She comes from a small town in Ohio known for the lack of a discernible accent by its residents.

Allison Warren-Barbour is finding other ways to stand out as she leads United Way of Snohomish County on a new path to help families escape the traps of poverty.

Now in her third year as President & Chief Executive Officer, Warren-Barbour brings experience, education and personal commitment to her role. She earned a Business Management degree from Miami University, a Master of Divinity degree from Princeton and worked for United Way in Atlanta and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. before coming to Snohomish County.

Warren-Barbour says she is seeing United Way organizations across the country evolve away from the traditional “community chest” model as the needs of communities are changing. “In Atlanta and Greater Triangle (in Raleigh-Durham), we were having these conversations,” Warren-Barbour says.

In Snohomish County, former CEO Dennis Smith was also leading the organization and community in similar ways. Warren-Barbour says her role is to continue the transition to targeting resources at specific populations and measuring outcomes.

To get there, United Way of Snohomish County has adopted the CORE model, which stands for “creating open roads to equity.”

“We’re trying to utilize the funding in a way that can really produce a different type of change,” Warren-Barbour says. “If we want different results, we can’t act in the same way.”

Episode links

• United Way of Snohomish County
• Miami University
• Princeton Theological Seminary
• Piqua, Ohio
• Ohio accent