Blueprint for impact
A Five-Year Strategic Plan to Create Lasting Change
The Blueprint for Impact is United Way Miami’s comprehensive roadmap for advancing lasting change across Miami-Dade.
Developed through one of the most extensive strategic planning efforts in the last 10 years, the Blueprint is grounded in research, data and community input, reflecting the voices and experiences of those closest to our region’s most pressing challenges.
Focused on four key areas—Health & Wellbeing, Education, Resilient Communities and Economic Mobility—the Blueprint aligns resources, investments, partnerships, advocacy and action around shared goals and measurable outcomes.
It guides how United Way Miami strengthens collaboration, advances coordinated solutions and drives progress that expands opportunity, strengthens families and improves quality of life across our community.
OUR COMMITMENT
More than a plan, the Blueprint for Impact is a roadmap and collective commitment to building a stronger Miami where every individual and family has the opportunity to thrive.
Read our strategic brief to see how we’re making a difference through 2031.
Blueprint for Impact: Process By the Numbers
Our Goals
Health & Wellbeing
- By 2031, 25,000 residents will gain access to preventative healthcare
- Increase mental health services utilization
- Help older adults age in place
Resilient Communities
- Maintain flexibility to respond to urgent needs and moments of crisis
Education
- By 2031, provide high-quality professional development to 2,500 early childhood providers and administrators
- Help preschoolers and students up to third grade build foundational skills
- Promote positive parent-child relationships and increased family engagement
- Ensure successful school transitions from middle school through high school
Economic Mobility
- By 2031, support 5,000 individuals in securing employment in stable and resilient jobs
- Promote long-term financial stability and wealth building
- Eliminate housing barriers and increase access to affordable housing
To advance our 2031 goals, we invest in programs, partnerships and community initiatives. A key component of this work is our Community Investment Process to direct resources that create the greatest impact.
35
Health & Wellbeing programs funded, including 4 new programs
31
Education programs funded, including 9 new programs
18
Economic Mobility programs funded, including 9 new programs
How We Invest in Success
We Lead
United Way Miami leads a wide range of initiatives that strengthen families and communities.
We Support
United Way Miami invests in programs, partnerships and community initiatives that advance our shared goals.
We Collaborate
United Way Miami collaborates on community-driven initiatives designed to improve quality of life.
Volunteer Voices
David Zambrana
President & CEO
Jackson Health System
United Way Miami Board Chair
The blueprint’s intent is to align the United Way’s investments and community work with its clear strategic mission, ensuring every effort is focused, intentional, and measurable. The expected impact is a stronger, more visible return on that investment, one that demonstrates results and creates the opportunity to expand successful initiatives throughout Miami-Dade County.
Lisa Mendelson
Philanthropist
Co-Chair of Community Impact Committee
Participating in the development of the new Community Impact Blueprint has reinforced for me the importance of listening to and learning from the community before determining solutions. One of the most valuable lessons has been recognizing how interconnected the challenges facing Miami-Dade residents are and how essential it is to take a collaborative, data-informed approach to creating meaningful change.
Bob McFarlin
Senior Market Leader, Miami Herald / El Nuevo Herald EVP, McClatchy Media
Co-Chair of Community Impact Committee
I hope this blueprint creates stronger alignment across organizations and community leaders so we can focus resources where they will make the greatest impact.
Eddie Dominguez
Managing SVP & Chief Community Officer
City National Bank
Impact Council Volunteer for Economic Mobility
It felt especially important to be doing this work now, given the growing complexity of community needs and the pressure to ensure resources are used in the most meaningful way possible. With demand continuing to outpace available funding, there is a clear need to move toward a more disciplined and strategic approach grounded in sustainable, long-term impact.
Phillip Lloyd Hamilton, M.S.Ed.
Assistant VP & Interim Director, Student Affairs
Florida International University
Co-Chair of the Education Impact Council
Miami is one of the nation’s most vibrant, culturally rich, and welcoming communities because of the abundance of organizations that are committed to improving the lived experiences of all Miamians. United Way Miami’s community impact blueprint fortifies the long-term sustainability of these organizations’ imprint on our community.
Maya Ghaemmaghami, MD
Physician
Impact Council Volunteer for Health & Wellbeing
I hope that the funding provided by United Way Miami will improve the wellbeing of the citizens of Miami-Dade County who otherwise would have fallen through the gaps of our social fabric.
