Dear United Way friends,

As we work toward the economic well-being of all people in our region, United Way of Greater Cincinnati will look at everything through the lens of equity, understanding disparities in our community and addressing them head on.

Last week, we announced a $1 million investment in 45 Black changemakers through our Black Empowerment Works program. We are fortunate to have committed, creative leaders working to make our communities stronger. We are proud to partner with them and honored to learn from them.

I have worked in the Greater Cincinnati social service sector for nearly 30 years and one of my main takeaways is that we need to really listen to those closest to the community challenges we are addressing. They often create the most innovative and effective solutions. Take a look for yourself—you will see inspiring concepts such as Queen Mother’s Market’s plan to open a grocery store in Walnut Hills to provide local, fresh affordable groceries, and Our Tribe’s plan for a year-long program to assist Black children living with autism and their families.

Thanks to the generous support of our community, we increased last year’s investment of $600,000 to this year’s $1 million. Thanks to our 2021 Black Empowerment Works community grant reviewers, who had the tough job of reviewing 168 applications and selecting 35 grantees (ten other grantees received funding outside of this process to continue existing work). We’ll be sharing more about that group in later communications.

Look for more of this work in the future. Supporting Black changemakers is just one of the ways we are being intentional about working in, for and with our communities. I hope you are inspired to join us on this journey.

Sincerely,

Moira Weir
President/CEO
United Way of Greater Cincinnati