March 21, 2011

WCPO.com By: Tom McKee

CINCINNATI – Jaiel Alexander learned to blow bubbles Friday in the living room of his Walnut Hills home.

His mother, Natasha Ray, was ecstatic.

“I never knew he could do that,” she said.

“Good job,” gushed Arista Warren Huffman of Every Child Succeeds. She was seated a few feet away watching the young mother interact with her son and chase the bubbles that he helped form.

On the surface it may not seem like a big deal, but Jaiel is a month shy of turning 2 years old. The bubble-blowing was another milestone in helping to develop his speech.

Warren Huffman regularly travels to Ray’s home to help her improve her interaction and communication with her son through reading, singing and creative play.

“They’re very helpful,” Ray said of the sessions. “She’s taught me a lot like reading and showing my child how to cooperate and understand a few things.”

Home visits for children in the first three years of life and quality child care from ages three to six form the nucleus of Success By Six, a community-wide effort to get at-risk, low-income children in the City of Cincinnati ready for kindergarten.

The program has produced gains in the number of children prepared to start school, but a great deal of work remains. One of every two children in the City of Cincinnati still isn’t ready. Funding remains a constant challenge.

The education makeover is under the umbrella of the Strive Partnership in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. The organization’s credo is helping every child every step of the way from cradle to career.

It’s a steep slope to climb. Census data from 2009 indicates 23,542 Cincinnati children under age five with 42.1 percent of them living at or below poverty level. The poverty rate for all individuals is 25.3 percent.

Strive Executive Director Greg Landsman said improving the entire education process has enormous implications for the city.

“You’ll grow your economy, your middle class, you’ll lift incomes, you’ll reduce poverty if you can be focused like a laser beam on investing in education and improving student achievement from start to finish,” he said.

Strive’s goals are to make sure that children are:

–Prepared for school

–Supported in and out of school

–Academically successful

–Enrolled in college

–Able to graduate and enter a career

That’s accomplished through:

–Early childhood education

–Teacher and principal excellence

–Linking community supports to student achievement

–Post-secondary enrollment, retention and completion

–Advocacy and funding alignment to support innovation

–Promote data-driven decision making

The importance of early childhood education has been well known for decades. Research shows 90 percent of the brain develops by age five and most of the social and emotional growth occurs during that same period.

However, it took the Cincinnati’s civil unrest in 2001 to create the partnerships that redirected resources to tackle and solve the kindergarten readiness problem.

“That was a catalytic moment that got everyone focused on the things we needed to do to turn our community around,” Landsman said. “Let’s start organizing and investing in a more strategic and intentional way around those things that are having the greatest impact on improving kindergarten preparedness rates.”

When the CAN (Cincinnati Action Now) Commission released its recommendations on how to improve the city in February, 2003, one of the top priorities was improving educational achievement by preparing infants and children to be successful.

CAN Co-Chairs Ross Love and Tom Cody didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. Instead, the commission’s members identified successful programs that were already working in communities across the country. Success By Six, fit the bill because it was successfully operating in 300 U.S. locations.

The CAN report read:

Key business, education, civic and government leaders have launched a comprehensive program (”Success By Six”) — which will upgrade and expand the capacity of the area’s existing early child development programs (providing an expert resource/coach for every parent of an at-risk child) and establish full-time pre-school for the at-risk children in this area. By substantially improving the quality of care, parenting and educational groundwork received by our at-risk children, during infancy through their pre-school years, our youth will enter the school system prepared to succeed.

Former Federated (now Macy’s) CEO James Zimmerman was asked to assemble a team to put the program in place.

“I’m convinced this is the number one issue in our community,” he said. “It solves social, racial and police issues. This gets to the heart of it.”

The Zimmerman team defined the problem and developed solutions.

“The good news in a bad subject is that the community knows what to do,” he said. “The return on investment is tremendous. It’s much more expensive to clean up this problem later than it is to intervene and get it on the front end.”

Macy’s provided funds to hire Stephanie

Byrd as Success By Six Executive Director. She left a 20 year career in health care to take the position.

“Back in 2001, I was a fence-sitter in this community,” she said. “I looked at things and said, ‘The city will get better,’ but I realized that I needed to really jump in and help make a difference myself.”

Byrd’s role is to coordinate early childhood programs in the community by using data and training to help improve performance of parents, children, and teachers.

“There’s data both locally and across the country that shows when a child is prepared for kindergarten, they’re more likely to have success in high school, graduate from school, go to college, have higher earning potential and be less likely to be involved in criminal activity,” she said. “All of those things benefit the community in terms of reduced costs for human services and incarceration as well as improving the overall income of the community.”

The home visits are the first step from birth through age three.

“Parents are their child’s first and best teacher,” Byrd said. “We need to give them access to resources that help them do the best job they can.”

Landsman said one of the key measures of success is the number of words a child knows by age three.

“We know that middle class kids know anywhere between 1,500, 1,600 and 1,700 words. The average low income child knows between 700 and 800 words,” he said. “That’s the foundational gap and it will persist throughout the rest of the education pipeline unless we get that right.”

However, Landsman added the home visits are only reaching about 30 percent of families who really need it.

In addition to bubble blowing, Warren Huffman’s visit with Ray and her son included reading, singing and creative play.

Ray read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear” to Jaiel as he pointed to pictures of animals and helped make their sounds.

“She’s been reading to her child since he was four months old and he loves books,” Warren Huffman said. “He’s turning pages. He’s responding. He’s not really asking questions, but he’s involved and he loves his books.”

One thing that makes it easy for Ray and Jaiel to read together is the fact that she’s studying for her diploma and wants to go to college.

“It’s very tough,” she said. “Sometimes I struggle, but I’m making it.”

Quality child care for age three to six is the next step in the Success By Six process.

“That comes best by having a quality teacher, being in classrooms that have low teacher-to-child ratios, having a curriculum that helps them learn the things they need to know for kindergarten and having access to those experiences that help them learn,” Byrd added.

The State of Ohio has developed a rating chart to help parents determine where they should send their child. The system begins at one star and goes to three stars, the highest rating.

CINCINNATI CHILD CARE CENTERS

RATED – 34

CHILDREN SERVED – 2,868

NON-RATED – 75

NUMBER OF CHILDREN SERVED – 4,838

ONE STAR RATING – 10

TWO STAR RATING – 8

THREE STAR RATING – 16

The Cincinnati/Hamilton County Community Action Agency runs the Head Start program at the Ted Berry Center on Court Street in the West End. It currently has a one star rating.

Principal Mary Reed said the center subscribes to the Success By Six guidelines. That includes using data to track student performance and designing individualized programs to help every child succeed.

The classrooms are bright, airy and filled with different learning stations.

In one area, two young boys work on computers. Nearby, three children are picking brightly colored plastic letters from a box and placing them on forms to spell simple words. Others play together with Legos.

“We do all those things, but we also help them learn socially and emotionally to get along with each other so that they can be successful in the classroom when they get to kindergarten,” Reed said.

Reed knows the benefits of the center’s efforts.

“Long-term, we’re going to have people that are going to be ready to work. We’re going to have people that are going to be able to use computers,” she said. “We’re going to have people that are going to be able to take care of each other. We’re going to have someone that will be able to do every job that society needs to move forward.”

However, she also knows that much work remains.

“We still need early childhood centers and that means some of it has to be with vouchers,” Reed said. “Some of our parents need help with paying for child care. We might have quality child care, but if we can’t get the people to it, that’s going to be a problem.”

In Walnut Hills, the Cincinnati Early Learning Center on Beecher Avenue has a three star rating.

Its classrooms are similar to the Ted Berry Center – bright and cheery in a safe learning environment.

Children read, paint, play with toys and learn words.

“Each year we send anywhere from five to 15 children to transition to kindergarten,” said Director Deanna Lane. “We work with

high-risk children and because of the qualities of the teachers and the environment, we have definitely succeeded with these children.”

According to the data, Success By Six is making progress in the City of Cincinnati. In 2005, when tracking began, about 44 percent of children were deemed prepared for kindergarten. The figure now is 53 percent. However, the United Way’s goal is 85 percent by 2020.

“The fact of the matter is it’s woefully inadequate. The funding is woefully inadequate,” Landsman said of the numbers. “We have a long way to go and it’s going to take people being a little outraged and saying we’ve got to do more.”

Zimmerman agreed that the numbers are unacceptable.

“Fifty percent of the kids are not ready to start kindergarten,” he said. “However, 90 percent of the money spent on education is after age five, yet we know that 90 percent of the brain develops between birth and the fifth birthday.”

He added current funding is around $70 million, but much more is needed.

“The pie of public money is not going to get bigger, so we need to reallocate what’s available,” he said. “For example, a modest reduction in higher education funding would double or triple the monies available for this much higher return on investment. I’m convinced of it.”

Landsman put it another way.

“We’re spending about $1.6 billion in Ohio on some 50,000 prisoners, which is about $30,000 per prisoner,” he said. “Based on some estimates, we’re spending about $500 per child zero to five, which is insane. Absolutely insane.”

What needs to be done?

According to Byrd, it begins with parent education, community awareness and continued improvement in programs serving children from an at-risk background.

“We know that the children who benefit most are the ones who come from low-income families,” she said. “Getting them into services is our first priority.”

Byrd added she talked with one teacher who was moved to tears because of an increase in student performance.

“It made her feel like she was making a difference,” Byrd said.

The same story came from parents.

“I’ve talked to a number of them who said that their child being in a program was the difference for that child,” she said. “They were able to compare that child’s performance to another one of their children’s performance who had not had that experience. It made them more committed to make sure their child stayed in the program where they were well served.”

Lobbying legislators for more funding is one of Landsman’s suggestions, adding the future of the city is at stake.

“Education, education and education are the keys to a better city,” he said. “People will want to live here, stay here and raise a family here if there are good schools. Businesses will want to locate here if we have a highly trained work force.”

“This is what it’s all about,” Landsman stated.

November 26, 2010

It’s a philosophy that has been echoed from political platforms and religious pulpits. It’s an idea that rings true in almost every segment of society. United Way’s annual campaign is proof that many of you take this mission to heart.

United Way of Greater Cincinnati recently concluded its annual campaign, celebrating the investment of $60.6 million, thanks to thousands of contributors like you. Our local campaign effort is one of the largest and most successful in the nation, and this year’s campaign is another solid example that our community values the importance of supporting education, income and health – even in our current, precarious economy.

More than 100,000 donors pledged to support the largest single community engagement event in our region. Thanks to those many individuals and businesses, United Way will continue to invest in programs affecting your family, friends and neighbors – programs that help prepare children for kindergarten, assist families seeking financial stability and support elderly and disabled people striving to live independent, quality lives.

Our campaign set out to raise more than $62 million. Our results came up a bit short, but I bet the people who receive United Way-funded services would say we didn’t fail them. I believe they would join us in celebrating a hard-fought campaign impacting lives.

Personally, I am so grateful to the many companies that invited the United Way campaign into their workplace, supporting this essential fundraising effort through education about United Way’s work and making contributions that will be invested in 10 counties in Greater Cincinnati. The thousands of volunteers and supporters have given 110 percent to support United Way’s work. Our community would be vastly different without this commitment.

We all win when a child succeeds in school, when families are financially stable and when people have good health. I applaud United Way for remaining committed to such a worthy mission. It’s a commitment that stokes the fires of hope, opportunity and change in Greater Cincinnati. It’s a commitment that truly makes each of us a little better off. It’s a commitment that helps underscore our community’s long standing tradition of philanthropic work and voluntarism.

To whom much is given, much is expected. From the rolling hills of the Queen City to our strong and constant river, much has been given to us. Thank you, Greater Cincinnati, for stepping up and living up to the reputation that we take care of our own.

David F.Dougherty – former CEO of Convergys – 2010 Campaign Chair of United Way of Greater Cincinnati

Cincinnati.com

Editorials

October 3, 2010

If you need a solid reason to believe that supporting the United Way of Greater Cincinnati campaign is more important this year than ever, look no further than the “Our Region by the Numbers” economic study that was the topic of last weekend’s Forum (” ‘By the Numbers,’ We’re Way Behind,” Sept. 26) .

The report, sponsored by the Agenda 360 and Vision 2015 planning initiatives in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky respectively, found our area lagging similar metropolitan areas in several key indicators related to employment, education and income. This region ranked 10th out of the 12 cities measured – cities such as St. Louis, Columbus, Cleveland and Pittsburgh, with which Cincinnati must compete.

Among the specific findings: Cincinnati ranked 10th in the percentage of people age 25 or older with at least a bachelor’s degree, ninth in employment rate, 12th in managers and professionals, and eighth in per capita income.

The survey reveals regional weaknesses precisely in those areas the United Way has resolved to focus on and address: educational readiness, graduation rates and family financial stability. UW and its agencies serve not only as providers of immediate aid for struggling families, but as vital conduits for innovative programs to help residents achieve those long-term goals. Their work is closely aligned with Agenda 360, Vision 2015 and the Strive Education Partnership.

But now, as the United Way’s 2010 campaign hits its halfway point, the agency announces that it continues to face a $2 million gap between estimated contributions and its $62.025 million goal.

“It’s going to be a challenge in this economy. It’s an ambitious goal,” said campaign chairman Dave Dougherty.

United Way’s overarching message this year: Every donor counts.

“We’re trying to get a net gain in new donors this year,” Dougherty said. “We’ve got to get more young people, the emerging leaders, by delivering experiences that engage them, hopefully increasing their giving over time.”

During the past few years, the annual campaign goal has remained relatively flat at around $62 million. The problem is, the number of people donating to United Way has dropped about 20 percent during that time for various reasons – not the least of which is that some former donors have now found themselves in need of its assistance during the economic downturn.

Calls to United Way’s 211 line from area residents needing help with food, housing and other basic needs have risen from 70,950 in 2007 to 118,560 in 2009, a figure it may match in 2010.

Social service agencies face what Dougherty called a “double whammy” – a reduction of public and private funding, coupled with greater demand for their services. As we noted last month, the Freestore Foodbank, a United Way agency, has seen the number of people coming to it for emergency food assistance more than double during the past eight years.

Meanwhile, there’s some positive news for United Way – it has signed up more than 8,000 new donors during the current campaign, and about 10,000 of last year’s donors have increased their giving.

But the campaign is short of the 20,000 new donors it hopes to add this year to bring it back to previous levels. And even that figure would represent just a fraction of the 1.5 million people employed in the agency’s 10-county region of southwestern Ohio, Northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana.

More widespread support for United Way is key to pursuing the long-term solutions to the weaknesses exposed by the report.

“We need a significant increase in new donors if United Way is to have a major impact on the education, income and health issues that keep our community from being all it can be,” Dougherty said. Its programs directly address the “building blocks” that will help our region improve its performance in the report’s key benchmarks.

Business and political leaders are seeing the report as a call to step up efforts to boost job creation, education reform and business investment region-wide, with an emphasis on becoming more savvy about venture capital and entrepreneurship to grow jobs.

“If we want to compete, we need to change,” said Mary Stagaman, executive director of Agenda 360. The report’s low numbers may sound discouraging, but that’s not way the sponsors see it. “It’s aspirational,” Stagaman said. “We have plans that address these kinds of educational and workforce issues.”

United Way, said Dougherty, plays “a vital role in helping our community create solutions to significant problems.”

If you want to be part of those solutions, one good way is by supporting United Way’s 2010 campaign. We urge our region’s residents to do just that.

By: Randy A. Simes
September 22, 2010 – 7:00 am

Earlier this year Cincinnati City Councilmember Laure Quinlivan introduced a program that was intended to help embrace the city’s growing number of food trucks. Once approved in June 2010, the Mobile Food & Beverage Truck Vending Pilot Program created reserved, city-owned spaces for those food trucks to park at in the congested downtown area.

The pilot program received an initial surge of food truck operators looking to take advantage of the new program, and now, the City has issued the twentieth Revocable Street Privilege (RSP) to allow the sale of food and beverage from trucks at the three designated areas downtown at 5th & Race, along Court Street, and at Sawyer Point. This means that the program is now operating at 100 percent capacity.

This rise in popularity for food trucks in Cincinnati is similar to a national movement that has been underway for several years. To help celebrate the success of Cincinnati’s innovative program that embraces the movement, six participating food trucks will be at City Hall tomorrow to help raise money for the United Way of Greater Cincinnati.

Event organizers say that hungry guests will be able to get everything from gourmet burgers to Cajun food, barbecue ribs, tacos, ice cream, coffee, and smoothies from the participating vendors. They say that each donation made to the United Way will help support the City’s United Way fund raising goal, and will earn you a discount at the food truck vendors on-hand. Those vendors will reportedly include Taste of New Orleans, Cafe de Wheels, Just Q’in Barbecue, Senor Roy’s Taco Patrol, Coldstone Creamery, and The Coffee Guy.

The food trucks will be parked on the north side of City Hall along 9th Street (map) beginning at 10:30am on Thursday, September 23. There will be a Department of Community Development staff member on hand from the City that will be selling the tickets that will get you your discount at the food trucks and support the United Way.

Stay up-to-speed on the whereabouts of Cincinnati’s growing number of food trucks by following UrbanCincy’s comprehensive Twitter list.

The following are participating in United Way’s 2010 Loaned Executive Program:

• Allison Brown, Deloitte
• Denise Bullock, Ford Motor Company
• Brigid Cafferty, sponsored by Xavier University
• Michael Chikeleze, Cincinnati State
• George Corwin, sponsored community member
• Dan Curtis, sponsored by Ohio National and Catholic Health Partners
• Tim Godfrey, Macy’s Inc.
• Theressa Griggs, sponsored by Ohio National and Catholic Health Partners
• Jackie Hendrickson, sponsored community member
• Cecilia Hodges, FedEx
• Jerry Jaspers, General Electric
• Joe Langen, sponsored community member
• Zolita Martin, General Electric
• Alison Payne, Macy’s Inc.
• Lisa Pugh, Western & Southern
• Rhonda Russell, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
• Tom Sowar, Deloitte
• Kevin Whitman, Fifth Third Bank
• Jane Wiehe, American Red Cross, Cincinnati Region

The Loaned Executives began assisting with the 2010 campaign earlier this year, giving their time and expertise to assist staff and volunteers with establishing and running workplace campaigns, developing campaign strategy and facilitating volunteer trainings.

The United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s 2010 fundraising campaign supports over 300 programs and about a dozen strategic initiatives in Hamilton, Clermont, and Brown counties and Middletown in Ohio; Boone, Campbell, Grant and Kenton counties in Northern Kentucky, and Dearborn and Ohio counties in southeastern Indiana.

I know how to stretch a dollar.

Years ago I was a lowly journalist with an equally lowly paycheck. I learned how to make twenty bucks stretch until the next payday.

Sometimes that stretching had to cover a week or so – more like some extreme ashtanga yoga than a little bit of stretching, huh?

I figured it out quickly. Bread, eggs, cheese and milk – I could get all of these things for about five bucks or less and feed myself some hearty meals over the course of a week. Breakfast, lunch and dinner was always some variation of those groceries and whatever I had left in the pantry and freezer (usually a can of beans, some ramen noodles and frozen veggies. Frozen chicken breasts if I was lucky).

Meal time was always a creative endeavor when I had to make ends meet.

Or is it Ends Meat?

For all my bellyaching, I was grateful I knew I could make it to a payday.

There are lots of folks out there who aren’t as lucky. They don’t have a steady income, or they don’t have enough money to put food on the table while they’re stretching to payday.

United Way tries to serve up a one-two punch to help people battling low income struggles.

First, United Way supports programs that help keep food pantries open in Cincinnati, Covington and other Tri-State communities.

The other, perhaps more enduring effort invests donor dollars in programs that help people gain more job skills. This helps people in need seek better jobs with higher wages and health benefits.

If these folks have more assets, they’ll be better able to support themselves and their loved ones.

And maybe, someday, they won’t have to stretch to payday. Maybe someday they’ll be able to save some cash, invest and have some assets for retirement.

Isn’t that what we all want?

If you’d like to support the annual United Way campaign, please click here to make a donation of any denomination. Every little bit helps support someone else seeking the basic things for a better life.

I spend my days thinking about – and doing my best to act on - ways in which our schools can be used to help revitalize neighborhoods, and, in turn, neighborhoods can be tapped to help strengthen schools.

Naturally, I was thrilled with the recent announcement that Cincinnati Public Schools advanced to the “Effective” category on the Ohio Report Card – the highest mark for the district since the state began its current ranking system a decade ago.

This is good news for all of us, whether we have children enrolled in CPS or not.  We know – both intuitively and from research – that a stronger school system translates into greater economic development, lower crime rates, higher property values, and a heightened level of civic participation. 

A weak school system, on the other hand, flips all of those trends in the wrong direction.  Personally, I know that every time young married friends of mine tell me that they’re moving outside the City so they can send their kids to quality public schools, I sense a lost opportunity.

The important thing now is to build on our current momentum.  The biggest kudos for the recent progress belongs to the principals, teachers, and students who worked so hard all school year to boost academic achievement.

But there’s another group deserving of acknowledgement and appreciation.  That would be you: the community.  Without the vast network of community partners – from funders to program providers to individual volunteers – the recent gains could never have been realized.

In recent years, Cincinnati has created a nationally recognized model for schools as community learning centers dedicated to serving as extended-hour neighborhood hubs open to both students and non-student residents in the surrounding community.  These community learning centers provide additional academic support, health resources, after-school activities, recreational opportunities, and venues for neighborhood events.

One of those community learning centers is Oyler School in Lower Price Hill, which in the last several years has risen from “Academic Emergency” up to “Continuous Improvement.”

“Our success simply would not have been possible without our partners,” Craig Hockenberry, Oyler’s principal who was honored earlier this year with the Cincinnatus Association’s James N. Jacobs Outstanding Administrator award, told me.  “We’ve developed our school as the pillar of the community in Lower Price Hill, and both the school and the neighborhood are better off for it.  We’ve learned from our partners how to effectively align our resources and demand accountability.  The way forward is for every school to be a true community learning center.”

Whether it’s the United Way and Greater Cincinnati Foundation helping pay for the critical position of school resource coordinators, the Freestore Foodbank providing meals through its “Kids Café,” or individual volunteers like Rita Hudepohl who has been tutoring and mentoring 3rd graders at Oyler school for the last 15 years, the clear takeaway is that only the whole community working together can help lift up the young people who are the future of our city.

So what can you do?

Every one of us has a talent and a small amount of time each week to share it.  In my case, I’ve been told my singing voice and my yoga poses are nothing anyone should be taught to emulate, so I’m sticking with what I know: This fall at CPS’ Quebec Heights Elementary School, I’ll be piloting a citizen journalism workshop that I’m calling “Neighborhood News Crews.”  For an hour and a half each week, students, parents, and community members will spend a portion of each session reading and discussing current newspaper articles and then spend the rest of the time brainstorming, researching, and writing stories about their own neighborhoods.  The goal is to practice literacy skills while also boosting civic awareness so that publications like this one have readers and writers a generation from now.  I encourage others to share their passions with students eager to discover a passion of their own.

In his keynote address at the UC Economics Center award luncheon last spring, former Procter & Gamble CEO John Pepper said continued progress “will take the community – and by ‘community,’ I mean all of us – believing and acting on the conviction that the development of the children in our community is our highest priority.”

For the more than 33,000 public school students in our city, their future is clearly a brighter one when all of us walk by their side.

After last week’s good news, the community should give itself a well-deserved pat on the back.  And then it’s time to refocus our efforts and to do even more.

Posted: Sep 02, 2010 8:38 PM EDT
Updated: Sep 02, 2010 8:39 PM EDT

CINCINNATI (FOX19)- A text-to-give campaign is planned to support United Way’s annual campaign and brings a new twist to the traditional competition between the states that happens along the riverbanks over the holiday weekend.

I know you know that I think Business Courier readers are the smartest people in Greater Cincinnati.

Each of you spends less than $100 per year to get this newspaper each week of the year, as well as our annual bonus special publications Courier 250 and the Book of Lists, the local versions of the Fortune 500 that Tri-State companies and their employees use to benchmark themselves.

You subscribe to stay plugged in because you can’t get the timely local business news we deliver from any other source. Some of you have discovered that we’re more than a weekly newspaper, thanks to our website and business-related events that make us a weekday news provider and community convener.

Because you’re smart, I hope you won’t mind my suggesting you make another wise investment: increase your annual commitment to the United Way this year by at least $50 or write a first-time check to the organization for at least $50. If you own or run a company sitting on cash with no place to put it offering reasonable returns, consider writing a company check to the United Way.

Despite a sluggish local economy, United Way of Greater Cincinnati has set a $62.025 million goal for its 2010 campaign – the same amount collected last year.

The official announcement will be made Aug. 25. The agency will hold its second annual virtual campaign kickoff at www.liveunitedgc.org beginning at 11:30 a.m. Aug. 25. The campaign runs through October.

“It would be an extraordinary accomplishment,” campaign chair David Dougherty told the Enquirer. “We hoped to have a tailwind, and signs certainly looked that way a year ago, but we’re still facing a headwind.”

The flipside to the economic problems is greater need on part of the community.

“It’s a jobless recovery,” Dougherty said.

The Freestore Foodbank, a United Way agency that helps to supply 450 food banks in 20 regional counties, is facing record demand for food and services.

Dougherty, former president and chief executive of Convergys Corp., said he and his staff had made 160 calls to CEOs of leading local companies and completed multiple campaign projections.

He said he is confident that $60.5 million can be reached but is concerned about the $1.5 gap between that amount and the $62.025 million goal. That difference gap that could mean funding or not – or reduced funding – for nonprofit agencies.

To close that projected gap, United Way has secured $2 million pledges from private and corporate donors – including Cincinnati Bell and Procter & Gamble – that will be used as a match for new givers. The goal is to gain 20,000 new donors to a pool that totals a little more than 100,000.

Almost 15,000 new donors gave in 2009.

“We love big donors, but even a dollar a week is important,” he said.

Another incentive is a donation contest between Ohio and Kentucky.

United Way distributes money to agencies and programs in Hamilton, Clermont, Brown and part of Butler counties in Ohio and Boone, Campbell, Kenton and Grant counties in Kentucky, as well as Dearborn and Ohio counties in Indiana.

Donors from Ohio can text UWOH and donors from Kentucky to UWKY. Then hit 85944. Donations for the state’s contest will be counted from 6 p.m. Sept. 3 through 10 p.m. Sept. 6.

Money donated in 2009 went to three key areas – education, income and health.

One priority is preparing children for success in kindergarten. In 2009, 53 percent of children entering kindergarten in Cincinnati Public Schools were assessed as “ready to read,” up from 44 percent in 2006. The goal this year is 59 percent.

In the past year, 1,738 people obtained jobs through United Way-funded workforce programs. The new goal is 1,800.

Last year, 3,427 elderly people received home-delivered meals through funded agencies, up from 2,042 in 2007. The goal this year is to exceed 3,500.

Posted on Tue, Aug. 10, 2010

Workplace heroes

Melanie Wanzek

CTW Features

Community service is considered a good way for jobseekers to get experience while they look for a position. Volunteering can also benefit those who already have jobs – and their employers – by increasing productivity and helping create a more positive workplace.

A study at the University of Florida suggests that encouraging corporate volunteering, even during the workday, has a positive effect on employees. Jessica Rodell, the Ph.D. candidate who conducted the study, says volunteering made employees feel more connected with their employers and identify more with the company. By improving their view of their employer, they were more likely to engage in positive behaviors, such as serving on committees, speaking well of the company and voicing their opinions.

“Employees are going to feel better, not only about themselves, but about their company,” Rodell says. “And just simply by the act of feeling better, they’re going to do better.”

Employee volunteers were less likely to engage in negative behaviors, such as taking long lunches or surfing the Internet during work. Even if they spent time away from the office to volunteer, their subsequent improved attitude and productivity made up for hours lost.

“We see our employer doing something positive for others and think they’re better because of it,” Rodell says. “We think if they treat the community better, they will treat us better as employees, so we’re willing to give them as much as we can.”

Many companies already have volunteer programs in place. Rodell says six years ago, 35 percent of companies in the United States had some type of program, and the number is on the rise. Employee participation, on the other hand, often lags. Yet results seem to show that a program’s popularity doesn’t necessarily indicate how people feel.

“Companies maybe start to wonder if the programs are worthwhile,” she says. “But the results seem to say that it doesn’t matter whether employees actually use them or not. Just having the programs available has positive effects.”

Don’t have a company volunteer program yet? Consider suggesting one – you, your co-workers and your boss will benefit, as will the sites your company serves. Rodell says employee engagement increases when people find projects that are personally meaningful. Begin by looking for umbrella organizations like the United Way of Greater Cincinnati’s Workplace Volunteer Connection, which gives companies and individuals access to an extensive database of current volunteer opportunities. United Way senior associate Michelle Rummell, who runs the program, says implementing volunteerism in the workplace is important, since it’s where people spend much of their waking hours.

“People spend eight to ten hours each day at work, so it’s a great place to encourage volunteering and keep giving them the message that it’s a good thing,” Rummell says.

Talk to your boss about the benefits of running a program. Rummell says a lot of companies use volunteering as a method of team-building, rather than sending employees off for a conference or for a group challenge such as a ropes course.

Volunteer projects “bring groups very close, and [co-workers] see how well they can work together inside and outside of the office,” she says.

Volunteer projects offer a new venue to learn valuable skills and display organization and leadership capabilities to an employer while doing something worthwhile.

“Every group volunteer project is a chance for those people in a company to gain leadership experience and show their managers what they can accomplish,” Rummell says.

Finally, use the experience to realize the impact corporate volunteering has not only on the workplace but the community at large.

“A lot of our agencies wouldn’t be able to do what they do without volunteers,” Rummell says. “Once you actually go to an agency and see who you’re helping, I think that’s when you really feel it.”

Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Saying Thanks.
 
The staff team at United Way is mid-way through a two-week thank you blitz. We’re calling thousands of our most loyal donors — just to say ‘thanks’.

I made a couple of calls last year that stuck in my mind.

One to a gentleman who’d given through his workplace campaign for many, many years. His wife answered. After learning who I was and why I was calling, she asked me to hold on — he needed to hear what I had to say, but was on the roof cleaning gutters, she’d go get him. And she did. I felt a little guilty, getting him off the roof just to say thanks. But he loved it.

Another call was to a woman who turned out to be a 30-year donor employed as a receptionist at one of our partner agencies. She shared stories of how personal her gift had become through the years as she greeted folks coming through the agency’s doors.

Sometimes the folks on the other end of the phone are surprised. Other times they’re just chatty.

Yesterday I spoke with a gentleman I’d reached on his cell as he and his wife were driving back from a Florida vacation. He was somewhere in north Georgia. We compared weather notes and agreed there was apparently no escaping the heat this summer.

I said thanks.

He said ‘no, thank you for what you all do.’

The United Way of Greater Cincinnati and the Strive Partnership won a $2 million Social Innovation Fund grant to invest in community programs in Cincinnati, Covington and Newport.

The grant comes from the Corporation for National and Community Services, a federal agency that operates the Senior Corps, Americorps and Learn and Serve America programs. Eleven grants will be handed out to organizations nationwide, according to a press release, and recipients were selected based on “a compelling program design, deep understanding of how to use evidence to drive community impact, a proven track record of achievement and strong organizational capacity,” according to a press release. The grant is distributed over two years.

The Strive partnership is made up of 300 organizations committed to improving student achievement in Greater Cincinnati’s urban areas.

“We are honored to receive this sizable grant and know it will help us build on years of collaborative work to identify what children and youth need to succeed from cradle to career,” said United Way CEO Rob Reifsnyder said in the release.

Three Brown County program and business directors were among those honored by United Way of Greater Cincinnati this past week. United Way of Greater Cincinnati held their annual volunteer recognition breakfast on Thursday, April 15 at Eastgate to honor the recipients of the Resources Award, Exemplary Service Award, Vision Award and the Marty MacVeigh Leadership Award. Brown County volunteers received three of the four awards.

Debra Gordon, United Way campaign director, introduced each of the award winners and honorable mentions at the breakfast. She said the Exemplary Service Award went to Brown County Home Care, a program sponsored by Brown County Regional Healthcare, directed by Cheryl Phillips. Brown County Home Care allows many seniors to continue to live in their homes, and has been a steadily growing program since Phillips was named as director in 2007.

The Exemplary Service Award is given to an individual or organization that is able to complete their program specifications in an exemplary manner. Gordon said the program often has a waiting list, and continues to meet the nursing and home health needs of Brown County.

“Over the past two years the agency has been increased by 87 percent,” Gordon said.

Phillips accepted the award along with Adele Ducharme, from Brown County Regional Health Care. Phillips said she was honored to receive the award and thanked United Way for their cooperation in the program.

“Most of all I want to thank United Way for assisting us to work collaboratively to have an impact in the lives of the people of our community,” Phillips said.

Phillips, and Brown County Home Care, also received an honorable mention for the Resources Award which is given to individuals or organizations who significantly contribute to the success of the eastern area with time, money, advocacy, or in-kind contributions.

The winner of the Vision Award was Gina Bohl, director of curriculum and instruction at the Western Brown School District. According to Gordon, the Vision Award is given to an individual or organization who demonstrates vision and leadership resulting in the development, implementation, and improvement of a systemic change. Bohl has been instrumental in the district’s Success By 6 action committee, which helped to promote the concept of smooth transitions from early childhood to kindergarten.

Due to Bohl’s leadership, Western Brown was able to open a new Head Start classroom in one of the district’s elementary schools, two of the school’s child care programs are in the process of becoming quality rated, early childhood and kindergarten teachers are now actively participating in shared professional development, and the district is one of the state of Ohio’s Ready Schools.

“In Brown County, a couple of day cares were very reluctant to partner with us, but Gina’s persistence made it happen,” Gordon said. “Nobody can say no to Gina.”

Bohl accepted the award and said a large part of the award should go toward the Western Brown School staff and administration.

“It takes a team, it really does, it’s not just one person,” Bohl said. “I am lucky to work with a superintendent that is very visionary and a little bit of that is rubbing off on me. I’m working with a really good group of people who are willing to step out of their box, step out of their classroom and change the condition of our school.”

The recipient of the Marty MacVeigh Leadership award this year is Karren Robinson, retired program director of the Brown County Educational Service Center. According to Gordon, the award is the highest honor bestowed by the United Way of Greater Cincinnati. The winner of the award is selected out of all the nominations for the year, and is given to individuals who improve the lives of people in their communities.

Gordon said Robinson was instrumental in implementing the Brown County Recreation Program, which was designed to assist students with disabilities achieve academic success, as well as develop life skills through recreational activities and field trips. The trips help participants to see connections between their academic studies and their lives, while teaching about money, time, and safety precautions.

“Karren, this award is being presented to you for your 24 years of passion, advocacy, seamlessly inexhaustible energy and countless hours of dedication to meeting the needs of the special needs population in Brown County,” Gordon said. “You truly thought of your students before yourself, and as a result the participants of the program achieved the highest potential for academic success and are better prepared for life.”

Robinson accepted the award and said she could not have accomplished what she did without the support of the Educational Service Center and United Way.

“I can’t take credit for this, it was United Way and my office who supported the program,” Robinson said. “I thank you all for your support.”

The winner of the Resources Award was PPG Industries, located in Amelia. The award was received by Jessica Williamson, chemist, and Ryan Kingery, technical customer response at PPG. According to Gordon, PPG industries has had a very successful year under the direction of new CEO Tom Thompson, through the promotion of a Community Care Days project, which worked with Clermont Senior Services to provide interior and exterior painting, gutter, leaves, tree trimming, trash cleanup and car washing services for a senior homeowner in Milford.

For more information about the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, visit their website at www.uwgc.org.

Middletown Community Foundation Executive Director T. Duane Gordon said he’s “thrilled with the response” the program has had in the community.

He said many parents have learned that reading to their children from birth is the “single most important activity” to prepare youngsters for school.

The first books were distributed to Middletown children in January 2009, and initial projections had them passing the 10,000-book milestone not until late 2010, Gordon said. By the end of this month more than 10,400 books will have been mailed to homes here.

The books, valued at $100,000, cost local sponsors about $25,000 through the partnership with Dolly Parton’s program, Gordon said.

To celebrate, the public is invited to see Middletown Postmaster Gregory Engel “deliver” the 10,000th book to a local newborn at 2 p.m. Saturday in the library’s lobby.

The child also will receive special gifts to mark the occasion, Gordon said, and Mayor Larry Mulligan also will deliver a proclamation from the city in honor of the milestone.

The ceremony will be followed by the library’s monthly children’s crafts and storytime event, which for April focuses on Library Mouse, who is expected to make a special appearance to celebrate the Imagination Library achievement.

Through the Imagination Library, any child younger than 5 who lives within the Middletown City School District may register to receive the free books.

Women Living United, an initiative of the United Way of Greater Cincinnati-Middletown Area, has adopted as its signature project the expansion of the program into the Edgewood, Madison and Monroe school districts and will host a fundraiser toward that goal next month.

Organizers hope to begin registering children in the three additional districts by year’s end.

The Imagination Brunch fundraiser is 10 a.m. Saturday, May 1, in the Johnston Hall Community Room at Miami University Middletown with motivational speaker Cea Cohen Elliot delivering the keynote address. Reservations are due by April 23 at (513) 705-1164. Tickets are $15 each, and several vendors will have tables offering items for sale to benefit the project.