Economic Development

Cincy Coworks brings indie workers together

●

May 22, 2012

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

Latest in Economic Development

MakeupHaulic puts all the best beauty tips in one place

By Newsroom

●

Architecture + Design

●

May 22, 2012

Go to YouTube, eHow or the Facebook pages of major beauty brands, and you'll find thousands of videos featuring everything from how to apply crackle nail polish, use an eyelash curler or apply mascara. There are no shortages of product reviews, either.. These video blogs, or vlogs, help many women decide whether or not to purchase a new product, and how to use something new or unfamiliar, explains Brinda Chattergee, a Cincinnati entrepreneur. "It's mostly young women who are sharing information about purchases, and coming together around information," she says. Chattergee, who has a graphic design background, discovered the beauty vlogging world while researching product design for a beauty product. During her research, she thought it would be great if there was a site dedicate to the best of the videos, both professional and amateur, where people could quickly find and create the type of content they wanted. That's the idea behind her new website, MakeupHaulic. Chattergee describes the site, which is not yet public, as a curated destination site for all things beauty. In addition to featuring existing content, the site will also offer tutorials for those who want to become beauty vloggers. She plans to feature some sponsored content as well. "It will feature a blend of normal folks as well as professionals," she says. "It will be very democratic. Anyone can participate." MakeupHaulic is one of eight companies chosen for UpTech, a new business informatics incubator launched by several Northern Kentucky institutions, including Northern Kentucky University, Tri-Ed, ezone and Vision 2015. It's an intense, six-month accelerator program that includes $100,000 in funding. Companies selected to participate will also be working with students and faculty at NKU's College of Informatics. During her time in the incubator, Chattergee plans to launch the site and rework its design or the user experience in response to user feedback. "The launch is pretty immediate at this point. We'll be taking it to the next level in response to feedback. It's a very important phase and an exciting time for all of us involved," she says. By Feoshia Henderson Follow Feoshia on Twitter

Program puts teen moms, dads, and their children, on paths to success

By Newsroom

●

Diversity

●

May 22, 2012

Can’t is not a word in Lauren Hughes’ vocabulary. The 22-year-old earned straight A’s and worked three part-time jobs while attending Simon Kenton High School in Independence from where she graduated in 2008. She earned an associate’s degree in child development and a second associate’s degree in pharmacy technology. Now, she’s talking about buying her first home. She also happens to be a single mother to a five-year-old daughter. Hughes immediately turned to her school when she found out she was pregnant the summer between her sophomore and junior year. “I have no idea where I would be without the Kenton Child Development Program. But I know I wouldn’t be where I am today,’’ says Hughes, who now works as the lead infant teacher at the program administered through Children, Inc. “The support you get here is amazing. “It’s a safe haven.” Hughes is one of about 375 teen parents who have participated in the teen program, which is housed on the Simon Kenton High School campus but is open to all 13,907 students in the Kenton County School District, says Tina Cook, who has worked as teen parenting director since it started 15 years ago. The program is part of Children, Inc., which is the largest private non-profit provider of child care in Kentucky. The group, celebrating its 35th year, serves 3,500 children each day at more than 90 locations, employs more 250 educators and works with more than 120 partners aimed at early childhood development. The Kenton Child Development Center is one of those partners. The program offers free child care to teen parents – complete with free diapers, food and education. But it is more than a day care center housed on a high school campus, Cook says. “We look at this program as a foundation, not just for mom and dad, but for the baby as well,’’ says Cook, who has a background as a special education teacher. “There is a structured curriculum for everyone in this program; there are individualized education plans for the babies.” Students are required to complete parenting classes, where they meet with nutritionists, experts in child development and a host of community members from dentists to attorneys who provide information to the young parents. Time is set aside for the students to interact with their children during their school day, as well. The program also offers a school-to-work program. And about half of the students who graduate, go on to college and earn degrees; the program also offers a school-to-work program. “These girls are amazing,’’ says Cook. “And between the school district and Children, Inc., we are taken very, very good care of.” Do Good: • Sign up for Children, Inc.’s newsletter. • Donate to help fund programs like the Kenton Child Development Program. • Volunteer your time or expertise in number of ways. By Chris Graves Chris Graves is the assistant vice president of social and digital media at The Powers Agency, a public relations and advertising agency.

CEOs report: Cincinnati highly engaged, not-so-weird

By Newsroom

●

Development News

●

May 22, 2012

During its spring conference hosted here in Cincinnati last week, CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban, civic leaders, released its second ever “City Vitals” report, a kind of scorecard that measures and ranks key development and quality-of-life indicators for cities around the country. Using the acronym of CITY (Connections, Innovation, Talent and Your Distinctiveness), report authors analyzed mostly Census data to explore what makes cities vibrant, appealing and successful. Here’s a roundup of where Cincinnati rates among CEOs’ 51 identified cities and regions. First, some good news. Cincinnati ranked in the top 20 in the following catgories: • Voting. Nearly 65 percent of Cincinnati’s population voted in the 2008 Presidential election, putting us in 13th place. (Minneapolis-St. Paul ranked first with more than 76 percent of the population casting ballots.) • Community involvement. We squeaked in the top 20 at number 19, with close to 29 percent of the metro population reporting a volunteer effort in the past year. (In Salt Lake City, more than 42 percent of the population reported volunteering.) • Economic integration. Cincinnati ranked 11th in the percentage of the population living in middle-income neighborhoods, with 76.1 percent. (Minneapolis-St. Paul topped the economic integration list with more than 84 percent of the population in middle-income homes.) • Patents. Cincinnati ranked 19th in number of patents issued per 10,000 employees with 5.9. (San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara dominated this category with 83.5 patents per 10,000 employees. The next closest city, Austin-Round Rock, issued 31.9 per 10,000 employees) • Creative professionals, or folks employed as mathematicians, scientists, artists, engineers, architects and designers. Four percent of Cincinnati’s workers come from this creative group, making the city 18th on the list. (The number one slot went to San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, where 7.6 percent of the population fits into this category.) Now, some challenges, or, as we like to call them, room-to-grow areas: • Greenhouse gas emissions. Cincinnati earned its highest ranking, second, in this not-so-positive category of per capita carbon emissions. While we emitted 3.28 tons per person, per year, Los Angeles emitted just 1.41 tons per person per year. Yes. Los Angeles. • Entrepreneurship and small businesses. In these increasingly essential categories for cities, Cincinnati ranked 46th and 43rd, respectively. (See Cincinnati growing Cincinnati for some examples of how to increase those numbers significantly.) • Weirdness index. Cincinnati nearly bottomed out this category with a ranking of 48th out of 51. What this means, basically, is that we tend to buy what everyone else in America buys. Weirdest cities on record: San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara and San Francisco, not surprisingly, rank first and second. But number three? Salt Lake City, Utah. That’s just weird. The CEOs for Cities report can be accessed in its entirety online. Overall, it provides a fresh lens for city dwellers, city lovers and city officials through which to view the present and plan for the future. By Elissa Yancey Follow Elissa on Twitter

One More Pallet helps small shippers get deals

By Newsroom

●

Entrepreneurship

●

May 22, 2012

A new Cincinnati company is a banking on a simple idea whose success will all be in the details. One More Pallet aims to link small shippers with truck drivers who have a little space to spare as they're delivering large loads. It will work like a bit like Priceline.com where small shippers, who need to move just one or two pallets, can enter their shipping information, along with how much they're willing to pay. Through One More Pallet's custom software system, shippers will be matched with carriers willing to accept the shipment. It's a win for the carriers, who can earn a little extra money, and for the the shippers, who can save as much as 50 percent off normal shipping costs. "We're recruiting trucking firms and customers who are flexible in their delivery schedules," says company president and local entreprenuer Bill Cunningham. He and Sandy Ambrose, of Without A Doubt Warehouse in Fairfield, are the company co-founders. "If you can be flexible, you save a lot of money. "Sandy came up with the idea. We were talking, and she said, 'I've got some excess capacity on my trucks and one or two more pallets on them would me make more profitable." Since the conversation that sparked the idea, Cunningham and Ambrose have been working on the business idea, including the software system that links shippers and carriers. The software is currently in the pilot stage, with plans for a regional launch this summer. Those interested can get an invitation to the system through the One More Pallet website. "We're going through the customer development process to make sure that our customers get a great experience every time," Cunningham says. The company is getting a lot of interest. It was one of eight chosen for UpTech, a new business informatics incubator launched by several Northern Kentucky institutions, including Northern Kentucky University, Tri-Ed, ezone and Vision 2015. It's an intense, six-month accelerator program that includes $100,000 in funding. Companies selected to participate will also be working with students and faculty at NKU's College of Informatics. It also was selected by the Kauffman Foundation as a finalist in the Startup Open in 2011 from more than 3,000 entries worldwide. By Feoshia Henderson Follow Feoshia on Twitter.

Reser Bicycle pedals across the river

By Evan Wallis

●

Development News

●

May 22, 2012

As Bike Month concludes, Reser Bicycle expands its bicycle knowledge and advocacy into the heart of Over the Rhine. Opening in the first week of June, the second Reser location will be at 1419 Vine St. Reser has been located on Monmouth Street in Newport since owner Jason Reser opened up shop in 2000. Reser has always focused on advocating for a more bike-friendly city; he serves on the board of Queen City Bike. After partnering with new co-owner Bryan Horton, the pair decided an expansion was necessary, and OTR was the prime spot. "We have a lot of customers from the downtown area, so it seemed like the best place to expand," Horton says. "The support from the neighborhood has been incredible. We had a booth at the OTR 5k Summer Celebration and got a lot of positive feedback. We're excited to open up." The 1,000-square-foot OTR store won't be a simple extension of the Newport location. It will have a heavier focus on commuter and used bikes for the urban environment of OTR. About a quarter of the space will be dedicated to selling used bikes, which will vary from road to mountain to commuter bikes based on availability. The shop will also house a large selection of Public Brand bicycles, a simple, everyday bicycle. There will also be cross-merchandising so customers know what sort of products the Newport Reser has available. "We want to give people the kind of bikes they want to ride around the city," Horton says. Beyond bringing bicycles, Horton also hopes the bicycle shop will add to the sense of community on Vine Street. "Not only will it help more people get encouraged to get on their bicycle," Horton says, "I think it sends a positive message that businesses besides restaurants are going to invest in the city. We even have plans down the road to continue to grow." By Evan Wallis

Alias 360 Photos launches to support more dimensions of local businesses

By Newsroom

●

Development News

●

May 15, 2012

When Chris Breeden at Arnold’s wanted his historic business to be the first in the city to offer an interior tour via Google maps, he turned to his neighbors at Alias Imaging for help. He’d seen how Google maps offered 360-degree tours of businesses on the East and West coasts as a way to offer viewers the chance to get a sense of a place’s architecture and ambiance long before, and after, they’d paid a visit. With help from Alias Imaging, led by co-owners and founders John Carrico and Adam Henry, Arnold’s became the first Cincinnati business featured by Google in a virtual tour. In the process, Carrico and Henry launched a new business, Alias 360 Photos, and became “Google Trusted Photographers” in order to add panoramic tours to Google Maps’ pages. Henry explains the certification wasn’t an easy process. “It’s not like we just shoot and upload,” Henry says. “It seems simple and natural, but it’s quite painstaking.” While the duo of polished commercial photographers have worked for a wide range of commercial clients, from Procter & Gamble to local ad agencies to independent businesses like Arnold’s, the certification process required new training on an exacting process that requires them to take dozens of pictures from nearly every vantage point, then use specialized software to conform to Google specifications. On top of all of that, each tour must be aligned with Google satellite images. “The weirdest thing to me is that it requires so many pictures,” says Henry, who, along with Carrico, also provides the photography and video for The Queen City Project, a partnership with Bluestone Creative that has often been featured on Soapbox. Because of the tight guidelines, businesses can be assured of high-quality tours that literally add three dimensions to their web presence. Henry sees that as a cost-effective opportunity, especially for smaller businesses. “For hundreds of dollars, you can get thousands of dollars of material which is priceless exposure on the internet,” he says. Once businesses contract with Alias 360 Photos to create their virtual tours, the photographers get to work, estimating they need no more than a couple of hours of time on-site to get the photos they need. After that point, the Google content is managed for the businesses. “They basically get a whole new website built for them that is hosted on Google places,” Henry says. By Elissa Yancey Follow Elissa on Twitter

Video Art for All takes shape on city streets

By Scott Beseler

●

Architecture + Design

●

May 15, 2012

Soapbox's Scott Beseler takes a tour of the Taft Museum's innovative outdoor art experience, Art for All.

StoreFlix app helps retailers, designers track merchandising efforts

By Newsroom

●

Architecture + Design

●

May 15, 2012

Shoppers who file purposefully down store aisles may think they’re on a personal mission: bread, juice, tissues, bananas. In fact, retailers design their spaces to remind patrons that while they only need one thing, it wouldn’t hurt to grab a few extras along the way. So, visual merchandisers and store designers lay out grocery stores with essentials like produce and dairy along the perimeter; convenience stores line checkout lines with candy and gum; and clothing stores use mannequins to display the latest trends. The problem is, after a store is laid out – particularly stores with multiple brands available – it can be hard to monitor product presentation. The bright pyramid of oranges that was so enticing last week all too quickly becomes a haphazard pile. After more than two decades in the packaged goods industry, Phil Storage wanted a better way to help manufacturers, brokers and sales teams, and retailers monitor visual merchandising plans. “Historically, they wouldn’t be able to visually see anything,” he explains. “Brokers would go into stores … and they would get no visual verification that anything had actually been in compliance [after they left]. They would wait four weeks, and they’d get a report from Nielsen.” Storage’s company, StoreFlix, addresses this problem with a cloud-based, mobile-friendly app that works as well for retailers and designers as it does for brands themselves. Basically, brokers who visit stores or retailers themselves snap photos or videos of product displays on a smart phone or tablet, upload the photos and share them on team-based walls. Tagging allows photos to be sorted and categorized. “They love being able to share successes, big ideas and best practices with their teams in a millisecond,” Storage says. “Historically they wouldn’t be able to share any successes at all until they had a sales meeting a month later.” In some cases, retail chains use StoreFlix to ensure compliance with company-wide visual display plans. In other cases, manufacturers check the app to make sure their products are on shelves. “Whenever you have folks capturing information for a manufacturer, they’re sharing it amongst themselves, but they’re also sharing it with retailers,” Storage says. “We’ve solved a huge problem in this business, which is visual verification for compliance issues and monitoring.” By Robin Donovan

Fifth Quarter in Cincinnati: Not your mother’s summer school

By Deidra Wiley Necco

●

Diversity

●

May 15, 2012

Now in its 4th year, Cincinnati Public Schools’ 5th Quarter program targets under-performing, low-income schools with an extended school year and a collective approach to learning, and fun, that's getting national attention.