Purchased with a $100,000 Impact 100 grant the Going UP Bus is a 15 passenger vehicle that addresses a significant barrier for so many families living in poverty in our community, transportation. The unfortunate reality is that many of the adults that could benefit most from our life-altering programs cannot and do not access them simply because they do not have reliable transportation. The Going UP Bus, or as the UP team has affectionately nicknamed her, Matilda, is already proving to be a true game changer.

Since launching the Going UP Bus in October of last year, it has provided transportation to and from the UP Center to ten adults who have graduated from our Success Training Employment Program (STEP). Those ten adults all came to us via our partnerships in the community: shelters for families dealing with homelessness, safe spaces for victims of domestic violence, sober living homes and military veteran housing.

We have also utilized the bus to transport our STEP cohorts to our employer partner, Piper, for an event we call Piper Day. Our participants were able to meet with top Piper executives, tour the facility and learn about all of the career pathways available to them. For many of the adults we serve, they would not have believed that a future at employers like Piper was an option for them. Having the Going UP Bus affords us the opportunity to change their mindset by exposing them to new and exciting career pathways.

This is just the beginning for the Going UP Bus. Just having it in the lot has generated so much creativity from our team, and we are currently using it or plan to use it in ways that we had not originally dreamed of when we submitted our grant.

All of us here at United Against Poverty are incredibly grateful for the women and leaders within Impact 100. From the early days of the process where we met with their visioning team to the current ongoing support from a dedicated team assigned to our organization, I cannot thank this organization more for this gift that has already born so much fruit for our county and the families that all of us want to see thrive and succeed. This is a beautiful example of a community being truly united against poverty.

 We’re going UP!!