Q&A with United Way’s president
Annette Duncan serves as president of the United Way of Steele County in addition to various volunteer roles in the community.
Editor’s Note: Beginning this week as part of our continued Underserved coverage, we will offer a Q&A with community leaders and others that help close the gap for people facing systematic barriers to accessing vital resources and services within our greater community of Steele County
Annette Duncan has served as the president of the United Way of Steele County since June 2020.
Prior to taking on the top role, Duncan served on the United Way’s Board of Directors from 2007 to 2015 and board chair from 2012 to 2014.
Duncan has lived and worked in Steele County for many years, mostly with nonprofits in the human services sector. She has a bachelor’s degree in organizational management and communications from Concordia University, St. Paul and a master’s in nonprofit management from Adler University.
She is an active volunteer, serving as regional vice president for Region 3 and a volunteer field representative for the National Exchange Club and president for Moonlighter’s Exchange Club. Duncan also serves on the board of the South Central Minnesota SHRM chapter and serves in the capacity of secretary for the local CAER chapter and church council with St. Paul’s Lutheran Meriden.
She is married to Bryan and together they have six children and two grandchildren. Duncan enjoys spending time with her family, watching children’s sports and working in the garden.
What inspired you to go into your line of work?
I have always had a desire to serve. I grew up in poverty and understood all too well, that if it wasn’t for the charity of others I would not have made it out, breaking the cycle of poverty for my family.
What programs/services does your organization offer and why are they important to the community?
United Way of Steele County supports programming that impacts Healthy Community, Youth Opportunity, Financial Security, and Community Resiliency. We support organizations that provide supports under these impact areas. We also manage programming internally under these impact areas. For a complete list of all our services, visit www.unitedwaysteelecounty.org.
How has funding from the state, federal, and local government impacted your organization?
We have been fortunate to be the recipients of both federal and state funding, in areas that have not had significant cuts. What has impacted us is the amount of time we are allotted to complete the work. With shortages at the state, while we may be notified that we will be the recipient of a grant, grant agreements are many times delayed by upwards of six months, rarely with extensions, which requires that the work we committed to needs to get completed quicker than planned for, which from a capacity stand point, can at times be overwhelming. We have great community support though, so we are thankful for the financial support to move some of our larger projects forward and appreciate the community stepping in to help bring this work to fruition.
What is one thing your organization has done in the past year that you are most proud of?
Our organization has done many things in the past year; however, what I am most proud of is the development of the UPLIFT program, a Truancy Intervention concept, developed in collaboration with the County Attorney’s Office, MNPrairie County Alliance, the public school districts, and many other partners in the mental health sector and probation. This program showed how systems CAN come together to create something that is transformational and truly impactful, and we are thankful for the Federal Funding that allowed us to bring this program to fruition. Next up…Teen Center!
How have the tough economic times impacted the amount of donations United Way has received?
Last year, we hit a record-breaking goal, this year, while we have noticed that donations are a little slower coming in, we also know that our communities are accustomed to giving in the fourth quarter to United Way, and while we’ve changed to year around giving, this trend, of giving at the end of the year, remains strong. We remain cautiously optimistic, that the thing that continues to set Steele County apart from other counties, our generous nature, will get us to where we need to be to create the greatest impact in our communities.
Since COVID-19 the United Way has taken on a number of programs locally. Can you share some of those?
United Ways across the county, across the world, have taken on a lot since COVID. This pandemic accentuated need and uncovered several gaps that were not being filled. Nearly all the programming listed under Our Initiatives on our website, or UWSC Programming from the list provided, with the exception of SingleCare, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, SteeleCoWorks/Made in Owatonna, Adopt A Family, and 211, are new programs that United Way has taken on since June of 2020.
What do you feel are the top social issues currently facing Steele County?
In our conversations with the community and from our data analysis, we see that the top three issues facing our community, and not any particular order, are Mental Health, Childcare, and Housing. However, other issues which impact quality of life and access include transportation and language support, which are both intertwined, and significantly impactful on their own.