How is UWNCO Responding to COVID19?
United Way of North Central Ohio is closely monitoring the rapidly unfolding coronavirus news and is committed to making decisions that will enable us to continue our work in the community while ensuring the safety of our staff, partners, and volunteers. We are communicating regularly with local health department officials and are watching www.coronavirus.ohio.gov for the latest information from the Ohio Department of Health.
Our main office in Marion is currently open, and we have remote work plans in place should closing the office become necessary. The work of United Way of North Central Ohio will continue regardless of our work environment.
United Way of North Central Ohio is mobilizing to direct resources and support to our partner agencies who are tasked with meeting the needs of the community during this COVID19 outbreak and its consequences. We are anticipating great strain on all community social services, including childcare, food pantries, workforce support, mobile meal services, meals for food insecure children who are home-bound, and more. We are still identifying and prioritizing the areas of most vulnerability, but we know the need is there, and will be growing exponentially in the coming days. Learn how you can help here.
Pathway Training for Partners Postponed; Application Period Will Open as Planned
In order to help protect the health of the community and in compliance with the executive order issued today by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, we are postponing our Pathway to Funding: How Donor Dollars Lead to Change training meetings. The meetings were scheduled in Marion County for March 23, in Wyandot County for March 24, and in Crawford County for March 25. The meetings will be rescheduled when possible.
The 2020-2021 Community Partner Grant application period will open on March 16, as planned. The online application will be available at unitedwaynco.org. Recognizing the additional stress and time constraints that partner and prospective partner agencies are under as they respond to the outbreak, we are working to extend the application period without repercussions to the funding cycle. We’ll be posting a new application/funding cycle timeline as soon as it is finalized.
What You Can Do
Our state government and the Ohio Department of Health made difficult but necessary decisions in imposing the mass gathering ban and closing schools across the state. It is likely that even stricter state containment strategies will be imposed in the coming days and weeks. These containment efforts will cause our community hardship, inconvenience, and frustration, and will strain our social services networks. But as Marion Public Health pointed out in their recent statement, these sacrifices, made now, will prevent tragedies later. Limiting our exposure to COVID-19 is our best chance to fight it. Please help protect the vulnerable populations – the elderly and those with underlying health issues – by respecting the containment orders and following the preparation and prevention guidelines at www.coronavirus.ohio.gov.
