United Way President Dave Maurer Retiring

After 23 years of service, Dave Maurer has decided to end his time with United Way of Racine County in 2014, but he'll still be around to help train the incoming president.

Dave Maurer, president of the United Way of Racine County, is retiring. But he won't be leaving his position until June 30, 2014 so he can help train the incoming director, according to a story in The Journal Times. Maurer has been with the organization for 23 years.  Maurer told the JT: "I’ve been here so long that we really wanted to have an overlap with a new leader and myself. If the person comes from outside the community, this gives me time to introduce them to people before I retire.” Maurer accomplished much during his time as president. According to the JT article, some of Maurer's biggest successes were: the merger of the Racine Area United Way with the Burlington United Fund to become one county organization, getting the …

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Want To Help A Child Read?

The United Way is offering people a simple way to help make the Racine Unified School District better through tutoring. They'll train you and it doesn't take up a lot of time.

United Way Tutoring Program Expands To More Schools

Business leaders, teachers, community leaders band together to help kids learn to read.

A pilot of a tutoring program called Schools of Hope is being expanded to North Park and Fratt Elementary. The goal of the program is simple: to improve children’s reading scores by pairing tutors with children. The program is a partnership between the United Way of Racine County, the Racine Unified School District and the business community. The tutors, members of the business community and community at-large, work with students in the first, second and third grades for one hour a week. The tutors will be trained to help children with their reading and fluency in a non-threatening way. The program already operates at Olympia Brown and Wadewitz elementary schools. To volunteer, click here.

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Racine Unified Spending Habits, Find Out How They Impact The District

Administrators with the Racine Unified School District will hold the state of the district address on Oct. 9.

Racine Unified Superintendent Ann Laing, and special guests Racine mayor John Dickert and United Way of Racine County president David Maurer will give the state of the district address at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 9 at Wadewitz Elementary School, 2700 Yout St., in the newly remodeled library.  The address will be just after a 4:30 p.m. celebration honoring SC Johnson and all those who contributed to the completion of the new Wadewitz Library. Wadewitz Elementary was the grand prize winner during last year’s Racine Reads: Dream Big! initiative that challenged Racine students to read 1 million books.

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Schools Of Hope Program Pilot Set To Begin This Fall

As some students in Racine Unified Schools continue to struggle with reading, a program called Schools of Hope aims to help. Here's how you can get involved.

For years, some schools in the Racine Unified School District have struggled to improve their students' reading scores. Students without adequate reading skills are less likely to graduate from high school, and when children don’t graduate, that impacts the community. Jim Beere, owner of Pioneer Products, is the chairman of tutoring program called Schools of Hope. The program is a partnership between the United Way of Racine County, the Racine Unified School District and the business community. He got involved with the program because he recognized that when students don’t graduate, the community's workforce suffers, which often prevents companies from coming into the community, which in turn limits the number of available jobs. The …

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Denise Lockwood

7:55 am on Friday, September 21, 2012

I just signed up to be a tutor with Schools of Hope last week.   more ›

Caron Butler Comes Home and Gives Back in a Big Way

The NBA star returned home to Racine Friday to present a check for $200,000 to help fund a variety of programs at area organizations.

Joking after his remarks that he knew people were betting on whether or not he'd cry, Caron Butler wiped the tears from his cheeks and presented a check for $200,000 to his hometown. Butler was at Washington Park High School, his alma mater, to make the donation which was received by representatives from United Way, the George Bray Center and the Racine Family YMCA. The money will be split among them and could come to more than that firm amount because the Juneteenth Foundation and the Healthcare Network will also get donations. Butler chose the Healthcare Network to honor of his grandmother, Margaret Butler, who recently had a kidney transplant. "This is going to be a great day," said Dave Mauer, executive director of United Way. "Caron …

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United Way Sets Ambitious Goal Over $5 Million

Christopher Ruud of Sturtevant-based Ruud Lighting is the 2011-2012 fundraising campaign chairman.

Using his love of racing to frame the new United Way campaign year, Christopher Ruud at Ruud Lighting helped kick off the new fundraising effort on Sept. 8. The organization has an ambitious goal, asking for $5.25 million, a five percent increase over the 2010 goal, which United Way didn't meet. "This is our largest campaign ever," said Dave Mauer, United Way executive director. "We were short of our goal, but I think we'll make it this year." Ruud echoed the sentiment. "I actually have two goals with this campaign," he explained. "I want to increase giving by five percent to meet the goal that Dave has set. But I also want to increase participation by five percent." Saying he understands that not everyone can afford to give money to …

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Teen Parent Program Gets More Support From United Way

The Central Racine County Health Department will be able to help another teen parent learn skills and, hopefully, stay in school.

One more teen. It may not sound like a lot, but that’s the impact of an eight percent increase to the Central Racine County Health Department. The department serves Mount Pleasant, Sturtevant, Caledonia and North Bay. All told, the United Way of Racine County is allocating $2.9 million in donations to various groups and organizations in Mount Pleasant-Sturtevant Patch. That money will go toward the organization’s Teen Parenting Support Program, which provides case management services for teen parents through age 19. The goal is to develop the teens and their children so that both can be successful and reach their full capacity, including having the mother graduate from high school, said Health Department Director Margaret Gesner. “We hadn’…

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