As its predecessor was for decades, Southwick House is a Community Partner with the United Way of the Flint Hills.
Southwick House Director Susan Brinkman says the agency was notified this week it had successfully met all Community Partner requirements, including alignment with United Way mission objectives; a high level of fiscal oversight; diversity, equity and inclusion practices; and structural stability.
Brinkman tells KVOE News the Community Partner status is effective immediately.
Current United Way CEO Mickey Edwards says the partnership between the United Way and Southwick House is a “natural fit” because of the Southwick House’s planned work in housing services, especially for women and possibly children facing homelessness.
Southwick House is in the process of identifying needs, developing or restarting funding sources and finding what it calls an “adaptive reuse facility.”
Brinkman will be on KVOE’s Talk of Emporia at 11:06 am Monday with more information.
The United Way had a better than 70-year partnership with Southwick House’s predecessor, Plumb Place, but the partnership ended in 2019 after the United Way suspended funds once over $50,000 went missing in 2017. The partnership was reinstated and funding was restored on the condition that Plumb Place adhere to United Way directives, but the United Way ended the partnership as a move to ensure donations were being used as indicated.
