.png){kind=logo}
Welcome Back to Community Connection!
We’re so glad to be back in your inbox! Community Connection is returning as a quarterly newsletter, sharing stories, updates, and ways to get involved across all three UCC neighborhood centers.
In this issue, we’re sharing how you can participate in our Thanksgiving Food Drive, looking back on an amazing summer of literacy and learning, celebrating our Ronqueo sponsors and North Texas Giving Day donors, and sharing how you can join us for fall festivals.
Thank you for being part of the UCC community. Happy fall, y'all!
Just $50 provides a Thanksgiving basket for one family.
This Thanksgiving, we want every family in our community to have a full table. Our annual food drive provides holiday baskets for UCC families, and this year we’re aiming to serve 600 families again.
Click the banner to donate online and access a printable flyer to share with your friends, neighbors, church, or workplace. Thank you for helping us care for our community!
What an incredible summer at UCC!
Our summer program ran daily from 7 AM to 6 PM, giving students a safe, nurturing place to learn, explore, and have fun, with three nutritious meals and two snacks every day.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
Students took field trips to the Fort Worth Zoo, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, theaters, college campuses, and more. These trips connected classroom learning to the real world, broadened students’ horizons, and created lasting memories.
A New Adventure Every Week
Our weekly themes brought learning to life
-
Circus Week
-
Healthy Lifestyles: nutrition, fitness, teamwork, and World Cup fun
-
Prehistoric Adventures: dinosaurs, animals, fossils, and science
-
Technology Evolution: innovations that shape our world
-
Independence: history, freedom, and community
-
Arts Week: clay, water art, painting, plastics, and papier-mâché
-
Solar System Week: space exploration
-
Preparing for the Future: college awareness, career exploration, and goal setting
-
Game Shows: academic challenges and friendly competition
-
End-of-Summer Celebrations
One of our proudest accomplishments this summer was measurable growth in reading. At the start of summer, 46% of students tested on or above reading level. By the end, that number climbed to 58%, a 12-point jump! This growth reflects intentional literacy instruction, engaging experiences, and steady encouragement from our team.
Thank You, Staff and Summer Partners!
To our phenomenal UCC staff: thank you for your dedication, creativity, and patience all summer long. From early mornings to late afternoons, you created meaningful learning experiences and a welcoming space for every student.
A special thank you to our summer partners, including IAMHer, The Artist Outreach, MAVS 4 Youth Program, and the many others who shared their time, talents, and resources. You helped expand learning opportunities and create unforgettable experiences for our students.Together, you made this summer a tremendous success!
Thank You for Showing Up on North Texas Giving Day!
Thanks to you, UCC raised $18,285 on North Texas Giving Day! These gifts go toward general operating support, which is some of the most valuable funding a nonprofit can receive. It keeps our doors open, our staff in classrooms, and our programs running at all three neighborhood centers, and it gives us the flexibility to meet families’ needs as they come up. To everyone who donated, shared our page, or spread the word: thank you. You make this work possible, and we’re so grateful to have you in our corner.
Thank You, Ronqueo Sponsors
This year’s El Ronqueo de Atún at Dos Mares raised over $20,000 for United Community Centers. Thank you to everyone who came out, ate, and celebrated with us. And a special thank you to our presenting sponsor, Riverside Homebuilders, and to all of our generous sponsors:
Elsa & Ramon Guajardo
GGC Consulting
The Anderson Family
RPGA Design Group
The Palko Family
Frost Bank
The Brownlie Family
Grab your costumes and bring the whole family!
Each of our neighborhood centers is hosting a FREE Halloween celebration this month, packed with food, games, and plenty of treats. Come celebrate with your UCC neighbors, we can't wait to see you there!
Poly Halloween Festival
Friday, October 23 | 6 to 8 PM
3100 Avenue I, Fort Worth, TX 76105
Food, carnival games, haunted house, cake walk, and raffles
Halloween at Wesley
Thursday, October 29 | 5:30 to 7:30 PM
3600 N Crump Street, Fort Worth, TX 76106
Haunted house, gorditas, pozole, nachos, funnel cake, aguas frescas, and more
Tricks & Treats at Bethlehem
Friday, October 30 | 6 to 8 PM
951 Evans Avenue, Fort Worth, TX 76104
Food, trick-or-treating, pumpkin and face painting, cake walk, and a bounce houseWe can’t wait to see you there!
Thank You for Reading!
We’re so grateful to have you as part of the UCC community. Keep an eye out for our Winter issue, where we’ll share highlights from our annual report and take you inside Maren Grove, our newest early learning center.
Until then, follow us on social media for updates, photos, and ways to get involved. Happy fall, and see you this winter!