HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The United Way of the River Cities has announced a new cycle for two grants that help Tri-State residents in emergencies.

Each year, UWRC makes grant funds available for safety-net programs who provide emergency basic needs to residents in Lawrence County in Ohio and Cabell, Lincoln, Mason and Wayne counties in West Virginia.

Every two years, impact grants are awarded to programs that address UWRC Strategies for Change. 2020 starts a new cycle for both grants. These grants will follow the new set of Strategies for Change that have been identified by the needs assessment.

“We reassess the needs in the counties we serve every four years to ensure that our work is focused on the concerns of our community,” says Rachel Houston, director of community impact at UWRC. “Our grants are open to any organization or program in our five-county service area as long as they fall within our Strategies of Change.”

Over the summer, UWRC, as a community-driven organization, turned outward and asked its five-county service area to help it identify our communities most pressing issues in the areas of — education, health, financial stability and basic needs. A dozen listening sessions, nearly 200 surveys, several in-depth interviews, and the work of dozens of volunteers later, UWRC emerged with a community needs assessment that was the foundation for the creation of community goals that will shape its work for the next few years.

The grant process will open on Tuesday, Feb. 10 with a Letter of Intent.

To learn more about the funding process, also sign up to stay up-to-date about the grant process, view the updated Strategies of Change, and access the 2020 Community Needs Assessment, visit www.unitedwayrivercities.org/grants.

United Way of the River Cities is a nonprofit organization that partners with the local community to solve its greatest issues in the areas of health, education, financial stability and basic needs of every person in Cabell, Wayne, Lincoln and Mason counties in West Virginia and Lawrence County in Ohio.