Evaluations are conducted with vehicle recipients 6-months after receipt of their vehicle and again 12-months after receipt. As a result, there is a year lag in our data reporting. (6-month data can be made available upon request to amundel@uwstory.org.)

September 2021 note about FY19-20 data: Surveys of individuals who received vehicles in FY19-20 were conducted in FY20-21, during the coronavirus pandemic. Barriers to employment included no childcare (many daycares closed during covid-19 and schools moved to remote or hybrid-schooling); business closures = loss of jobs; covid-19 infections with long-covid recovery; etc. As a result, Wheels for Work saw a drop in the typically-high employment rate. Still, there are signs of progress already: as children moved from remote-schooling back to in-person, one vehicle recipient was able to return to her position. And other promising signs are on the horizon too.

Wheels for Work is a collaborative program for which United Way of Story County functions as backbone agency and fiscal agent. This is an inventive solution to the persistent transportation barriers in our county. Other partners include:

• Ames Ford Lincoln - Accepts donated vehicles into the program to be given a safety inspection and repaired.
• ACCESS, Central Iowa Community Services, Mid-Iowa Community Action, and The Salvation Army - Take applications and work directly with the clients on details to receive a vehicle.

For more information about the Wheels for Work program and evaluation data, please visit: https://www.uwstory.org/wheels-for-work