History
"Re-inventing the wheel" is terribly costly, time intensive, and promises
to repeat at least some mistakes. Dozens of ministries and social service organizations
in Cincinnati were created to do the same thing, and many are struggling for resources and volunteers.
Looking for models across the country where these issues were addressed, Mark Stecher found
an organization that targeted collaboration, resource optimization, sharing best practice methodology,
and serving successful organizations. In more than 40 cities nationally and 30 cities across the world,
that organization - Leadership Foundations - pools resources and improve the scope and impact of ministries
across their cities.
Working in business 20 years and switching to ministry, Mark worked with several of these ministries
trying to quantify what worked most effectively and where the greatest needs were. A few churches pledged
financial and volunteer support, a board was gathered, and OneCity became the Leadership Foundation in Cincinnati.
The first few projects OneCity began developing were CityLink Center and Whiz Kids in 2004. OneCity
utilized a process template that would be used to help with several other issues affecting people in Cincinnati.
The process was…
- Profile – Gather people and information to review an area of need in our city.
- Identify - Identify gaps and opportunities in how we address
that need today.
- Search – Search for best practices and innovative ideas locally
and nationally.
- Partner – Identify and pray with leaders, seekign God's wisdom in moving forward.
- Recruit – Enlist dozens or hundreds of people passionate about the idea.
- Begin
- Learn – Utilize metrics to evaluate performance.
- Adjust – Make course corrections based on metrics and continue
to improve.
OneCity added initiatives and churches that wanted to expand their opportunities for members
to contribute significantly in areas they are most passionate about. Today, OneCity continues to
expand and improve its initiatives and systems to bring significant change and impact to Cincinnati
now and in the days to come.
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