By Kevin Aldridge
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The United Way & Community Chest on Monday announced funding cuts to roughly 65 percent of its 342 core service programs for 2003.

Most of the programs will see their funding reduced by 1 to 15 percent, though a few will be cut by more. Four agencies that received money last year will lose all funding.

The cuts are a result of the United Way failing to reach its goal of $62 million during its 2002 Greater Cincinnati fund-raising campaign. The $1.8 million shortfall was the first time since 1992 that the volunteer organization failed to meet or exceed its goal.

United Way officials said the $60.2 million raised was "remarkable" given a sluggish economy and challenging business environment. Funding cuts, they said, were based on three criteria: a program's impact, accountability and performance.

"We had to make some very difficult decisions," said Carrie K. Hayden, chair of the United Way's community building effort. "We reduced more deeply those programs that could not show, through their outcomes and indicators, that they were making clear and measurable differences in people's lives. We also provided deeper reductions to or defunded programs that had program, financial or management effectiveness issues."

The agencies and programs hit hardest by the cuts were Queen City/Mitchell Mental Health Services, Man-to-Man/Woman-to-Woman of Cincinnati Inc., Transportation Resource & Information Project (TRIP) and the Brown County Life Squad & Rescue Association, all of which lost 100 percent of their funding.

The Cincinnati Scholarship Foundation saw its funding cut in half, to $27,203 in 2003. And the Better Housing League saw its funding cut nearly in half. from $95,216 in 2002 to $47,856 in 2003.

Carol Aquino, a United Way spokeswoman, said two of the agencies that received 100 percent cuts asked not to be considered for funding this year. She said it is rare when an agency or program is completely defunded by the United Way.

"It doesn't happen every year, but it does happen," Ms. Aquino said. "All of our agencies knew the campaign didn't make its goal, so generally decreases would not be unexpected. It is a tough time, certainly."

While a majority of United Way agencies and programs received cuts, 35 percent of them received increases or funding equal to last year. Among agencies to receive increases were: the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati, up from $510,581 in 2002 to $516,531 in 2003; Children's Protective Services/Families Forward, up from $551,787 to $579,378, and the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati, up from $547,264 to $568,453.

"These programs are effectively measuring their impact on their clients' lives and are aligned to the priority community-level outcomes United Way is striving to achieve," said Ms. Hayden.

Ms. Hayden said the United Way is committed to helping provide solutions to the region's problems. To that end, the organization is redirecting its money toward programs that will enable children to begin school ready to learn, help youth graduate from high school prepared to enter college or the work force, promote neighborhood improvement, aid low-wage earners and reduce family violence.

E-mail kaldridge@enquirer.com