Program Summary
1. Goal: J2W will provide sufficient funding to cover a full-time position fully dedicated to managing the Winchester Campaign for Grade Level Reading backbone role. The overarching objective of this investment will be to allow the United Way Northern Shenandoah Valley to take ownership of the backbone management of the Winchester Campaign and to do this resourced appropriately to not only sustain the Campaign over its 10-year lifetime, but to grow its influence and impact.
2. Framework: The United Way NSV will manage the backbone organization for Winchester’s Campaign for Grade Level Reading strategy. Leveraging the existing resources of the United Way and its site in Winchester, VA, this Campaign program position will provide the capacity necessary to take over the backbone role and further the programming, reach, messaging, and impact of the
Campaign within the county. The backbone activities will include:
- Convening, Partnership Development, and Fundraising
Bring together all resources including groups and individuals related to learning in the city, in order to build action plans and deliverables to meet and exceed goals. Build the network of community leaders, organizations, and stakeholders that have agreed to be part of the support and growth of learning initiatives across the community. Develop and create the partnerships and meeting mechanisms that best advance our goals, including developing a fundraising plan to bring in additional resources in the form of grants and public/private contributions to ensure sustainable success
- Communications & Storytelling
Advance all the good work being done by caring organizations across the county and through the Campaign, through multiple media platforms to elevate the messaging and availability of options for learning across the community. Build the brand and messaging that our community turns to for partnership to solve challenging problems, as well as tell the stories of success for improving the learning opportunities available to the entire community
- Alignment & Coordination
Consistent with our vision to bring together the best of what is available to our community to facilitate learning, connect to all the appropriate partners and entities focused on improving learning and skill development across the community. Coordinate all organizations devoted to some aspect of learning in county that advances our goals
- Data Analysis, Research, and Reporting
Maintain and communicate a reporting dashboard with success metrics that are determined and aligned on with all stakeholders in advance of any work projects to be engaged. Success metrics will be researched against appropriate industry benchmarks, analysis will be used to identify trends that can be utilized for project refinements, and reporting consistent with preset expectations for all stakeholders and reporting requirements and agreements.
- Professional Development & Capacity Building
Assess, develop, and build upon the capacity of all partner organizations to deliver against the action plans put in place to effect change and deliver results needed to meet our goals. We will determine how to be most helpful to the community, school district, and all stakeholders. Our intention is to continue to look for grants, resources, and best practices to bring to all so that they can grow their teams and their capacities to maximize their programs to meet the needs of the community
3. J2W will provide 3-years of funding to the cost of the program.
J2W FOUNDATION STRATEGY: IMPROVE QUALITY OF SERVICE DELIVERY WINCHESTER, VA
CAMPAIGN FOR GRADE LEVEL READING CAPACITY BUILDING STRATEGY
Problem Statement
- Over the past few years, Winchester developed and launched the collective impact model, the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, through the programmatic and financial support of J2W. The backbone administrative agency for the Campaign began with a collaborative partnership between J2W and Literacy Volunteers Winchester Area and, in 2025, moved to the United Way. This position will also can improve Out-of-School Time (OST) quality within our OST programs serving Winchester city’s elementary school-aged children, to include integrating literacy growth strategies into the work. The Campaign Coordinator will partner with local OST organizations to administer the assessment tool, assist in the development of an action plan, and support local organizations in action plan implementation. Concurrent to the usage of Weikert, Literacy will partner with OST organizations to help develop or expand academic and literacy supports during after-school and summer programming.
- The Campaign is a collaborative effort by foundations, nonprofit partners, business leaders, government agencies, and communities across the city of Winchester to ensure that more children in low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career, and active citizenship. The Campaign focuses on the critical predictor of school success and high school graduation – grade-level reading by the end of third grade – by addressing the complex set of factors that shape our students and their families. Objectives within the Campaign – to reach the main goal of improved 3rd grade reading proficiency – include improving kindergarten readiness, decreasing chronic absenteeism, and increasing access and quality of out of school time programming. In addition, there are a variety of OST organizations operating in Winchester. Some have a strong focus on academic and social-emotional supports and others have a stronger emphasis on play. These programs see hundreds of Winchester city students every year. J2W remains committed to supporting the Campaign, both with human and financial capital, through at least 2032. However, for the Campaign to be most efficient and effective, a new, fully dedicated backbone agency had to be identified and resourced. The purpose of this MOU is to outline the transition of the backbone roles and responsibilities to UWNSV.
Partners: United Way NSV
