union city as a community school

Union City Elementary, part of Union City Area School District, became a United Way Community School in 2021. The Union City Area School District serves students in both Erie and Crawford County. There is one elementary school in the Union City Area School District. Union City serves about 423 students, with 68.3% economically disadvantaged, 24.8% receiving special education services, and 4.5% experiencing homelessness. Data pulled from Future Ready PA Index. All data points feature the most up-to-date publicly available metrics.

For more information and district resources, visit ucasd.org, or check out the district's Facebook!

United Way community school director

Community School Directors are United Way of Erie County employees embedded full-time within each Community School. They serve as the on-site connector between the school and community, building relationships with students, families, staff, and partners to remove non-academic barriers to learning. By coordinating resources and aligning support, Community School Directors, with the assistance of United Way backbone staff, help ensure every student and family has what they need to succeed in school and life.

Meet Union City's Community School Director, Bailey Pituch

Bailey Pituch, a Union City native, graduated from Union City High School and earned her Bachelor’s degree from The College of Wooster. After college, she worked as an event producer in New York City, Erie, and Dover.

Bailey returned to Erie in 2019 to join United Way of Erie County’s Community Impact team, first as a Coordinator and later as Manager of Data and Evaluation. She became a Community School Director in 2021 when the model was introduced in Union City.

Corporate Partners

Corporate Partners are integrated partners, not just donors. Their collaboration creates consistency, resources, and opportunities that directly impact student success and family well-being — key pillars of the Community Schools Model.

These businesses and organizations provide both financial and volunteer support, working side-by-side with Community School Directors to create meaningful opportunities, improve learning environments, and strengthen connections between schools and the community.

Interested in becoming a Corporate Partner? Contact Julie Chacona, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer at julie@unitedwayerie.org or Anita Kuchcinski, Vice President of Development at anita@unitedwayerie.org.

FUNDING Partners

Women United actively supports Community Schools by serving as a dedicated funding partner. They provide essential financial resources to address any gaps that United Way Community Schools might encounter. Their contributions can be tailored to support specific schools or bolster the overall Community School Model, ensuring a robust and sustainable educational environment. Through their partnership, they aim to enhance the quality of education and community engagement, making a tangible difference in the lives of students and families. Learn more about Women United.

Meet Union City's Corporate Partner & Funding Partner:

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cOMMUNITY sCHOOL hiGHLIGHT

Every year, United Way Community Schools make measurable strides across the four pillars of the Community School Model. Here's one highlight from the last school year.

Union City is improving student health access and strengthening student-staff connections! In the 2024–2025 school year:

37 students received glasses through a school-based mobile vision clinic

11 % average increase in students reporting that they feel comfortable talking to staff about a problem

Community school data dashboard

This dashboard provides a comprehensive view of academic performance, attendance, and survey data for Union City Elementary as a United Way Community School. It contains seven interactive pages, each focusing on a distinct area of data.

Page 1: presents key school facts from the most recent year of available data.
Page 2: displays PSSA scores, allowing users to select metrics and filter by subject and demographics.
Page 3: shows PVAAS scores for the most recent year, with similar filtering options.
Page 4: highlights attendance data, which can be filtered by year.
Pages 5-7: include student, family, and staff survey results, also filterable by year. All visuals and filters are interactive, enabling users to click within charts to explore the data in greater depth.

IMPACT STORIES

These stories highlight real examples of how the United Way Community Schools model is creating lasting change. From improved student engagement to stronger family connections, each story showcases the people, partnerships, and progress driving success across our community.

Monday Mar 2nd, 2026

Family Engagement in Action: Inside Community School Math Nights

You might assume a Math Family Engagement Night starts as an idea from school administrators, but at McKinley and Union City Elementary, that wasn’t the case.