The annual Ujima Cinci-Bration street festival may be relegated to the size of a house party this year because of lost financial support from the City of Cincinnati.

        The three-day event — held simultaneously with the Coors Light Jazz Festival for the past four years — will not receive $150,000 the city had budgeted for the event this year, forcing organizers to scale back plans.

        “We had not anticipated not having the funds from the city to produce Ujima,” said DeAsa Nichols, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce, which produces the event.

        “We are currently looking at ways to present an event downtown titled Ujima, but it will take on a different form.”

        It cost more than $300,000 to produce last year's festival, Ms. Nichols said.

        About half the cost was covered by the city in the form of cash and in-kind services, including police patrols and sanitation services.

        The other half was covered by private donations.

        Last year's festival was perhaps the most successful, Ms. Nichols said, featuring more than 200 vendors and attracting a diverse crowd of about 150,000 visitors and residents.

        “Ujima was not only a downtown festival, it was a citywide festival,” she said. “We would hope we could continue to get support from the city.”

        But the fate of this year's festival was decided in December when Vice Mayor Alicia Reece submitted a proposal effectively diverting funds for Ujima to Jazz Fest producer Joe Santangelo.

        Mr. Santangelo had asked for public support after last April's riots, which caused last summer's jazz festival to lose $500,000, he said.

        Ms. Reece's proposal, which was unanimously approved by City Council, will provide Mr. Santangelo with a $150,000 grant and a $75,000 short-term loan for this year's festival, to be held July 26-27 at Cinergy Field.

        In addition, the Jazz Fest likely will get a $50,000 grant from Hamilton County.

        “The interest here is not to stop Ujima, it's to save the Jazz Fest,” Ms. Reece said. “Without the jazz festival there is no Ujima.”

        The proposal also provides for an accompanying celebration “with a downtown and neighborhood component” as part of Jazz Fest weekend.

        Ms. Reece said Jazz Fest organizers are planning an alternative neighborhood festival at Swifton Commons in Bond Hill.

        But that festival will not be affiliated with the black chamber and will not be called Ujima.

        “We'll still have a festival, but it will cost less than Ujima,” Ms. Reece said. “We just can't pay for Ujima.”

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