Health + Wellness

At Cinsational, corporate know-how spells sweet success

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January 15, 2013

It sounds like a trick question. How can you be a fitness model and the owner of a successful small bakery at the same time? Jenn Hardin does just that as the proprietor of Cinsational Sweet Treats. She wakes up between 3:30 and 4 a.m. to measure, mix and sample sparingly. She bakes until dawn, shipping out a fresh batch of scones and other treats to Nordstrom, her largest client, six days a week. Because Hardin uses the same base for her muffins, she’s able to taste sparingly. “I love cupcakes, and when I make them I’ll eat one, but I also compete in fitness bikini pageants twice a year, so I eat very, very healthy,” she says. “I go to the gym four to five times a week. I have a 4-year-old, so I have to keep up that energy!” In fact, keeping to a strict diet is what helped news of Hardin’s skill in the kitchen spread. As an IT recruiter, she’d bake late at night and take the treats into her office or to small functions. People began requesting donations for small events, and, eventually, asked her how to buy her product. “It truly started out of my own kitchen,” Hardin says. Local investors have latched on to this energetic baker, and Hardin has already turned down offers to supply Nordstrom eateries in Columbus and Pittsburgh until she has a retail space. Meanwhile, she’s growing her bottom line with private events. Hardin’s IT recruiting background isn’t divorced from her current success, either. The same skills she used to match job hunters with employers came into play when she won her pivotal wholesale account with Nordstrom by proving she was a match for the store’s clientele. “I use all natural, though not organic, high-end ingredients," she says. "A higher-end clientele will pay for that and appreciate it." She offered to present her product to visiting higher-ups with a personalized touch, and helped managers streamline invoices by reducing the number of vendors who supplied their café, helping sweeten the both the store's menu items and their bottom line. By Robin Donovan

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Katie’s House turns tragedy into opportunity

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Diversity

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January 15, 2013

While Katie Haumesser was on her way home from taking her daughter to Children’s Hospital in February 2006, a drunk driver who was traveling at about 100 miles per hour hit her vehicle head-on. Haumesser, a single mom who had devoted her life’s work to serving children with special needs as a speech-language pathologist, died instantly at the scene. Her compassion, however, lived on and is the inspiration for Katie’s House, which is set to open later this year. The Katie Haumesser Foundation was founded in 2007 to honor Haumesser’s life by giving back to the children she lived to help. Led by her family, the nonprofit started raising funds for the special needs department at Haumesser’s former place of employment, Willowville Elementary. Part of the foundation’s mission is to fund scholarships for University of Cincinnati students who follow Haumesser’s path by majoring in speech-language pathology. Initially, the organization decided to raise money for one charity per year to help students like the ones Haumesser helped; but in 2010, a broader vision emerged. With the help of the Hearing Speech & Deaf Center of Greater Cincinnati, the leaders of the Katie Haumesser Foundation came up with the idea for Katie’s House, a comfortable, home-like facility where children with special needs could receive speech, language, audiology and occupational therapy. The facility will be housed on the renovated third floor of the Hearing Speech & Deaf Center and will provide services to those in need, regardless of whether or not they have the ability to pay. “The home-like setting is going to be more inviting for the kids instead of walking into a sterile doctor’s office,” says Amy Zeisler, Haumesser’s sister and co-founder of the nonprofit. “When you get off the elevator, it’s going to look like the front of a house, and the carpet is going to be AstroTurf to look like grass.” Within the facility, there will be a living room, which will serve as a group area, a kitchen, a gym—designed as a backyard—for occupational therapy, and bedrooms, which will serve as individual therapy areas. In addition to serving children, the Center will provide education for parents who may be struggling with how to understand and cope with their children’s disabilities. Katie’s House will also provide support for children with other conditions, such as autism. “Katie worked with a boy who had autism and wasn’t speaking for a while, and then he became verbal,” says Zeisler. “It was very moving for her to see how what she was doing impacts kids' futures and how important communication is to succeed.” According to Zeisler, her sister knew that early intervention is key to helping children with disabilities maintain a “steady life.” With Katie’s House, those ideals will take shape in a way that Zeisler is confident her sister would be proud of; and she says she can’t wait for the grand opening later this year. “We’re taking tragedy and turning it into something positive,” Zeisler says. “And I’m hoping that people can see what we’re doing. It’s going to be amazing.” Do Good: • Make a financial contribution or contact the nonprofit to donate items for silent auction. • Volunteer at the annual fundraiser April 12. • Nominate a community member who serves children for an Outstanding Service Award. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

Clovernook Center for blind and visually impaired empowers artists

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Arts + Culture

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January 15, 2013

Wanda Owens, who lost her vision to multiple sclerosis when she turned 20, says working as an artist is something she’s wanted to do since she was a little girl; and at the age of 64, she’s fulfilling her childhood dream. Beginning Feb. 9, her work will be featured in an exhibit titled “Illuminated Soul” at Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired’s Willoughby Art Gallery. Owens will have 20 ceramic pieces on display and available for purchase. She’s completed all of her work in the studio, and since she is a Clovernook artist who participates in classes on site, she will receive 100 percent of the proceeds—something Alison DeFisher, manager of communications at Clovernook, says empowers the artists. “A lot of people have described it as an outlet for them, to be able to participate in art and be able to express themselves and increase independence because it’s not traditionally something a person who is blind is thought to be able to do,” says DeFisher. Art classes are by appointment and take place weekly at Clovernook’s studio, and they are open to anyone who is blind or visually impaired. Scott Wallace, recreation specialist at Clovernook, leads individual painting and ceramics classes, in addition to group classes, depending on participants’ goals and interests. “I’m blessed to have a wonderful teacher who is very encouraging,” says Owens. “Everything he says, I can do, and he helps me to see color.” She says Wallace will help her pick out paint colors by reminding her of shades. He will, for example, tell her that the shade she is currently looking at is slightly darker than baby blue; and this will remind her of what baby blue looks like, which enables her to choose the appropriate shade so she can proceed in portraying her vision. “It’s really a spiritual experience,” says Owens. “I asked God to bless the labor of my hands, and He has.” Owens is a former singer, and this is something she says inspires her artwork, though there is nothing specifically in her pieces that reflect her pastime. Two things that Owens says she tries to feature in all of her works, however, are “clowns and the Lord.” Owens says she loves to laugh, so she always tries to incorporate that element of joy into her pieces. “Illuminated Soul” will begin with an opening reception from noon to 5 p.m. Feb. 9, and it will remain open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and by appointment through March 8. The opening reception for “Illuminated Soul” will be featured on the first day of this year’s Macy’s Arts Sampler. Do Good: • Support Wanda Owens by viewing or purchasing her pottery at "Illuminated Soul." • Make a donation to support the Clovernook Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired. • Volunteer your services to help fulfill the Clovernook Center's mission. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

Cincinnati-based OMID-USA works to reduce world poverty

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January 15, 2013

According to Mohsen Rezayat, CEO and president of OMID-USA, a Cincinnati-based nonprofit, many of the world’s problems are because of the imbalance between the rich and the poor. OMID's goal is to increase earning power by three for individuals around the world who make, on average, less than $2 per day. OMID, a Farsi word that means “hope,” is what the organization wants to provide for the more than one million people it aims to reach. “There’s a lot of data gathered to show that if a person makes $1 per day and then that is brought up to $4 per day, it makes a huge difference in their lives,” says Rezayat. “They can build a house; their kids can get higher education; they can afford medicine for their kids and their wife when they get sick.” OMID began in 2009 with the intention of finding a way help the bottom 1.2 billion people in the world who make less than $1 per day. According to Rezayat, 85 percent of those individuals are farmers who live in rural areas, where obtaining water for their crops is extremely difficult. “We thought to solve the problem, we should start at the very beginning, and that’s control over water,” says Rezayat. So the nonprofit, in conjunction with electrical engineering students from the University of Cincinnati, designed the Portable Renewable Energy Platform, otherwise known as PREP, to assist farmers in using drip irrigation to move water from its source, while conserving it by allowing it to flow straight to the roots of their crops. “It’s basically a single solar panel that can be set up very quickly, raised so that it’s at the right angle to face the sun, with some electrical components that regulate and boost the voltage; and we also have a pump,” says Rezayat. “So the panel, the pump and the drip irrigation all cost about $400. With one you can drip irrigate about one acre of land, so we can move the water from any location to another location, put it inside the plastic tank that we have and let gravity kind of feed the water in.” Since the technology is too expensive for the subsistence farmers to afford in one lump-sum, OMID offers microloans to make it more affordable. “By increasing their production, they can pay back the money that was lent out to them,” says Rezayat. “The whole idea is that if people invest their own time and their own money, then they have a sense of ownership and responsibility.” The nonprofit’s purpose is not to continue manufacturing technology and transporting it to the regions in need, but instead to go into an area, set up the technology and find out if it’s a good fit, and then show the people how to use it so they can adapt the technology and begin to create jobs by producing it locally. That’s exactly what OMID did in Iran, which was the location for PREP’s first pilot project in 2010. The project took place in three villages with 20 farmers. Though the volunteers working on the pilot had hoped to reach more people, they were forced to leave the area because of sanctions. Their work, however, was not in vain. There are now three manufacturing plants in the closest town to the three villages that participated in the pilot that are making the drip irrigation system. “And from what I’ve been told, there’s a big rage—even the mayor of that town has used the drip irrigation for the city building to show people how cool it is,” says Rezayat. OMID is set to perform another pilot project with PREP, which is set to take place in March. This time, the organization will travel to Haiti in an effort to get closer to its goal of one million farmers. “Farmers in Iran told me very recently, if they didn’t have the drip irrigation PREP system, they would have lost everything in the last two years because it was extremely dry,” says Rezayat. “It’s all about survival, and it’s very satisfying to hear these farmers tell me that they basically wouldn’t have had anything if it wasn’t for us giving them the ability to. “ Do Good: • Attend OMID-USA-sponsored events, such as the upcoming domino 02: Aqua—an international exhibition where 12 artists' collaborative work will be displayed and available for purchase. Rezayat will unveil the PREP prototype during the event's opening reception at the Artisan Enterprise Center Jan. 18. • Support OMID-USA by making a donation. • Promote awareness by liking OMID-USA on Facebook, sharing the page and spreading the word. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

GLAD House expands, moves to O’Bryonville

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January 8, 2013

As GLAD House celebrates its 15th year of dedication and success in February, they will also be moving to a facility in O’Bryonville that is larger, on a bus line and situated next to Owl’s Nest Park. The idea for GLAD House, which stands for “Giving Life A Dream,” began in 1993. After five years of careful planning, Beatrice Lampkin, founder of the nonprofit, with the help of church members, other nonprofits and an expert committee of psychiatrists, social workers and educators, opened its doors to children and families who were struggling with addiction and related issues in their homes. Lampkin, who spent years on the campus of Cincinniat Children’s Hospital and Medical Center as director of hematology and oncology, had seen pervasive drug use in the area around the hospital. That prompted her to do something meaningful in an effort to “make an impact in breaking the cycle of addiction.” “As far as substance abuse, a lot of the programs are for treatment, but the children were totally ill bystanders,” Lampkin says. “And you have the children living in the conditions of a home impacted by addictions, and they’d have to fend for themselves.” So Lampkin developed a program—the GLAD Champs—to provide support to children, particularly between the ages of 5 and 12. As an after-school program, children receive transportation to the GLAD House; they’re given a snack, in addition to dinner; and they receive treatment from licensed therapists to help them cope with their situation and prevent drug use in the future. “We don’t just toss them out after a period of time,” says Lampkin, in reference to children who have met individual therapy goals or who are older than 12. “We promote them to the GLAD Hands Club, where they come back to us less frequently; and these children come back until they’re 18 years of age, so that’s a long period of time that we’re following them.” It is both necessary and beneficial, according to Lampkin, “because if you just treat them for a matter of say, six months for them to meet their individual goals, they lose what they have learned because they go back and live in the same area; but with continued support and reinforcement until they graduate from high school, they have a much better chance of becoming very successful in their lives.” And participants have become successful. The GLAD House works with approximately 115 children every year, some starting as young as 5 years of age. To date, 29 of those youth have graduated from high school—23 of them entered college and the other six secured employment. “So it works,” Lampkin says. “And we are very proud.” GLAD House also provides support to other family members. From classes on understanding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder to curriculums celebrating families, the nonprofit supports family unity and wellbeing. With the organization’s continued growth and success, Lampkin says the new facility is ideal. “It’s going to be wonderful, and we’re very happy because certainly our program has been very successful for the children and their parents, and we want to continue, and we want to expand.” Do Good: • Make a charitable donation to GLAD House. • Volunteer to help children with homework, to cook, to garden, to shop for supplies or to help in the office. • Donate school supplies or recreational materials for GLAD House activities. By Brittany York Brittany is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies.

Melodic Connections cultivates learning, relationships through music

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January 8, 2013

Songwriting, expressive guitar playing and alternate tuning are just some of the topics that unlikely students discover during their master class series at Melodic Connections. They don’t just study these topics, however. They learn about them by engaging in a dialogue with local musicians who volunteer their time in an effort to start bridging the gap between community members and adults with disabilities. Every Thursday and Friday, adults with special learning needs gather for six hours of music therapy per day. They take lessons, practice their instruments and engage in group sessions to prepare for monthly concerts where they sing and jam out on keyboards, drums and guitars to tunes like “Any Way You Want It” and “Billie Jean.” While the nonprofit Melodic Connections launched its conservatory program in October 2010, founder and Executive Director Betsey Zenk Nuseibeh teamed up with Wussy bassist Mark Messerly to kick off a master class series that takes place on the second Thursday and fourth Friday of the month. “We’re looking to have DJs, rappers and all different kinds of members of the music community come in and talk to us about what they do, how they got started, how to go about doing it, and maybe playing a little bit, jamming with our musicians and really starting to develop some relationships,” says Nuseibeh. Beginning in March, the conservatory program will become daily, running six hours per day, five days per week, and Nuseibeh says she hopes the master class series will continue to grow. It's all about “the connection with the community of musicians that it has started to create.” Some of the most fascinating things about the series, according to Nuseibeh, are those personal connections. “It was very interesting to watch one of our guys with autism sit down with a complete stranger, and sit face to face, look at him eye to eye and start playing and having this musical conversation,” Nuseibeh says. “It was somebody he’d heard speak an hour and known personally maybe two to three minutes, just enough to ask him to play guitar together.” Nuseibeh says the classes have been a huge success. Volunteers from the local music scene have all left with “a really good impression” of her students. Conversations continue using the universal language of music, which has the power to break down stereotypes and bring people together. Do Good: • Email Nuseibeh if you're a music lover, interested in participating in a master class • Donate to Melodic Connections • Like Melodic Connections on Facebook to find out about upcoming events. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies.

Gabriel’s Place creates community marketplace in Avondale

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January 8, 2013

An assortment of fresh produce lines a long table, while a cooking demonstration occurs in the adjacent kitchen. The dish: banana and apple muffins. This is the current setup for The Market, an event that takes place from 4 to 6 p.m. every Thursday at Gabriel’s Place in Avondale. Because of the wintery weather, most of The Market’s produce currently comes from Green B.E.A.N. Delivery; but on the grounds of Gabriel’s Place is a community garden that currently contains nine purchased plots and looks to grow in terms of both gardeners and food supply in 2013. Avondale’s only remaining grocery store closed in 2008, leaving the community without immediate access to fresh meats, fruits and vegetables. “The community of Avondale is considered a food desert,” says Dustin Lee, coordinator of both the garden and the market. “So Gabriel’s Place sprung up in the need for access and education around whole foods and healthy eating styles.” In addition to the work done in the community garden and market, the nonprofit hosts a free lunch twice a week through a program called Mom’s Meals. It also offers cooking classes to community members who hope to incorporate healthy dishes into their diets and homes. “It’s one thing to purchase things that you wouldn’t normally purchase, but then what do you do with them?" Lee says. "It’s another aspect of providing access to healthy food." The vision for Gabriel’s Place is to continue to grow The Market. A chicken coop is currently under construction, so the nonprofit will also be able to offer fresh eggs. Additionally, an orchard project will begin in the spring so that community members can come together to grow and purchase affordable fresh fruit. Gabriel’s Place is also the proud owner of a hoop house, which is a greenhouse space that contains an aquaponics system. Lee refers to it as “a marriage of aquaculture and hydroponics.” “It’s like raising fish and growing vegetables in one contained unit, so the fish waste is pumped up into the beds, and the little microorganisms that live in the grow medium convert that ammonia into useable chemicals for the plants," he says. "That filters out the harmful chemicals to the fish.” Once the aquaponics system is operable, the goal is to harvest the fish and have them ready to sell fresh at The Market. Lee says he knows it's difficult for individuals who rely on mass transit to secure healthy food items, so the idea of a community garden and fresh market in the heart of Avondale is ideal. “The hope is to be able to provide access and education around how to use these fresh food products, as well as give the people of Avondale a sense of pride in their community,” says Lee. “Hopefully we’ll see more people coming out and utilizing this place, because that’s what it’s for, the community.” Do Good: • Volunteer or purchase a plot in the community garden. • Donate to support the work of Gabriel's Place. • Connect with Gabriel's Place and share the organizatoin's page on Facebook. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati and a teacher at the Regional Institute of Torah and Secular Studies.

PWC helps homeowners in the Tri-State area with several services

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December 18, 2012

Since its start in 1975, nonprofit construction company People Working Cooperatively has provided more than 250,000 emergency, energy conservation and modification services to homeowners with an average income of about $13,000 per year. PWC’s clients face daily challenges when it comes to homeownership because of aging, illness, disability, job loss or other circumstances. “Our mission is to keep lower income homeowners safe and in their homes,” says Jock Pitts, president of PWC. On a daily basis, PWC’s more than 140 licensed and trained professionals perform about 50 repairs. That adds up to about 14,000 services annually. On top of that, 6,804 volunteers donated a total of 30,351 hours last year. In 2011, these services and volunteer hours benefited 7,647 households in 20 counties in Northern Kentucky, Southeastern Ohio and Western Indiana. Clients can reach PWC 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Employees answer calls around the clock and attempt to fix emergency situations. “If a client has a flood caused by a leaky pipe at midnight, a plumber can’t come out right away,” says Pitts. “So we will ask if the client can get to the water shut-off valve, which will hopefully stop the flooding until we can get a plumber out there in the morning.” In 2011, PWC started a new initiative, Whole Home. It’s a modification service that is available to homeowners who aren’t necessarily lower income, but still need help. Like PWC’s other services, Whole Home allows homeowners to “age in place,” says Pitts. There are five aging specialists on staff at PWC who assess homeowners’ needs and provide services at competitive prices. When Whole Home makes a profit, the money goes back into the services PWC provides for lower income homeowners. If you or someone you know is in need of home modifications, stop by PWC’s Aging in Place showroom in Dent. Each year, PWC hosts several events to raise money and service clients. The Repair Affair is the annual spring volunteer event that provides home repairs and modifications to homeowners. The Prepare Affair, held in the fall, gets clients’ homes ready for winter. In November, the event reached had a record number of volunteers that serviced a record number of homes (more than 3,000 volunteers and more than 1,100 homes). PWC’s other big event is Oscar Night America, which is held in February on the same night as the Golden Globes. This year’s fundraiser is on Feb. 24, and the theme is “Salute to the King” — with the king being Elvis. The fundraiser is held to bring people into PWC’s world and raise money for the client there might not be funds for, says Pitts. Tickets are $150 per person and can be purchased on PWC’s website. A recent study by the Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati and The Cadmus Group, Inc., shows that PWC is not only improving the lives of its clients, but is strengthening the community as well. According to the Cadmus Report, PWC increases the overall health of its clients by about 44 percent. Out of the 14,000 people served by PWC in 2011, about one-third were children. Kids who live in homes services by PWC are doing better in school because they don’t have to move as much. Because of this, they are able to stay in the same school and keep the same friends. Finally, the value of a home serviced by PWC increases by 6.5 to 10.5 percent over a 10-year period. PWC is the only organization like it in the country. And even though PWC serves a small portion of the overall population, it, and its partners and event sponsors, are making a difference. By Caitlin Koenig Follow Caitlin on Twitter

Breaking the cycle of bad eating, one banana at a time

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December 11, 2012

The Nutrition Council of Greater Cincinnati is working to break the cycle of unhealthy eating habits, one banana, one yogurt parfait and one recipe at a time. And, they are doing it one family at a time. The Council, in its 35th year, just wrapped up its latest series of "What’s Cooking?" classes for parents and caregivers of kids in Camp Washington and Winton Hills. The classes, offered each fall and spring, are a four-part series that meet for about an hour after the school day ends at schools with Head Start programs. They are designed to show parents how to make quick, affordable and healthy meals for their families. Each week is themed, and participants receive take-home tools like measuring spoons and grocery cards. Parents also get multiple recipes that encourage cooking at home, rather than relying on packaged and processed foods. The classes and the Council’s work come at a time when the nation—and Cincinnati—is getting fatter. Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Currently, one in four Cincinnati Public School kindergarten students is overweight (13.9 percent) or obese (11.7 percent). “I think what strikes me is that things I am aware of and take for granted, not everyone does,’’ says Tracy Wilking, the nonprofit’s special project manager, who worked at the Winton Hills location this fall. In 2011, nearly 100 families participated in the cooking sessions. And of those, according to the Council’s web site: • 85 percent reported they changed one action to improve a targeted health behavior.• 67 percent of families increased their consumption of fruits and vegetables.• 67 percent said they decreased their child’s sweetened beverage intake. Wilking says it is not uncommon to hear parents share how the instruction really does change cooking habits, from eating as a family to introducing fresh fruits and vegetables at meals. One recent participant told one of the Council workers that she had completely changed how her family was eating. The Council targets very young children, before habits are established and before they start kindergarten. Wilking says many parents may not have been taught how to eat healthy, and the earlier the Council and others can share information with parents, the more likely the cycle of poor food choices can be broken. In addition to the cooking series, the Council also visited 38 Early Childhood Education classrooms in the Cincinnati area over 17 days to teach parents and their kids how to make healthy snacks. Recently, they made fruit and yogurt parfaits. “A little education really can go a long way,’’ says Wilking. “This work is reaching individuals and those with the power to reach someone else.” Do Good: • Make a donation • Volunteer your time or skills. • Like the Council on Facebook.• Follow the Council's news on Twitter. By Chris GravesChris Graves, assistant vice president of digital and social media at the Powers Agency, is using several of the Council’s recipes at home with her two teens.

Union Cooperative Initiative works to build sustainable local jobs

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December 11, 2012

Kristen Barker isn’t surprised if you haven’t heard of the Cincinnati Union Cooperative Initiative. In fact, she pretty much planned it that way. She wants CUCI to demonstrate success in the form of job creation — and not just talk about it, she says. And that is beginning to happen. The group, created in 2010 by Barker and three other friends who work in social justice and peace, is modeled after the nearly 56-year-old Mondragon worker-owned cooperative in the Basque region of Spain. CUCI formed after Mondragon signed an historic agreement with the United Steelworkers in 2009 to launch union cooperatives in the United States. The model is meant to develop sustainable jobs using worker ownership alongside the collective bargaining process. For two years, Barker and co-founders Phil Amadon, Ellen Vera and Flequer Vera have been raising money, creating partnerships with key unions and studying efforts elsewhere to bring the worker cooperative to life. Last weekend, the Cincinnati group celebrated a series of successes that included the launch of its first co-op — an incubator farm that is training farmers, supplying a CSA and three retail outlets and employing six people. The 30-acre farm is in College Hill, near Winton and North Bend roads. It is currently also studying four other potential co-ops that include a Cincinnati railway manufacturing co-op, a food hub, an energy retrofitting co-op and a jewelry maker co-op. Each project is a different stage of feasibility studies and includes partnerships with universities and trade councils, as well as other local, state and federal groups. “These are super exciting projects,’’ says Barker. “The time is right for this. The ideas have been incubating and germinating. This feels really huge.” But what really excites Barker is the likelihood that Cincinnati may be the pilot city for Mondragon, which employs more than 83,000 people in 256 countries, if it chooses to bring its operations to the U.S. “It was our dream to bring Mondragon here, and we have been successful,’’ she says, adding that they hosted a Mondragon co-op that is looking to expand. “I feel very confident that jobs will flourish, and in the future, thousands of jobs will flourish.” Barker, a single mother of a special needs daughter, says the work has been time-consuming and difficult, but well worth it. “I am from Cincinnati and I want this area to thrive. I want jobs to stay here. I want families to live in a beloved community where all are valued, at peace and doing work that is equitable.” Do Good: • Sign up for the CUCI email newsletter to receive information about news and events. • Contribute to help fund the feasibility studies and other related initiatives. • Volunteer your skill or trade by emailing Barker. By Chris Graves Chris Graves is the assistant vice president of digital and social media at the Powers Agency.