Health + Wellness : Development News

Looking for a place to let loose and dance? Then The Shakti Factory is for you.
 
The Shakti Factory is a movement studio, gathering place and dynamic learning community that is focused on creativity, freedom, embodied spirituality and evolutionary human potential. Owners Meredith Hogan and Lisa Stegman wanted a place for themselves to dance and gather, but they couldn’t find anywhere that fit their needs in Cincinnati. They opened their business in December near Xavier University.
 
“We want to continue to build a tribe of dancers and help set our bodies into a healing, natural rhythm,” says Hogan.
 
“Shakti” is defined as the divine, feminine power that animates and brings life to everything that is.
 
But The Shakti Factory isn’t just a place for performance artists. The studio is currently displaying a print show by Hans Waller; he also painted a mural on one of the walls. In the future, Hogan and Stegman want to host art shows regularly.
 
“It’s about pushing boundaries, and offering things that aren’t found elsewhere in town,” says Stegman. There are plans for salons that will create conversation about subjects like sexual health.
 
The Shakti Factory currently offers three dance classes each week. In July, Hogan will be adding a yoga class to the studio’s offerings. There will also be one-time workshops, such as the Warrior 101 yoga class in August that will be taught by a friend.
 
“Our vision of the space is a flexible concept that is always evolving,” says Stegman. “It might not be the same next year because it will always be changing.”
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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West Chester is now home to Elements Therapeutic Massage, a massage studio that customizes services to clients’ needs. Owner Pam Garrett opened her Elements franchise April 13.
 
“West Chester shows great opportunities for growth,” says Garrett. “There are connections to healthcare, and up-and-coming neighborhoods. We want to help people with their own wellness program, and help them to live more comfortable lives.”
 
Garrett has spent more than 25 years working in retail, but she most recently worked for a company that combined retail and healthcare. After working with a franchise broker, she was matched with Elements.
 
“I want to contribute to the community in a way that makes it easier for people to thrive,” she says. “I hope to offer partnerships with other businesses that have the same goals and vision as Elements, and help grow employment.”
 
The goal of Elements is to make therapeutic massage more affordable and available to time-starved customers who recognize massages connection to overall health and wellness. Elements focuses on the healing aspect of massage and pain relief—from deep tissue to stress relief massages.
 
Elements was founded in 2006 by a licensed massage therapist in Highlands Ranch, Colo. It is one of the fastest growing providers of therapeutic massage in the United States, and has more than 100 locations in 26 states.
 
The West Chester location is open seven days a week. Walk-ins are welcome, and there’s a membership program that allows clients to receive discounted massages on a monthly basis. Elements’ 14 masseuses are licensed massage therapists.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Spring Grove Village, which is Northside’s next-door neighbor, has much more to offer than just a place to live. Spring Grove prides itself in being a green and sustainable community, where residents are invested in what’s going on around them.
 
“There are lots of young couples who live in Spring Grove Village who go to farmers' markets,” says Sam Gordon, owner of Bee Haven Honey. “They’re aware of what they can do in their own environment to help the greater environment.”
 
Spring Grove is home to several organic gardens, including Wooden Shoe Organic Garden and Keystone Flora, which focuses on local and organic plant sales. There are also several well-known greenhouses in the area, especially along Grey Road behind Spring Grove Cemetery, including A.J. Rahn.
 
Residents have planted two community gardens in the neighborhood; and many of Spring Grove’s residents, including Bee Haven Honey, sell their goods at Findlay Market.
 
Bee Haven Honey is green and sustainable, which means that they don’t use chemicals in their hives, Gordon says.
 
Gordon says she likes to be a resource for others who are interested in beekeeping, but she isn’t the only sustainable resource in Spring Grove. Evergreen Holistic Learning Center in Winton Ridge offers green and sustainable programming, and Homeadow Song Farm, an educational center, teaches kids about nature and art.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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After Amber Fowler, 32, gave birth to twins in August, she started teaching group fitness classes at Body Boutique in Oakley. But she and Body Boutique’s owner, Candice Peters, 34, felt they weren’t servicing an important group in the community: moms and their young children.
 
Last week, Fowler and Peters started Fit Mommies, a fitness class for moms who need help getting back in shape after having a baby or who need help staying in shape, period. The class is unique in that it’s held in local parks, and is focused on moms working out with their children.
 
“We wanted a place for moms to bring their kids while they were working out,” Fowler says. “It’s like a playgroup atmosphere at the same time—moms don’t have to find a sitter, and their kids get to play with others in the fresh air.”
 
Besides a playgroup, Fit Mommies is also intent on building a community for moms. Fowler says it’s like a group therapy session and workout all in one. The women want their clients to be able to vent, get advice and get great ideas from others, all while working out.
 
“Fit Mommies is a place where moms can go to talk about things that they’re going through,” Fowler says. “It’s stressful for new moms; and it’s helpful to see other people going through the same things you are.”
 
Fowler and Peters also plan to offer Family Fit Days each month, where the whole family can come and work out for free. Fit Mommies will also host a Final Friday zoo workout—the workout is free, but you need a zoo pass.
 
The pair will also be sending out monthly newsletters and provide a resource list for clients that includes ideas from moms, family-friendly meal ideas and contact information for dentists, doctors, hairstylists, etc.
 
Fit Mommies offers power-walking and circuit training combination workouts for women who are at all different fitness levels. Classes run from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Mondays and Wednesdays in Hyde Park’s Ault and Alms parks, and Tuesdays and Thursdays in Loveland’s Nesbit and Paxton Ramsey parks. Classes are $59 per month for unlimited sessions; class passes are available.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The brightly lit restaurant welcomes customers when they walk in. Mismatched coffee mugs, cookbooks and a mural—which was done by chef Renee Schuler's sister, Michelle Heimann—above the lunch counter add a homey feel to Eat Well Café and Takeaway, which is exactly what Schuler was after.
 
“I wanted the restaurant to be like a living thing, which is why there’s so much green,” she says. The café seats about 35 people, and is described as fast casual—instead of table service, customers order at the counter and take a seat or, if they’re in a hurry, take their food with them.
 
Eat Well Café opened Jan. 9 in O’Bryonville in the old What’s for Dinner? space, between The BonBonerie and Enoteca Emilia.

“The neighborhood is full of positive energy,” says Schuler. “There are so many creative people doing what they love in this area, and I wanted to be part of that.”
 
When looking for restaurant space, Schuler searched all over Cincinnati. She decided on O’Bryonville because the community is interested in feeling good and living well, and that’s what food is about, she says.
 
Before opening her catering business, Eat Well Celebrations and Feasts seven and a half years ago, Schuler spent years working in restaurants and catering in New York City. When she came back to Cincinnati, she worked as the executive chef at Murphin Ridge Inn in Adams County for three years.
 
“It was a huge change,” she says. “I went from living in the city to picking out what types of cabbage our gardener would grow for the restaurant.”
 
She loves to help people plan events and create something dramatic (her second major is in theater), but she also wanted to create something accessible to people on a daily basis. Eat Well Café allows her to see some of her regular customers outside of planning events.
 
Eat Well Café’s menu was created with everyone in mind, Schuler says. There are vegetarian and vegan options alongside items like the Dr. Meat, which is a braised beef short rib sandwich. The menu will change seasonally, with spring items set to be added in two or three weeks.
 
“America is a melting pot, and American food is influenced from all over,” says Schuler. “Our menu is a mix of flavors to create something new.” Vietnamese summer rolls and pesto pasta are both menu staples, along with salads and soups.
 
The “takeaway” menu changes daily, and is based on Schuler’s mood, the weather and what she thinks would be good to eat that day. On dreary days, items like soups are takeaway staples.
 
Schuler tries to source most of Eat Well Café’s ingredients from local farmers. She uses a local, family-owned company who gets eggs for the café from an Amish farm in Northern Ohio; the bread is from Blue Oven Bakery; dairy products come from Snowville Creamery; Eckerlin Meats at Findlay Market supplies chicken and other meats. 
 
“I try to keep it as local as that makes sense,” she says. “It’s a constant challenge, especially this time of year.” Schuler’s dream is to have an Eat Well greenhouse down the street to grow all of the restaurant’s salad greens and herbs, but that’s a ways down the road.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Grocery stores and farmers markets aren’t the only places in Cincinnati to buy locally grown produce. Urban Greens LLC is a garden that gives its customers the opportunity to grow their own food in a community-owned plot.
 
Urban Greens was founded in 2010 by 15 families who wanted to grow their own produce, but didn’t necessarily have the space in their own backyards. Ryan Doan, founder of Urban Greens, was introduced to community gardening by a Mt. Washington resident who grew 90 percent of his family’s food on a plot in his backyard. Doan also took classes at the Civic Garden Center; he then found the plots in the East End by the Ohio River. The plots are owned by FEMA and can’t be bought or sold for development projects because they have been designated for agriculture purposes or parks.  
 
Customers have fresh produce about 26 weeks out of the year, and during the winter, their shelves and freezers are stocked with homemade goodies from the gardens.
 
In order to keep up with the plots, Urban Greens sells Community Supported Agriculture shares. Customers pay an upfront fee of $600 per year for three to 10 pounds of produce per week. There is also a work share program, where customers pay $450 and work 20 hours in the garden. The shares not only pay for seeds, fencing, cages and water, but for the garden manager’s and a few part-time employees’ salaries.
 
The community garden will have three plots in Cincinnati this year—two in the East End and one that’s new for 2013, plus one in Hamilton—for a total of two and a half acres of fresh produce. The Hamilton plot is on the grounds of one of the local high schools and is tended by a student.
 
Urban Greens will offer 35 CSA accounts in the East End, 20-25 in Hamilton and about 15 at the new garden. CSA customers pick up their pre-packaged produce once a week from the garden plots.
 
Besides selling produce to its CSA customers, Urban Greens is the sole provider of produce for a local company. They sell to the businesses’ employees on Tuesdays, and pick for CSA customers on Thursdays. During the summer, weekends are reserved for selling produce at local farmers markets.
 
“We set aside a certain amount of produce to sell to the general public at farmers markets,” Doan says. The rest of the produce is divided evenly among Urban Greens’ customers, so that nothing goes to waste.
 
This year, Urban Greens is also offering 30 Flexible Market Accounts to those who want to choose their own produce. Customers load $100 at a time onto a card, come down once a week and pick out the produce they need. FMA is like a grocery store that offers local produce, plus local cheeses, granola and handmade soap, says Doan.
 
“FMA allows people to get the tomatoes they need to make spaghetti sauce or salsa, rather than the bunches of kale they might grow themselves,” he says.
 
FMA also makes Urban Greens accessible to more people, as the CSA can be too expensive for some. “I don’t want Urban Greens to be for rich people buying organic vegetables, but for everyone,” says Doan.
 
Doan is also looking to develop a gardening program with a few local schools. He wants to have gardens on school grounds, and when school is in session, the produce will be incorporated into the students’ lunches. Urban Greens would also teach students how to harvest and seed the gardens, and they would be the ones farming the land, not school personnel.
 
“I’d like to continue the gardens at the schools during the summer and sell the produce at farmers markets,” Doan says. “But once school is back in session, the produce would be for the cafeteria.”
 
To reserve a CSA share or more for more information about FMA, email Urban Greens at urbangreensllc@gmail.com.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Kitchen 452’s small dining room only holds six tables, but the restaurant is going to pack a big punch. Its menu is full of comfort food, such as sandwiches and soups, all delivered with fun twists.
 
Kitchen 452 will open from 6 to 9 p.m. on Jan. 25 during Walk on Woodburn, but the restaurant’s official grand opening is Feb. 1, when it will begin its regular lunch hours, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
 
Jen Lile, 39, and her business partner, Leah Joos, 29, began looking for restaurant space last May. Neither went to culinary school—they were academic advisors at the University of Cincinnati’s honors college, and through helping their students follow their dreams, they realized what their own was.
 
“After doing some research, we found out about SpringBoard Cincinnati,” says Joos. “We enrolled in courses there, then found the space on Woodburn, solidifying our idea.”
 
Joos’ interest in food started in her grandmother’s kitchen. She and her sister considered it a playground, and their grandmother let them make whatever they wanted.
 
But she didn’t really start cooking until graduate school. “I wasn’t good at it, but it gave me a good sense of focus and a creative outlet when my brain was drained,” she says.
 
Lile spent time in Europe and saw a difference between how food was appreciated and prepared that she didn’t see in the United States. When she came back, her idea of food changed and she became interested in learning about food. “Before my trip to Europe, I considered boiling water cooking,” she says. “My kitchen became the space where I really wanted to be.”
 
Joos and Lile designed Kitchen 452’s menu around traditional comfort food. “We like to play around with different flavors and try different flavor combinations together,” says Lile.
 
For example, their turkey sandwich is on bread fresh from the bakery, with a cranberry and orange chutney, which is balanced with crispy shallots on top; Kitchen 452’s tomato soup is topped with a parsley and garlic gremolata. Joos and Lile also wanted to focus on foods that feel like the seasons, so when it’s dark and wintry outside, there will be warm and hearty dishes on their menu.
 
“We want people to feel like they matter,” says Joos. “We want to get to know our customers, because we know that people make a decision when they go out to eat, and we want them to choose Kitchen 452 and keep coming back.”
 
Joos and Lile want to do things that can connect them with people on different levels as well. They plan to offer themed dinners at Kitchen 452, and possibly offer educational classes. One of their ideas is an oil and vinegar tasting that will teach customers how to incorporate different oils and vinegars into dishes they cook on a daily basis.
 
Kitchen 452 will also offer catering for business meetings and special events, with menus tailored to customers’ needs.
 
“It’s exciting for us and for our customers to try out different recipes that aren’t necessarily on our menu,” says Lile. “We want to help create custom menus and be part of important events in other people’s lives.”
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Yoga is usually accompanied by soothing background music, but at OMYA Studio in Northside, that background music is an important aspect of every class.
 
Co-owners Hollie Nesbitt and Mark Messerly both have musical backgrounds. Nesbitt is a former music teacher, and Messerly is a music teacher at the Cincinnati Gifted Academy and plays in several bands, including Wussy and Messerly and Ewing.
 
About four years ago, Nesbitt started Little Yoga Sunshine, a yoga program for children. She has taught yoga to Girl Scout troops and church groups; she also used to teach yoga to students at Cincinnati Public School’s after-school program. Over the years, Nesbitt has taught yoga at Wyoming Youth Services, The Women’s Connection, Lighthouse Youth Services, the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati, United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Museum Center.
 
OMYA, which stands for Outreach, Music, Yoga and Arts, offers yoga classes for children, adults, families and those with special needs. “Yoga gets the body moving and helps with concentration and calming down,” says Nesbitt.
 
Yoga can teach children with autism the skill of stopping with the four “Bs” (brakes, brain, body, breath). It can also help non-ambulatory people with muscle tone and physicality, and those with Down syndrome with strengthening their joints and muscles.

“We offer lots of kid, family and special needs classes, which is something that many yoga studios don’t have,” says Nesbitt.
 
Messerly doesn’t teach yoga classes, but he’s planning to offer several music classes at OMYA. In the future, he plans to offer an early childhood music class for children with autism and ADHD. He also wants to start a guitar club for beginning and intermediate guitar players and a songwriting class for older children and adults. He’s also in the process of developing a six-week course for kids with autism, a program that doesn’t exist elsewhere.
 
“It’s always struck me that kids love music, but adults say they can’t carry a tune,” Messerly says. “I want to give music back to people. Not everyone will be a musician, but they should have music in their lives.”
 
Not only will Messerly teach a few music classes at OMYA, but he has incorporated yoga breathing and movements into the music classes that he teaches at Cincinnati Gifted.
 
OMYA also has a working relationship with WordPlay, which is housed in the same building as the studio. “We want to do some cross-curriculum work with WordPlay, where kids will write poems or song lyrics and then I’ll teach them how to add music,” Messerly says.
 
OMYA is right across the street from Yoga-Ah, the yoga studio where Nesbitt learned to teach yoga. She says they do lots of cross-promoting for the studio. “While your child is taking a class at OMYA, you can take one for adults across the street.”
 
Currently, OMYA offers one or two classes per day, with no classes held on Tuesday. Nesbitt is one of two yoga teachers, and Robyn Holleran, a professional belly dancer, teaches belly dancing classes for girls ages 12 and up; April Eight also teaches Songs of Peace classes. Classes are $10 for adults, $8 for kids and $15 for families.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Future Life Now, a learning center focused on both mental and physical growth, recently relocated to the old Charles Miller funeral home in Northside.

The move was originally postponed because of accessibility issues, says Cynthia Allen, co-director of Future Life Now.

Allen, who moved to Cincinnati about 25 years ago, operates the business with her husband, Larry R. Wells.

Currently, Future Life Now has practitioners in a wide range of services, including acupuncture, massage therapy, yoga, Ayurveda, dance, neuro-linguistic programming, the Feldenkrais Method, T’ai Chi and Qigong. Smith plans to offer Pilates in the future.

“We decided that it’s really time to a little more collaboration with other disciplines,” Allen says. “Collaboration is an extremely important part of being able to bring forward better results for people.”

The company recently held its first NLP certification program for bringing practitioners to the area. “It’s the first [NLP] certification program ever held in Cincinnati, by anybody,” Allen says.  

Its next certification program is forming in February, and will be offered by Larry R. Wells.

“It’s a very unique approach that allows people to work with their belief systems, their internal dialogue,” Allen says. “It’s very different from traditional therapy or even from traditional coaching.”

Future Life Now is now located at 4138 Hamilton Ave., Suite B, in Northside.

By Kyle Stone

Next Tuesday, Madisonville’s community council will share its Quality of Life Plan with funders, government officials, businesses, nonprofits and surrounding communities. For the past year, Madisonville has been involved in an intensive, community-driven planning process.
 
It’s the first time in Cincinnati that a citizen-driven, community plan of this type has been developed, although it has been used in 109 communities across the country.
 
Not only does Madisonville have a strong history—its future looks bright. The neighborhood on the east side of Cincinnati is more than 200 years old. It was established in 1809 and originally called “Madison” after the newly elected fourth President of the United States, James Madison.
 
Madisonville’s first permanent settler was Joseph Ward and his family. In 1797, they built a log cabin along an Indian trail that is near what are now Whetsel and Monning avenues. About 30 years later, a post office was established and the neighborhood’s name was changed to Madisonville to avoid duplication with Madison, Ohio. It was annexed by the City of Cincinnati in 1911. Today, about 9,000 people live in the neighborhood.
 
But in the 1970s, about 17,000 people lived in Madisonville. Flight from urban areas in the '70s has yet to be reversed, but there are more residents considering city life.
 
“Madisonville would be a great place to live because of its closeness to downtown,” says Sara Sheets, a Madisonville resident of nine years and the project manager for the Quality-of-Life Planning Process on behalf of the Madisonville Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation. Residents can jump on Columbia Parkway or I-71 to get to work and events downtown.
 
Many of Madisonville’s residents moved to the area because they wanted to be part of a racially and economically diverse community. “I wanted to live in a diverse community with a potential for the future,” says Sheets.
 
The residents of Madisonville really care about the neighborhood and want to see it grow. Last year, Madisonville began the intense process of organizing the community in order to develop a vision for the neighborhood. Six working groups were formed to focus on economic development, health and wellness, arts and culture, education and youth, built environment and community engagement. The groups met six times over the summer to form a specific plan. The Quality of Life Plan will likely take about 10 years to implement, but it’s a roadmap for what the community wants to see happen in the neighborhood, Sheets says.
 
The Quality of Life Plan focuses on broader change, particularly on the opportunities and quality of life for children and seniors in Madisonville, according to Bob Igoe, who has lived in Madisonville for 12 years and been the community council president for three.

A large portion of the Plan is focused on education, from kindergarten on up. For example, the Children’s Home of Cincinnati has made a long-term commitment for the kindergarten-ready program in Madisonville. The program focuses on children ages 0-3 and helps prepare them for kindergarten, both educationally and socially.

Not only are there long-term goals for Madisonville, but there are short-term goals, too. One of these is jump-starting the growth of the business district, Igoe says.
 
Currently, there are about two blocks of vacant property at Madison and Whetsel, in the heart of the neighborhood’s business district. Madisonville residents will ultimately get to decide what will fill those vacant spaces.

“We want to develop a mixed-use neighborhood where walking and biking to restaurants, shops and services is easy,” Sheets says. Many residents go outside of the neighborhood to grab a cup of coffee.  
 
Residents also want to add new apartments, condos and houses to the town. Most of the new housing will likely be around the business district to enhance the community's walkability.
 
The meeting is to begin Nov. 27 at 5:30 pm at John P. Parker School, 5051 Anderson Place, Cincinnati.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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After suffering from a serious accident that required the will of a determined athlete to overcome, Cydney Rabe of Over-the-Rhine resident opened Core, an exercise studio specializing in Pilates this September.

Three years ago, while walking across a street in Chicago, Rabe was hit by a car.

“[Doctors] told me, ‘You’ll never be able to lift your arm above your waist, you can’t ever lift anything more than five pounds, you’ll have no range in motion’,” Rabe says.  

But Rabe wasn’t ready to accept what to others seemed inevitable. After the accident, she used Pilates to completely rehabilitate her shoulder, which she claims made her stronger than before and gave her nearly full range of motion.

Following the accident, Rabe decided to move from Chicago back to Over-the-Rhine — where her family has lived for 12 years — to open Core.

“I’ve seen such a cool change happening in the neighborhood from when we first moved into it.” Rabe says. “It’s fun to be a part of it and add my own passion into the neighborhood.”

The studio uses Pilates equipment that puts the user in a standing position, challenging people’s body awareness in ways they aren’t used to.

Each equipment class has four or fewer people, so although people pay for a group class, they still get one-on-one attention from the instructor.

“When it’s only four people, it really allows for correction and to develop form, which are so important in a Pilates practice,” Rabe says. “It allows you to get the most out of the workout.”

Rabe also attributes small class sizes to keeping people more accountable for showing up and staying on their routines.

“You’re coming in and working out and seeing familiar faces, so you start developing relationships beyond just going to the gym,” Rabe says. “People are now looking for you in a class, like, ‘Oh, so-and-so is not here today.’ ”

Currently, Core offers classes in Pilates, TRX, Zumba and ballet barre, and will likely add yoga in the future.

“I wanted it to be a one-stop shop for people to come in, get their workout on and do a mixture of classes,” Rabe says.

Chermaya Woodson, who has been going to Core since it opened, says Rabe is the most passionate Pilates teacher she has worked with.

“[Rabe] makes it a point to not only ensure that I'm getting a good workout in — which I always do — but to ensure that I am actually learning about the muscles I'm working and what they do for me on a daily basis.”

Core’s operational hours vary — depending on classes — and it is located at 1423 Vine St., in the Gateway District across the street from Kroger.

Check out Core’s Facebook page here.

By Kyle Stone

As many areas of Cincinnati are being rejuvenated, including OTR and Washington Park, the City of Cincinnati approved a comprehensive approach to focus on development in the city as a whole, not just targeted neighborhoods. 

Last Friday, the City Planning Commission approved and adopted Plan Cincinnati, which was designed with input from residents. The Plan is an opportunity to strengthen what people love about the city, what works and what needs more attention, says Katherine Keough-Jurs, senior city planner and project manager.
 
The idea is to re-urbanize suburbanized Cincinnati; in a sense, to return to the strengths of the city's beginnings. Cincinnati was established just after the American Revolution in 1788 and grew into an industrial center in the 19^th century. Many of those industries no longer exist in the city, which is part of why Cincinnati has become more suburbanized in the past 50 years. One of the long-term goals of the Plan is to bring new industries to Cincinnati.
 
With a new approach to revitalization, Cincinnati is blazing the trail for other cities. With a focus on building on existing strengths rather than tearing down structures and creating new ones, the Plan aims to capitalize on the city's “good bones” and good infrastructure.
 
Cinicinnatians had a huge role in developing the Plan. The first public meeting for the Plan was held in September 2009, when residents offered their insights into “what makes a great city?" and "what would make Cincinnati a great city?” A steering committee of 40 people representing businesses, nonprofits, community groups, local institutions, residents and City Council helped develop the Plan.

The Plan also got support from a grant from the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which the City received in 2010. The grant allotted $2.4 million over three years to support the Land Development Code, which combines and simplifies Cincinnati's codes, reviews the development process, implements Form-based Codes and considers more creative uses for land. The grant allowed the city to start implementing some of the ideas voiced in public meetings.
 
Visionaries included youth, too. City staff worked with community centers and Cincinnati Public Schools to develop an art project for children. They were given clay pots and asked to paint their fears for the city on the inside and their dreams for the city on the outside. The children saw the big issue was quality of life, just like the adults did.
 
“It was an interesting way to get the kids involved and thinking about the future,” Keough-Jurs says.
 
The Plan aims to strengthen neighborhood centers—the neighborhoods’ business districts. It maps out areas that people need to get to on a daily basis and found that most are within about a half-mile of the business districts. But in some neighborhoods, residents can’t access their neighborhood centers. 

The accessibility of a neighborhood center is based on walkability—not just for pedestrians, but also about how structures address walking. For exampke, if a pedestrian can walk from one end of the neighborhood center to the other without breaking his or her pattern (the window shopping effect), the area is walkable; if he or she has been stopped by a parking lot or vacancies, it’s not walkable, Keough-Jurs says.
 
The neighborhood centers are classified in one of three ways in the Plan: maintain, evolve or transform. Some neighborhoods have goals to maintain levels of walkability, whereas others need to gradually change or evolve. Still others need to completely transform in order to strengthen their business districts.
 
“Cincinnati is at the heart of the region,” Keough-Jurs says. “If we strengthen Cincinnati, we strengthen a region.”

The next step for the Plan is to go before the Cincinnati City Council, specifically the Livable Communities Committee, which is chaired by Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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The University of Cincinnati recently added four new degree certificates to the College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. The Sustainable Landscape Design, Urban Agriculture, Urban Landscapes and Green Roofs certificates are in the horticulture department and focus on green living. The four certificates are available at the undergraduate level, but graduate students can arrange for credit.
 
A certificate in Sustainable Landscape Design focuses on the sustainability aspect of building and landscape design. The Urban Agriculture area of study examines contemporary issues in horticulture, urban design, livability and quality of life, food security and sustainability. A certificate in Urban Landscapes focuses on the role of plant life in a sustainable urban environment. The certificate in Green Roofs addresses contemporary issues in living architecture, while focusing on the environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable urban design.
 
The certificates give students the opportunity to add a specialized area of study to their overall horticulture degree. Plus, it allows them to enhance their skills and build their resumes, says Virginia Russell, associate professor of architecture at DAAP. She teaches a class on infrastructure and green roofs in the Urban Landscape realm of study.  
 
New courses in urban agriculture and ecology, living architecture and plant biogeography were added to the horticulture program in response to students’ passion for sustainable living. Many horticulture students have done service projects in the community to gain experience and enhance their skills, says Russell.
 
Students aren’t the only ones interested in green projects. The UC Master Plan, which was developed by Hargreaves Associates, a landscape architecture firm, includes different aspects of sustainable landscape design. These aspects have been incorporated into projects around campus, including the sub-grade retention basin near the student recreation center that uses recycled storm water for irrigation purposes. UC also installed two green roofs over the summer—one on Procter Hall and one on the DAA building of DAAP.
 
Russell believes that green living is important for everyone because so many areas of expertise are beginning to show concern for the environment. For example, professionals in medicine, the culinary arts and all fields of design should understand the importance of plant-based tools, such as new types of packaging, a food-secure supply chain and the therapeutic uses of plants and gardening.
 
By Caitlin Koenig
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Tucked amid concrete streets within the Westside neighborhood of Covington, KY just east of Interstate 71-75 lies an oasis of tranquility, and arguably the only viable green space in the city’s urban core.

The historic Linden Grove Cemetery and Arboretum was consecrated in 1843 and is the final resting place for more than 22,000 burials across a span of 22 acres.

Linden Grove Cemetery and Arboretum is at once environmentally and civically significant. The cemetery provides important green space, and comes with a built-in history lesson as the burial site of many important civic and community leaders, congressmen and important historical figures.

Soldiers from as far back as the war of 1812 and the Civil War are buried there, along with soldiers from every other American war since. Dr. Louise Southgate, early female physician and women’s rights activist in Covington, Thomas Kennedy, one of Covington’s original founders and land owners, William Wright Southgate and Brigadier General John W. Finnell, Kentucky’s Adjutant General during the Civil War are among the important historical figures interred at Linden Grove.

Over the cemetery’s 169-year history, the site has fallen into various stages of disrepair and neglect only to be brought back to life with the help of caring citizens and the local courts.

Although the site is now more like a 22-acre park, Pete Nerone, Chairman of the Board for Linden Grove, says that the grounds lost its pond in the early 1960s when it was filled in during the construction of Interstate 71-75.

The pond once supplied a local brewery and provided a self-sustaining water source to the grounds. Thanks to the work of people like Nerone and former board member John Dietz, the pond is about to make a comeback.

As a former Peace Corps volunteer serving in West Africa, Nerone was instrumental in securing a $30,000 environmental stewardship grant from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation for the reconstruction and development of the pond.

Why does the pond matter so much? Nerone says that according to studies, the City of Covington is actually 20 percent deficient in green space, permeable surfaces and adequate tree canopy.

A healthy tree canopy provides a filter for noise and air pollution resulting from the neighboring interstate highway. It also provides homes for various birds, wildlife and aquatic species. Water from the pond can be used to improve the tree canopy as well as provide much needed hydration for landscaping and ornamental gardens.

“Linden Grove is very important real estate from an ecological point of view,” says Nerone. “It sits in an old neighborhood in the urban core of Covington. The existence of a pond on the grounds is key to the site’s longevity.”

The new pond will be controlled with a safety shelf and controlled overflow. With the grant award and the restoration of Linden Grove’s pond, Nerone says, “We can enhance and protect our beautiful green space, making it more available as a place of recreation for the community.”

By Deidra Wiley Necco