Did the City Manager Weaponize ‘Women Helping Women’ Training in the Chief Washington Matter?
FYI memo 3.24.23 Chief Washington
FYI Memo 3.24.23 attachment Chief Washington
Lawsuit Pureval, Long conspired to fire Washington April 27 2023 annotated
City payments to Women Helping Women 2022-2026
WHW President Compensation 2019 – 2025
If you go back and look at news reports about City Manager Sheryl Long’s firing of Chief Washington, there is an “Evaluation Report,” by Cincinnati Non-profit organization, “Women Helping Women,” that apparently played a central role in the City Manager’s decision to fire the Chief.
In a memo dated March 24, 2023, the City Manager informed the City Council of her termination of Chief Washington. Attached to the memo was the executive summary of the Evaluation Report. According to the summary, “there were key discussions by officers that fell into three main themes.”
The third theme was, “ Sentiments that the problem lies with key leadership, namely Fire Chief, and that needs to be addressed in a comprehensive way before it can be modeled across the Department.” The problem cited by Women Helping Women was that an “umbrella of gender-based violence are present in the Department. “
I have been unable to find the entire “Evaluation Report,” online but I am sure there must be a complete report somewhere.
As it stands, the City Manager enlisted a non-profit, for which the city is a major benefactor, to conduct “training” for the Fire Department concerning cultural issues and then used the summary of an “Evaluation Report” as a basis to remove the Chief. At least that was how the Enquirer reported it.
According to Ohio Checkbook (https://checkbook.ohio.gov), during the period 2022 to present, the city has made payments to Women Helping Women of more than $1.5 million, including $1 million in Leveraged support, which are essentailly operating subsidies.
According to IRS filings, during that same approximate period, the compensation of the president of Women Helping Women increased 109% , from $106,143 in 2019 to $222,292 in 2025.
In my opinion, it looks like Women Helping Women may have been used by the City Manager to do her bidding with respect to Chief Washington. I hope this arrangement is the subject of a formal investigation.
