The last session of our Knowledge Exchange webinar series on framing explored how to frame housing issues. We appreciate FrameWorks Institute for leading us in these important conversations. Consider how you incorporate such strategies in effectively communicating your work, whether it’s with funding entities, staff, clients or community members and stakeholders. Remember that messaging and framing together yields a greater impact than messaging alone. So, think about ways you can engage with other partners in your space to amplify your message and truly drive systems change.

For a recap of each webinar and key takeaways, click on the topic. 

• Moving Mindsets: What It Takes to Change Culture
• The Power of a Shared Story: Lessons from the Early Childhood Movement
• Talking About Economic Well-Being: New Strategies for New Times
• We Agree There’s a Problem, But How Do We Fix It? Reframing Housing Issues

Take Action Now
Our newly released 2025 policy agenda is based on our priority areas: educational success, financial empowerment and housing security. We look forward to opportunities to work with you to advocate for the families we serve. Through joint advocacy, we achieve more together than any of us can achieve alone.

• Improve Food Security - Ask your members of Congress to strengthen and protect vital anti-hunger programs supported through the Farm Bill, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP is our nation’s most significant anti-hunger program and promotes financial stability, health and well-being.
• Expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) – Ask your members of Congress to support the expansion of the CTC. Under current law, too many children in families with the lowest incomes receive either no CTC or a smaller credit than families with higher incomes. Expanding the CTC so it reaches more of those children will improve families’ ability to make ends meet and help reduce child poverty.

Free Tax Prep
Dedicated Free Tax Prep volunteers prepare tax returns and help clients tackle tough tax issues like prior-year returns. Appointments can be made through our website and United Way 211. Another option is MyFreeTaxes.com , a United Way service that allows anyone earning less than $84,000 to self-prepare their tax return for free, including state returns. Consider publicizing this tool to your employees and community. MyFreeTaxes.com partner toolkits will be emailed in January – watch your inbox!

Building Better Together
On Oct. 29 at Northern Kentucky University, United Way of Greater Cincinnati convened community leaders from 117 organizations to explore how we can amplify our collective impact. President and CEO Moira Weir set the tone by emphasizing that complex challenges require collaborative solutions. In breakout sessions, partners built connections while they addressed critical issues in workforce development, youth safety, family support and early childhood education. Check out these reflections from the event, and look for the next Partner Convening in spring 2025.

Building a community where everyone can thrive requires a collective effort, which is why United Way highly values partnerships that span public and private sectors. One example is the recently launched Revive + Thrive Home Repair Loan Program, a partnership involving LISC Greater Cincinnati, the city of Cincinnati, Hamilton County, the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Working in Neighborhoods (WIN) and Warsaw Federal.

United Way 211 (the 24/7 helpline) in October began serving as the first point of contact for homeowners interested in Revive + Thrive. By handling the initial screening of homeowners, 211 team members reduce the time WIN staff must devote to administrative tasks. “It frees us up to spend time working with people to complete their application packets — people who might not be able to access traditional financial products to do needed (home) repairs,” said WIN’s Hope Wilson, Director of Operations and Housing. As of early December, the 211 team had screened and referred 79 callers to WIN.

Partner Funding Request for Proposals (2025-2026)
United Way is seeking to fund a diverse portfolio of partners that align with United Way's key impact areas of educational success, financial empowerment and housing security. Funding allows partners to support immediate economic well-being while also continuing to innovate community-informed, long-term solutions. Stay tuned for more information about the proposal process.

• Late January-early February 2025: Requests for proposals released 
• March-May 2025: Review process and recommendations 
• June 2025: Applicants notified of funding decisions 
• July 1, 2025: Funding begins 

 
2025 City of Cincinnati Human Services Fund
Early in 2025, organizations providing services to city of Cincinnati residents will be able to submit proposals seeking financial support from the Fiscal Year 2025 City of Cincinnati Human Services Fund. The city established the fund to invest in services for residents based on priorities set by Cincinnati City Council.

• Late January-early February 2025: Requests for proposals released 
• March-May 2025: Review process and recommendations 
• June 2025: Applicants notified of funding decisions 
• Aug. 1, 2025: Funding begins 

 
Additional Opportunities

• City of Cincinnati Leveraged Support. The city of Cincinnati provides financial support for specific programs or for the general operations of organizations that perform a service benefiting Cincinnati residents. The application process for fiscal year 2026 is from February to March 2025.
• Greater Cincinnati Foundation (GCF) Educational Success Request for Proposal. GCF requests proposals for evidence-based educational efforts that address racial and/or socioeconomic disparities in education and career opportunities for students. These programs should also provide young people with wrap-around supports and services that ensure their social-emotional health and overall well-being. The RFP will be released in January 2025.
• Murray & Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation grant . The foundation supports initiatives to advance representative democracy, strengthen its structures and institutions, and facilitate the active participation of an informed citizenry. Priority will be given to programs that encourage engagement in democracy; promote professionalism in public service; and combat political, social and cultural polarization. Proposals are reviewed three times a year; the next application deadline is Feb. 15 for a decision by April 30.

• Jan. 21 | Policy with a Splash of Coffee
  As tax season approaches, this discussion will examine the impact that United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s Free Tax Prep initiative has on the community.
• Jan. 30 | Indiana Live United Day
• Feb. 12 | Kentucky Live United Day
• March 19 | Ohio 211 Advocacy Day
• March | Social Capital Survey Learnings and Report
• April | Policy with a Splash of Coffee
  This conversation will focus on the importance of childcare for our regional workforce.
• Spring | 211 Informational Session
• Spring | Spring Partner Convening

Knowledge Exchange: All recordings and resources from past webinars and trainings can be found on our website.

United Knowledge & Insights: Looking for publicly available data to help you in your work? United Way’s United Knowledge & Insights aligns data, research, impact evaluation and other learnings to improve economic well-being across the region. A variety of regular publications, learning and capacity-building sessions are available. For a tutorial on how to navigate the dashboard, please reference the video below the dashboard.

Reframing Early Childhood to Strengthen Systems That Impact Children and Families: This early childhood communications toolkit explores how investing in the early childhood ecosystem yields social and economic benefits for entire communities.

RefugeeConnect's Health Literacy library of videos offers tutorials on health topics that new Americans seeking services from your organization might need. Videos are available in a variety of languages. 

The Community Leaders Institute (CLI) will offer a five-week leadership development program in February-March aimed at health program improvement. Participants receive a small grant ($1,500–$2,000) and apply their skills to a health-related project over the next year. Applications are due Dec. 18. 

Interact for Health's Our Health, Our Opportunity Report highlights health conditions in our region, how we can achieve a healthy and thriving community, and our collective roles in making this possible. 

Community Engagement Grants: Organizations that need funds to host a specific program or event – such as a food or clothing program or a back-to-school event – may have an opportunity for community engagement funding from United Way. These are typically one-time grants of $5,000 or less. For information, email [email protected] or Chandra Mathews-Smith at [email protected].

Resources available: United Way provides partner organizations with goods needed by community members, which might include hygiene items, healthy snack packs, dental kits and cleaning supplies. If your organization receives requests for such resources, please email [email protected].