriching learning opportunities that aligned with school-day curriculum.
Academic achievement:
- English learning programs that help students access developmentally appropriate language learning.
- Math and science programs in which students receive age-appropriate instruction that helps them learn critical skills for future academic and career success.
- College and career preparation to help students get into post‑high school education that is right for them — and succeed when they get there.

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United 2020 efforts to reach the goal of moving 250,000 more people out of poverty permanently focus on three strategies:

Access to jobs, which enables more people to find and keep jobs, and to benefit from a stronger small business community.
Job skills training that gives people the skills they need to get jobs that can help them reach financial stability.
Financial education to teach low- to moderate-income individuals how to keep more of the money they earn.

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To achieve the goal of improving community health life across the region (Dallas, Collin, Rockwall and southern Denton counties), North Texas focuses on making measurable improvements in these United 2020 strategic areas:

Expanded access to care that increases the number of adults and children insured and helps people reach physical, mental, vision and dental care before problems require emergency care.
Preventive care, which provides screening, monitoring and early intervention to help the youngest North Texans, through prenatal and perinatal care for mothers and well-child visits in the first six years of life.
Healthy behaviors: promoting healthy lifestyles in order to decrease:
- Obesity — adults and children that are medically overweight and obese.
- Substance abuse of illicit drugs and alcohol.
- Family violence, child abuse and elder abuse.