Monroe County United Ministries, Inc. Information

Welcome to Monroe County United Ministries, affectionately known as MCUM. We are an 85ish year-old nonprofit agency here in Monroe County with the mission to create lasting solutions to economic, educational, and social injustice in our community through quality programs, collaboration, and innovation. We work primarily with people in or at risk of falling into poverty. When we talk about poverty we are talking about chronic scarcity and the associated stress that comes with it. Poverty is actually a very personal and individualized experience, but the most common problems that contribute to poverty in Monroe County include: • Low wages • Availability of jobs with adequate pay • Unaffordable healthcare • High cost of living • Generational poverty The mental bandwidth living in poverty requires creates a cognitive tax – this can lead to impulsive decision making/poor decisions, poor memory as the brain is in a constant fight or flight mode, lack of ability to plan – when bandwidth is low and we are thinking about paying for food and rent, it is almost impossible to think about the future. MCUM is here to help people navigate that – meeting them wherever they are with support for whatever they need – with the goal of empowering them to improve their circumstances and ultimately reach self-sufficiency. Our emphasis is on generational poverty – which is why we have 2-gen, wrap around programming between our own licensed, high quality early learning center in addition to the Self-Sufficiency Center.