Center for Excellence in Social Services
A part of the Community Hub for Basic Needs
Introduction
United Way of Greater Cleveland’s Center for Excellence in Social Services brings together like-minded providers of social services for educational purposes. The Center for Excellence aims to enhance the support of nonprofit organizations in the region through the creation of an effective network of people and resources to impact here-and-now needs, while supporting efforts to build the capacity of local nonprofit organizations.
Specialized tracks and activities will allow nonprofit professionals to connect and learn about relevant nonprofit management topics. By collaborating with our agency partners to identify and solve the many challenges we face as a community, together, we will further strengthen Cleveland’s nonprofit sector.
Community Hub for Basic Needs
Learn more about the Hub
Center for Excellence – LIVE
Open to ALL professionals in the nonprofit community
in Greater Cleveland
Grantee Partners
Learning Center
Open to our 16 selected Grantee Partners
Community Education Studio
United Way of Greater Cleveland is designing a dedicated studio in our offices at 1331 Euclid Avenue to broadcast these...
Read More2023 Programming
Center for Excellence – Live and Grantee Partner Peer Group learning topics and schedule for 2023 will be released in...
Read More2022-2023 United Way Center for Excellence goals
- Through our Community Hub for Basic Needs, 58% of our grants will directly support Black- and Brown-led organizations serving Black and Brown communities.
- Through our Community Hub for Basic Needs, 76% of United Way’s grantmaking dollars will directly serve Black and Brown communities.
- Through our Center of Excellence for Social Services, we’ll provide a space for 100% of our grantees to build their capacity in evaluation; Race, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Leadership, and other areas that are critical to their success.
Investment Principles
United Way believes that by working together on targeted initiatives, we can make the most meaningful impact on people living in poverty. These principles were derived from our values, a 2020 Community Needs Assessment, and local stakeholder engagement about what would be needed for the region to recover from COVID- 19 and come back stronger.
- Infuse an equity lens throughout investments and the work of United Way.
- Consider both the symptoms and root causes of poverty.
- Seek to understand the impact of racism on Black and Brown leadership and communities of color.
- Focus on increasing Black and Brown leadership across the nonprofit sector.
- Promote new and innovative ideas for addressing long-standing issues.
