Butler County United Way and the Hamilton Community Foundation are partnering with the United Way of Warren County and the Warren County Foundation in joining the Greater Cincinnati Foundation and United Way of Greater Cincinnati in the creation of a COVID-19 Regional Response Fund.
This partnership will create a source of funding for Butler and Warren Counties to address critical needs in the region related to the coronavirus pandemic. The fund will especially be for those who are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus.
“We are stronger together rather than being isolated,” said Mag Baker, president and CEO of Butler County United Way. “Some of our short-term goals are meeting the needs for health and food.”
Housing and shelter, childcare and senior services will also be initial focuses, she said.
“The Regional Response Fund aims to provide for citizens that need it and have been directly affected in the area,” Baker said.
The fund will match $150,000 for Butler County and an additional $100,000 for Warren County. “The partnership between GCF and our regional United Ways and Community Foundations is powerful. Our collective resources and reach will ensure the most ample, effective, and efficient philanthropic response. I am so inspired by our generous donors and their unwavering commitment to our community,” Ellen Katz, president and CEO of Greater Cincinnati Foundation, said in the press release announcing the fund.
Each county will accept funding applications and decisions will be made locally, based on the needs of communities. Those decisions will be made by representatives of the local United Way and Community Foundation. “It is our intention to turn these applications around as quickly as possible so that these funds can get into the hands of those most affected,” Tom Seddon, CEO of the Warren County Foundation, said in the release.
A short application has been developed for quick processing. Applications will be reviewed as received and an answer will be sent out within three business days.
Donations may be directed to the following sites where additional information on the fund and the Application for funding may also be found:
Butler County:
https://bc-unitedway.org/covid-19
https://www.hamiltonfoundation.org
Warren County:
www.warrencountyfoundation.org
http://www.warrencountyfoundation.org/emergency-relief-fund.html