United Way sets priorities for moving region forward

The United Way for Southeastern Michigan announced Monday a list of priorities for moving the Detroit metro region forward. The priorities include educational preparedness, economic stability and fulfilling the region's basic needs.

The new plan, called the Agenda for Change, was formed after extensive research from the organization.

More than 85 percent of the respondents to a United Way survey said that they "expect the region to work better together." The United Way's partnership in the new regional group, One D will help address that, officials said. Other One D partners include the Detroit Regional Chamber, Detroit Renaissance, New Detroit, the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Cultural Alliance for Southeast Michigan.

For more on the new United Way agenda, see coverage in the Detroit News.

Excerpt:

Details on how the local United Way plans to accomplish this are still emerging, but agency leaders are already collaborating with private, public and nonprofit entities on initiatives and the agency is a member of One D, a coalition of civic boosters working to transform Metro Detroit. United Way will also use research to establish an undetermined number of baseline indicators, such as student literacy, to help document progress in their areas of focus.

"This region can make better progress on the social issues facing this region," said Michael Brennan, CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan.