My wife Gretchen and I first moved to Cincinnati in 1979.  I was with the United Way (then called the Community Chest) staff and Gretchen worked for an ad agency.  Our sons Rich and Adam were both born here.

We were Easterners, born and raised in Philadelphia; and we had lived in several other East Coast towns and cities before moving here.  It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that what I knew about Cincinnati was the Reds, the Bengals and Oscar Robertson – and I remember seeing Music Hall on a postage stamp when I was growing up.

We loved our eight years here.  The first thing that struck us was the city’s beauty – the view of the skyline at night when you come through the “Cut in the Hill,” the views from Mt Adams and Price Hill.  We loved its accessibility – it’s easy to get around, to get downtown – its pro sports (don’t underestimate this one, even when they’re not winning), the arts, Kings Island, good public golf courses, and the people.  There was a lot to love.

So it was very difficult to decide to leave so that I could pursue the opportunity to be CEO of the United Way in Louisville, just two hours down the road.  It was so difficult that, since I had moved us several times before to pursue my career, we decided that our next move would be on Gretchen’s and the boys’ timetable.  So we spent the next fourteen years in Louisville, which we loved as well.

When Rich was entering college and Adam was just beginning high school, we figured it was time to consider a move.  As various communities asked me to interview for their United Way President position, and I would share the news with Gretchen, she would tense up.  In Gretchen’s mind each city had at least one factor detracting from its consideration as our next home.

One day I came home and said, “Gretchen, Cincinnati’s opening up.”  As I anticipated another potential roadblock(!), she responded, “Maybe you should throw your hat in the ring for that one.”  I had received a message from on high – this was the one!  Six months later, after two intensive day-long interviews, I was offered and accepted the position – and we were coming back to Cincinnati.

People have asked us why we came back.  Some phrased it, “Why would you come back?”  While we did fight some “You Can’t Go Home Again” feelings, it was an easy decision.  Professionally, our United Way – like our Fine Arts Fund, our Chamber and many other nonprofits – is considered one of the best in the country.  As I told the Search Committee when they asked the question, this community owns its civic organizations.  I’ve never lived in a town where the volunteer and business leadership were so invested in leading and shaping their non-profit organizations, as they are in Cincinnati.

Personally, we knew we’d love coming back.  And we did.  Our son Adam blossomed in high school here, Gretchen’s an artist and for me, it’s been the most exciting time of my career.

United Way’s new brand framework is LIVE UNITED:  a call to action for all of us to engage in Giving, Advocating and Volunteering in the work of community.  And there’s never been a more exciting time to be engaged in Cincinnati.  Having just returned with 50 other community leaders from a benchmarking visit to Minneapolis, the message is clear.  With Agenda 360, Vision 2015, the Strive Education Partnership, United Way’s Agenda for Community Impact and other opportunities calling out for volunteers, it’s time to commit!

We have faults, areas we must improve.  That’s the challenge and opportunity of this or any community.  But take it from someone who lived here, left and came back:  Cincinnati can be a great place to call home.  Let’s make it even better.

It’s become almost a cliché to reference the old commercial when talking about the changes an organization has made:  “This isn’t your father’s Oldsmobile” becomes “This isn’t your father’s Rotary” This isn’t your father’s Notre Dame” “This isn’t your father’s Boys Club.”

In United Way’s case, it may be a cliché, but it’s literally true.  My father worked for United Way, for 30 years in Philadelphia, and today’s United Way isn’t my father’s United Way!

I’m often amazed at the number of folks I run into who aren’t aware that United Way has changed.  Dramatically.  I shouldn’t be surprised – our modest marketing budget doesn’t allow for primetime 30-second ads every hour or two.  But being provided this opportunity to blog enables me to shout it from the rooftops, at least in this forum:  “WE’VE CHANGED!”

You know United Way for conducting a large community fundraising campaign – to my understanding the single largest community engagement initiative in Ohio, Kentucky or Indiana, with 120,000 donors, and thousands of companies and volunteers participating – and then allocating those funds accountably to effective agencies which help people.  We still do that.

But we’ve changed, big time.  Building on a strong United Way created and expanded by excellent past volunteer and staff leaders, today’s United Way is, in partnership with many strong organizations, leading change in our community.  Three years ago more than 200 volunteer citizens studied our community’s issues, looked at their root cause and barriers to success, and developed our Agenda for Community Impact.

What is the Agenda?  It’s a blueprint for improving the quality of life in our community:  a set of goals founded on the three building blocks for a better life.  A quality EDUCATION.  Which leads to the INCOME to support you and your family.  Supported by good HEALTH, the foundation for a quality life.

Our Agenda’s goals are simple, but challenging to make happen.  We want to help more children become prepared for success in kindergarten, more youth achieve academic and life success on the way to high school graduation, more families achieve financial stability.  And we want to support a safety net of services for those who need it most.

The Agenda’s about focus, an action plan of specific strategies, and measuring results.  It’s about preventing problems before they occur.  It’s about creating long-lasting change.  It’s about creating opportunities for a better life for all.

This work is new.  It’s exciting.  It’s difficult.  We don’t have all of the answers.  That’s where you come in.  If you want to be part of the change, call 513-762-7100.  Join us!

It’s timely that I’ve been asked to blog about our community and United Way at this particular moment.  It’s a moment two weeks from the end of the annual United Way campaign.  This same moment represents the interaction of a series of economic problems that makes this one of the most challenging times in our region’s memory – at least our recent memory.

United Way – and the human services initiatives and agencies it supports – have faced economic ups and downs before.  This one feels different.  Challenges in past years have affected specific industries, companies and the employees of those companies.  Today’s issues – gas and food prices, home foreclosures, real estate downturn, pensions, banks and financial institutions – cut across a very wide spectrum of our community’s individuals, families, companies, even neighborhoods.  They have the potential to affect everyone from the struggling family in the inner city to the residents of Indian Hill – in much the same way that the dramatic windstorm of weeks ago played no favorites in determining which families lost their power.

As a result, United Way’s “business is booming” in ways we never want.  Calls to United Way 211, our 24-hour helpline, are up 25% year-to-year, and 38% in the past two months.  In September we received more calls for help than in any month in our history.  The Freestore Foodbank and many other United Way agencies are experiencing similar increases, many from individuals and families that have never asked for help before.  In difficult times, needs increase.

In the campaign, we’ve been astounded by the number of wonderful individuals, companies and organizations that have increased their giving this year.  They’ve said, ”I may be hurting some, but I know others are hurting more.  I can do more, so I will.”

Truly amazing – but knowing our community, not surprising.

But the reality is that many of our supporting organizations, and individual donors, can’t do more.  The simplest way to put this is that if you’re no longer working, you can’t give.  So we have a big gap between what we think we’ll raise and our goal of $63,000,000, which is a modest $200,000 above last year’s result.

Some facts you may know.  This campaign helps parents help their children become prepared for kindergarten, helps connect a child with a big brother or big sister, helps a family with a child with cerebral palsy, helps a woman deal with breast cancer, helps a senior stay in her home by providing a visiting nurse.

What you don’t know:  in some modest ways our community’s United Way sets the pace for United Ways across the country.  We’re the ninth largest United Way, the fourth highest per capita giving community, in the country.  And each year we’re the first campaign in the country to finish.  So others will be watching what Cincinnati does this year.  My Dallas United Way colleague last week asked me, “How’s Cincinnati doing?  We look to you as an indicator of where we may be headed.”

So we have a very visible opportunity to set a positive example for our community – and even the nation – if we can achieve success this year.  We can say, “let’s continue our positive community momentum – let’s not take a step backward.”

Much more importantly:  we can at least maintain current services to so many who are needing support.  We can continue to connect that big brother and little brother, continue to support the child with cerebral palsy, and the woman with cancer.

If you can support this effort with a little more – start a campaign at your company, make a personal gift yourself, help your organization’s campaign achieve success – please call 762-7100 today and we’ll help you make a difference.

This is a wonderful community.  Let’s move forward together.  LIVE UNITED.