Community Stories: Jordan Falby, United Way Collective Impact & Digital Inclusion

I like to say that I’m an immigrant on easy mode. I’m from Toronto. My family had all the resources – lawyers, finances, an employee sponsor and it still took 10 years to receive our U.S. citizenship. It’s made me extremely sensitive to how devastating this process could be if you had even an ounce less privilege. Those experiences sparked an early interest in how systems are set up to benefit some people and not others, and what we can do about it.

It makes me want to look for where all of those touchpoints are happening – whether cultural or systemic – to see what can be tweaked so that there are less issues for people who are not part of the dominant culture. I think technology can play a big role and that’s what led me to United Way and my work with the Connect 313 collaborative.

Here, I’ve been able to contribute to projects from their infancy through their growth into robust programs like Connect 313 and United Way’s DEI efforts. I believe there are a lot of little tweaks we can make to alleviate some of the systemic problems that we keep running into as a society. As we continue to make those adjustments, it’ll start to shift the cultural side as well.

Jordan Falby is the Manager, Collective Impact & Digital Inclusion for United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

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