Norwood

Norwood is surrounded on all sides by Cincinnati and has grown beyond its early industrial roots to become an ideal neighborhood for young professionals to purchase their first homes. Adjacent to neighboring Xavier University in Evanston and Hyde Park to the east, Norwood's revamped older homes and tree-lined streets are complemented by beloved family-owned restaurants like Sorrento's and Quatman Cafe and countless small corner taverns to dive in for a drink. Norwood is also home to Alloy Development Co., which is a marketplace where organizations, businesses and communities can find the resources they need to grow.

Anti-Bullying Summit calls for LGBTQ student inclusion

By Newsroom

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Diversity

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March 12, 2013

To raise awareness and provide support to local school districts that want to help prevent bullying—particularly against students who are perceived to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer—the Human Rights Campaign and the YWCA partnered to lead the second annual Greater Cincinnati Anti-Bullying Summit in February. According to Kristin Shrimplin, HRC Diversity & Inclusion co-chair and director of the Family Violence Prevention Project for the YWCA, bullying prevention has been “on the front page for educators to pay attention to,” but there’s a gap in the community. Schools have been trying to prevent an issue without acknowledging that LGBTQ students are at the forefront. “I think they were just too scared to really examine some of the ways the kids were threatening other kids—either verbally or physically—and all those words or actions were based around homophobia and gender stereotyping,” Shrimplin says. According to the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network’s 2011 National School Climate Survey, eight out of 10 LGBT students were harassed at school, while more than 60 percent felt unsafe and nearly 30 percent missed a day of school because of safety concerns. “That was a huge issue for us,” Shrimplin says. “So we said we can talk about these issues, but we need to offer solutions.” So the organizations brought 170 educators together to work toward finding better ways of addressing these predicaments within their schools. Welcoming Schools, which is a national HRC project, was the primary focus at the event, as it is the only evidence-based curriculum available to schools that is inclusive of LGBT issues, ensuring all students, regardless of sexual preference or gender identity, receive a quality education and feel comfortable in their educational environments. “It’s very comprehensive, and it offers tools, lessons and resources, and it focuses from a very young age on what family diversity can look like,” Shrimplin says. “As we discuss all the different types of family structures, we also include that just as a grandmother may be raising her grandchildren, let’s show that there can be two moms or two dads raising a child.” In addition to incorporating discussions about LGBTQ acceptance in the curriculum and providing teachers with ways to address and eliminate name-calling, Welcoming Schools also encourages schools to enumerate their policies on an administrative level. “If you name it, you can really claim it,” Shrimplin says. “Put it in your policy that homophobic bullying, harassment and intimidation against students perceived to be LGBTQ or harassed because maybe their parents might be, is not allowed at the school.” At the local level, Oyler is the first school to have implemented the program within its buildings. “In Cincinnati, you have to understand that’s huge because it was just a few years ago that we had a law on our city books called Article XII, and it had been there for over a decade and it literally said you are prohibited from passing a law to protect individuals who are perceived to be LGBT,” Shrimplin says. “But we had a waiting list of vice principals trying to get in to the Summit, and it really told us that the schools involved are ready—they’re ready to address this.” Do Good: • Support LGBTQ ally programs in schools, and let people know you care for and accept them. Contact the local chapter of GLSEN, and get involved. • Contact Kristin Shrimplin or a Welcoming Schools expert if you are a school that is interested in the project. • Encourage your local school district to implement inclusive language and to enumerate its policy regarding the prevention of LGBTQ bullying. Contact GLSEN if you need assistance or support. 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.

Oasis Rail Transit bound for Cincinnati region

By Newsroom

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Development News

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March 5, 2013

For the first time since 1988, Cincinnati will play host to the 2015 MLB All-Star Game. And by that time, the Greater Cincinnati area could have a rail service, Oasis Rail Transit, which would be part of the Eastern Corridor program of multi-modal transportation improvement projects. The Oasis project is the first proposed leg of the new regional rail system that will provide a new and much-needed transportation alternative for area residents. The Oasis line would span 17 miles between downtown Cincinnati and Milford. There are existing tracks along the route, but a number of miles of new track would be laid as well. According to a press release, using existing track is a less expensive way to build a foundation of regional transportation. It would allow a passenger rail service network to advance more quickly and could serve as a national model for other commuter rail projects. “Regional passenger rail isn’t a pipe dream, nor is it something for the far-off future,” according to Todd Portune, Hamilton County Commissioner and chair of Hamilton County Transportation Improvement District, in a press release. “It is here. Now. We can make this happen by 2015, but it will take a regional commitment from our local municipalities, chambers of commerce, state agencies and leaders to remove any barriers.” The rail project was awarded funding last fall from the Ohio Department of Transportation’s House Bill 114 to help secure the right-of-way for extending the existing rail line from the Boathouse downtown to the Riverfront Transit Center. HCTID has also been working with local groups to explore joint-use opportunities, such as bicycle and walking paths, within the rail corridors. There are other rail lines in the works for the region that would connect Hamilton, Clermont, Butler and Warren counties in Ohio, and parts of Northern Kentucky and southeastern Indiana as well. The future rail line will travel from Xavier University to Fairfax to Eastgate (Wasson line); along I-71 from Cincinnati/NKY International Airport/Florence to Blue Ash; along I-75 to Union Centre; along the I-471 corridor to Northern Kentucky University; and along western I-74 to Green Township and US-50 to Lawrenceburg. By Caitlin Koenig Follow Caitlin on Twitter

Lexington’s newest craft brewery brings new brews to Cincinnati

By Newsroom

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Development News

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March 5, 2013

Although there won’t be a West Sixth Brewing taproom or beer garden in the Cincinnati area, beer lovers will still be able to buy the new brewery’s beer around town. West Sixth opened in Lexington on April 1, and founders Ben Self, Brady Barlow, Joe Kuosman and Robin Sither have already seen the demand for their beer go through the roof. “We’ve had people drive down from the Cincinnati area just to buy our beer,” Self says. The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area was the last part of Kentucky that West Sixth added to its distribution network—the taproom and beer garden are in Lexington, and West Sixth’s beer is available in Louisville, too. The quartet has heard from lots of retailers, bars and restaurants that they’re excited to be getting West Sixth’s brews, Self says. West Sixth beer became available locally about two weeks ago. The brewery kicked off its expansion at Cincy Winter Beerfest, which featured the West Sixth IPA and Deliberation Amber. West Sixth does things a bit differently than other breweries, Self says. It’s the only brewery in Kentucky to can its beers; and Self and his co-founders are not only committed to brewing great beer, but to giving back to the community. They give six percent of the brewery’s monthly profits to local charities and nonprofits to support environmental packaging efforts and rehabilitation projects in Lexington. You can order West Sixth’s beer at Gordo’s Pub in Norwood and Bakersfield in Over-the-Rhine. You can also purchase it at: Party SourceLiquor CityParty TownDEPsI-75 LiquorsValley Wine and SpiritsUnited LiquorHyde Park Wine and SpiritsRoot CellarListing LoonGramer’s Meat and ProduceCountry Fresh Farm MarketOne Stop LiquorsLuckie’s Pony KegAntone’s Wine and SpiritsBluegrass CarryoutChurchill MarketCity BeverageBy Caitlin Koenig Follow Caitlin on Twitter

HCBC opens new CoWorks space for entrepreneurs, startups

By Newsroom

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Architecture + Design

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March 5, 2013

The Hamilton County Business Center is Cincinnati's oldest incubator, and has evolved over the decades as the economy has changed. Startups are leaner and meaner now than ever before, and HCBC is piloting the region's latest coworking space, where small businesses can get many of the benefits of being in an incubator without the higher overhead. HCBC's CoWorks had a very quiet launch late last fall. With three businesses in the space, which is located in Norwood, Executive Director Pat Longo is now getting the word out about HCBC. "This has grown out of our affiliate program," Longo says. "There were companies that weren't yet ready to apply for the incubator but they wanted to be around it." HCBC has recently upgraded its conference room space, which has been attractive to small companies like SCORE, SBDC and Meetups that want to present themselves more professionally, says Longo. HCBC has 45 companies that last year generated over $18 million in revenues, accessed over $8 million in capital and created nearly 50 jobs. Renting CoWorks space on a month-to-month basis starts at $75 per month, and includes: 24-hour, 7-day-a-week accessWiFiConcierge and receptionist servicesFree parkingFax, scanner and copier servicesKitchenUp to four hours per month of conference room useA mailing address"We talk about having an entrepreneurial ecosystem, but I like to think of (HCBC) as a coral reef," Longo says. "We have a lot of life, people can grow, there is lots of nourishment and places to go and hide if you need a quiet place to work." CoWorkers will have access to the incubator entrepreneurial atmosphere, programming and resources. Some are free, while others have a fee attached. "They'll get the benefits of being a client," Long says. "And we hope when they are ready, they'll move into the incubator." Currently, there is space for about 12 companies, with potential room to grow. Interested businesses can find out more on the CoWorks website, where interpreters can fill out an application. By Feoshia H. Davis Follow Feoshia on Twitter

HCBC opens new CoWorks space for entrepreneurs, startups

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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March 5, 2013

Kenzie’s CLOSET empowers teenage girls, makes prom special

By Newsroom

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For Good

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March 5, 2013

Sabrina Peelman says she loves her city and helping others. She’s a junior at Reading High School and has lived in Cincinnati her whole life, and she serves as a prime example of the ways in which community giving comes full circle. “I like how close everybody in my town is, how everybody knows each other,” Peelman says. “It’s really nice being able to have familiar faces around you at all times.” One way Peelman helps to give back to her community is through the work she does with the Interfaith Hospitality Network. “It’s a program that gives homeless families a place to stay until they can get back on their feet and find a job," says Peelman. "It helps them reestablish their lives again. Normally I serve the families dinner, and I normally am in charge of playing games with the children.” Peelman says she loves to give back, but she’s also experienced the other side of things. With prom season coming up, Peelman knew she would need a dress, but she also knew that formal dresses are expensive and that purchasing one would be a financial strain on her family. “I’m adopted by my aunt and my uncle, and my aunt, she’s an accountant, but she raised three kids that weren’t really hers, so it’s always been kind of hard on her, and my uncle is a service manager, and he doesn’t really make as much money as he should,” Peelman says. So Peelman went to Kenzie’s CLOSET, a nonprofit that provides free prom dresses, shoes and accessories to girls in need who deserve a special night at their prom. “When you first walk in, you see a lot of pink—the couches are pink—and there’s a little waiting room,” Peelman says. “Then when you go back into the area with the dresses, there are dressing rooms and a bunch of shoes on the left, and to your right there are just bunches of dress racks and all these colorful dresses—short ones, poofy ones, some on mannequins—it’s very pretty and organized.” Peelman says she’s excited for prom this year because the theme is “Hollywood,” and the students will get to cruise down the Ohio River on a boat, complete with a red carpet and even “Academy Awards.” What will make Peelman’s prom even better is that she found a dress she says she fell in love with. “It was the second dress I tried on," she says. "It’s strapless and has a sweetheart neckline, and it’s long and it’s a teal color, and it has a few beads going down it. It’s like a mermaid dress, so it’s very slender." Since Peelman was able to find a dress at Kenzie’s CLOSET, she won’t have to wear the old dress that belonged to her sister, which she says is outdated and would have had to be taped down because it would have been "a little big.” Instead, she’ll attend prom with her boyfriend of six months who’s been her good friend since the age of 3. Peelman says her favorite part of finding a dress was the overall shopping experience. “The lady I had, she took me and asked me what kind of dresses I liked and what was my favorite color, and she was very friendly and she’d ask what type of dresses I didn’t like, and then we’d try to move away from that type, and it really made it a lot more fun,” she says. “It was very simple, and they were very understanding—you could ask them anything about the dress, and they would know how to answer it.” According to Peelman, a lot of high-school girls, and even some of her friends, wouldn’t want to accept a used dress. “They feel like they’re privileged or something—I don’t know how to describe it,” she says. But it was important for Peelman to do what she could to help her family. “Anytime they see me happy, they’re ecstatic, so when they found out I found a dress at Kenzie’s CLOSET that I really liked and they didn’t have to pay for all the expenses of prom, it made them so happy,” Peelman says. “They’re really proud of me.” Do Good: • Donate a gently used dress or apparel to Kenzie's CLOSET. • Volunteer to help Kenzie's CLOSET operate during shopping hours, or consider coordinating a dress drive. • If you are a student in need of a dress, or know of a student in need of a dress, contact the school's principal to see if she qualifies to shop at Kenzie's CLOSET. 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

By Newsroom

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Development News

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February 26, 2013

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

Library adds downloadable magazines to collection

By Newsroom

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Arts + Culture

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February 26, 2013

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.

Thinking outside the box: Home bakery turns Gail Yisreal into cake boss

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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February 19, 2013

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

Playing to Win: A Night with A.G. Lafley, Feb. 7

By Soapbox Media

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Architecture + Design

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February 5, 2013

Join Soapbox and Joseph-Beth Booksellers as we welcome former Procter & Gamble Chairman and CEO, A.G. Lafley, to launch his new book, "Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works," on Thursday, Feb. 7.