WASHINGTON - The United Way of America, alarmed at the nation's fraying safety net, will announce today that it will direct its giving toward ambitious 10-year goals that would cut in half the high school dropout rate and the number of working families struggling financially.

The nonprofit organization also wants to increase by one-third the number of youths and adults considered healthy. The announcement comes as it releases a report detailing a precipitous decline in key education, personal finance and health indicators.

The report finds that one in four high school students does not graduate on time, one in four families does not earn enough to provide for the household, and two in three young people and adults lead unhealthy lives, including those who engage in such risky behaviors as drug use, binge drinking and unsafe sex.

"The country is at a crossroads right now," said Brian Gallagher, United Way's president and chief executive. "I've never felt a time in my career where there's this combination of enough pain, feeling of a lack of progress, feeling like we've stalled, combined with a next generation of leadership demanding change."

He said the announcement he plans today at the United Way's annual conference in Baltimore is a "clarion call to action."

Although local affiliates historically have funded a variety of programs, United Way leaders say the giving has done little to solve the country's social problems.

Today, they will pledge to spend the money raised in the next 10 years to support programs directly related to education, income and health care. The United Way is the largest U.S. nonprofit organization, with about 1,300 affiliates that collectively raise more than $4 billion a year through workplace campaigns and other private donations. By harnessing its giving power, the United Way is trying to reignite a social movement of the philanthropic, government and corporate sectors to improve conditions for working families.

Despite spending millions to support scores of local programs, the 121-year-old United Way has not made measurable progress on these core problems, Gallagher said. The country's social safety net is broken, he said, and the United Way must redirect its money toward the root causes and hold itself accountable by declaring bold and measurable -- even if unattainable -- goals.

Although the national organization sets the agenda for its 1,300 affiliates, it does not have the power to dictate that local organizations award grants only in the areas of education, income and health.

It is hard to gauge the reaction of local United Way leaders, many of whom will learn of the national initiative Thursday. But the affiliates are historically independent, and many have deep relationships with donors and nonprofit groups in their communities.

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