CEO Keith Thomajan visits DC for White House forum

Left to right: Jeffrey Hayward, COO UW Massachusetts Bay;
our CEO Keith Thomajan; Jon Fine, CEO UW King County

Leaders from across the country recently met in Washington, DC to talk about new ideas to help urban communities. Among them was our President/CEO, Keith Thomajan.

The White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation invited Keith, along with the CEOs from United Ways in Seattle and Boston, to share ideas and learn from other organizations.

Keith says the invitation was a great testament to the work of United Way and all of our supporters because it means that the White House sees us innovative leaders in our community. The forum is just the beginning, and will hopefully lead to more work with the White House and other organizations.

Some of the ideas that excited Keith were:

• The Pittsburgh promise: every Pittsburgh kid who graduates high school with a 2.5 GPA and 90% attendance will get a $40,000 scholarship to an in-state school.
• Made in NY app: plots tech sector companies and jobs across NY City.

Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the White House social innovation office, also gave a shout-out to United Ways as the leaders in knowledge management--understanding our community, knowing what organizations are doing what and where the gaps and opportunities lie.

We were excited to be a part of the forum and look forward to learning more and building more connections like it in the future!