TEDx hosted by Xavier University for second year
Organized entirely by students, they view TEDx as an important legacy to leave for the future.
Avondale
Avondale is Cincinnati’s fourth largest neighborhood and home to the nation’s second oldest zoo, the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. Burnet Avenue runs through the community and serves as headquarters for two of the region’s top hospitals and research centers: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and University of Cincinnati Medical Center. The neighborhood abuts both Xavier University and UC main campuses. The developing Cincinnati Innovation District is anchored by 1819 Innovation Hub on Reading Road, just off of interstate I-71 at the Martin Luther King Dr. exchange.
Annie Ruth honors local women with Dada Rafiki
At the age of 3, Annie Ruth began her work as a visual artist, and during her freshman year of college, she read her first poem aloud in response to her nephew's death. Ever since then, she’s worked as a community-based visual and performing artist with the goal of bringing together diverse groups of people. Though Ruth’s first art exhibit was at the age of 3 (on the flaps of blank pages of her family’s encyclopedia set, she says), she never expected it to be a career path. “For the longest time, I was headed down the path of becoming a doctor because my mom was sick a lot when I was growing up,” Ruth says. Ruth, now 49, grew up in College Hill. She says her career transition from doctor to artist didn’t happen until her high school years when she and a friend were involved in a serious car accident while on the way to a football game. “I finally realized I had been blessed with this tremendous gift of art, and it was my art that helped build bridges and connect to people’s hearts,” Ruth says. “So I would be a doctor, but my art would be that healing mechanism.” Since the mid-'90s Ruth says she’s dedicated a lot of her work toward celebrating and empowering women, and in 2005, she created Dada Rafiki—a photo exhibit that honors women. It garnered recognition and a yearning for more stories. “When people came to view the exhibit, they said they needed to see more of it, so in 2006, I moved the exhibit to the Community Action Agency, which had just opened a new building in the Jordan Crossing area," she says. "So I pulled in other artists and poets as well, and we were able to actually donate a 22-piece permanent collection to honor 22 women, and it’s kind of grown since then.” Now Dada Rafiki: Sisters of Legacy, which celebrates the lives of 40 women who are 65 years and older, makes its debut at a nationally renowned establishment—the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. Ruth says the intention of this installment is to “begin to create intergenerational dialogue so we can really have a chance to sit at the feet of our elders and hear some of their stories and know why they did some of the things they did that impacted Cincinnati and the rest of the world.” In addition to the exhibit’s three-month display at the Freedom Center, replicas will travel to 59 different venues in the Cincinnati area where community members can view the art and participate in different programs, which range from concerts and lectures to intergenerational talks with young mothers. “When I think about my ultimate outcome, there is a mission,” Ruth says. “Because Cincinnati is known for being such a separated community, I want to highlight that the whole community is not that way and that many of us dream of a world where people can come together and appreciate each other for the uniqueness that everyone brings to our city." Ruth says her focus is on what she believes can bring people together—music, poetry and song—“a universal language.” “I hope that people, from viewing and experiencing things going on in Dada Rafiki, will celebrate the contribution of women, but also appreciate the uniqueness that true diversity has to offer,” she says. “True diversity is about building bridges and connecting. It doesn’t mean we’ll always agree, but creating mutual respect for all types of art forms.” Do Good: • View Dada Rafiki: Sisters of Legacy at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. • Support Annie Ruth in her educational efforts to connect underserved communities with the arts through the Eye of the Artists Foundation. • Like Eye of the Artists and Dada Rafiki on Facebook to keep up with the latest news and 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. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.
Intern in Ohio program launches today, connects students with internships
Today, Detroit-based Digerati launches its Intern in Ohio program to the public, which is sponsored by the University of Toledo. Like eHarmony, the program uses an advanced matching algorithm to match students with internship opportunities. Intern in Ohio is free to both students who are looking for internships and businesses who want to post internships. To register, students and employers visit Intern in Ohio’s website to sign up and create a profile or post internship opportunities. Students fill out a short questionnaire about their preferences, and employers share information about the position. The system then identifies the top seven matches for each student, as well as for each position. When the match is made, both the student and employer are notified, and they must show interest before any contact information is shared. “We encourage diverse companies—large and small, for-profit and nonprofit, government and corporate,” says Wendy Pittman, director of Digerati’s Classroom to Career. “It’s a great chance for employers to broadcast their company and internship program across the state and reach a larger pool of applicants.” Only companies in Ohio can post opportunities to the Intern in Ohio website, but all types of internships are welcome. There are posts for marketing, engineering and social media, among others, says Pittman. The program is open to all students who live in Ohio, whether they’re in-state or out-of-state students. Research shows that not only do internships often lead employment offers after graduation, but that students are more likely to remain in an area where they held and internship. “This is the first replication of the Classroom to Career technology from Michigan to Ohio,” says Pittman. “Experiential learning is a game-changer; and we’re looking forward to working with smaller communities to make a difference.” In 2011, Digerati launched its Intern in Michigan program, which has resulted in more than 127,000 matches and introductions between students and employers. Over 1,000 Michigan businesses have posted 4,824 internship opportunities, and 1,049 colleges and universities in the state use the site. Full disclosure: Soapbox’s parent company, IMG, supplies content to Intern in Ohio on a contractual basis. By Caitlin Koenig Follow Caitlin on Twitter
HOME fosters discussion for inclusive neighborhoods
More than 60 individuals gathered together last week to discuss some of the issues that arise when living in diverse communities. The goal was to share ideas for developing inclusive practices within Cincinnati's neighborhoods. Housing Opportunities Made Equal, in conjunction with a planning committee composed of various city and community partners, hosted a diversity forum to work through a few of the issues and figure out solutions for some of the inequalities and exclusion practices that occur when people of different ethnicities, races, abilities, ages and socioeconomic statuses share space with one another. “We’re so used to seeing people being negative and trying to keep folks out, that to have a room full of people who are trying to work really hard on inclusiveness and that’s it’s obviously important to them—just that positive energy is great,” says Elizabeth Brown, executive director of HOME. “And to hear from so many different neighborhoods—it’s that mutual support that you get knowing that other people feel the same way.” Participants shared ideas about the changing faces of neighborhoods as they transition from places made up of homeowners to areas composed mostly of renters. “Renters are really important for the neighborhood,” Brown says. “There’s a value to reaching out to them and making them feel welcome in the neighborhood—to make them want to stay there and to make it a long-term home.” Community members also came away with the motivation to join together and start a community garden, and to follow in Mt. Washington’s footsteps by creating what Brown refers to as “an old fashioned welcome-to-the-neighborhood book” to give to residents. Since the 1960s, HOME has worked toward moving communities forward through integration; but Brown says it’s time to move to the next stage. “You have the diverse neighborhoods, but they’re not necessarily inclusive where everyone feels that they’re part of a neighborhood,” Brown says. “We want to build these stable neighborhoods where people can take advantage of the diversity—we know it’s a good idea—we know it brings a lot to the people in the neighborhood.” “It’s better for the kids to grow up in these diverse environments, but it’s not always easy; it’s not always comfortable, but people are hungry—how do you make it work? How do you make it better? People are getting out of their comfort zones and that’s a really good thing.” Do Good: • Attend a community council meeting to see who is speaking for your neighborhood. • Talk to your neighbors. • Promote inclusive practices by speaking up if someone is putting a neighbor down because of one's differences. 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.
Library adds downloadable magazines to collection
Utilizing the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County’s resources just got easier. At the beginning of February, the library released its latest service: Zinio. It enables anyone with a library card to download free magazines as soon as they hit the newsstands. “It’s really wonderful to be able to download magazines from the comfort of home,” says Sandy Bolek, Internet site coordinator for PLCHC. “We’re trying to meet the changing interests and needs of our customers, and there’s a tremendous interest in downloading everything out there.” With more than 650 titles, users will now be able to download as many magazines at a time as they wish. Plus they never have to return them. “I think there will be people who download maybe 20 magazines at a time, because how often can you walk into a library and have every single issue available for the taking that you can hang on to?” Bolek says. “So I expect that our interest and usage in magazines will go up significantly.” In the past month alone, PLCHC users have downloaded 16,396 magazines through the new service. Magazines aren’t the only downloadable materials the library offers, however. Free e-books, audio books and even music are all available to patrons as well. “You’re able to sit at home in your jammies at 11 at night and download music, e-books, an audio book or a magazine,” Bolek says. “We talk about being able to use the library any time, anywhere now, and I think people are increasingly expecting that in just about every service area.” According to Bolek, the library is on track to reach one million downloaded items by October, which is a huge accomplishment in terms of achieving its mission of “connecting people with the world of ideas and information.” “The nature of information has of course changed over the years and the decades," Bolek says. "Our collection has significantly expanded, but it’s still information. We’re supporting people’s reading interests, connecting them with books, connecting them with information, and the variety of ways we’ve been able to do that has really expanded.” Do Good: • Learn about Zinio, download the app for your smartphone or tablet and show your friends and family how to start downloading free magazines. • Sign up for a free library card so you can take advantage of the many resources the library has to offer. • Promote literacy by joining a book club, reading to children or taking them to library 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. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.
City Hall launches app as a community-organizing tool
The City of Cincinnati has taken out the back-and-forth that can occur when residents try to reach them to report issues in their neighborhoods. At the Neighborhood Summit on Feb. 16, Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls announced that the Cincinnati City Hall mobile app is available to the public. With the app, residents can look up trash, recycling and street sweeping days, and set reminders; locate and report problems by address; bookmark locations for quick reporting; and track the status of reports. City Hall mobile also has GPS, so users can report issues, even without an address. There’s even a searchable map with property owner information, which enables residents to see if a property is occupied or vacant. A few years ago, residents had to use the Yellow Pages to look up the number for city departments to file complaints, says Kevin Wright, executive director of Walnut Hills Redevelopment Foundation. The city then implemented a hotline for all complaints, but residents never knew the status of their reports. “It’s amazing how comprehensive the app is,” Wright says. “If you see a broken window, pothole, graffiti, hanging gutter or anything else that is physically wrong with your neighborhood, street or community, you can report it in an instant. It’s a great tool for neighborhood redevelopment.” The app can also be used as a community-organizing tool, Wright says. For example, if there is a property owner who historically hasn’t taken care of his or her property, social media can help organize a community and target the property to enforce codes until the property is fixed, which is what neighborhood councils and organizations like WHRF do. “We’re really putting power in the hands of the citizens of the neighborhoods,” he says. As with most tech programs, the app has room to grow, too. In the future, it could be linked with Facebook or Twitter, so your friends and followers will know who reported problems and where they are. Cincinnati residents can download the app in the Apple App Store or download it through Google Play. By Caitlin Koenig Follow Caitlin on Twitter
Thinking outside the box: Home bakery turns Gail Yisreal into cake boss
Going on maternity leave changed Gail Yisreal’s life in more ways than having a new baby to take care of. When she returned to work, Yisreal says she learned her position was no longer there, so she began to look for a different job. As wife and mother to a blended family of nine children, she might bake up to 11 birthday cakes in a year. But she hadn’t considered turning her knack for kneading dough into earning dough until she baked a wedding cake for a couple from her family’s place of worship. Not only did they like the cake, they suggested she start selling them. Listening to her fans, Yisreal founded A “Mother’s Touch” Cakes with the nurturing tagline, “Making fresh homemade cakes when you don’t have the time.” Celebrating her two-year anniversary as a registered business in August 2012, A “Mother’s Touch” features signature and custom made flavors of fresh, savory gourmet, organic and vegan cakes and cupcakes that are good—and good for you. “I didn’t know anything about decorating, so I took a class to learn more decorating skills," Yisreal says. "And I was shocked to find out that 95 percent of the cakes you buy are box cakes—because everybody wants the decoration. I started doing some research about the trans-fats and artificial ingredients, and I vowed that everything I baked would always be natural and from scratch.” After working as a waitress for two years and in management at Starbucks for six years, Yisreal developed a love for coffee. She jokes that most ex-Starbucks managers feel they know enough about coffee to create their own line, which she actually did for A “Mother’s Touch.” Having tried organic coffees with weak flavor profiles, she researched and found Dean’s Beans, a fair-trade pioneer that allowed her to design her own custom blends. Her signature A “Mother’s Touch” blend is made with Mexican and Indonesian beans and pairs with her carrot cake as an after-dinner coffee. “I’m really proud of my coffee and the fact that it really was custom blended for what I wanted to complement my desserts,” Yisreal says. And, true to her mission to serve natural, sustainable goods, she says that her blends are 100 percent organic, fair-trade certified and are shade grown. Being on the scene without a storefront hasn’t stopped Yisreal. Instead, she’s building her brand as the “cupcake lady” who networks everywhere and invites people to taste samples of her creations. Yisreal also tapped into hidden markets by hosting deals through social media. “I did a Living Social promotion last year, which was huge,” Yisreal says. “That first day, I think I got 1,500 hits on my website, and probably about 85 deals, which I thought was really good for people who didn’t know who I was.” And even though she sells more cakes today, the ease of transporting cupcakes built her clientele. “When I first came out, because of my financial situation, literally, cupcakes were paying my rent,” she says. After she and her husband separated, she remembers what it was like to go from making an annual salary of $60,000 to less than $20,000 a year. But she doesn’t do it all alone. “I have three almost-teenage girls; 12, soon to be 15 and 17, so they are my preppers,” Yisreal explains. “It’s hilarious because we’ll be in the kitchen and everybody has their big bonnets on, and they’re scraping carrots, mashing fruit, lining the liners. I have a girlfriend who I’ll sometimes sub-contract out to do deliveries. And if it’s a huge event—like for the Autism Foundation, I had to knock out 40 dozen cupcakes—I have two sisters, and at the time I had just split up with my husband so we were in literally an 800-square-foot apartment. The kitchen was all of maybe 150-square-feet, we put out six-foot tables and we were like an assembly line! It was hilarious, but we got it done. It was like an I Love Lucy episode!” By Mildred Fallen
Uptown Consortium partners with Urban League to promote job growth
Uptown Consortium, an organization dedicated to building up and revitalizing the neighborhoods of uptown Cincinnati, currently has about $700 million worth of development that has been completed, is underway or will be completed in the next 12 months, says Beth Robinson, president and CEO of the nonprofit. “We were looking for a way we could reach out to the residents and make sure they’re participating in the economic and development boom here in Uptown,” Robinson says. So the organization partnered with the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati to sponsor and modify sections of its SOAR Program and Construction Connections apprenticeship. Robinson says the Urban League’s programs are a perfect fit because they have high job-placement rates for their graduates and are also located in Uptown. “A few years ago, we did some work in this area and did a session with HR representatives from the big institutions up here—an informational session—and from that, we learned job readiness is something that our residents here who are out of work could really benefit from," she says. To help address that issue, SOAR, which is a three-week program that provides training in areas like resume writing, interviewing and employer expectations, will help to prepare Uptown residents and then help them gain employment. Once participants complete SOAR, they are encouraged to take part in the Construction Connections program if they show an interest in the trade. Through the eight-week program, participants learn the basic skills needed to secure employment. “Urban League is great because they have working relationships for job placement with all the big construction companies in town,” Robinson says. Uptown Consortium is looking at its sponsorship of the two programs as a pilot project, but Robinson says she’s confident that it will be successful. If all goes as planned, about 25 Uptown residents will go from unemployed to employed in the coming months, with 15 of those residents working on the construction and developments in their community that will improve livability and promote place-making. “We’re really excited,” Robinson says. “We feel like it really adds value for Uptown residents.” Do Good: • Learn more about SOAR and similar programs by visiting the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati's website. • Keep up with all the news from Uptown Cincinnati by liking its page on Facebook. • Be a part of community building in Uptown by checking out the events happening in the area. 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.
School-based Health Centers offer innovative approach to educational barriers
The arithmetic is pretty simple. Medical care plus students equals a boost in attendance and graduates. That's why Cincinnati Public Schools’ school-based health center nurses offer preventive and follow-up healthcare, as well as old-fashioned TLC, to a growing number of students.
Calling all clowns, classes start Feb. 5
If you’ve ever wanted to become a clown, there’s no better time than now. Funny Companie Clowns, who volunteer their services at private parties and community events—all for the purpose of benefiting Cincinnati Children’s Hospital—need your help; and in an effort to recruit volunteers, they’ll begin free clown classes Feb. 5. Throughout a six-week series, soon-to-be entertainers learn the art of clowning. Topics include costumes and makeup, ballooning, face painting, skits and character development. “The character is supposed to be an extension of yourself,” says Don Bachman, who founded Funny Companie in 1983 and has volunteered and led the troupe for the past 29 years. Bachman, whose clown name is Dr. Fun, says character development was initially hard for him because he wanted to be “the smart clown,” and at one point even aspired to be “the mayor of clown town,” but those characters just weren’t the right fit. “You’ve got to be yourself," he says. "You’ve got to be who you are—so Dr. Fun was born—and he’s just dumb, and always wrong and always getting into trouble, and that’s kind of who I was.” Since the group’s inception, Funny Companie has raised approximately $200,000 in unrestricted funds for Children’s Hospital. The money can be used where the hospital best sees fit, and Bachman says for a long time the money went toward pediatric liver care. “It’s huge that you can take an adult liver and cut it down and transplant it into a kid because there’s not a lot of kids’ organs available for transplants,” says Bachman. “So that was a huge discovery, and it was done in Cincinnati.” While Funny Companie’s funding goes toward the children in the hospital, the clowns perform primarily for healthy children in the community; but it’s not just children whom clowns entertain, Bachman says. “Everybody laughs at a clown," he says. "Everybody smiles—even driving the car, we have magnetic bumper stickers that say, ‘Caution, sometimes I drive like a clown,’ and then they go by and see a clown driving the car, and they can be 80 years old and they’re laughing and smiling and waving at the clown—it’s not just kids." “Same thing with balloons—who likes balloons? Everyone likes a balloon. It doesn’t matter how old you are. A balloon is just a magical little piece, and so you’re making everybody’s life a little bit better.” Bachman and the other volunteers in the Companie love what they do. So much so that they purchase their own makeup, costumes and balloons. They oftentimes spend about four hours of their weekends preparing for and performing at an event. “It’s a pretty good-size commitment, but it’s not something that you’re giving and not getting anything in return,” says Bachman. “If you give a kid a balloon or you paint their face and hold the mirror up and their eyes and face light up—that’s your paycheck.” Right now, however, the number of volunteers is at an all-time low. “I’d always hoped that there’d be some younger people who come in and run with it and it’d go on forever, but right now I’m one of the youngest people in the group—our oldest clown is 78,” says Bachman. “There’s only about six of us right now. Anybody can do it, but there’s nobody really that’s 30 that can take it over, and that’s the sad thing. I’d really like to see somebody younger get in it and maybe run with it.” Because the clown company doesn’t do much advertising, most of the people who call for bookings have seen the clowns perform in the past. “It’s nice to be able to tell people 'yes' when they call for an event, and it’s the hardest thing to tell them no,” says Bachman. “But it just happens where some weekends, we just don’t have anybody.” Clown classes begin Tuesday, Feb. 5 and will take place from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in room D242 at Children’s Hospital’s Albert B. Sabin Education Center. All ages are welcome and encouraged to attend. Do Good: • Volunteer as a clown. Attend free classes which will take place Tuesday evenings from 7:30 to 9 p.m. beginning Feb. 5. • Spread the word about classes, and encourage a friend to become a clown. • Book the Funny Companie Clowns for a future event. Contact Children's Hospital's Department of Development at 513-636-6080 for more information. 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.
