This fall marks a milestone for United Way of Metropolitan Dallas as it celebrates a century of community impact. The nonprofit launched a year-long centennial celebration last week with a launch event on Oct. 24 at the AT&T Discovery District.

Ongoing events will celebrate United Way’s three focus areas: education, income and health.

The nonprofit also announced the Data Capacity Building Initiative, which will expand the Aspire United Community Vulnerability Compass to more than 200 community partners over the next five years to enable data-driven decision making. CVC, a partnership with the Parkland Center for Clinical Innovation, provides hyperlocal data that focuses on education, income and health.

“United Way of Metropolitan Dallas has been the driving force behind creating access and opportunities for North Texans to thrive,” says Jennifer Sampson, McDermott-Templeton President and CEO of United Way. “Since 1924, we have brought together community leaders, corporations and nonprofits with one goal: to improve lives. We know that when we come together through United Way, we are the heartbeat of this community and we have tremendous momentum. Our pulse is stronger than ever.”

D CEO spoke to Sampson about the organization’s storied past and what the future holds:

CEO D: What are some highlights of this year-long celebration that we can look forward to to?

JENNIFER SAMPSON: “Over the next 12 months, we’ll be highlighting some exciting and impactful moments and ways the North Texas community can engage with us and ‘live together.’ We’ve launched a special community-wide volunteer series, presented by Texas Instruments, and includes a day of reading, summer meal distribution, and a STEM festival for middle school students at the Perot Museum. And all of these volunteer events — there are 10 of them — are supported by local corporations, nonprofits, and now the sports franchises and some celebrity athletes who have signed up to be part of Team United Way for the next year.

“We will culminate the centenary – the crescendo moment will be a big event in Fair Park on Saturday 15 November 2025. The event will be sponsored by PepsiCo. Steven Williams, CEO of PepsiCo Foods North America, is our Centennial Campaign Chair. We’re in Fair Park because a lot of our work is in that geography and we’re excited to be there.”

CEO D: What will the centenary celebration entail?

SAMPSON: “There will be three events that day. We will host a food festival in the Centennial Building and bring in restaurant owners from South Dallas and across the city, with a focus on the impact of United Way’s work to address food insecurity, particularly in South Dallas. So celebrity chefs and local chefs. PepsiCo is partnering with Food Network chefs who will provide entertainment throughout the day, making recipes with lots of products you’ll recognize from the Frito Lay portfolio. So this will be a fun event for families. We anticipate 7,000 to 8,000 people coming to the food festival.

“Then, in the early evening, there will be a dinner for our investors and partners in the Auto Building. We’ll be culminating in the Cotton Bowl for a concert sponsored by PepsiCo. We partnered with PepsiCo for our 90th birthday in 2015, and they’ll be bringing top-notch entertainment — Super Bowl halftime show-level entertainment — to this concert, which will be the first non-athletic event in the newly renovated Cotton Bowl since Texas -EGG. weekend of 2025.

“So a lot of planning went into getting ready. We have one more year. As we get closer to that event, we’ll announce unique moments related to that event and the people attending it over the next year. But the invitation to the community—indeed, to North Texas—is very simple. It’s: Join us and let’s make our big dreams for Dallas come true.

“We encourage everyone to go to unitedwaydallas.org to sign up to volunteer, to bring your family, to get your company, colleagues, neighbors and friends involved in the live united movement. It’s a celebration of our past, sure, but it’s only equaled by the promise of our future, and it’s going to take everyone in this region coming together to write the next chapter of our story.”

D CEO: Tell us about the legacy United Way has built over the past 100 years.

SAMPSON: “The legacy we built in the first century is tied to a measurable impact on the community. The origin of United Way was more of a transactional model, and I like to describe that history as a sprinkling of kindness throughout the community to facilitate philanthropy, which is a very good thing, but the model has really evolved over the last 15 to to 20 years in a model that very specifically identifies the greatest vulnerabilities in our community, targeting where we need to invest philanthropic resources and driving measurable results against those investments.

“We have set goals, Aspire United 2030 is our strategy. The 10-year education goal is to increase third-grade reading by 50 percent. On the income side, it’s increasing the number of young adults earning a living wage by 20 percent. And then there’s near-universal access to health insurance.

CEO D: Can you tell us more about United Way’s impact?

SAMPSON: The numbers tell our story, and that’s what sets United Way apart from many others. Just this year I had an impact. Our efforts have improved access to education and human health for more than 1.7 million North Texans. And that’s 20 percent of the population in a region that is one of the fastest growing regions in our country. We have a proven track record of those measurable results we mentioned.

“Our superpower is that we are hyper-local; we use data science to understand the vulnerabilities in every Dallas neighborhood. We can analyze block by block, person by person, in highly targeted geographies, and it helps us work smarter with our communities to deliver those measurable results. And that translates into more kids reading at grade level. There are better paying jobs for young adults and access to health care for nearly every North Texan.

“So the legacy of the last 100 years has been this transformation from facilitating philanthropy and sprinkling goodness throughout the community to evolving into a community impact organization that can measure the social return on philanthropic investment to drive real change in North Texas. “

CEO D: What is United Way looking forward to in the next century?

SAMPSON: “When I think about the future, I think about the people of North Texas. We work with people who have great talent and passion, and great things happen when you work with great people. Our story is about bringing together some of the most passionate and talented people to focus on problems, solutions and funding that result in good lives for everyone who lives here. And I’m excited about big dreams for Dallas.

“We’re launching a centennial campaign, and it’s about big dreams for Dallas and the real opportunity to make those dreams a reality for North Texans. We’re bringing together a range of talent and the brainpower, the personal power, that’s needed to fight the circumstances of inertia, and we’re mobilizing individuals and institutions with the resources, profile and imagination, and demonstrating a commitment to Dallas’ future. to do what seems impossible.

“We’re building that team to revolutionize the way America’s cities tackle some of their toughest problems. And it will take all of us coming together to write the next chapter of our story.”