On the heels of its 2014 Common Good Award from United Way Worldwide, United Way of Northeast Florida’s RealSense initiative was selected from a pool of about 1,300 United Way chapters to conduct a “Center of Excellence” seminar. This day-and-a-half event Nov. 17-18 is aimed to educate top-level United Way staff from across the country on strategies to engage community and business partners in their United Way’s community impact work.

As part of this event, the attendees will tour RealSense Prosperity Place and learn about our financial stability community-led initiative to better understand how effective community impact work will positively affect the relevancy and fundraising efforts of United Way chapters. Attendees will learn in depth and on site about a community impact strategy that uses collaborative partnerships and the workplace as a platform to achieve financial stability for families.

With support from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Investor Education Foundation and others, RealSense successfully implemented workplace financial education in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Through this, RealSense demonstrates the effectiveness of the workplace as a platform for community impact, while also helping to solve a business problem, especially around employee retention and improved employee performance.

Learning topics at this Center of Excellence include donor and volunteer engagement; developing and managing effective partnerships; and measuring and communicating impact results, among several other topics.

During the same week, RealSense will also conduct a pilot financial counseling event in conjunction with the Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education, which is hosting its national training symposium in Jacksonville during that time. This pilot event will provide free financial counseling for 40 employees of Family Support Services.

Twelve years strong, United Way of Northeast Florida’s RealSense initiative is an innovative community coalition created to strengthen the financial stability of Northeast Florida residents. It’s comprised of companies, nonprofit organizations, local government agencies and educational institutions that provide:

• financial and budgeting workshops
• tax preparation services
• access to one-on-one counseling and coaching at Prosperity Place
• online resources to help people save money and build assets

For more information on RealSense, including upcoming workshops, visit www.unitedwaynefl.org/realsense.