Cincinnati is trying to raise its profile from every possible angle and is using a variety of ways to do it.  Several things are working in our favor presently and that makes it fun to show up every day to do our work.  From a strategic standpoint the downtown must work as a gathering place for workers, shoppers, visitors, sports fans, and urban dwellers.  It is our showpiece, and what we use to help generate the dollars to support many other areas of the city.  But the backbone of the community and the key to the city’s success is its neighborhoods.

Aside from being the enclaves where the vast majority of the workforce dwells, we need neighborhoods to include local serving jobs and amenities that support the residential base like libraries, grocers, drugstores, restaurants and outlets for physical activities.  Successful recruitment of the things that add substance and culture in the neighborhood requires the stakeholders there to engage and be actively involved in the life of the area. When people who live and work in a neighborhood give back it brings energy and vitality ensuring endless possibilities.  Such is the case when the City of Cincinnati held the kickoff of the Neighborhood Enhancement Project (NEP) in the Evanston neighborhood in September.

The NEP is a program that is designed to build upon a neighborhood’s existing assets  and to leverage a new wave of sweat equity to reduce crime and blight, beautify the area, and to stimulate new investment to its residential and commercial core.  It is implemented using a partnership approach with the city government departments all working as a single team with the community based stakeholders of the Evanston neighborhood that includes  the Evanston Community Council and the Business Association as well as Xavier University, the Home Ownership Center, the Cincinnati Area Board of Realtors, and US Bank among others.  This broad set of partners is working through a 90-day labor-intensive effort that we call a blitz to make a significant impact on that area.  We measure our progress along the way in 30-day intervals and then we do follow up after the 90 day period for an additional nine months.  As with anything meaningful the focus is on identifiable results and much has been accomplished over the last two months.

There are many other efforts taking place around the city involving non-profits, volunteers from the private sector, school community service projects and several others.  All of these efforts are part of the big picture aimed at making our neighborhoods stronger.  The more jobs, investment, and home ownership we can stimulate the better impact we can make on reducing crime, improving schools, and making people want to live in the city.

We need all of our residents to see downtown as a place that has something for everybody.  That spurs a sense of pride that shows when we talk about Cincinnati and resonates with visitors when they ask us to tell them something about the place we call home.  That sense of ownership in downtown helps us as we aggressively court larger and larger conventions.  But the foundation upon which this city will soar is a tightly integrated set of 52 neighborhoods and we can all play a role in making that a reality.

Cincinnati, Ohio is working hard to be in perpetual celebration mode.  More night spots, more restaurants, more positive PR for the city makes it feel good to be here right now.  If you study the line up for Fountain Square and some of the events/activities around our city, it is obvious that we will party for any reason imaginable.  The rush from civic excitement encourages us to seek it out even more.  That is a good thing.  Being in love with misery does not add years to your life.

We have issues here just like any other big city.  Accentuating the positive does not mean we’re in denial about our wants or needs.  So what do we do about them?  The short answer is ENGAGE.  Texting, blogging, and emailing allow for instantaneous communication but the vibrancy of Cincinnati goes up when we “do.”

Like other cities, we have various leadership programs such as those sponsored by the Chambers of Commerce, Urban League, Talbert House, and even City Government.  Gaining a more in-depth understanding about the community, its challenges and opportunities is good for self growth. But, for civic growth you have to do something with all that insight and information.  The possibilities for getting involved exist in schools, neighborhoods, non-profits, and public institutions.  If you haven’t been through any leadership program there is still a niche of involvement with your name on it.

For all that we are as a city, we can be that much more if each of us engage.  Cleaning up neighborhoods, tutoring kids, becoming an entrepreneur, and working for digital inclusion bring a value and a richness to Cincinnati.  Whether striving to make a big impact or a small one it’s all needed.  Having fun while doing it is even better.  Improving our city is another reason to throw a party.  So let’s make it happen!

People with even a passing knowledge of Cincinnati can easily recite that we have professional sports teams and they might know that we are bordered by a river.  They are aware of the universities, but they could guess that because one would logically assume a major city would have various institutions of higher learning.  When those who are only remotely familiar take a closer look, either by visiting us or doing a web search, they are genuinely surprised by the number of corporate headquarters (HQs) that are located here.

Major Corporate HQs are a significant asset for our community and when we talk about luring other HQ operations here, everybody sees that as a good thing.  What’s not to like about expanding the skyline as well as bringing jobs, investment, and new talent to expand our capacity.  The Regional Chamber, the City’s Economic Development Office and others charged with growing our pie of prosperity are primed to move towards any viable leads.

If you research company headquarters around the country and probe why they came to be in those places to begin with, you will find that many of them are in city x because their founders are from those cities.  They grew up there or came there for college, developed an idea for a product, were determined to make it a reality, and because they liked the city where they lived, they launched their new enterprise there.  So from the basement, garage, or virtual office a once budding enterprise blossomed into a giant corporate presence.  In the beginning they probably had a healthy dose of skeptics that the ideas being put forth would ever explode but that scenario has been repeated over and over throughout the annals of business lore.  I read just the other day about the two young men who began Google in their city with a $100,000 investment from someone who believed their idea could work and now both young men are each worth $19 billion.  Hmmm.

So while we are roving the universe looking for corporations who have outgrown the space, talent pool, politics of their current home or simply need a new strategic location to continue the growth of their company, we must also cast an eye towards Price Hill, Carthage, Hyde Park, and Mt. Washington.  While we’re at it let’s check in with UC, Xavier, NKU, and our research hospitals to find people who are developing intellectual properties that can be spun off into the future Humanas, Scripps, or Procter & Gambles.

We need local people bitten by the entrepreneurial bug who have ideas that can be translated into viable products or services that can be sold in the global marketplace.  We need them to have the determination that they will not accept anything less than success.  And we need them to love Cincinnati and have a desire to take their talent and let it flourish right here in the Queen City.  While the naked eye might be tempted to dismiss the 5 or 10 person operation starting out, the visionary will see it as the 5 or 10 thousand person HQ 15 years from now.  Admittedly, we may be able to lure someone here in less time than that, but you can never underestimate the true impact of a homegrown headquarters that has an affinity for where they are located.

For all of that to happen of course, our climate must include venture capitalists, angels, creative legal support, and systems that strive for fluid functioning not status quo mentalities.  As we labor to recruit companies and grow companies, the talent that accompanies it will also help us to expand the culture, synergy, and can do spirit that any progressive city needs.

There is room in Cincinnati for a headquarters epidemic.  The thing is, the person whose hand you shook in that business meeting last week in one of our neighborhoods or in downtown just may hold the key to help make that a reality.