The ULC Denver congregation has adopted five causes that it supports through the development of financial and other types of resources: Cancer, Sickle Cell, Arts, Alt Education & Upward Mobility.
Cancer Treatment Assistance
According to the Cancer Research Institute, there are over over 200 distinct types of cancer and in 2022 it was estimated by the American Cancer Society that there were over 21 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer related deaths worldwide. It is estimated that the number of new cancer cases will rise to 35 million by 2050.
Treatment Costs are in many cases unaffordable for patients and their families because, the costs associated with direct cancer care are staggering. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network noted that In 2018 cancer patients in the U.S. paid $5.6
billion out of pocket for cancer treatments that included surgical procedures, radiation treatments and chemotherapy drugs.
And overall Cancer Costs are rising, representing a significant portion of total U.S. health care spending. Approximately $183 billion was spent in the U.S. on cancer related health care in 2015, and this amount is projected to grow to $246 billion by 2030, which would be a staggering increase of 34%.
In most situations these high costs are paid out of the pockets with those stricken with the disease and their families, employers, insurance companies and taxpayer-funded public programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
The National Institute of Health reports that in addition to the financial burden associated with the disease, there are a number of quality of life issues that accompany patients dealing with it, including economic difficulty, pain, sleep problems and fatigues. Their study also indicates that patients have negative effects on their psychological well being and financial constraints among patients and family caregivers have a negative effect.
The My Friend Phil Fund for Cancer Assistance established by the ULC Denver helps fund emergency loans, grants and reimbursements to help patients in treatment that are in need of funds to ensure they either are able to start and/or complete a doctor approved critical treatment and gain the proper care that is needed.
Learn More about the My Friend Phil Fund and how you donate generally or earmark your gifts to support particular populations or certain types of treatments.
Sickle Cell Anemia Research
According to the Foundation for Sickle Cell Disease Research, 100,000 plus Americans are affected with Sickle Cell, 1 in 365 African Americans are born with Sickle Cell Anemia, 1 in 12 African Americans carries the Sickle Cell Trait and 1 and 16,300 Hispanic Americans are born with the disease as well.
Sickle Cell causes the body to produce abnormally shaped red blood cells that prevents proper delivery of oxygen to body tissue creating serious kidney, liver, and heart problems for those living with the disease, many of which are People of Color in the U.S. There is still a lot of research needed and new therapeutic potential necessary for us to fully understand Sickle Cell Anemia including work identifying new and improved treatments, gene therapies improving access to bone marrow transplants, optimizing blood transfusion safety, managing patient pain and general health, understanding the medical burden and psychological impact of patients as they age and more.
The My Niece Nicky Fund for Sickle Cell Anemia Research established by the ULC Denver provides grants and fellowships to professionals and student researchers with ideas and projects dedicated to bettering the experience of patients living with and/or being treated for Sickle Cell Anemia.
Learn More about the My Niece Nicky Fund and how you donate generally or earmark your gifts to support particular populations or certain types of research ideas and projects.
Funding The Arts
Being a “starving artist” is not easy, and unfortunately many artists don’t make enough money from their art to produce what they see as their next best thing, which could be that one thing that gets them famous.
Advocates of the arts as a part of human development have long argued that the arts provide intrinsic benefits along with positive influences to academic and social development in humans. There is a lot of research to support this argument but there is also a lot of anecdotal evidence that points to human cultures being much better when the arts are present and accessible.
The Festival Friends Fund to assist in the development of all of The Arts established by the ULC Denver provides financial support and other resources to artists, artisans, musicians and performers of all forms that are initiating new projects or innovating current artistic techniques and technologies.
Learn More about the Festival Friends Fund and how you donate generally or earmark your gifts to support particular populations or certain types of artistic expression and needs.
Non-Traditional & Non-Conventional Education
In recent years there has been a drastic change in the traditional education process thanks to the technological revolution and unexpected forced changes associated with the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020.
As the Annie E. Casey Foundation notes:
Nearly all schools in the United States closed for at least part of spring 2020. By fall, the academic year kicked off differently across the nation. Some children were attending school in person, others were learning remotely and still others were following a hybrid approach. Many kids have found virtual learning, as well as the changing learning conditions, challenging.
The sudden shift to remote learning platforms decreased instructional time and hindered student learning. Many students struggled to stay focused in class, and they were less likely to seek help when needed.Disparities in internet access exacerbated existing educational inequities for Black and Brown communities. As a result, children spent less time learning, and were more likely to drop out of school altogether.
They further note:
Many students experienced significant mental health struggles after the shift to remote learning. Students were increasingly isolated, spending more time on devices and getting very little physical activity — all of which contributed to increased stress, anxiety and depression.
Teachers were required to redesign lesson plans and find innovative ways to keep students engaged. In many cases, teachers were forced to eliminate sections of their curriculum due to their limited instructional time.
While classroom learning shifted to a remote model during the pandemic, extracurricular activities were typically suspended altogether. Without the outlet of extracurricular activities, students had fewer ways to develop their talents, manage stress and connect with their peers.
All of this has created a shift in traditional education systems that is less beneficial for many student learnings leading to many of them seeking alternative systems for learning.
The Alt Ed Fund established by the ULC Denver provides grants and loans to assist educators in developing and implementing new types of teaching and learning models that serve as non-traditional means of education. The fund also offers scholarships and grants to students who wish to be educated in some other type of non-conventional format such as technical, experiential and active learning systems.
Learn more about the Alt Ed Fund and and how you donate generally or earmark your gifts to support particular populations or certain types of education alternatives.
General Social Mobility Assistance
A number of researchers (Michel, Bivens, Gould, & Shierholz, 2012; Piketty & Saez, 2006) argue that people’s motivation to rationalize and defend the status quo is a major barrier to societal change. The gap between the rich and poor has been rising since the late 1970’s and has become one of the most important problems in modern society.
Others (Oishi, Kesebir, & Diener, 2011; Wilkinson & Pickett, 2009) argue that higher income inequality appears to be linked with societal problems such as decreased physical and mental health. Still others (Stiglitz, 2012) argue that hindered economic growth can be added to this laundry list that stunts social mobility, which is defined as the ability of a person or family to move up or down the social and economic ladder, either within their lifetime or between generations.
There are many people that experience structural resistance in their social mobility some for reasons of choices and others from structural situations over which they didn’t have full control.
The General Upward Mobility Fund established by the ULC Denver assists individuals experiencing difficulty with their social mobility. Regardless of whether it was one’s decisions that caused or facilitated the difficulty or whether it was a situation beyond that individual’s control, the fund offers grants and emergency micro loans to cover expenses to assist individuals with getting back on a general upward trend relative to their social mobility.
Learn More about the General Upward Mobility Fund and how you can donate generally or earmark your gifts to support particular populations or certain types of mobility hindrance issues.