The United Way of Greater Cleveland wants to center its efforts on individual donors and embrace a more holistic approach to philanthropy that focuses on people rather than systems. At the City Club of Cleveland, United Way CEO August Napoli said success can’t be measured just in terms of dollars and cents but also lives affected.
Napoli pointed to the Cleveland Playhouse which provides afterschool care to students as part of wraparound services for Cleveland Public Schools, funded by the United Way.
“They’re helping them get a little food in their stomach, maybe do their homework, talk to them about what’s going on at home and then get to performance, get to the art, get to standing up on stage and expressing themselves. How do you separate that from social service? I don’t think you do. How do you separate that from education? I don’t think you do. It’s all to get children through school and into a job.”
Napoli says last year, Clevelanders gave more than $40 million to United Way to support programs in Northeast Ohio.
Click here to watch the entire City Club forum.
