University of Cincinnati Journalism alum Taylor Dungjen, a cops and crime reporter for the Toledo Blade, returned to her college home town to report on an innovative initiative that is having an impact in Northern Ohio. Read the full story here.
In Julie Olberding's fall semester class at Northern Kentucky University, she gave her graduate students an unusual goal: help Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America allocate money. Quite a bit of money, actually. The class, part of the university’s growing Mayerson Student Philanthropy Project, analyzed grant applications received by Toyota and advised the company on how to distribute more than $60,000. Although the company’s board had the final say in distribution, many of the students’ recommendations were approved – sometimes with changes to the amount the nonprofit would receive based on the Toyota’s available resources. Since NKU started the philanthropic program more than a decade ago, they have found that when students take a class and participate in giving, they are more likely to continue the behavior. They tend to donate, to volunteer and even to serve on non-profit boards. “This semester, before class ended … one student raised their hand and said ‘Can I volunteer for Jobs for Cincinnati Grads? I went there and I’m amazed by the work they do,’ ” Olberding says. “It’s wonderful. Students go through, and they find a match and an organization that fits their interests.” At a recent awards ceremony, Olberding says, four executive directors of non-profits which were receiving Mayerson Awards were former project students. “It was really inspiring,” she says. Working with Toyota was part of “indirect giving,” meaning the students couldn’t directly give money to an organization. Students in other classes, however, have participated in direct giving. The class can span any discipline and typically includes $2,000 provided by a third-party donor which can be given to one program or split equally between two. Students “investigate a need and determine what non-profits meet the need,” says Mark Neikirk, director of NKU’s Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement. There have been other classes in which the students have been tasked with raising the funds for the giving. The class starts with no money and has to devise a fundraising campaign. One class did letter writing, bringing in about $1,500. The Scripps Howard Foundation then matched it, Neikirk says. Most often, the money donated to the university for the project comes in as unrestricted funds, meaning it can go to any class to fund any project or organization. But more and more, the university is encouraging the use of restricted funds – since that’s how most donations work – which would also provide a greater challenge for students. Since its inception, about 230 not-for-profit programs have received more than $500,000 from the Mayerson Project. More than 2,200 students have participated, Neikirk says. “One thing that is amazing about it to me is to see the change in individuals and how they see their ability to make an impact on the world,” Olberding says. “NKU students are middle income mostly, lower income, sometimes first generation college students, and so they’ve said on evaluations ‘I didn’t think I could make a difference. I’m one person, I’m not a millionaire, but this program has made me realize every little bit helps and my little bit can help change a person’s life.’ ” Do Good: Donate: to NKU's Mayerson project. Volunteer: for the 2012 “Spring into Service” event. Teacher or university official? Want to start a similar program at your school? Request NKU’s handbook with all of the details on how you can make it happen. By Taylor Dungjen
No matter thunderstorm, stifling heat or Cleveland snow storm, the craft show must go on. That’s the way Martha Latta, the 30-year-old do-it-yourself crafter extraordinaire behind Sunday Afternoon Housewife, sees it, anyway. “Always bring an extra pair of socks and T-shirt,” Latta, who lives in north east Indianapolis, says with a laugh. “Be prepared for everything.” Sunday Afternoon Housewife, a moniker that Latta picked up in 2004 when she and a friend started a zine, now represents a blog of “handmade goods and unsolicited advice” and her business. Latta, a part-time instructor at a local community college who travels around the country to sell her goods at craft shows, also sells her Scrabble tile pendants on her website. The tiles each have a vintage-inspired image on the blank side of the tile with the Scrabble letter visible on the back. The image is coated in resin to give the necklace a shiny, glass-like appearance. She’s also the force behind a growing Indiana-centric T-shirt business. The necklaces and T-shirts, which are also sold in stores from Cincinnati to Dallas, are the latest in a line of creating that started when Latta was in high school. She’s experimented with wood burning, leather work, beading, paper making, photography, embroidery and sewing. The skills, she says, she inherited from her mother and grandmothers. “One is a really good quilter and cook – I get all of my cooking skills from my dad’s mom,” Latta says. “My other grandma, she does beautiful needlework, cross-stitch, embroidery, knitting and crochet. My mom never settled on one thing. … She’s on a mosaic phase now.” For the month of December, Latta is working a pop-up shop at a gallery in Indianapolis that features work from 45 different artists. She’s using it to “get my toes in the water of retail” although she isn’t committed to opening her own shop just yet. Next for Latta? Who knows, she says. “I don’t know that I’ll be making necklaces for the rest of my life,” Latta says. “I’m doing really well with the T-shirt line and thinking that in the next year I’ll be expanding that, doing more things that are general instead of city-centric.” Interested in her work? Latta has her goods on sale in at least two Cincinnati boutiques; Fabricate in Northside and Red Tree Gallery on Madison Road. By Taylor Dungjen
It’s a journey that spans nearly 400 miles and aims to thank the men and women who were willing to sacrifice everything for their country more than 60 years ago. Every year, Honor Flight Tri-State makes several trips from Cincinnati-Covington Airport to Washington, D.C., taking with them World War II veterans. In the less-than-two-day trip, the veterans are taken to their war memorial and recognized for their service. “[In 2007] I had a wonderful experience, even tied with the war, and that was my Honor Flight trip to Washington,” said Herb Heilbrun, who, during World War II, was an airplane commander of a B-17. During the war, Heilbrun went on 35 missions logging 262 combat hours with the 15th Air Force out of Italy. He was, at the time, escorted by the Tuskegee Airmen. While in Washington, Heilbrun was able to spend time with one of the Airmen who escorted him during the war. “It was really an outstanding, emotional situation to see that memorial,” he said. “… It was just a marvelous day. Honor Flight, which is headquartered in Cincinnati, was founded in 2005. Since then, the now nationwide organization has taken more than 63,000 veterans – of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam – to their memorials. In the program’s first year, 157 veterans took the trip, according to the Honor Flight website. Last year, more than 22,000 went to Washington with the Honor Flight. The program’s growth happened quickly. In May, 2005, the first flights were done using six small planes. By August of that year, the small planes would no longer work and commercial airplanes were booked instead. For veterans, the entire trip is free, which is made possible by donations. A guardian wishing to accompany a veteran must pay $350. The flying season starts in May and lasts through October – although dates are not set in stone. Next year, Honor Flight Tri-State has five scheduled flights: May 1, June 12, Aug. 14, Sept. 25, and Oct. 30. “To remember veterans who fought for their country is a wonderful thing,” Heilbrun said. Do Good: Donate: Flight for veterans are free, but they aren’t possible without donations. All donations are tax-deductible. Sign up: Known a veteran? Sign them up for the program. Give thanks: Saying “thank you” to a veteran is one of the simplest ways to show appreciation. By Taylor Dungjen
Jamey Ponte had it all -- he owned his own small business and was doing really well. He had nice cars, nice clothes. There was little to worry about. In the past several years, Ponte, 45, has left all of that. He makes about $3,000 a year, doesn't surround himself with new products, and he's never been happier. "My quailty of life is perfect," he says. He ditched his small marketing company for missionary work and a shot at building a better Cincinnati, giving back wherever and whenever he can. He's an artist who now spends six months of the year living in Africa, where he has a hospital and is building schools -- which take shape in the form of mud huts, he says. But before all of that, he was a marketing man, working with clients and managing a small staff. After awhile he saw his marketing business changing, and not for the better. There was more greed, less loyalty. The independent work was starting to feel more like corporate grind. "Is this what I have to look forward to for the rest of my life?" he recalls thinking at the time. It was time for a change. He told his employees that, within two years, the company would close. Ponte sought a new direction in his life. Ponte saw friends with a special-needs child struggle and face frustrating challenges. He wanted to do something to help. "I saw how families are thrown into hell overnight," Ponte says. Then he saw the impact directly when one of his sister's children developed a terminal illness. "I thought, 'Wow, this is what I'm supposed to do,' " he says. In 2003, a project he had been working on, Child Wellness Fair, became an official non-profit -- what is now called the Child Wellness Fund. It started as a campaign to bring awareness to programs in the community that were already doing good. The organization's evolution was "organic," Ponte says. He and the people he worked with were helping others who had great ideas. They worked with individuals who wanted to make positive impacts on the community -- but maybe didn't know how to get started or what to do -- and set them in the right direction. "Most of what we do now comes from other people," Ponte says. "We're not working on any projects I started." One of the funds major projects is Second Home. The organization collects gently used, mostly pediatric, medical equipment -- like wheelchairs -- and finds families who need the equipment but cannot afford it on their own. In the first six months of the project it placed $150,000 worth of gear with families who needed it. To raise money for Child Wellness Fund, Ponte is spearheading this year's Cincinnati Holiday Arts Show. The show will feature artwork, available for sale, from 30 local artists. (More than 60 applied to be a part of the event, says Ponte, who will have his photography on display.) The artwork at the show is priced to sell -- from $10 to $175. Ponte's photography focuses on animals and landscapes -- as well as some people -- that he sees while he's in Africa, where he lives for about six months of the year. While he's there, he lives with the people he's helping, who are also helping him, he says. Do Good: Sponsor the show: Any little bit helps both the artists and the Child Wellness Fund. Be social: Promote the show's Facebook page and get your friends in on the action. Buy artwork: Show up at the show, Saturday, Dec. 10, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the North Presbyterian Church, 4222 Hamilton Ave., Northside. Admission is free. By Taylor Dungjen
What started as a quest to find an affordable gym has turned into something greater – a mission to better a neighborhood and the lives of people who live there. When Caitlin Behle was training for the Flying Pig half marathon, she needed a gym to go to. She stopped in the Over-the-Rhine Community Center and found more than she expected: an underutilized and completely awesome roller rink. “I’m like, ‘Wait, what?’ ” Behle said. “I’ve been wasting all this time running at the gym at [the University of Cincinnati] and I totally could have been roller skating instead.” After discovering the rink, Behle and Far-I-Rome Productions, created OTR Skate. The fourth and final Final Friday and skate of the year, Behle, who has no professional affiliation with the center – just a love for it and Over-the-Rhine – is hoping to bring in money, funds, and costumes so neighborhood children can have an unforgettable Halloween. “We’re trying to do something cool for the city,” she said. Money raised at the event goes back to the OTR rec center, which funds youth programs, scholarships, and memberships for kids. It’s also a way to expose people to the center which people might not even realize is there. Can’t skate? Don’t worry about it: the Cincinnati Rollergirls will offer 5 minute skate lessons and demonstrations. Won’t skate? There’s something for you, too. There will be free Wii, table tennis, pool, and foosball. The Cincinnati Film Festival will also screen scary short films by local filmmakers. Music will be provided by DJs Apryl Reign and Diamonn Gurr. At the first Final Friday event in April, Behle said she had no idea what to expect, but the response was remarkable. More than 200 people showed up creating a line that there went out the door and, at one point, there weren’t enough skates to go around. Not bad problems to have when you’re trying to do good. Final Friday OTR Skate, open to anyone 18 and older, is Oct. 28 from 8 to 11 p.m. at the rec center, 1715 Rebpublic St. Admission, which includes skate rentals, is $3 and donations of candy and gently used or new Halloween costumes are encouraged. The after party, catered to the 21 and older crowd, starts at 11 p.m. at the Drinkery, 1150 Main St. Do Good: Donate: Donate cash, candy and carrying totes, and costumes to make Halloween special for a local child this year. Any little bit helps and you don’t have to wait until Friday to drop off a donation. Join: Buying a membership – which, for an adult, is $25 for the year – helps sustain the center and others in Cincinnati. Go: Even just showing up to the skate party helps the center financially. By Taylor Dungjen
When it came time to gear up for the United Way’s annual donation drive, Cincinnati-based branding company LPK wanted to do something different, something to inspire its employees to get involved. “We wanted to do something unexpected and fun, but still consistent with our workforce,” said Jerry Kathman, LPK chief executive officer. Five of the firm’s designers volunteered their time and talents to create original T-shirts that, in some way, are inspired by the United Way and its mission or by the city as a whole. The proceeds from the T-shirts, which are on sale through Oct. 31, benefit the United Way of Greater Cincinnati. Part of LPK’s success – they have partnered with the United Way for at least a decade – is its employee base, which, Kathman says, is socially engaged. “We know if we want to retain the best and brightest, we have to be a company with a sense of social obligation,” he says. “The people here expect it of us, and at the corporate level we want to do our part.” This year, in addition to the T-shirt sales, the company wants all employees to contribute any dollar amount they can as part of a two-tier goal: to reach a specific financial goal and to increase the company’s participation rate in giving. Kathman said he is cautiously optimistic about the outcome but, because there is more than a week left in the campaign, he could not comment on the company’s progress. “These are difficult times, and the United Way has never been more important to our community,” Kathman says. “People are watching their money carefully, and we’re trying to do what we can with the challenge to do our part. Now is a good time to show creativity.” That’s exactly what LPK designer Meredith Post did. Inspired by the United Way’s contributions and impact on the community, Post designed a T-shirt around the word change. “I was inspired by the change the United Way brings to the community,” Post says. “I definitely used the United Way as inspiration with their act of helping and giving.” The T-shirts are on display in LPK’s storefront windows, 19 Garfield Place, where a QR code allows anyone passing by to scan, browse and order online immediately. So far, the firm has sold about 60 T-shits. The shirts can also be purchased on the company’s Web site. By Taylor Dungjen
After arriving on the University of Cincinnati’s campus fewer than two years ago, two instructors are creating a new certificate program for students to help them see and think differently. A two-day symposium put together by the assistant professors culminates nine months of planning, as well as the launch of the new cross-collegiate certificate program. Look Better, hosted Oct. 13 and 14 in and around the main Clifton campus, will focus on interdisciplinary visual research, practice and pedagogy. “UC is an up and coming university,” says Stephanie Sadre-Orafai, assistant professor of anthropology. “But there is no program of visual culture studies.” The new certificate program blends courses from the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning and the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences. The goal is to teach students “how to effectively combine critical theory and social analysis with art, media and design practice.” The symposium will feature speakers from across the university, country and “innovative scholars” from as far away as Germany, Sadre-Orafai says. The lengthy list of presenters includes “mostly young but up-and-coming scholars and artists,” Sadre-Orafai says. About 100 people have registered for the event so far, and Sadre-Orafai, along with her co-organizer Jordan Tate, an assistant professor of fine art, anticipate a regional response by inviting students and faculty from every university within two hours of Cincinnati. “The goal of both the symposium and certificate is to generate a broad, campus-wide discussion on what is at stake in how we see and provide a platform to think about how we might develop new artistic, media and design forms and practices to intervene in dominant visions,” according to the Look Better blog. Sadre-Orafai and Tate met during a faculty orientation in fall 2010 and realized that they were both interested in studying the same topics. It wasn’t until some of their students – who were taking both anthropology with Sadre-Orafai and photography with Tate, said they were learning about some of the same things in each class that the momentum for Look Better started. “It organically came about," Sadre-Orafai says. “We asked, ‘How can we do more stuff together?' ” The entire event is free and open to the public, but Sadre-Orafai says registration is encouraged because of potential space constraints. By Taylor Dungjen
This year, more than 700 women and children in Hamilton County will seek refuge at the area’s YWCA battered women’s shelter as a result of domestic violence. The agency, this year alone, will field more than 12,000 hotline calls, says Kristin Smith Shrimplin, director of family violence prevention. “Domestic violence diminishes the quality of life for everyone, especially children,” Shrimplin said in an e-mail. “Children who are exposed to domestic violence between birth and 5 years of age can lose up to eight IQ points, and boys who witness it are 1,000 times more likely to grow to abuse their intimate partners.” Enough is enough. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and the Purple Lights Night Campaign, which, this year, is being spearheaded by the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati. The campaign, a nationwide event, aims to increase awareness domestic violence and the impact it has on an entire community. The YWCA was asked by the Ohio Attorney General’s office to lead the campaign for Southwestern Ohio, Shrimplin says. The campaign, she added, has three main objectives: remember domestic violence homicide victims; celebrate the courage of survivors; and provide hope, information, and services to those still living with violence and abuse. The kick-off event for Cincinnati’s campaign is an Oct. 4 breakfast with keynote speaker Cincinnati police Chief James Craig. Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls will also present a proclamation. Other speakers include Pam Shannon, vice president of population management at Tri-Health, and Theresa Singleton, director of prevention from abuse at YWCA of Greater Cincinnati. The event will be hosted at 898 Walnut St. Do Good: • Promote purple: Thousands of employees at several businesses will wear purple ribbons throughout October to show support for domestic violence victims; about 800 Cincinnati police cruisers will sport the purple ribbons; and downtown’s Coffee Emporium will use 5,000 lids to promote awareness. Join them by wearing a ribbon, too. • Light up the night: The Greater Cincinnati YWCA is asking residents and businesses to replace one of their traditional light bulbs with a purple bulb as a way to raise awareness of domestic violence. • Purple and purses: Your attendance at a free event on Oct. 11 can help ensure the YWCA receives a donation of up to $10,000 from The Allstate Foundation. More information here. By Taylor Dungjen
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