COLUMBIA, MO. -- Officials with Columbia’s Heart of Missouri United Way announced a new way of doing business.

Organization leaders said their new way of funding their agencies will help break the cycle of poverty by improving education, income, health and safety.

The United Way’s new Community Impact Agenda uses a 3-year funding cycle to pay for programs involving youth and low-income families.

United Way officials said the changes will help solve the long term problems of poverty.

United Way Executive Director Tim Rich said, “What we saw was, every year we would come back and say the needs have increased and that we need you to give more.  It’s a never ending cycle.  We want to begin to stem the tide of that need.”

United Way Board Members worked with more than 150 volunteers over the past 2 years to deconstruct the entire organization’s funding system.

Directors of some of the United Way’s senior service programs have criticized the new funding process because their programs are not a part of the Community Impact Agenda.