In 1867 two Northern Kentucky communities, Jamestown and Brooklyn, merged to create the city of Dayton. Back then, before the Army Corps of Engineers raised the level of the Ohio River, Dayton's swimmers and sunbathers took advantage of the natural sand bar and gently curving coastline of what was then known as Manhattan Beach. Today's Dayton is committed to revitalizing its historic core while making way for profile-boosting projects. Major developments include extending the city’s riverfront presence eastward by adding residential and commercial opportunities at Manhattan Harbour.
As part of its Before the Bullying initiative, Covington-based Growing Sound worked with 15 students in the Greater Cincinnati area to produce six music videos aimed at promoting pro-social behavior.
When the second annual Cincinnati Fondo takes place September 22, cyclists will come together to support the Freestore Foodbank.
The Financial Empowerment Mobile (eBus) will travel to Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky communities to partner with nonprofits and work toward helping underserved individuals get a handle on their finances.
Many city-dwellers are continuously faced with the arduous task of budgeting their quarters between two priorities: bus fare and laundromats.
When Fidelity Investments began its partnership with Holmes Middle School four years ago, its aim for Transformation Day was to do everything it could as an organization to ensure students would receive a quality education in an environment that would prompt them to do their best. Over the years, the company has brought hundreds of volunteers and community partners together to further achieve that goal by doing things like building an outdoor amphitheater and painting and beautifying the school. Niki Gordon, who serves as Fidelity’s manager of community relations in Covington, says the most important thing is that the improvements translate to student success. “Attendance is consistently over 96 percent, which in an urban setting is difficult to achieve; behavior and discipline problems are down over 90 percent over the past two years,” Gordon says. “And the principal has seen that as incentive in places we’ve created that the kids want to come and learn, and they get rewarded for certain things. So whether that’s being able to go visit and sit in the new media center—some of the spaces we’ve created with comfy couches and those kinds of things—students see as an incentive for behaving and doing the right thing and being there.” This year’s transformations included an array of larger projects—like creating an outdoor garden that will serve as a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) learning opportunity through a program implemented by Teach for America. “We’re working with the Teach for America science teacher at the middle school, so we built these raised garden boxes, and then after that she’ll be using those to do a year-round project where students will grow crops, and they’re learning about the science of the planting in the classroom,” Gordon says. The project goes even beyond STEM learning, however, as it also taps into service learning and engages students and other community organizations in a way that allows them to give back. “The Boys and Girls Club will also be working on those during the summer, and then as they harvest those, they’ll give them back to the community," Gordon says. "Chapman Childhood Development Center—an onsite early childhood development center—will receive the produce from the garden. Looking at the power of collaboration and community and how we’re able to impact these students has been great through the process.” Do Good: • Sign up with Covington Partners to mentor a student. • Offer your skills or expertise in a local classroom. • Organize a book or supply drive for students in need. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.
At Colliers International’s Building Up Communities program, giving back to the neighborhoods in which volunteers live and work is a core value. For Joe Hartmann, managing director of corporate services for Colliers International Ohio, his most recent volunteer experience at The Giving Fields is one that he says will stick with him because it gave him the opportunity to serve others in a way that’s different from what he does on a daily basis. “So much of what we do every day—all of us—not just at Colliers—but any time you’re engaged in a career, it’s about trying to work and do what’s best for your client, but you’re certainly benefitting from your efforts,” Hartmann says. “But in this case—what’s so refreshing about this is that you are engaged in an activity that’s benefitting others, so at the end of the day, you feel all that sweat equity that you put in is going toward a great cause.” At The Giving Fields, Hartmann, like other volunteers who assist the nonprofit in providing fresh food to Freestore Foodbank agencies throughout Northern Kentucky, composted, dug irrigation ditches and staked tomato plants. Out of the thousands of working adults, seniors and children in our community, 17.3 percent live in Kentucky and are food insecure, the Freestore Foodbank reports. So to help narrow the gap between food security and insecurity, Doug and Sheila Bray, with the help of various agencies and volunteers, have maintained the community farm for three years now. With six acres of land that yields fresh produce, The Giving Fields has been able to supply Northern Kentucky communities with hundreds of thousands of pounds of vegetables that they would otherwise have limited access to. “It’s a great cause, and they’re doing a great job,” Hartmann says. “But they’re toiling down there on a daily basis.” Do Good: • Donate to The Giving Fields. • Contact volunteer services at 513-482-7550 if you're interested in volunteering at The Giving Fields. • Like The Giving Fields on Facebook. By Brittany York
Like all volunteers at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Inc. of Northern Kentucky, Executive Director Kathy Keller says she’s walked in the shoes of those she’s currently helping. “There’s quite a bit of mental illness in my family,” says Keller, who first became involved with NAMI when she took the organizations’ Family-to-Family Education Course in 2003. She’s been teaching the class since 2004, and NAMI NKY is currently offering it again, which Keller says is critical because it enables loved ones to learn how to communicate with one another in a more constructive way. “It certainly teaches one a lot of basics about what’s going on in the brain—a lot of basics about the illnesses and a lot of things about medication, but that’s sort of the steps you have to take to get to the first landing,” Keller says. “Beyond that, it is all about self-care and communication. Self-care is very important because when someone in the family has a mental illness, the whole family gets sick along with them because their behaviors are out of the norm, and it’s very difficult to sometimes communicate with them, sometimes to get them to take medication or even to understand they’re ill.” According to Keller, the behaviors are uncomfortable, so in order to help relatives and friends learn to not take things personally and to be more empathetic, NAMI NKY operates on nearly an entirely volunteer-run basis to offer everything from classes and support groups to social outings for those in need. “I see it everyday—a huge population of our mentally ill are in jails or prisons, and often, their families have either abandoned them or they have abandoned their families because of lack of understanding or lack of ability to communicate,” Keller says. “Families can just take so much and then they kind of wring their hands and say, ‘I can’t do this anymore.’” While Keller doesn’t claim that courses like Family-to-Family keep people out of prison, she does claim that it keeps family ties in tact. “This course really does change the lives of the people who take it,” Keller says. “It’s sort of like, ‘Oh, I can do this—I see there’s a way to do this. I’ve talked to other people who’ve been through it, and I see other alternatives of how I can deal with my ill relative.’” Do Good: • Contact NAMI NKY to inquire about attending the organization's free programming. • Contribute to NAMI NKY by donating or volunteering. • Consider organizing a campus group to further assist NAMI NKY. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.
When people travel, museums often become tourist attractions for those who hope to learn more about their surroundings and immerse themselves in the town and culture they temporarily inhabit. But museums don’t have to function solely in that capacity, nor should they, says Tiffany Hoppenjans, curator of exhibits and collections at the Behringer-Crawford Museum. “We don’t appreciate what’s in our own backyard and the rich heritage that’s a part of our lives and our culture,” Hoppenjans says. “So this is the place to come—we’re the biggest museum in Northern Kentucky and are trying to tell Northern Kentucky’s story. Not just who’s important and what they did or what groups settled here, but how we as a community fit into the Greater Ohio Valley and the country and the nation.” The museum, which is housed in Devou Park, was donated along with the surrounding land to the city of Covington in 1910. It later became a museum when William Behringer donated his collection of oddities and objects in the 1950s. Behringer-Crawford houses a variety of items—everything from a restored 1892 streetcar to a two-headed calf. “Many museums have their own oddities," Hoppenjans says. "it’s a throwback to how museums started—as curiosity cabinets. People were collecting weird things from their travels—interesting things they came by.” What began as a 5,000-square-foot space now has plenty of room to share—far more than one man’s collection. With four floors and an area that has now quadrupled in size, the museum tells the history of Northern Kentucky, using transportation as a mode to travel through time. “We’re not a transportation museum,” Hoppenjans says. “But we have some wonderful pieces, and you time-travel. You go from the rails to the rivers to the roadways to the runways, and have fun along the way.” Do Good: • Visit the museum, and check out the current featured exhibit, which honors Northern Kentucky musicians over the years. • Support the museum by contributing monetarily or by donating artifacts. • Become a museum volunteer. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.
For this year’s Art Off Pike, a group of about 30 creatives and business professionals will converge to bring artists, musicians and street performers together for the ninth annual urban arts fair. “It started as this grassroots arts festival, and what has happened is it’s situated on this precipice of needing a little bit of new life and energy breathed into it,” says Cate Yellig, arts director of the City of Covington. “We’re looking at really having a feast for the senses. We’d love to have street performers and dancers and [make it] a little more multidisciplinary so that we can distinguish it from a lot of your other art fairs.” Yellig says about 50 volunteers from the community run the event each year, so the tight-knit ties are particularly unique and inviting. “It’s definitely embracing emerging artists and people who live in your urban environment,” Yellig says. “Covington is a city that’s really trying to embrace the arts as economic development. And by showcasing the talent found here locally and providing them the opportunity to sell their work to a crowd where they get 100 percent back for themselves—this is a really great visibility opportunity.” Hub +Weber Architects’ Jim Guthrie, who served as last year’s chair and who is on the board this year, says he appreciates the diversity of the art, in addition to its accessibility. “Last year, there was an artist who did sketches and doodles of anything you wanted,” Guthrie says. “It made art very important. If you could have a piece of art reflecting anything you wanted, what would it be? I struggled for hours to come up with something worthy.” Organizers are currently accepting entries through the Call for Artists, and Yellig says the more varied, the better. “We want 2D and 3D, mixed media, crafts—we’d love performers and musicians, and if there’s a glassblower that has a mobile truck of some sort—we really want to kind of have this high-level of quality but also affordability with the arts or with the offerings for each artist,” Yellig says. “But we also want to have a really diverse group of artists as well because that makes it more attractive to people coming to the festival.” Do Good: • Volunteer at this year's festival. • Submit your work by applying through the Call for Artists. • Like the event on Facebook, and mark your calendar to attend September 29. By Brittany York Brittany York is a professor of English composition at the University of Cincinnati. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.
At Camp Carnegie, children from around the region come together to brainstorm, write a script, perform a play and create their own scenery and costumes. Still, for Alissa Paasch, who serves as the camp's education director, the goal is not to make sure that every child becomes an artist. Instead, she hopes that young people involved "become well-rounded human beings who know how to communicate, problem solve, who care about each other, and who are using the arts to spur their interest in the world.” Through this year’s theme, Opposite Land, participants use their imaginations to prompt one another’s creative instincts. Paasch says the children’s caring attitudes find ways to the forefront through the process. “It’s so much about cooperation and collaboration, and we’re always discussing and responding to things,” Paasch says. “We were doing an activity about imagination and how important it is for us to imagine things and use our theater tools to bring it to life, so then as we were talking, we’re saying why it’s important to keep using our imagination, keep it fresh—even as adults—and one little girl says, ‘In order to care about or work with others, you have to be able to imagine how they feel so you can actually make the right choices.’” It’s these kinds of moments, Paasch says, that make her realize that even as a teacher who plans each lesson, she can learn from the young participants. The artistic process at Camp Carnegie enables children not only to learn and grow with one another, but to experience theater and all its elements in just two weeks, which culminates with their own original productions. “We want to make sure they understand there’s a lot of hard work and perseverance that has to go into creating a piece of theater,” Paasch says. “We want them to feel proud of all the work they’ve done at the end.” Do Good: • Purchase a ticket to Suits that Rock to support The Carnegie's educational programming. • Attend a performance to support the summer campers' work. Choose a session and attend on the final day of the workshop at 4:30 p.m. • Support The Carnegie by donating. 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.
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