United Way of Summit & Medina today announced the reopening of its grant application process to address the basic needs of local residents and achieve its Bold Goals by 2025 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Agencies operating programs that serve Summit County residents are encouraged to apply.
United Way staff will be hosting training meetings for interested applicants to answer questions and help agencies prepare for the new grant request process. The first of these, a virtual Stakeholder Town Hall, will be held from 8 to 9 a.m. on Tuesday, September 15. To register, visit uwsummit.org/rfp.
The Stakeholder Town Hall will be followed by individual training sessions for each of the impact areas eligible for grant requests Prospective grant applicants are encouraged to attend the appropriate training session for their area of work:
- Basic Needs Training Session
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Tuesday, October 13, 2020 - Bold Goal 1 Training Session: Third Grade Reading
2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m., Wednesday, October 14, 2020 - Bold Goal 2 Training Session: College & Career Readiness
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Thursday, October 15, 2020 - Medina County RFP Training Session
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., Thursday, October 15, 2020 - Bold Goal 4 Training Session: Addiction, Prevention & Recovery
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m., Friday, October 16, 2020
Grant application forms will be made available at uwsummit.org/rfp on October 19. Completed applications will be reviewed by United Way’s staff and volunteer-led Community Impact Task Force. The process will include a review of the funding application and a possible site visit. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, November 13, 2020.
In November, United Way announced the recipients of its last round of grant funding. While traditionally, United Way of Summit & Medina operates on a two-year grant cycle, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic effect on the local community. Demand for certain services – such as basic needs support – has risen dramatically, while public safety orders have caused disruptions for many current grant recipients. By reopening the grant application process early, United Way is working to ensure its investments in the community reflect the current needs of local residents. Funding decisions will be made in early 2021, and the cycle will officially begin on 4/1/2021 for one year. There will be another call for grant proposals in the fall of 2021.
“To achieve a successful recovery, we need to make sure that kids in our community aren’t falling behind in school, families have emergency savings and everyone has a roof over their heads,” said Jim Mullen, president and CEO of United Way of Summit & Medina. “A global pandemic wasn’t on anybody’s radar when we announced our Bold Goals in 2017, but the work we are doing and the investments we make to achieve them is more important than ever in light of this crisis.”
For more information, visit uwsummit.org/rfp.