For a decade, the City of Cincinnati has decided how to divvy up the money it uses to fund outside human services organizations tackling poverty, neighborhood violence and other issues by relying on recommendations from a committee administered by the United Way.
That could change soon, however. The United Way’s contract ends in June — and, after some members of council have questioned whether an outside process is the best way to decide how that anti-poverty funding is divvied up, the nonprofit has said it wants to step away from overseeing the money.
Cincinnati City Councilmember Greg Landsman said Feb. 12 that he has a five-step, internal process in mind he’d like the city to use to allocate the money. That would bring the human services funding process in line with other city contracting practices.
Mayor John Cranley, meanwhile, held a news conference the same day with a number of human services groups outlining his argument for sticking with United Way. Councilmembers David Mann, Amy Murray and Jeff Pastor support that idea.
“We believe that the process that has been used is a fair and transparent process,” Human Services Chamber Executive Director Gina Marsh said at that event. “We would support it going forward, at least for the next year, so that if there are any changes, we can have input.”
Currently, the city taps a board called the Human Services Advisory Committee, overseen by the United Way of Greater Cincinnati, to make calls about city funding for organizations fighting poverty, helping Cincinnatians find employment, pushing back against the drug addiction crisis and other efforts. Last year, HSAC oversaw the expenditure of more than $4.8 million from the city.
Late last year, discussions in Cincinnati City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee revealed that the city and United Way were likely parting ways.
“While we are proud of the work we have done for the past decade to provide a neutral, non-political grant-making process for the City, it has become clear that some members of City Council want to move the process in a different direction,” a statement a United Way spokesperson sent CityBeat last year read. “On October 30, we communicated with the City Administration our intent to not renew our contract to facilitate the fund once our contract expires on 7/31/2020. We also made clear we will work cooperatively with the City to transition the process with minimal disruption to the agencies and the people they provide services to.”
That conversation came after some on council asked questions about whether the city should take the process back — or farm it out to another agency.
Last October Councilwoman Tamaya Dennard said she wants city administration to explore bringing the process for selecting the groups receiving the money back into City Hall. She introduced a motion asking the city do begin doing that, but it was narrowly defeated.
“I respect and admire United Way as an organization,” Dennard said last October. “But as we start to peel back the layers and looking at poverty and disparity in our city, we have to do things differently. A lot of people that benefit from the funding now are people who are African-American. But the organizations (getting funded) aren’t led by African-American people. Politics aside, the numbers aren’t moving, and for us to continue to do things the same way and expect different results… that can’t be.”
Dennard and Councilmember Wendell Young both also cited a dust-up in 2018 involving United Way in which the nonprofit’s then-CEO Michael Johnson left after alleging “subtle threats” and a “hostile work environment.” The departure of Johnson, who is black, set off a debate about race and leadership at the organization.
The Cincinnati Black Agenda, a group led by former Cincinnati mayor Dwight Tillery, called for United Way to be removed from the human services funding process following the shakeup.
Currently about one in four Cincinnatians lives below the poverty line. Though poverty has fallen here since 2013, it hasn’t fallen nearly as fast as it has statewide — where there has been a 12.5-percent drop in the past five years — or nationally, where poverty has decreased by 15 percent in that time.
Poverty is also still much more prevalent among the city’s black residents. Roughly 40 percent of the city’s black residents live in poverty compared to 16 percent of its white residents, data shows.
Roughly 64 percent of those served by programs funded through HSAC are African American, according to reports from the committee, though few of the organizations funded by the process are led by African-Americans.
Landsman’s process would start with a transition from the United Way to the city administration, including a finite extension of the nonprofit’s contract if necessary to make that transition seamless. Next, the city administration would undertake community input to set the priorities for the funding — be it employment access or gun violence reduction — that are most important to residents. Next, council would approve those priorities and add in other considerations — diversity of organizations applying for funding, etc. — for the selection process. The city administration would then make selections in a nonpolitical manner based on resident and council priorities. Finally, the city would enter into results-based contracts with each organization selected and monitor those results.
Landsman says that process would require two additional staff members for the city’s administration at a cost of no more than $200,000. Cincinnati City Manager Patrick Duhaney has said bringing the process in house would cost about double that.
“This process will ensure that taxpayers are getting the greatest impact and that those who receive these services get the best results possible,” Landsman said in a statement today. “It also ensures a seamless transition with the United Way and would not undermine existing Human Services Funding.”
This article appears in Feb 5-18, 2020.