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SpeakUnited, a United Way Blog

We began these blogs because we wanted to start a conversation. The posts on this blog are the personal perspectives of individual staff, volunteers and guest bloggers, they do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization. We encourage response and conversation. We just ask you to keep it respectful. We'd love to hear it. It's a conversation, after all, we hope you'll add to it. Want to be a guest blogger? Email us

Please review the terms & conditions of our blog.

Katie Ward
Katie Ward
Tue, 02/05/2008

Primary Day in Massachusetts

You've figured out Who -- now make sure you know Where...
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Polls are officially open in Massachusetts. Here are a few things you may need to know.

  •  If you are registered, but unsure of where to go to vote, visit the elections division website and plug in your home address.
  • Polls will remain open until 8PM.
  • If you are working during voting hours, know that Massachusetts law requires that employees be granted a leave of absence to vote during the two hours after the polls open in their districts.
  • If you haven't registered to vote yet, you can still vote in the presidential election this fall (and any election that is more than 20 days from today).  Click here to register.

   read more »

Elena Sokolow
Elena Sokolow
Mon, 02/04/2008

Inspired 4 Life: A Day That Truly Blew My Mind

When you were a youth, who inspired you?
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Who inspired you?

This question bounced around my brain all day last Tuesday, as I was one of over 600 people who attended United Way's Inspire 4 Life Conference, a full day of workshops that focused on issues impacting youth in our community and a variety of approaches to address those issues. It was a day filled with learning on a wide variety of topics ranging from the practical, such as engaging families, engaging youth in career exploration, bridging the divide between schools and after-school programs to the more theoretical and technical such as applying brain science to adolescent development. It was this last session that seemed to leave one of the biggest impressions.  read more »

Katie Ward
Katie Ward
Mon, 02/04/2008

October 9 beats February 3

Something to watch instead of all of that post-superbowl coverage
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Alright, it wasn't pretty. In fact, it wasn't even the slightly-appealing-has-a-nice-personality-second-cousin of "pretty." It was straight-up painful. But as of 15 minutes ago, Superbowl XLII is yesterday's news. And though, we usually reserve this space for talking about community issues, I thought it might do us all some good to see our Patriots (who, by the way, are still one of the greatest teams to play the game) at a more light-hearted time. Back on October 9th, at United Way's Hometown Huddle. After you watch the video, leave a comment. Tell us what you thought of the game (eep!), who you think is the MVP, and any well wishes for next season. If you still can't get any sounds out beyond gasps and curses, don't worry, we'll let you sit this one out.

   read more »

Elizabeth Curtis
Elizabeth Curtis
Thu, 01/24/2008

Bringing New Voices to the Table

How United Way partners with community leaders around ending homelessness
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Yesterday, January 23rd, United Way co-hosted “Ending Homelessness in the Commonwealth: A Leadership Summit on Housing First.” Our partners, Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance and One Family, Inc., joined us in bringing together a variety of community leaders to learn about the issue of homelessness in our state as well as how they can
get involved in brining about solutions to the problem.  read more »

Kory Eng
Kory Eng
Thu, 01/24/2008

Helping Those At-Risk of Foreclosure

An Interview with a Housing Counselor
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On January 16th, I asked Bob Credle, Housing Counselor at Urban Edge Development Corporation, one of United Way of Mass Bay and Merrimack Valley's partner agencies a few questions about home foreclosures. Below is a transcript of that interview.  read more »

Carly Moskowitz
Carly Moskowitz
Thu, 01/24/2008

The Extended Day Quandry

Education and Innovation
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Should a district offer an extended day curriculum if it can only pay
its teachers at a rate of 60% of their normal pay? Or should the
district incorporate extended day into only the number of schools that
it can afford to pay the teachers fairly?  read more »

Katie Ward
Katie Ward
Thu, 01/17/2008

A Conversation with United Way's New President

First impressions from a blogger
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Michael K. Durkin, or Mike, as he's quickly becoming known around here, took a seat across from me yesterday and told me a bit about his first week and a half as president and CEO of our organization.  read more »

Clare Sanford
Clare Sanford
Thu, 01/17/2008

Toddlers in Prison

Should a baby born in prison stay in prison?
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A New York Times Article points to a program requiring children born to incarcerated mothers to live with them inside prison.  How do you feel about children living with incarcerated parents?  read more »

Sharon Brewster
Sharon Brewster
Tue, 01/15/2008

Ready for PreSchool

An example of United Way's work impacting my own life
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Nia, my 2-year-old daughter, has started preschool. I'm proud to say that she's happy, healthy and emotionally prepared for a lifetime of learning. What I learned here at United Way has played a big part in Nia's success...  read more »

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