Uriah Williams, executive director of the Shawano Area United Way, was chosen by the Shawano Area Young Professionals as the saYPro 2025 Young Professional of the Year.
Through his work with the United Way, Williams is busy with many projects and organizations.
“I recognize I am blessed that much of this involvement overlaps with my day job,” he said. “If I worked any other career, I’m not sure I would have the capacity to be this involved.”
The list of community activities is lengthy, including prior time on the boards of the United Way (of which he is now a staff member) and SAM25.
Current organizations include:
• ThedaCare Shawano Community Health Action Teams.
• Shawano Community Education Advisory Board.
• Wolf River Region chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
• Shawano Area Early Childhood Partnership.
• Health Department’s Community Health Assessment Team.
• Leading two projects this year with Leadership Shawano County, including a 211 Wisconsin update for the region and developing a Youth Leadership Shawano County program.
• United Way’s local food coalition, a gathering of nonprofit groups working with food insecurity in Shawano and Menominee counties.
• Volunteer time with the Wisconsin Deer Hunter’s Association — Shawano Chapter board.
“My wife and I do our best to show up,” Williams said. “There are many people who work so hard to put on quality events and opportunities in and around Shawano. We try our best to show up and be a part of them as our schedules allow.”
Among his favorite events are the summer farmers market, the pizza dough and sauce from the Stock Market, the Holiday Tree Stroll and Tree Lighting and saYPro’s bingo event.
“One of my goals is always to be the voice of the young people in the room,” he said. “Our world has changed so much in the last five years alone, let alone the last 25 with the advent of the technological revolution.
“Part of the reason I serve on so many of those boards and groups is so that our generation has a voice in spaces where decisions are made, because we have a lived understanding of the changes society is going through. What worked even 10 years ago is not necessarily going to work today, and we have a responsibility to voice that in the physical world and not just in the digital one.”
Professional and personal growth are part of William’s everyday life.
“While I was in the Army, I worked on my bachelor’s degree, which I received in 2020 and immediately began my master of divinity program. I received that in April 2024,” he said. “That fall, I enrolled in Leadership Shawano County and graduated in 2025. Most recently, I have been taking courses offered through the United Way Network to learn more about how I can leverage state and national level benefits of our membership to serve Shawano and Menominee counties.”
Personal growth was helped through his involvement in Leadership Shawano County and saYPro.
“By meeting people from more diverse sectors beyond the nonprofit world, I have gained a far better understanding of how our communities operate and what drives them economically than I would have had a year ago,” Williams said. “By working to expand my board of directors from seven when I took the executive director position to 11, we now have more diverse voices and ideas, which makes for a stronger organization.
“Surrounding myself with people who have different ideas and experiences than me has been one of my top focuses this last quarter and will be something I continue to work on in 2026.”
His work naturally includes making a positive impact to improve Shawano County.
“Professionally, the Shawano Area United Way’s mission is to improve community life by mobilizing the caring power of individuals in order to provide maximum positive impact in the areas of education, income and health,” he said.
This is accomplished in two main ways: nonprofit support and direct programming.
Allocations to nonprofits are more than $200,000 since 2020. Other support included grant research, a volunteer opportunities database and nonprofit education events.
The direct programs that are run predominantly focus on supporting Asset Limited Income Constrained Employment (ALICE) families, he said. These are families who are working and have income but are still living paycheck to paycheck.
“Direct programs we run include our Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites, which processed more than $500,000 for low-income Shawano County residents in 2025, and our Snuggled with a Hug Diaper Bank, which helped support more than 150 infants with free diapers and wipes this year alone,” Williams said. “We also just held our first Techquity Wisconsin event in November with NWTC, where we helped 22 students receive no-cost loaned laptops to support their upcoming courses in the spring semester. Most were returning adult learners working to expand their career opportunities.”
Williams credits the success of the programs to the volunteers who run them.
“My work is predominantly thinking at the strategic level about how to improve these programs, working to secure the finances we need to run them and implementing new programs and strategies as needed while advocating for nonprofits and ALICE families at a policy level when I can,” he said.
His work on the deer hunter’s local board combines his passion for helping youths and the outdoors.
He is trained as a presenter for the NAMI group.
“I share about my own mental health journey with youths from seventh grade and up and talk about my journey with depression when I was their age and to today, as well as the readjustment disorder I experienced after leaving the Army and the value I received from going to therapy and seeking help,” Williams said.
“Through all these efforts, I hope to make Shawano County a more inclusive and uplifting place to live and work because when our mental health is taken care of, (when) we have quality activities to be involved in and (when) we raise the standard of living for the least of these, we all thrive.”
