The East Tennessee Collaborative program helps families reach financial stability and independence.
A thriving community is where everyone can earn a livable wage, grow their savings and achieve economic mobility.
We lead the East Tennessee Collaborative to help working parents overcome barriers, increase earnings, and build long-term financial independence.
Working families are experiencing greater stability because their caregivers are earning more, saving more, and building stronger futures.
For every $1 invested in ETC, families generate $2.60 in projected lifetime earnings, strengthening the local economy and reducing long-term reliance on public assistance.
Read more below about the impact in our neighbors lives:
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Across East Tennessee, many working parents face rising costs with systems that are difficult to navigate. ETC provides relationship-based mentorship, flexible financial support, and employer partnerships to help families move beyond paycheck-to-paycheck living.
Families served.
Poverty reduced from 66% to 35%.
Degrees and credentials earned.
Unemployed participants fround jobs.
Projected lifetime earnings for every $1 invested.
Children are experiencing greater stability.
According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, most people born into poverty live their entire life stuck in poverty. This is not because they lack motivation or work ethic but due to a
system that does not support achievement of self-sufficiency.
In Knox County, 14 percent of people earn below the federal poverty level while another 26 percent are considered ALICE (asset limited, income constrained, employed). This means 40 percent of our Knox County neighbors cannot make ends meet on their income alone.
United Way of Greater Knoxville (UWGK) is helping families overcome hurdles to reach financial independence and break the cycle of poverty through our East Tennessee Collaborative program (ETC). ETC empowers parents and caregivers to achieve their goals and create a brighter future for their family. It is a collective effort of local organizations committed to supporting people on their journey to financial freedom.
Through ETC, participants have access to resources such as mentoring, career planning, basic needs assistance and skill enhancement. Whether people want to get out of debt, become homeowners, buy a car, pursue higher education or change their career path, ETC is there to help.
Interested in learning more about this free program? Contact our team at etc@unitedwayknox.org.
Kaki Reynolds, our Senior Director of Economic Mobility, joined Megan Spurgeon, Director of Empower Upper Cumberland, on Scott Miller’s Essential Leadership to End Poverty podcast to discuss how this work is taking shape in East Tennessee and what it is revealing about long-term employment outcomes.
East Tennessee Collaborative is a part of a study funded by the Tennessee Department of Human Services which is being conducted to determine how these pilot programs help people improve their economic well-being and become self-sufficient. During the study, all new eligible applicants will be selected by lottery into one of two groups that receives a different mix of program services.
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Email our team at info@unitedwayknox.org.
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