Since 1983, Kroger has been involved in the fight against hunger. Kroger's latest donation of $200,000 will be shared with Freestore/Foodbank of Cincinnati, Shared Harvest of Butler County, the Foodbank of Dayton, Your Father's Table of Wilmington, and Second Harvest of Clark and Champaign Counties. The contributions come from the company, campaigns, and customer support through purchases of select items. Read the full story here.
Luxottica, a worldwide eyewear retail company with its U.S. headquarters in Mason, OH, experiments with a concept store that draws ideas from Apple and Disneyland. The company's goal is to create a personal experience and connection with the customer. The Eye Hub at the experimental store is in the shape of an eyeball, and allows customers to research eye problems and prescriptions, to see how they look in glasses with forty-one touch screens, and to interact with a concierge to help customers explore the store.Read the full story here.
Cincinnati's Children's Hospital has pushed since 2001 to become one of a handful of elite Cystic Fibrosis Centers for kids. The hospital sought a "pursuing perfection" grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and used tools such as using evidence-based medicine, collecting and sharing data, learning from other centers, defining goals, collaborating with families, and adopting electronic records. Kids with CF suffer daily by participating in four hours of treatment to pursue a normal lifestyle. By adopting these new tools, the hospital pushes to improve the quality of life for their patients. Read the full story here.
Bloomberg Businessweek published Top Cities for New College Grads, ranking cities with strong job opportunities, average pay, and affordable living costs. Cincinnati ranked number 23 due to the presence of industries such as manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, and insurance. Cincinnati also attracts sports lovers with the country's first professional baseball team, the Reds, and the Bengals.Read the full story here.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explored Cincinnati's bargains, fine food, and arts. The city offers a variety from freshly brewed wheat beer at Rivertown Brewing HefeWeizen to furniture bargains in West Chester, OH. The article hits Cincinnati hot spots including Findlay Market, the Cincinnati Art Museum, Mount Adams, and Rookwood Pottery Co. Read the full story here.
Regency Cafe & Coffee has opened in the heart of downtown Covington at 630 Madison Avenue in the Wedding Mall. The new establishment fills the space formerly occupied by Proverbs Cafe.The cafe is located directly along Madison Avenue and boasts views of the passing street life through large floor-to-ceiling windows complemented by the space's open layout.Co-owners Earl Hughes and John Sinica say that Regency Cafe & Coffee is public-oriented where customers can expect to come in and meet new people daily. They also say that the daily menu offers a little something for everyone.The food menu includes breakfast items like English muffins, bagels and pastries that compliment the cafe's assortment of coffees, teas, and hot chocolate. For lunch customers are treated to a standard fare that includes soups, salads, sandwiches and daily lunch specials that cost between $3 to $7.One such special is a Reuben Sandwich made with a quarter-pound of shaved corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a choice of mayo or Thousand Island Dressing. Coffees cost between $1 for a small house blend to $1.75 for a large specialty roast.Regency Cafe & Coffee (map) is open Monday through Friday from 7am to 5pm, and Saturday from 9am to 4pm. Delivery and catering options are available to those in the local area, and space can be reserved within the cafe for private meetings by contacting regencycafecoffee@yahoo.com. Writer: Randy A. Simes Photography by Scott Beseler Stay connected by following Randy on Twitter @UrbanCincy
As local transit officials struggle to do more with less, leaders at the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) are examining how they might be able to restructure the Metro bus system to better serve Cincinnatians. The changes may mean that the decades old hub-and-spoke model may finally be on its way out of style. "The hub-and-spoke model in Cincinnati is broken," exclaimed Colin Groth, Government Relations Director, Metro. "Right now, if you're trying to go from say Mt. Washington to Westwood, you have to go Downtown first. This is a problem." The problem is especially pronounced in Cincinnati due to its neighborhood orientation which lends itself to more hub-to-hub trips, rather than spokes leading to a singular hub. According to transportation experts, the solution seems to lie in an option that moves people from neighborhood hub to neighborhood hub. The beginning of such a neighborhood hub bus system in Cincinnati will more than likely start by adding a second hub in Uptown, that will also serve as a facility for the Cincinnati Streetcar, followed by neighborhood hubs in Northside and Walnut Hills. "We have worked with neighborhoods and Parsons Brinckerhoff to figure out where people wanted to see Metro grow, and better access to Uptown and improved crosstown service were at the top of the list," Groth said. Officials say that the goal is to eventually develop a collection of Neighborhood Transit Hubs that will serve as transfer points in the restructured system. The incremental will mean better service for riders within the city as they move from neighborhood to neighborhood, but it will also mean improved service for those traveling in traditional commuter patterns into Downtown and Uptown as buses will be able to travel in a more direct fashion. What transit officials need now is money. The Uptown Neighborhood Transit Hub alone is estimated to cost approximately $6.2 million, but Metro officials are currently working with the Uptown Consortium and the Cincinnati Streetcar Development Partners to come up with the best plan for implementation. Design and engineering work is already underway and is expected to be complete within the next year, and construction will begin as funds are available. In June, Metro received $11.77 million from the OKI Regional Council of Governments through their allocations of two federal transportation programs. Some of this money will go towards the replacement of aging buses, but another chunk of the money will go toward this Neighborhood Transit Hub vision. "The money is to develop the capital infrastructure to support both existing service, as well as, creating the building blocks for a more robust system down the road," Groth explained. "With more neighborhood hubs you can really facilitate center-to-center and neighborhood-to-neighborhood transportation...that's when you really begin to change the system."Writer: Randy A. SimesPhotography by Scott BeselerStay connected by following Randy on Twitter @UrbanCincy
Thanks to a $1 million investment by Duke Energy, an urban development fund in Northern Kentucky is now well on its way towards reaching a goal of raising $10 million to invest in development projects in Ludlow, Dayton, Bellevue, Newport and Covington. The fund is the result of Vision 2015 which developed focuses on growth, opportunity, culture, and prosperity. When discussing these priorities, it became evidently clear that part of that focus had to be on the five urban cities located along the Ohio River. After studying "best practices" from around the country, local leaders determined that creation of the Catalytic Development Corporation was necessary. "We noticed that many successful urban areas around the country were utilizing development funds that are privately funded and used to assist real estate developments," said Jeanne Schroer, Executive Director of the Catalytic Development Fund of Northern Kentucky. The $1 million investment from Duke adds to the $1 million investments made by the Bank of Kentucky and Corporex Companies which jump started the fund in late 2008. According to Schroer, the contributions made by the three companies thus far are long-term investments that will be paid back over time. The benefit arises from the fact that the companies do not have to underwrite individual projects, and developers can utilize the money as gap financing for projects that might not otherwise garner the interest from such large companies. "We can take this money to close the gaps on projects that need our help. This will make more projects happen more quickly, and will serve as a catalyst to the other funds involved." Schroer believe that the remaining $7 million can be raised within the next 12 months to meet the goal of raising $10 million for the urban development fund. She says that there are "a lot" of proposals outstanding, and that these interested parties could help make the goal a reality. In the mean time though, the Catalytic Development Corporation is very pleased with its current investors. "Duke is very focused on regional economic development, and a healthy downtown area is important to the health of the larger region," Schroer said. "Urban revitalization is very important to long-term economic health as it serves as important factor for companies and young talent who look for vibrant urban areas." Writer: Randy A. Simes Photography by Tiffani Fisher Stay connected by following Randy on Twitter @UrbanCincy
The Corporation for Findlay Market has announced a new program that will allow individuals utilizing the food stamp program to shop for healthy, local produce at the farmer's market portion of Findlay Market. Called SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) Plus, this innovation encourages urban agriculture and healthy eating for low-income residents often plagued with unhealthy food options. The food stamp program with Hamilton County's Job & Family Services is currently utilized using an electronic EBT card to make purchases. This is an upgrade from the old paper system, but farmer's markets only operate using cash, and thus a portion of Findlay Market's consumers have not necessarily had the opportunity to purchase locally harvested produce, dairy, and other artisanal products offered by vendors. Fran Amatulli, Ohio State University Extension Program Assistant with the Family Nutrition Program, is one of the partners in the SNAP Plus program. She works to teach nutrition classes around the city, and states that anyone with a group of people interested in learning more about healthy eating can sign up for a free class. She has worked with various refugee programs in the city, teaching basic cooking skills and quality eating habits to those who may not know. She emphasized the importance of getting the word out to people who can benefit from this program. "It's so easy to sign up and do. The important thing is to let people know about this exciting new program," Amatulli emphasized about the program. Those currently using the EBT food stamp card can now go to the Findlay Market office and purchase tokens in $5 increments for the program. The tokens are only good at the various farmer's market stands, and the vendors later trade them for cash. Program participants have to opportunity to earn bonus tokens by attending cooking demonstrations conducted by chefs from the Midwest Culinary Institute, and classes on healthy eating supported offered through Hamilton County Job & Family Services, Cooperative Extension, the Nutrition Council, the Center for Closing the Health Gap, on-site agencies like senior centers or Head Start locations, and at market itself. There is a series of eight classes offered. Each class attended earns $10 in farmer's market coupons. Attending four or eight classes earns additional bonus coupons, with a total of $120 in matching EBT benefits possible to be earned. "This is a project I'm very much behind," stated Chef John Kinsella, President and CEO of Smart Chefs LLC, one of Findlay Market's partners. "They say that CHEF stands for Cooking Healthy, Edible Food, and the SNAP program is one step closer to that goal." Writer: Jennifer Kessler Photography by Jennifer Kessler Stay connected by following Jenny on Twitter @JenLKessler
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