Walnut Hills was the first Cincinnati neighborhood to participate in Soapbox's On the Ground series, an embedded journalism approach to learn what's happening in the underrepresenting neighborhoods that are being transformed. Stories covered everything from business and community development, arts and culture and education to health and wellness, crime and food insecurity. A community newsroom was held at Caffé Vivace hosted by the champion of 45206, Kathryn Gardette.
From vintage stores to high-end fashion shops and art galleries, a new day is dawning on Woodburn Avenue in Walnut Hills. Entrepreneurs who have long called the neighborhood home welcome the fresh energy and say it has already made an impact in one of Cincinnati's most iconic communities.
A trio of Cincinnati's best and most accredited party planners recently combined their collective expertise to create a new party styling service, Stellar Party. The three women, Margot Madison, Nora Martini and Brigid Horne-Nestor all have a particular set of skills that differ slightly. They came together in March to begin their new business. "The beauty of Stellar Party is that all three of us have experience in slightly different areas that all fit together perfectly," Madison says. Horne-Nester has been planning events for more than 20 years and is one of only 60 planners around the world to have obtained credentials from Bridal Consultants, an organization that has been helping recommend planners and services for weddings since 1955. Horne-Nester's expertise is in the big picture of the party, including overall timeline and set-up of events. Martini has experience in movie and photography set design, thus giving her an eye for the tone, theme and flow of an event. Madison is the detail person. As a graphic designer, Madison designs all the printed materials, such as invitations and menus, as well as the centerpieces and other party collateral. All three women have been working in Cincinnati for years, and have occasionally teamed up before. Horne-Nester runs the small bridal boutique, I-Do Boutique, in O'Bryonville, Madison runs her party service company, Margot Madison Creative, and Martini does mostly freelance work. Each will continue to run their own businesses while collaborating when contracted for events through Stellar Party. "We have worked mostly with wedding and bat and bar mitzvahs, but saw an opportunity to team up for more events," Madison says. "From corporate events to private parties that aren't weddings." Instead of taking work from one another, Madison says forming Stellar Party will create more opportunities for everyone. "We add to each other," Madison says. "I have a high-level of skill in the graphic side of things, but I wouldn't want to plan an entire event in a million years. When we were talking about the business, it just became apparent that things each of us don't like doing, someone does." By Evan Wallis
Cincinnati Art Museum features an exhibit of one of the first black American artists to gain an international reputation, Henry Ossawa Tanner. Read the full story here.
Every Earth Day for the past fives years, Neyer Properties has held events or educational seminars to promote sustainable lifestyles, but last year company employees decided they needed to give back to the community. So, they built the one-acre Keystone Community Garden outside their office in Evanston. According to Neyer Properties, a development company that builds or redevelops only LEED-certified projects, community involvement is a big part of sustainability. That's why they used the land they had available as the garden site and recruited company volunteers to maintain it. The garden now supplies OTR and Walnut Hills Kitchens and Pantry with produce. While many food pantries and soup kitchens are forced to shut down in the summer months because of lack of air conditioning, the OTR kitchen has been serving meals through the heat since 1976. Now serving more than 4,000 meals per week, the OTR kitchen gets a much needed produce delivery of peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers and squash after 50 volunteers to tend the garden through the summer. “We rarely receive fresh produce to prepare for our meals or to distribute to our guests in their groceries,” says Patricia Wakim, executive director of the OTR and Walnut Hills Kitchens and Pantry. “We are absolutely thrilled to be the recipient of the produce from the Keystone Community Garden again this year.” This is the second year that the OTR and Walnut Hills kitchen will receive the produce from Keystone Community Garden. Volunteers log more than 50,000 volunteer hours each year in the effort that is almost entirely sustained through private monetary donations and donations from local grocery stores and restaurants. "It's just the right thing to do," says Karman Stahl, director of asset management for Neyer Properties. "Doing something for those that have less is just something that is necessary to our company." By Evan Wallis
American entrepreneurial activity in 2009 was at it's highest point in 14 years, according to an article in The Atlantic. Freelance job postings have risen dramatically as well. Despite the value of independence in work, one simple loss for freelancers and one-person businesses is a byproduct of their careers: the lack workplace camaraderie. Bill Barnett and Gerard Sychay both had this problem. The pair of web developers were tired of working from home and not having anyone to talk to to or go take a break and get lunch with. With this in mind, set out to make Cincy Coworks. It started as a once-a-week meet up in Over-the-Rhine and brought together nearly 20 people to work together for the day. After a few months of successful meet-ups, Cincy Coworks moved into its own space in June 2010 with six people committing to sharing the space. After outgrowing the small space, Cincy Coworks moved to its present location in Walnut Hills in April 2011. Presently, five people, including developers and writers, share the space, which allows for part and full-time rentals. Cincy Coworks even offers student rates of only $25 per month. "Cincy Coworks is about bringing people of different disciplines together," says co-founder Sychay. "We like all things creative. Bringing all these people together can help us to raise the city's profile." He sees strength in the diversity of talents in both the community workspace and in events Cincy Coworks sponsors, such as Queen City Merge, which took place last week. QC Merge worked to bring people of all different web expertises together. "No one ever hangs out together across their lines of designs or developers," Sychay says. "As a developer myself, I have so many moments where I think how much easier something would be if I had a designer right next to me. If you bring all these people together, I think businesses will start to come together." Sychay poses the most important question Cincinnati needs to face now as this: If New York is the financial capital of the country, Austin is the musical capital, and Los Angeles is the entertainment capital, what is Cincinnati? By Evan Wallis
In 1927, naturalist Esther Stephenson organized Cincinnati Parks’ first summer camp. Cincinnati naturalists say that Stephenson, an early advocate of environmentalism and the outdoors, would carry large signs on the bus to advertise her day camp while on her way to work. Today, Cincinnati Parks’ summer camp program gives children ages 3-13 chances to learn about nature and explore the outdoors. The 19 different camps, which run from 9 a.m.- 5 p.m., are now open for registration online and include five days of outdoor activities and planned lessons from nature specialists. “Kids spend so much time playing video games or surfing the Internet—those things keep them inside,” says Ruthann Spears, manager of Cincinnati Parks’ Explore Nature division. “We want to show them that getting muddy is OK.” Through their program, Cincinnati Parks naturalists hope to engender a sense of curiosity in their campers. Their goal is to get children and adults outside to explore Cincinnati’s parks on a regular basis. “We want to shows kids that being outside isn’t scary,” says Spears. “We want to give them a chance to connect with the outdoors and instill in them a love of nature that they’ll share with parents and friends when they get home.” Cincinnati’s park system--what Spears calls “everyone’s backyard”— comprises 70 neighborhood parks in locations ranging from Mt. Washington to Mt. Airy. Cincinnati Parks’ summer program offers camps in more than 10 of the 70 Cincinnati parks. In 2009, summer camp employees served more than 5,400 children from all 52 Cincinnati neighborhoods. But camp isn’t just for kids: Last year’s biggest success was Grand! Camp, an outdoor bonding experience in Ault Park for young children and their grandparents. The camp premiered last year, and sold out within the first few weeks of registration. Spears says the most popular camps in the program are the Astronomy Camp in Burnett Woods, the Grand! Camp and the Nature Camps in Ault, French and Stanberry Parks. Following the path of Esther Stephenson, Cincinnati Parks naturalists look forward to another summer of outdoor learning. Spears, who wishes she could sign up for camp herself, says reconnecting with nature helps people to connect with themselves and each other. “We should be outdoors most of the time,” she says. “That’s just how we were built.” Do Good: • Register: your child for one of Cincinnati Parks’ summer camps. • Like: Cincinnati Parks on Facebook.• Visit: any of the area's parks. By Jen Saltsman
Every Earth Day for the past fives years, Neyer Properties has held events or educational seminars to promote sustainable lifestyles, but last year company employees decided they needed to give back to the community. So, they built the one-acre Keystone Community Garden outside their office in Evanston. According to Neyer Properties, a development company that builds or redevelops only LEED-certified projects, community involvement is a big part of sustainability. That's why they used the land they had available as the garden site and recruited company volunteers to maintain it. The garden now supplies OTR and Walnut Hills Kitchens and Pantry with produce. While many food pantries and soup kitchens are forced to shut down in the summer months because of lack of air conditioning, the OTR kitchen has been serving meals through the heat since 1976. Now serving more than 4,000 meals per week, the OTR kitchen gets a much needed produce delivery of peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, cucumbers and squash after 50 volunteers to tend the garden through the summer. “We rarely receive fresh produce to prepare for our meals or to distribute to our guests in their groceries,” says Patricia Wakim, executive director of the OTR and Walnut Hills Kitchens and Pantry. “We are absolutely thrilled to be the recipient of the produce from the Keystone Community Garden again this year.” This is the second year that the OTR and Walnut Hills kitchen will receive the produce from Keystone Community Garden. Volunteers log more than 50,000 volunteer hours each year in the effort that is almost entirely sustained through private monetary donations and donations from local grocery stores and restaurants. "It's just the right thing to do," says Karman Stahl, director of asset management for Neyer Properties. "Doing something for those that have less is just something that is necessary to our company." Do Good: Volunteer: at any of the soup kitche's locations. Donate: and help keep Cincinnati's oldest soup kitchen well-stocked. Take a look: at the wish list and see if you have any items you can donate. By Evan Wallis
Laura Davis may run the only business in town that can claim it sells dust. Core Clay opened on Gilbert Avenue in Walnut Hills in June 2005 to provide a live-work space for Davis and her boyfriend, Justin Poole. Since then, it has continued to grow into a successful business. The original idea was to sell pottery supplies and products and have a space to teach classes. Since she worked in such a large space, friends started asking Davis if they could rent studio space, which eventually led into the transformation of the basement into a collective studio. Today, it normally houses 25 artists who rent space on a month-to-month basis. In addition, Core Clay has employed an artist-in-residence since 2009 and offers both beginner and advanced level classes. Core Clay also creates clay on-site. In a further effort to expand, Davis enrolled in ArtWork's SpringBoard class. While the business has been growing, Davis says she enrolled to get more business know-how. Current plans are to improve signage, expand marketing and build a bigger in-store product line. "You can sit and ask a lawyer questions for two hours," Davis says. "That alone is worth the cost of the class." Davis and Poole settled on Walnut Hills after searching in Florence, Camp Washington and beyond, and have since seen the neighborhood change around them. "Our building was a source of crime in the neighborhood," Davis says. "We have made changes and taken the grates off the windows. We want the neighborhood to know we are friendly in here." After cleaning up the Core Clay building, Davis found that another vacant building next door had become a source of trouble in the neighborhood and decided to purchase the building out of foreclosure. In 2010, the building was opened as a intentional community of live-work spaces for artists. Some parts of the building are still being renovated, but once finished, it will house nine units. By Evan Wallis (Follow him on Twitter)
US News ranks Cincinnati Public Schools' Walnut Hills High School first in Ohio and 90th in the country. See all the stats here.
University of Cincinnati Journalism alum Taylor Dungjen, a cops and crime reporter for the Toledo Blade, returned to her college home town to report on an innovative initiative that is having an impact in Northern Ohio. Read the full story here.
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