Building a better framework
If you’re fortunate, you probably have fond memories of growing up in your childhood home. Maybe your family moved a time or two, and your parents hoped it wouldn’t be too disruptive.
If you’re fortunate, you can only imagine the trauma of eviction. You don’t know what it’s like for families to discover their belongings stacked along a sidewalk outside their home. You’ve never been to eviction court, where a renter’s housing status is decided in mere minutes. You don’t have to worry about a child welfare worker poking around to ensure you’ve enrolled your child in yet another new school.
Moira Weir was one of those child welfare workers. She’s witnessed all of the above and then some. Her unique perspective is what’s driven her to explore alternative approaches to social services; solutions that empower families to build secure and lasting foundations for their futures.
Change of plans
Weir was fresh out of business school and working for a real estate developer when she met a foster child who made her rethink everything – her own promising career path and the opportunities she was afforded that weren’t within reach for her mentee.
“The challenges she faced in her life were beyond her control,” Weir said, “and beyond my control as her advocate.”
The child she mentored was placed with 16 foster families over nine years. She aged out of the foster care system without stable housing or a clear path forward.
“Through that experience, I realized that the systems and conditions she faced were bigger than both of us,” Weir said. So, she dug in and decided to become a child welfare worker. She describes it as one of the most rewarding – and heartbreaking – jobs.
“You often find yourself with families on their absolute worst days.”
All too often, Weir explained, it’s not a lack of care that brings people into the child welfare system or any other public system; it’s a lack of resources.
During her decades-long career with Hamilton County Job & Family Services (JFS), many of those years as the director, she met countless families and heard their stories. She said it was a privilege to do the work. Over time, though, she grew to understand the public sector’s limitations.
“I learned that when families engaged with ‘the system,’ they were already deep in crisis, and the trauma was so entrenched it was hard to reverse.”
Weir became curious about what could be done to prevent crises, create preventative models in our community, and not only meet today’s needs but also change future outcomes.
That brought her to United Way of Greater Cincinnati, where Weir has been on a mission to evolve the local business model. She wants people to know United Way is, first and foremost, an impact organization. In addition to funding local partners and operating the area’s 211 helpline, United Way pilots evidence-based approaches to solving deep-rooted community issues.
New solutions
“Solutions don’t come from incremental thinking – they come from bold, innovative ideas that challenge the status quo,” Weir said.
One such idea is the Renew Collaborative, an eviction-prevention project. It’s built on the premise that evictions are disruptive for communities and expensive for landlords.
“The Renew Collaborative asks the question: What if we could work with landlords to identify opportunities to stop evictions before they happen? Would those landlords reinvest some of the money saved to help support eviction prevention on an ongoing basis?”
Weir said the answer in Boston, where this model originated, was yes.
United Way launched its own Renew Collaborative about two years ago with partners including the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority; Boston-based HomeStart, the originator of the eviction-prevention model; GreenLight Fund; and the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Help Center.
Renew Collaborative advocates create custom plans for families to stay in their homes and negotiate with property owners to make payments toward back rent. The pilot shows promise and is offering participants the stability to build a more solid foundation for their families.
Weir said housing and utility assistance are among the top requests handled by United Way 211, the 24-hour helpline connecting callers to services – a resource Weir wished she’d known about during her time at JFS.
Data collected by 211 helps inform the organization’s strategic initiatives and partnerships, including the Revive and Thrive home repair loan program and Access to Counsel, another eviction-prevention program that provides rent assistance and legal counsel to families facing eviction.
Investing in brighter futures
Last year, United Way invested more than $37 million in Greater Cincinnati and served more than 330,000 people, 95,000 of whom benefited from United Way-specific programming. Weir is filled with urgency and optimism about the future.
“We’re in a position to grow these programs so even more families can stay in their homes and keep children in their schools,” Weir said.
She knows it’s impossible to do this work alone. The organization relies on a vast network of partners and tens of thousands of supporters. “I like to say, ‘You cannot opt out of your community.’
“Everyone I talk to cares deeply about this community and wants to live and work in a thriving region,” Weir said. “Together, let’s own the challenge of making Greater Cincinnati a place where everyone feels a sense of belonging and where everyone has a fair opportunity to reach their goals.”
