Attention Hamilton County voters! This Election season you have the opportunity to renew your support for conservation, outdoor recreation, and access to greenspace by voting yes on Issue 34 on Tuesday, November 4. The 1 mill Great Parks levy renewal will not raise taxes and helps sustain operations for the largest landowner and conservation partner in the county. Green Umbrella is proud to endorse a Yes vote on Issue 34.

Election Day is November 4, 2025! Brush up by watching the 2025 Cincinnati Local Candidate Climate & Sustainability Forum, hosted by Green Umbrella and partners on October 9, 2025. Candidates running for Cincinnati City Council and School Board shared their positions and plans on issues related to climate, environmental justice, and resilience.

Cincinnati was selected by the Children & Nature Network to participate in a Ripple Effect Mapping (REM) session in early October, designed to visually document untold stories and impacts that ripple out from community work. Members from the Strategic Partnerships for Greener Schools, the steering committee for the Green Schoolyards Action Network, shared successes from collaboration among city officials, school district leaderships, and partner organizations. Themes of policy and systemic change, justice and youth leadership, workforce development and academic success emerged. Children & Nature Network will provide a final report and ripple effect map that will be used by the Strategic Partnerships for Greener Schools.

The 2026 Midwest Regional Sustainability Summit will take place on Friday, June 12 at the Sharonville Convention Center, and our call for participation is now open!

Next year’s Summit theme is Adapt Today, Thrive Tomorrow, calling us to put resilience into practice. The 2026 Summit asks: How can we build the agility, creativity, and collective strength needed to endure disruption, accelerate innovation, and sustain progress in an increasingly complex and polarized world?

We are inviting proposals for Speakers & Breakout Sessions, Artists & Performances, and Poster Sessions. Proposals are due December 31, 2025. Please review our proposal guidelines and find the submission form here. Reach out to events@greenumbrella.org with any questions.

The City of Cincinnati Office of Environment & Sustainability is offering Seeds of Change Urban Agriculture Mini-grants to support urban agriculture in 2026. Funds are available for agricultural production and growing sites as well as food hub distribution sites, with applications due November 24, 2025. The location of the growing site or distribution site must be within the City of Cincinnati and applicants can be non-profit organizations or for- profit businesses. Click here for information, including guidelines and the application.

This December, Cynthia Walters, Green Umbrella’s Green and Healthy Schools Director, will be conducting an interactive session at the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference from December 1-4, 2025 in Albuquerque, New Mexico! Hosted by the National Farm to School Network, this conference will be a powerful gathering of food systems and farm to institution leaders across the country. Cynthia will be speaking about Bridging Systems Thinking and Practice through the lens of the Local School Wellness Tool Kit she developed with national partners. Registration for the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference is open until November 15 at the link here.

Without a new budget, and the government still shut down, SNAP benefits will not be distributed in November. Hamilton County residents will lose access to $19 million in food assistance, leaving approximately 96,000 people without support, including about 43,000 children.

With the end of this assistance, food banks in Greater Cincinnati are bracing for increased demand. Freestore Foodbank CEO Kurt Reiber says even before the shutdown, the Freestore Foodbank markets had seen an increase in demand. “Last year we distributed 47.2 million meals. During the peak of the pandemic, we did 43 million meals.”

Join Green Umbrella and Keep Cincinnati Beautiful for our November edition of Green Drinks, an evening dedicated to celebrating and advancing green and healthy schools across the Greater Cincinnati region. This month’s event will highlight the work of Green Umbrella’s Green Schoolyards Action Network, a collaborative initiative to transform schoolyards into nature-rich outdoor learning spaces that support green workforce development, school community wellness, and climate resilience. Space is limited—RSVP to reserve your spot!

Click here for the full Events Calendar. Members can submit events in the Green Umbrella online portal here.

November 1, 2025 | 10:00 am-12:30 pm

Join the Common Orchard Project in creating a new public orchard! We will be adding fruit trees to our oldest and most established orchard at 4533 Glenway Ave in Price Hill. All tools and gloves provided, just bring a water bottle and wear appropriate outdoor clothing to dig holes and plant trees. Learn more and sign up in advance.

Our Land Organics is seeking a Landscape Installation Crew Member who is eager to learn the craft of stonework and ecological landscape construction. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys physical work, problem solving, and wants to build long-term skills in a meaningful trade. This role is hands-on and physically active, with opportunities for advancement. See a full description and how to apply here.

Have an event, volunteer opportunity, or job posting to share? Green Umbrella members can submit them via the online Membership Portal. To learn more about the benefits of becoming a member, click here.