Leroy Abrahams, Regions head of Community Engagement, talks about his leadership role with United Way and how individuals can affect real change in our community by supporting local campaigns.
By Candace Higginbotham | September 18, 2024
United Way campaigns have kicked off across the Regions Bank footprint, and associates are sitting in on informational meetings, watching inspiring videos and hearing from leaders and peers about the importance of contributing to the campaign. For a few weeks this fall, Regions associates are immersed in United Way.
Leroy Abrahams, head of Community Engagement at Regions, has been fully immersed in United Way for a year. And he’s fine with that.
Around this time last year, Abrahams was invited to be the area-wide 2024 Campaign Chair for United Way of Central Alabama. In spite of a busy and demanding day job leading Community Engagement at Regions, he readily accepted.
Abrahams has done Regions proud in this high-profile leadership role. Chairman, President and CEO John Turner praised his work at the recent United Way campaign kickoff at Regions Center in Birmingham.
“I’m very proud of Leroy’s leadership in serving as the campaign chair for the area-wide campaign,” Turner said. “It’s a well-deserved honor and it shines a light on our company’s position in our community as a prominent organization committed to doing the right thing.”
We sat down with Abrahams to discuss his role as campaign chair, what inspired him to take it on, what he’s learned and why he encourages Regions associates – and any individual – to support the United Way.
Did you have a history with United Way before accepting the Central Alabama Campaign Chair position?
Like many young professionals, I began contributing to the United Way early in my career, as part of my company’s campaign. But after serving on a Visiting Allocations Team, I was hooked for life. In that capacity, I visited local United Way agencies – often small nonprofits – and reviewed applications for funding. I was part of a decision-making group that evaluated what level of support United Way should provide to a given agency that year. It was really an eye-opening experience for me, and one that I’ve carried with me throughout my career. Having a deep understanding of how United Way works and how they support local agencies – how they are good stewards of the community donations – made me a lifelong advocate for United Way.
Your work at Regions as head of Community Engagement provides a unique view of the economic, health, safety, education, and housing needs of individuals and families across the central Alabama region. How has your professional role influenced your term as United Way campaign chair, and vice versa?
At Regions, our Community Engagement priorities are focused on three areas: economic and community development, education and workforce readiness, and financial wellness. We believe that emphasizing these specific areas that complement our combined expertise and talent allows us to best serve our communities.
United Way shares these priorities, along with other areas of focus that are vital to our communities, including health and wellbeing, mental health, nutrition, senior services and crisis response. By providing leadership support to United Way, I’m able to help reach the community in ways that we don’t have the capacity for at Regions.
You’ve talked before about the United Way’s ability to address a full circle of needs. Would you elaborate on that?
I’ve used this example many times, but let’s say your cause of choice is education and you want your hard-earned dollars to go toward making sure children in our community have opportunities to learn and succeed in life. That’s an honorable and understandable commitment. But how can young kids learn to read in an environment where there’s housing instability? How much focus can they have when there’s food insecurity – when they’re hungry? These factors, along with others impacting families such as physical and mental health, job insecurity and others, directly impact a child’s ability to learn and get the most out of their educational experience. The United Way provides funding for all those wraparound services that are essential to educational attainment.
What have you learned about United Way that you didn’t already know?
United Way doesn’t just solve a temporary, immediate problem. It empowers people and gives them an opportunity to get at root causes of problems and then is available to provide longer-term solutions. That holistic approach to support can make a real difference in people’s lives and affect real change in our society.
What would you say to anyone new to United Way or hesitant about supporting the organization?
I would recommend that anyone – and everyone – experience United Way for themselves. Go volunteer at a local agency and witness first-hand the passion and commitment these skilled professionals give to the community. And see the gratitude of the individuals and families who benefit from their services.
I would also suggest that people who may be skeptical about supporting a large nonprofit organization do some research and see where the contributions go in the local community. Look at the annual reports, read about the agencies and local United Way leadership and evaluate at the overall impact. Also, Candid’s GuideStar is a helpful tool to research nonprofits. This third party provides information on financials, leadership, mission and strategy of community organizations.
Finally, I highly recommend serving as a United Way Visiting Allocation team member. I mentioned before that I had the opportunity to do that early in my career and it really solidified my commitment to the United Way. In the course of the last year, serving as chair of the central Alabama campaign, I’ve talked with many people who considered themselves skeptics until they spent time with agencies, looking at their programs and their financials and helping determine where the funding goes.
Regions is one of two Fortune 500 companies in Alabama and naturally has a leadership position in its headquarters city. How does Regions’ influence impact the local United Way campaign?
Regions Bank has a culture of giving – and that, frankly, has more impact on our community than the number of employees or our financial performance. I’m honored to serve as campaign chair this year, but I’m not the first – nor will I be the last from Regions. The bank has a long legacy of sending strong associates to serve as Loaned Executives each year, in our headquarters city and throughout the footprint. Our leaders serve on United Way boards, our associates serve on Visiting Allocation teams, our teams volunteer with local agencies. And most importantly, our associates support United Way financially. Regions is consistently one of the top United Way donor companies, and I’m proud that our associates put our mission and values to work each year by showing up for this campaign.
What will you take away from this experience?
I came into the role feeling like I know my community, but I’ve been consistently surprised and delighted by the generosity and spirit of goodwill of the civic and corporate leaders, agency partners and community members during my tenure as campaign chair. Birmingham is truly a special place.
To read about how Regions and United Way teamed up ensure students and teachers have a great start to the new school year, visit Doing More Today. For more information about United Way of Central Alabama, visit their website. To find out more about the local United Way chapter in your area, click here.
