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Transformations CDC celebrates Juneteenth with Mayor Aftab
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Welcome Cincinnati Pride, Willows Project, Middletown Lyric Theatre as new Community Shares members
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Pride Month coming to a close
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Free COVID shot calendar provided
Scroll down to read more!
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Transformations CDC Students Learn About Juneteenth, Meet Mayor Aftab |
A group of students from Community Shares member organization Transformations CDC spent the weekend learning about America's history of slavery and the significance of the Juneteenth holiday, which included attending s ceremony at City Hall to hear Mayor Aftab Pureval present a proclamation commemorating the holiday observance.
The mayor also took time to meet with the students and they learned his parents were immigrants to this country, just as the students' own parents are.
Transformations CDC engages directly with immigrants and their families in the Cincinnati area around health, education and legal issues serving as a resource and advocate around regional immigration, detention and deportation issues. Donate to Transformations CDC or any other Community Shares member charity here!
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Welcome Community Shares' Three New Members: Cincinnati Pride, Willows Project, Middletown Lyric Theatre |
The Community Shares Board of Directors last week approved adding three new member charities to our roster of organizations participating in our annual workplace campaigns this fall: Cincinnati Pride, Willows Project, and Middletown Lyric Theatre. If your workplace participates in our campaign, you will be able to select these charities for your payroll deduction gifts this fall and winter! (And if your workplace does not yet participate, contact us at 513-724-GIVE to discuss starting a campaign there!) If you can't wait until the campaign season, online donations to these or any other Community Shares charities may be made securely here.
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Cincinnati Pride was originally held as a protest ibn 1973 for LGBTQ+ rights. For 49 years, it has continued to grow and evolve as a community organization, an annual event, a festival for the region, and city holiday.
Cincinnati Pride hosts the annual city-wide Pride parade and festival at Smale Park/Sawyer Point on the Ohio River. The festival hosts not only LGBTQ vendors and organizations locally and nationally, but it features local and national entertainers, activities, food, and more. Cincinnati Pride operates all year round and hosts events, participates in community service events, and creates partnerships outside of the festival and parade.
The goal of Cincinnati Pride festival and parade is to continue the mission to support, advocate for, and provide the Greater Cincinnati LGBTQIA+ community and our allies a forum that promotes inclusion and acceptance while affirming individuality. They work to produce programs that inspire, educate, and commemorate our rich history, while also celebrating our diverse culture. They foster collaboration with area organizations and businesses through sponsorships, partnerships and programming, and provide resources to positively impact the lives of all individuals regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression.They provide information, support local economic growth by partnering with the community to attract individuals to the Greater Cincinnati area, collaborate with other organizations through outreach programs, citizen involvement, and events, and educational resources to those inside and outside of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The festival and parade have an attendance of over 120,000 people and continue to attract more people from around the region every year.
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The Willows Project provides essential food, housing, transportation, education, and legal support to Central American immigrants in the Springdale and Glendale areas.
A large community of primarily Guatemalan immigrants has settled in these neighborhoods. Members of this community often arrive in the US with no possessions and no resources. They are also often poorly equipped to deal with US bureaucratic culture, and they may not speak English. This creates a public health issue affecting not only adults but families with children.
The goal of Willows' volunteers is to provide immediate humanitarian aid but they also build relationships with individual families over an extended period, with progress being incremental through language learning, trust-building, and legal action. Educational work in Princeton City Schools is designed to improve inclusion and graduation rates among immigrant students..
The Willows Project graduated several months ago from Community Shares' fiscal sponsorship incubation program, where emerging social justice needs may operate under our umbrella and receive mentorship and guidance in developing their programming and seeking their own 501c3 nonprofit status as Community Shares assists them in raising funds and managing their finances.
Last year under our fiscal sponsorship, this all-volunteer group served 2,500 immigrants with food distribution (about 50 each week) and 1,000 community members with transportation, legal advice, rent, or interpretation services. They provided clothing for about 30 families, beds for 60 families, and daily tutoring to about 10 students per day in Princeton City Schools.
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Now in the middle of its 44th season, Middletown Lyric Theatre's mission is to inspire, nurture, challenge, educate, and empower its artists and audiences while continuing a long-standing tradition of producing affordable, accessible theatre for the community it serves.
MLT strives to present entertaining, culturally diverse and at times, provocative material to help create a more socially conscious and compassionate community towards all people of color, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, disabilities and gender.
To celebrate Pride Month, MLT presents The Legend of Georgia McBride by Matthew Lopez, which runs through this weekend and features Community Shares' own CEO T. Duane Gordon in a supporting role as "Miss Tracy Mills." The theatre describes the show as: "He’s young, he’s broke, his landlord’s knocking at the door, and he’s just found out his wife is going to have a baby. To make matters even more desperate, Casey is fired from his gig as an Elvis impersonator in a run-down, small-town Florida bar. When the bar owner brings in a B-level drag show to replace his act, Casey finds that he has a whole lot to learn about show business and himself."
Remaining performances are Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 3 p.m. Tickets, $20 each, available here (caution: strong adult language and themes).
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Pride Events Continue This Weekend |
Don't forget to come out on Saturday for one of Cincinnati's largest annual events, the Cincinnati Pride Parade and Festival! The parade steps off downtown at 11 a.m. at 7th and Plum and heads down Vine Street past Fountain Square to Sawyer Point, where the festival is held noon to 9 p.m.
The free family-friendly festival features food, drinks, a kids' area, vendors, and entertainment including headliners Shea Diamond, Jordy, Alex Newell, and Daya. About a quarter of Community Shares' member charities participate with booths at Pride, so stop by and say hi to them! We are also proud two of our Board members are this year's grand marshals: Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region CEO Kersha Deibel and Transform Cincy co-founder Tristan Vaught.
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Don't Forget Your COVID Shot Or Booster! |
Community Shares' Board continues to encourage everyone to consider vaccination as the most important step to protect your health and the health of your loved ones and others in our life. Also please consider continuing the use of protective masks to lower the spread of COVID-19. Hamilton County Health Department offers the following upcoming walk-in Covid vaccination clinics:
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10 a.m-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, Hamilton County Board of Elections, 2300 Wall Street, Cincinnati (closed June 20 for Juneteenth observance)
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8 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesdays, Powell Crosley Y, 9601 Winton Road, Cincinnati
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11 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Mt. Healthy Library, 7608 Hamilton Avenue, Cincinnati
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noon-5 p.m. Thursday, Whitewater Crossing Christian Church, 5771 OH-128, Cleves
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11 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday, Montford Heights Library, 3825 West Fork Road, Cincinnati
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12-5 p.m. Fridays, Trinity Lutheran Church, 1553 Kinney Avenue, Cincinnati
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9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Woodlawn Recreation Center, 10050 Woodlawn Blvd., Cincinnati
The CDC and FDA have approved doses for under age 5 to start taking either the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine this week, and parents are encouraged to contact their children's health care providers to schedule immunization. Many are expected to begin scheduling appointments today.
Also, free at-home COVID test kits are available from https://www.covidtests.gov/ (if you have already ordered your first set of four tests for your home address, they are now allowing second sets of four additional tests to be ordered and delivered for free), and free N95 masks are available from retailers Kroger, Meijer, Rite Aid, Walgreen, Walmart, Sam's Club, and CVS.
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Community Shares of Greater Cincinnati is the tri-state region's federation of charities serving the fields of social and economic justice, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare. We provide our member charities with training on nonprofit excellence, networking opportunities for collaborative work, fundraising through our annual regional workplace federated campaign, and mentorship/incubation through our fiscal sponsorship program. We serve the Cincinnati and Dayton metro areas of southwest Ohio including Butler and Warren Counties as well as southeast Indiana and Northern Kentucky. Our primary office is in downtown Cincinnati, but each of our two professional staff members also work out of their satellite home offices in Middletown. Call us at 513-724-GIVE (4483) for more information. |
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