Mt. Lookout / Columbia-Tusculum

Home of Cincinnati's 16-inch astronomic telescope and Ault and Alms parks, Mt. Lookout boasts locally-owned, one-of-a-kind specialty shops, as well as upscale restaurants and neighborhood watering holes. The neighborhood is inviting with a bright mix of traditional and modern elements scattered around the easily walkable Mt. Lookout Square.Featuring a well-maintained stock of stately older homes, a new wave of young families and singles have recently taken to moving up to the hill in search of housing deals conveniently located to a vibrant nightlife and strong community involvement.

Reggae Run celebrates 20 years of success, moves to Eden Park

By Newsroom

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For Good

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February 19, 2013

This October will mark the 20th anniversary of the Reggae Run, and with its longevity comes continued success and an increase in participants. What started nearly 20 years ago as a small-scale project with the hope of getting 500 people to show up has turned into an event that has raised more than $1 million dollars over the years for local charities. It has also outgrown its longtime course at Ault Park. This October, participants will instead gather at Eden Park for a new course and the same after-party that locals have grown to love, as it draws as many as 7,000 people together to celebrate. “It’s really amazing that the time has gone so quickly, but at the same time, it’s really neat to see how the event has grown and how it’s become part of Cincinnati,” says Doug Olberding, Reggae Run's organizer. “But we realized maybe seven or so years ago that not everybody that comes to the race knows why we do it.” Olberding, who is the late Maria Olberding’s brother, says it dawned on him a few years back that most of the people who run the race—oftentimes people who are in their 20s—were about 5 years old when his sister was slain while running near her home in Mt. Lookout. “The older people know—you tell somebody who’s around my age, and they say, ‘Gosh, I remember that, it was a big deal,’” Olberding says. “But the younger people don’t know why we do it. We put it out there, but they don’t know the story, and we feel like it is our duty to make sure we keep the story alive and keep her memory alive through the race.” So the Olberding family puts on an event that encompasses everything Maria cherished—running, reggae and nature. Whether it was through her optimistic and positive outlook on life or through her volunteer efforts with organizations like Stepping Stones and Children’s Hospital, Maria made sure to put her best foot forward. “She wasn’t a teacher or anything like that—it was just her natural altruism,” Olberding says. “She was a pretty giving person. She was a 20-something, typical girl out of college; she worked at the Beach Waterpark and had fun with her friends, but they found time to do things—volunteer work and stuff like that—so that was part of it, and I don’t know that I can say specifically where that came from. It was just the way she was.” At the Reggae Run, participants can either run or walk a 5K. After the race, everyone joins together for fellowship through food and music, which is provided by The Ark Band, a group that Maria grew up listening to. Olberding says themes within reggae music that deal with “finding the good in things” speak volumes to who Maria was as a person. Proceeds from the event benefit the local chapter of the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which formed in Cincinnati when the Olberdings sought the organization out as a recipient. The more than $1 million the event has raised for the organization is just one of the positives that has come as a result of the Reggae Run. “Some people come up to us during the race, and they’re beside themselves, saying how much they enjoy it and what it means to them to come; we’ve even had people get engaged there," Olberding says. "It’s always this really good vibe, and I think it’s one of the reasons why it’s been around for 20 years." “It’s so easy to turn something into a negative, and if you do that, you just create more grief and more anger, and then it just never stops. I look at it and say, 'Just think of all the good that this event has done.’” Do Good: • Register for the Reggae Run by participating in the race or joining in the after-party. • Share Maria Olberding's history by keeping her memory alive and encouraging others to participate in the Reggae Run. • Like and share Reggae Run's Facebook page. 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

Sweaty Bands kick knockoffs to the curb in Linwood

By Newsroom

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Diversity

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February 12, 2013

Donna Browning was a fitness teacher with an annoying problem: hair in her face and headbands that would not stay put. Today, she’s selling her solution to that problem, dubbed “Sweaty Bands,” to women who’ve embraced her company’s tagline: “OMG…they don’t slip!” An endorphin addict—she’s taught everything from Pilates and yoga to sculpting classes and cardio sessions—Browning loved to exercise, but hated hair accessories that didn’t work with the microphone she wore to teach. Sure she could solve the problem, she borrowed a sewing machine from a friend, grabbed supplies from a craft store and churned out headband after headband until she found an adjustable, elastic band that stayed in place. Soon, she was toting a bag full of the headbands in her gym bag and selling them to friends at the gym. After driving up to Cleveland for some training from Ladies Who Launch, an organization that helps women become entrepreneurs, she launched Sweaty Bands. “I didn’t want it to be a preppy ribbon-in-the-hair thing," Browning says. "I wanted it to be a kick your butt, sporty accessory." With a range of styles, including custom options, she says the company’s product has become so popular that now they’re noticing knockoffs popping up. Still, Browning says, few competitors rival her team of in-house designers: “We’re constantly meeting, looking at magazines, going to the mall, and checking out upcoming trends so that what we have, nobody else will have.” These days, she’s focusing on custom orders for clients as large as John Freida, Pantene and Skinny Girl—or as small as a single headband. By Robin Donovan

Sweaty Bands kick knockoffs to the curb in Linwood

By Newsroom

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Entrepreneurship

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February 12, 2013

Donna Browning was a fitness teacher with an annoying problem: hair in her face and headbands that would not stay put. Today, she’s selling her solution to that problem, dubbed “Sweaty Bands,” to women who’ve embraced her company’s tagline: “OMG…they don’t slip!” An endorphin addict—she’s taught everything from Pilates and yoga to sculpting classes and cardio sessions—Browning loved to exercise but hated hair accessories that didn’t work with the microphone she wore to teach. Sure she could solve the problem, she borrowed a sewing machine from a friend, grabbed supplies from a craft store and churned out headband after headband until she found an adjustable, elastic band that stayed in place. Soon, she was toting a bag full of the headbands in her gym bag and selling them to friends at the gym. After driving up to Cleveland for some training from Ladies Who Launch, an organization that helps women become entrepreneurs, she launched Sweaty Bands. “I didn’t want it to be a preppy ribbon-in-the-hair thing," Browning says. "I wanted it to be a kick your butt, sporty accessory." With a range of styles, including custom options, she says the company’s product has become so popular that now they’re noticing knockoffs popping up. Still, Browning says, few competitors rival her team of in-house designers: “We’re constantly meeting, looking at magazines, going to the mall, and checking out upcoming trends so that what we have, nobody else will have.” These days, she’s focusing on custom orders for clients as large as John Freida, Pantene and Skinny Girl—or as small as a single headband. By Robin Donovan

ESCC helps nonprofits maximize output

By Newsroom

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Architecture + Design

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January 15, 2013

In 1995, a small group of retired business executives came together with the intent of giving back to their community by investing their time and talents in work that would assist nonprofits. Now, nearly 18 years later, Executive Service Corps of Cincinnati is the recipient of an $85,000 award that will help more than 130 volunteers provide low-cost, high-quality strategic thinking, planning, training and coaching to other nonprofits in need. The recent funding will help the ESCC implement its Community Benefit Business Model, which, according to Andy McCreanor, executive director and CEO of the organization, is a model that has essentially always existed within the nonprofit, but has now been refined and strengthened. The model helps nonprofits maximize results so that they may receive additional funding to better fulfill their missions, which ultimately works to improve the communities they serve. “It enables investors to get more out of the nonprofits that they’re investing in, and secondly, it helps the nonprofits because we’re affordable," says McCreanor. "We’re merely a vehicle so that the community gets the benefit that they’re trying to get." The ESCC has worked on long-term projects with more than 500 nonprofits in Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana since 1995, including most recently the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati. ESCC also offers a 10-month program at its Nonprofit Leadership Institute each year; and at its culmination in June, more than 100 nonprofit leaders from Cincinnati will have graduated. McCreanor says that because of the recent economic downturn, nonprofits have suffered and organizations are reevaluating and assessing their goals and missions. “We’re here to help,” he says. “If you’re struggling out there, it really doesn’t cost anything to talk about what you’re dealing with, and if in fact there is a way for us to help, it’s going to be done at a very low cost, so it’s kind of the best of all worlds.” Do Good: • Sign up to attend classes at the Nonprofit Leadership Institute. • Volunteer your business skills and experience to serve other nonprofits. • Reach out to the ESCC if you are a nonprofit that could benefit from its services. 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.

Shield gives back to those who give daily

By Newsroom

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Diversity

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January 8, 2013

The Shield started in September 2000 during a crisis. A Cincinnati police officer was killed in the line of duty, and his family, which was from out of town, couldn't afford to fly in on short notice. Tom Streicher, who was Cincinnati’s police chief at the time, knew something had to be done; he offered up his credit card to ensure the officer’s family was where they were needed—by the fallen officer’s side. “It was a leadership issue,” says Satch Coletta, a retired officer and trustee for the nonprofit that was soon to launch. “What are the odds, should something happen? Something should be there.” In that moment of need, police chiefs came together to make contributions and began to fund a new nonprofit. The organization has continued to operate ever since, thanks to community donations, and in large part, to the willingness of officers who take payroll deductions to contribute. The organization’s board, which is composed of 10 officers—current and retired—works entirely on a volunteer basis. They meet monthly during lunch breaks to fulfill The Shield’s mission: to assist the families of officers killed or critically injured in the line of duty. Policing is a dangerous job, and according to Coletta, “It’s not a matter of if we’re going to pay money out, it’s a matter of when and how much.” The funds are available to families immediately—prior to workers’ compensation or life insurance, says Coletta. “If it happens at one in the afternoon, at 1:01 p.m., there’s a benefit committee that’s ready to spring into action to aid an officer or his family.” Coletta knows the circumstances surrounding the loss of an officer all too well. In 1978, Officer John Bechtol, next-door neighbor and friend whom Coletta trained with, died after a vehicle struck his police cruiser. There was no immediate support available for the family . “Back then, policemen, not that they make a great fortune now, made even less; and to be able to set funeral arrangements and getting people in and situated—things along that line…” were very difficult, he says. The funds are not just meant for funeral arrangements and families’ transportation, however. “Say he would have survived the crash,” Coletta says, “he would have been in very serious condition, say in ICU for a long time. You would expect the spouse to be there in ICU. If their job doesn’t pay, The Shield would entertain paying the spouse’s wages because they’re already down one. We don’t want them to suffer additionally.” In times of need, Coletta says people always want to help, but the organization’s goal is to create an emergency fund that can create interest, so that there is enough money available to families, prior to the moment when the unthinkable occurs. “The family knows what’s needed, and we work on the things to try to aid them,” Coletta says. “But it’s one of those things where at the time, that’s one less thing they have to worry about.” Do Good: • Provide corporate or community support by donating to The Shield. • Contact The Shield about volunteer opportunities and upcoming events. • Connect with The Shield and share the organization'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. She also edits the For Good section of SoapboxMedia.

Deck the halls: Cincinnati cosplayers revel in stories

By Aiesha Little

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General

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November 13, 2012

From engineers to college students, costume designers to corporate professionals, cosplayers (costume players) in Cincinnati revel in opportunities to get their geek on. Soapbox's Aiesha Little takes a closer look.

Faces Without Places founder wants to see homeless program expand

By Newsroom

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Diversity

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November 13, 2012

Karen Fessler has a message she wants you to hear loud and clear: Faces Without Places is alive, well and kicking. For years, the nonprofit, grassroots organization that has provided nearly $1.5 million in educational support for homeless children in Greater Cincinnati was affiliated with the Cincinnati Public Schools. But about two years ago--and for a variety of reasons--the organization split with the school system, says Fessler, who is a board member and a founding member of the 17-year-old group. But its mission remains intact, says Fessler. “The most important part of the program is that we get kids out of shelters, we get kids off the streets and we show them that education is a way to experience a larger world,’’ says Fessler. “We want to broaden our reach. We want to broaden our horizons.” Fessler declines to discuss what led to the parting of ways, but adds the founders of the program all left their jobs at CPS as well. “But none of us lost our passion for the kids and the mission of Faces Without Places,’’ she adds. “I want people to know that we are here, and we are committed to providing services. We are toughing it out through thick and thin--for the kids.” The nonprofit helps about 3,000 school children annually in Greater Cincinnati. Last year, the group provided 7,702 services to 3,013 children, according to its website. Those services included providing taxi services to school for 112 students, uniform vouchers for 777 students, backpacks and supplies for more than 839 students and Payless gift cards for 320 students so they could get a new pair of shoes, a luxury for many, Fessler says. The nonprofit is best known for its Yellow Bus Summer Camp, which completed its 15th year this past summer. Last year, 152 children attended the eight-week camp that focuses on reading and day trips. Earlier this month, the group’s biggest fundraiser--the Yellow Bus Ball--raised more than $23,000, most of which will go to fund the camp. “The ball is critical because we have to have money to pay teachers and buy supplies,’’ Fessler says. “We can get grant money for field trips, but the fundraiser really helps us be able to put on the camp to the degree we have always done it.” Fessler has worked with thousands of homeless children over the years, and she readily admits she is biased toward teens. “A lot of people don’t realize this, but these kids are completely out on their own; they are either staying at friends' or living eight, nine, 10 kids piled up in an apartment,’’ she says. “They are squatting and some are living on the streets trying to negotiate life … they are all living life on the edge. I am most impressed by their sheer tenacity and their desire to find a better life.” Do Good: • Register for the Mt. Adams Yellow Bus Pub Crawl on Saturday, Nov. 17. • Attend the 5th annual Chili Taste Off on Dec. 9 at Northside Tavern. • Contribute to Faces Without Places' wishlist of school and personal hygiene supplies. • Sign up for the monthly email newsletter. • Give back while you shop. By Chris GravesChris Graves is the assistant vice president of digital and social media at Powers Agency

Big plans in the works for Cincinnati

By Newsroom

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Architecture + Design

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October 23, 2012

As many areas of Cincinnati are being rejuvenated, including OTR and Washington Park, the City of Cincinnati approved a comprehensive approach to focus on development in the city as a whole, not just targeted neighborhoods. Last Friday, the City Planning Commission approved and adopted Plan Cincinnati, which was designed with input from residents. The Plan is an opportunity to strengthen what people love about the city, what works and what needs more attention, says Katherine Keough-Jurs, senior city planner and project manager. The idea is to re-urbanize suburbanized Cincinnati; in a sense, to return to the strengths of the city's beginnings. Cincinnati was established just after the American Revolution in 1788 and grew into an industrial center in the 19th century. Many of those industries no longer exist in the city, which is part of why Cincinnati has become more suburbanized in the past 50 years. One of the long-term goals of the Plan is to bring new industries to Cincinnati. With a new approach to revitalization, Cincinnati is blazing the trail for other cities. With a focus on building on existing strengths rather than tearing down structures and creating new ones, the Plan aims to capitalize on the city's “good bones” and good infrastructure. Cinicinnatians had a huge role in developing the Plan. The first public meeting for the Plan was held in September 2009, when residents offered their insights into “what makes a great city?" and "what would make Cincinnati a great city?” A steering committee of 40 people representing businesses, nonprofits, community groups, local institutions, residents and City Council helped develop the Plan. The Plan also got support from a grant from the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which the City received in 2010. The grant allotted $2.4 million over three years to support the Land Development Code, which combines and simplifies Cincinnati's codes, reviews the development process, implements Form-based Codes and considers more creative uses for land. The grant allowed the city to start implementing some of the ideas voiced in public meetings. Visionaries included youth, too. City staff worked with community centers and Cincinnati Public Schools to develop an art project for children. They were given clay pots and asked to paint their fears for the city on the inside and their dreams for the city on the outside. The children saw the big issue was quality of life, just like the adults did. “It was an interesting way to get the kids involved and thinking about the future,” Keough-Jurs says. The Plan aims to strengthen neighborhood centers—the neighborhoods’ business districts. It maps out areas that people need to get to on a daily basis and found that most are within about a half-mile of the business districts. But in some neighborhoods, residents can’t access their neighborhood centers. The accessibility of a neighborhood center is based on walkability—not just for pedestrians, but also about how structures address walking. For exampke, if a pedestrian can walk from one end of the neighborhood center to the other without breaking his or her pattern (the window shopping effect), the area is walkable; if he or she has been stopped by a parking lot or vacancies, it’s not walkable, Keough-Jurs says. The neighborhood centers are classified in one of three ways in the Plan: maintain, evolve or transform. Some neighborhoods have goals to maintain levels of walkability, whereas others need to gradually change or evolve. Still others need to completely transform in order to strengthen their business districts. “Cincinnati is at the heart of the region,” Keough-Jurs says. “If we strengthen Cincinnati, we strengthen a region.” The next step for the Plan is to go before the Cincinnati City Council, specifically the Livable Communities Committee, which is chaired by Vice Mayor Roxanne Qualls. By Caitlin Koenig Follow Caitlin on Twitter

Sugar cookies from Mt Lookout Sweets match any occasion

By Newsroom

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Diversity

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October 23, 2012

Imagine the work that goes into a batch of cookies: mixing, rolling, baking, decorating and washing. Now imagine baking 1,000 cookies per month. That’s how many Debbie DeGeer typically creates at Mt Lookout Sweets, a bakery she runs from her Mt. Lookout home – complete with a commercial kitchen in the basement – each month. That’s 12,000 cookies a year, but DeGeer isn’t counting. Baking helps keep her hands busy and her creative mind active while she cares for her aging mother, who helping instill in DeGeer a love of floury hands and blustery ovens. DeGeer’s mother lives with Alzheimer’s, and the duo spends their share of quiet nights at home. Baking started as “a kind of therapy,” and DeGeer often arrived at Comey Shepherd, the real estate agency where she works, laden with cookies. Her creations with the company logo on them were particularly popular for the company’s open houses, and from there, the requests grew. DeGeer specializes in hand-decorated sugar cookies that are part art and part dessert, and she has a design for everyone. When Keidel, a Cincinnati-based plumbing, cabinetry, appliance and lighting contractor, celebrated its 100th anniversary, DeGeer created confections in the shape of bathtubs, light bulbs and even toilets. “I never thought in my life I would make a cute toilet, but I did,” DeGeer says. Active with other cookie pros, dubbed “cookiers,” on Facebook, DeGeer has about 1,200 Facebook fans for her business, and says it’s a top source of referrals, along with word-of-mouth. Mt Lookout Sweets averages three to four orders per week, with DeGreer's capacity filling up quickly around the holidays and in late spring or early summer as couples plan their weddings. DeGeer typically requests a week’s notice for each order and more during busy seasons. By Robin Donovan