United Way hasn’t had a huge presence in Brown County, but that may be changing.

While the eastern portion of the county will remain under the auspices of the United Way of Bartholomew County, the remainder of Brown County will now be part of the newly merged United Way of South Central Indiana.

The merger brings together the United Way of Monroe County with the south central Indiana chapter and will now encompass Brown, Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, Orange and Owen counties.

“We have served Brown County with our financial stability work,” United Way of South Central Indiana President and CEO Randy Rogers told The Democrat. “We help with taxes and that’s been very popular in Brown County.”

As of this writing, there are no individual agencies that are solely funded by United Way here. However, umbrella organizations like the Red Cross, Boys and Girls Scouts, Hoosier Hills Food Bank, Salvation Army and more operate both outside and inside Brown County.

“I think one of the things we will be doing forward is finding the right ways to better serve the area,” Rogers said, adding that the organization is planning a series of listening sessions.

“One of the beauties of United Way is that we are an international and national organization, yet we’re hyperlocal,” he said. “We have the structure (of the larger organization) and see what we can use in individual communities.”

The new United Way of South Central Indiana will work on moving families out of poverty by examining the root causes of inequities in health, education and financial stability across the six counties. According to a press release from UWSCI, about half the families in the region are in, or are one emergency away from, poverty. The organization said that includes 30 percent of families with children and 43 percent of seniors.

Attempts to reach the United Way in Bartholomew County were not successful.