Short of goal, long on hope

On Tuesday, United Way of Greater Cincinnati announced that it's way behind on this year's fundraising goal with little more than a week left in its 2006 campaign. With only 70.5 percent of its goal accounted for, the organization says it could come up short by than more than $1 million behind last year's total of $61.8 million -- and that vital community services might be weakened as a result. As our editorial in Wednesday's Enquirer says, it's important for area individuals and companies to step up in the next week and support the campaign. Now, we know that some cynics out there say it's a too-familiar refrain -- that United Way "cries wolf" on its fund-raising total, only to come up with goal-topping contributions at the last minute. But we're convinced that United Way is indeed facing more of an uphill struggle than in previous years because of very real changes in the workforce that we've heard about in recent months. What do you think? And what's the next step for United Way?