Leading the Way

Community

 
Leading the Way
Susan Lewis and Jo Wright give us a glimpse of the incredible contributions of the United Way of Winnipeg
By Lenore Hume

It’s a frigid -36˚C with blowing snow on a late Tuesday evening and most Winnipeggers are feeling a little love loss for our city as winter rears its ugly head. But with only days to go and a fraction of their $17.8 million goal left to be reached to successfully complete the 2008 campaign, United Way president and CEO Susan Lewis and director, major giving Jo Wright are exhausted but optimistic. Because if there’s one thing they can count on as much as a cold Winnipeg winter, it’s the local generosity in support of their organization.

If Lewis is the visionary of the United Way, then Jo Wright is clearly the determined executer. With a respective 64 years of United Way experience between them (37 for Lewis and 27 for Wright), they are clearly in a strong position to lead the way. They both began as United Way volunteers moving up through the ranks to their current positions, Lewis becoming both the first female campaign director and female executive director for the United Way in Canada.

The history of the United Way of Winnipeg dates back to 1965 when it was started as a partnership between the Winnipeg Labour Council and the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. The independent nonprofit, non-political organization has always focused on bringing together people and resources to act as an agent of change in the essential areas of education, income and health for Winnipeg residents. But it was from 1999 to 2004 that something great began to happen, when the United Way embarked on a transformational change of epic proportions, moving from an organization that primarily raised and allocated funds to playing a broader community role of facilitator and catalyst. They tested new ways of operating and engaging people in meaningful ways, not just listening but also developing strategies that would bring solutions to the city’s most critical challenges in ways they would not have previously envisioned.

“There was a need for a leader. A voice within the non-profit sector, particularly in the social area,” explains Wright. The need was being driven by a shifting environment, from changing corporate values to government funding movement to evolving municipal demographics. The city was seeing a significant growth in the urban aboriginal population and an evolving ethno-cultural composition. “The diversity was wonderful,” says Lewis. “But with it brought a more complex society in terms of different values and cultures. There was a general sense that there wasn’t an easy vehicle for the community voice.”

Lewis considers this one of the most exciting and challenging times for the United Way and now, five years later, the accountability and focus of the work that was done and the developing programs have been the positive outcome of this change. “It became apparent that we could play a much greater role and achieve more significant social change.” Take the recently developed Winnipeg Poverty Reduction Council, for example. A vision of Lewis’s, this council is bringing together leadership from different sectors of the community to connect their resources and knowledge, digging deep into the root causes of poverty and how to best address them.

“The issues are complex and they are interrelated,” explains Lewis. “There isn’t a simple solution or it would have been found years ago. It requires leaders from all sectors, doing different work and working together differently, real collaboration. But to really create profound social change within our city, it’s my great belief that that’s what is required.” This type of collaboration is also the foundation for United Way programs like the Aboriginal Relations Strategy, which focuses on building and enhancing knowledge, relationships and capacity within and between the aboriginal community and Winnipeg’s community at large. The Youth Relations Strategy is designed to get youth out into the community where they can act on their ideas to help make our community stronger through a variety of projects and initiatives. Lewis relates it to cross-pollination, when an idea is brought forward that generates action from another and then another, sharing ideas and building solutions. “You start to see the domino  effect,” she says. “And you realize it is possible to build things to scale and to do things differently. People are catalysts and you begin to think about things you never would have thought of alone or as an organization.”

Winnipeg residents are being used as those catalysts and encouraged to take part and share their voice in the future of the city, in programs like the Urban Exchange. Anyone can register and participate in online surveys, live panels and focus groups that provide an opportunity to contribute their own individual thoughts, challenges and ideas on social issues in an effort to shape future strategies. “It was an exciting period for us,” says Lewis of all the changes to the organization during that period through to now. “And almost all of the significant initiatives we’ve undertaken since 2003, you can draw a string back to learning or an experience that came out of that journey. It was instrumental in creating the United Way of today.”

Knowing that these programs are working to make a better Winnipeg has kept both Lewis and Wright at the United Way for lifelong careers. “It’s an organization that is truly rooted in values,” says Lewis. “And important values, like integrity andtrust. Plus we have the opportunity to work with and grow to know often quite well, some of the greatest community leaders that Winnipeg has and that is really inspiring.” For Wright, it’s the cause and the opportunity to have a greater impact on her community than she would as an individual. And when the challenges seem insurmountable, they both go into the inner city and visit the United Way’s partner agencies. “That’s what keeps your gas tank full,” she says of seeing the programs in action. “You’re reminded immediately of why it is you’re doing what you’re doing. Keeping kids out of gangs, bringing families together in a happier way, building neighborhoods that are safer.”

“You see the changes it’s making in their lives,” says Wright. “And as they move to break that cycle of poverty, you know it’s possible and what you’re working towards.” Whether it’s today or in the future, the United Way will continue with its commitment to helping the people of Winnipeg and creating a better community for everyone. “We’ve come through the transformation,” says Lewis. “We’ve tested the thinking in different ways and I think we just want to do more and do it better.”

They don’t have to look too far ahead to have done it better already. A few days after that cold Tuesday evening, it was announced that the United Way had exceeded their 2008 fundraising goal, raising $17.9 million even in the face of the current economic challenges. “The people of Winnipeg make a strong United Way,” says Lewis. “And we’re considered one of the most generous communities in Canada. The generosity of spirit, the financial generosity, the generosity in terms of people’s time, they make the sector strong and make the United Way strong.”

Photography by Ruth Bonneville