Cincinnati City Council voted this week to update the priorities for city spending on human services through outside organizations.
The city budget has two mechanisms for funding third-party organizations: the Human Services Fund (administered by the United Way), and "leveraged support" funding. Changes approved this week affect both mechanisms.
Council member Meeka Owens led the effort, building on similar changes over the past few years. Council passed the changes Wednesday via two motions, with a split vote on each.
Some members wanted to delay a decision to allow for more engagement with nonprofit partners, or to learn more about the Trump administration’s plans related to federal funding. The same Council members expressed skepticism that food insecurity is an important enough priority to be included at such a high level of funding.
Human Services Fund
The Human Services Fund equals about 1.5% of the city’s General Fund. For fiscal year 2025, that’s $8,550,700.
The Human Services Fund is administered by the United Way; organizations submit an application for a specific project or program that fits within priority categories set forth by City Council. Grants are awarded every two years as part of the city’s biennial budget process.
The Human Services Advisory Committee, or HSAC, reviews all applications and decides which ones to fund; their recommendations go to Council for a final vote.
Relatively new to this process is an “Impact Award,” which Council established two years ago. The goal is to provide a significant amount of funding to one project that aims to make systemic changes. The first Impact Award went to a group of organizations using data analysis to predict and prevent homelessness.
The first Impact Award recipient received 33% of the Human Services Fund; this year, Council reduced that to 10% and distributed the remainder among other priorities.
Priority | Previous % | New % |
Impact Award | 33% | 10% |
Youth gun violence prevention and reduction | 20% | 26% |
Comprehensive workforce development | 25% | 26% |
Supporting, securing, & stabilizing housing for high-risk populations | 10% | 26% |
Project LIFT | 10% | 10% |
Overhead | 2% | 2% |
Council members voting against the update say they wanted more time to consider and get public feedback.
“I have received phone calls from nonprofits, the people who are out there in our city serving the needs of our citizens in many, many areas, and they are concerned that we are rushing this through, and they have not had a chance to give us input,” said Vice Mayor Jan-Michele Kearney.
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The Hamilton County Human Services Chamber represents many (but not all) of the organizations that receive funding through the Human Services Fund. Executive Director Mike Moroski told WVXU he is in frequent contact with Owens’ office and several member organizations offered feedback on the changes. That said, he would like to see a more public process for determining priorities in future years.
Others said President Trump’s temporary freeze on federal funding earlier this week (which was rescinded shortly after) means Council should delay to consider what gaps might need to be filled at the local level.
Council member Owens says federal uncertainty is a reason for Council to act quickly rather than delay.
“This is us making the determination that we will continue to meet the moment and support them in this time of need,” Owens said.
The motion establishing priority percentages passed with a 6-3 vote:
- Voting yes: Seth Walsh, Anna Albi, Jeff Cramerding, Mark Jeffreys, Evan Nolan, Owens
- Voting no: Scotty Johnson, Kearney, Victoria Parks
This motion also included changes to leveraged support funding (described in more detail below).
Impact Award and food insecurity
A motion establishing food insecurity as the topic for the next Human Services Fund Impact Award passed with a 5-4 vote.
City administration will put out a request for proposals on how to address food insecurity as it relates to gun violence; the winning bid will be awarded 10% of the Human Services Fund, which is likely to equal about $850,000.
The four Council members opposing the measure say they aren’t convinced food insecurity is the right priority to receive so much funding.
“People don’t have food because they don’t have jobs,” said Council member Victoria Parks. “If they have a good job, they can buy their food. I think that we need to give people a fishing rod instead of fish.”
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“If we give somebody the tools to get a job in the trades, then they won’t have housing insecurity, they won’t have food insecurity, and then the solution is much more systemic,” said Council member Mark Jeffreys.
Council members Scotty Johnson and Kearney expressed similar views. Council member Anna Albi defended the choice, pleading with fellow Council members to support the motion.
“This is critical basic needs: food and shelter,” Albi said, saying workforce development is already an identified priority for funding. “We have no place where we are prioritizing food, which is a fundamental issue.”
Albi points to research from New Orleans that identified a correlation between gun violence victims and food insecurity, as well as local data from Interact for Health that shows 31% of adults in the city report being food insecure.
Albi has been working on a pilot project to offer free grocery delivery to eligible low-income households, as well as provide a financial supplement for those households’ grocery expenses. That pilot is likely to be funded through the city’s Financial Freedom Blueprint initiative, with more information expected to be released soon.
With that pilot project highly likely to happen, some Council members said addressing food insecurity with a separate award is unnecessary.
The motion passed with a 5-4 vote:
- Voting yes: Walsh, Albi, Cramerding, Nolan, Owens
- Voting no: Johnson, Kearney, Parks, Jeffreys
Leveraged support
The second mechanism for city dollars to fund outside organizations is leveraged support. In recent years, that process involves applying for a grant directly to the city administration, which makes funding recommendations to City Council for ultimate approval.
Leveraged support includes funding for priorities like arts and economic development, as well as priorities also included in the separate Human Services Fund — which means many organizations submit applications to both pots of money.
Council’s approved changes this week include removing three categories from leveraged support to eliminate the duplication:
- Homelessness and eviction prevention
- Human services and violence prevention
- Workforce programming and poverty reduction
The motion also requests the administration increase the amount of funding to the Human Services Fund so that the overall amount of funding does not go down. Total funding for all three categories equaled $2,665,000 in the fiscal year 2025 budget.
Council member Owens says the change will save time for organizations to submit one application instead of two; and funding decisions will be made by the objective Human Services Advisory Committee instead of relying on lobbying council members for enough votes to pass.
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The leveraged support changes were included in the motion establishing priority percentages, which passed with a 6-3 vote:
- Voting yes: Walsh, Albi, Cramerding, Jeffreys, Nolan, Owens
- Voting no: Johnson, Kearney, Parks
City administration will still recommend leveraged support funding for outside organizations in other priority categories:
- Arts
- Economic development and neighborhood support
- Environment
- Equity and inclusion
What happens next
The administration will publish a request for proposals for both the Human Services Fund (including the Impact Award) and for leveraged support sometime in the next few weeks.
Organizations will have a couple of months to submit applications.
City Council will receive recommendations on which projects to fund ahead of deliberations for the next city budget. Typically, there are a few public hearings for resident input on the proposed budget.
City Council must vote by the end of June for the fiscal year 2026 budget, which begins July 1.