Sustainability : For Good

About seven years ago, Crossroads began a transformation that positioned it as more than just a church. Its vision was to focus on ways in which it could serve others—in not just the community, but across the world.
 
Crossroads’ work with GO South Africa was making an impact in the lives of those battling poverty and HIV/AIDS, but at the same time, volunteers began to think about their roles in their own community.
 
Modeled after GO South Africa, a team of volunteers initiated GO Cincinnati. It's an outreach activity that started out with about 1,200 volunteers who completed 65 projects throughout Greater Cincinnati in a single day for nonprofits.
 
“People really connected with the idea of serving their city, and on the front line serving those in need,” says Kelley Kruyer, director of Cincinnati ReachOut projects and leader of GO Cincinnati. “They’re doing the hard work every single day, so we thought it would be cool to thank them for the work they do in our community.”
 
This year, 7,000 volunteers will combine forces on May 18 to complete 400 projects that range from painting and landscaping to putting up drywall and serving meals.
 
According to Kruyer, the best parts of GO Cincinnati are the long-term relationships Crossroads has formed over the years with the organizations it serves.
 
“We know their buildings, their properties, their needs, and we know how to best help them, so sometimes we put together a multi-year plan, and it gives them the peace of mind and helps them to budget so they don’t have to spend money on things that we’re happy to help with,” Kruyer says. “It’s just a really special day.”
 
Kruyer, who grew up in Northern Kentucky, left her hometown in the ‘80s. During that 10-year period of her life, she says she wondered what she was doing because everyone and everything she loved was here. She says that's the kind of passion for the city that drives Crossroads to engage and reach out.
 
“We love our city—and by Cincinnati, we mean all of it—from Burlington to Middletown to Amelia to Cleves—the whole Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area,” Kruyer says. "We’re just totally committed to making it one of the best places in the country to live.” 

Do Good:

• Find a nonprofit that interests you and lend a helping hand.

• Assist Crossroads in its volunteer efforts throughout the year.

• Like Crossroads 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. 

Designers, do-it-yourselfers, the environmentally friendly and people who generally enjoy a good time will gather May 17 for Northside’s fourth annual ReUse-apalooza.
 
Building Value and its parent-organization, Easter Seals TriState, host the annual event to raise awareness about reuse and to support on-the-job training and other programs that assist people with disabilities.

This year’s event will include the Designer Challenge, which highlights some of the work BV does. The organization reuses building materials to create everything from useful pieces for the home to works of art.
 
Items will also be up for auction, and according to Lisa Doxsee, communications manager for EST and BV, it’s a way to “assist individuals with disabilities and disadvantages to more fully live, learn, work and play in their communities.”
 
Each year, the event raises close to $30,000 of unrestricted funds, which allows the closely connected nonprofits to further their missions by enabling individuals who might otherwise have difficult times securing employment to learn necessary skills and gain experience.
 
“They just can’t seem to get both feet on the ground at the same time, and they just need some assistance in getting the education or the training they need and the opportunity to learn,” Doxsee says. “When they do, they’re able to move out and get their own jobs and fully support themselves and often start to train others—it’s really a cool thing to watch.”
 
Not only does BV help put people to work, but the organization also helps keep materials out of area landfills.
 
“What we do is go into a home, and maybe you wanted a new kitchen cabinet set, so we take out your kitchen cabinets in a way that it can be reused and resold,” Doxsee says. “We’ve taken down full homes and salvaged 60 to 70 percent of the home with the lumber and products that come out of that.”
 
The ultimate goal, however, is to provide the ability to succeed to those who have encountered barriers in the past—whether those barriers be physical, mental, economic or educational.
 
“We believe that every person deserves to feel the thrill of success—no matter what that success is,” Doxsee says. “So everything we do is to try to help empower those individuals to find success in whatever it is that they need.”

Do Good:

• Support Building Value and Easter Seals TriState by purchasing a ticket to ReUse-apalooza.

• Donate to Building Value and Easter Seals TriState.

• Volunteer with Building Value and Easter Seals TriState.

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. 
 

Santa Maria Community Services’ Health and Wellness Program has served as a vital resource for uninsured and underinsured Price Hill residents and Cincinnati community members since 2001.  

About 30 percent of the organization’s clients are Spanish-speaking individuals who are new to the country and need assistance when it comes to navigating the healthcare system.

“We have a pocket here,” says Laura Brinson, director of the wellness program. “Some of the Spanish speakers come from very rural pockets of Central American countries—Guatemala is a big one in this part of town. And a lot of the clients we serve need that extra helping hand to get access to needed medical services.” 

Brinson says clients are particularly grateful that there are individuals who are willing to help them—so much so that at the organization’s most recent health fair this month, two clients wanted to give back because of the services Santa Maria had provided them in the past. So they and their reggae band played for participants.

Santa Maria provides two health fairs a year with free screenings and health-related information, but Brinson says the nonprofit tries to go above and beyond the typical format for a health fair. 

“We collect results for each person at the health fair, and then instead of sending them on their way and giving them a flier because their cholesterol may be high, we follow up with each and every one of the clients to make sure they understood their results and also help them get into a medical home,” Brinson says. 

“They might not have a primary care physician to go talk to about their results, so we follow up and help them enroll in a clinic, we provide education, answer questions—we try to work with them throughout the year and make sure they get the help they need to help improve their outcomes.” 

In addition to offering health fairs and providing general assistance with finding doctors and understanding transportation routes to clinics and pharmacies, the wellness program provides translators who can explain medical information to clients and help individuals fill out financial aid forms for treatment. They even offer cooking classes that emphasize healthy options. 

“Good health is essential to all things in life," Brinson says. "You can’t be a productive worker at your job if you’re not healthy—you can’t be a parent to the best of your ability if you’re not healthy yourself. So many people lack access to proper care, and I’m passionate about making sure they get the services they need so they’re able to take better control of their lives, their health and feel better so they can be more proactive and productive members of their society.” 

Do Good: 

• Take your family to Carnival the Day Away at Washington Park on May 11. All proceeds benefit Santa Maria Community Services.

• Support the Wellness Program's efforts by registering to attend the Bienestar Recognition Luncheon. 

• Support Santa Maria by donating money or items to the organization.

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. 

ReSource redistributed products to assist 330 local charities last year, and it has the potential to be able to reach even more organizations this year through its two new programs, which the nonprofit will unveil at its May 15 Launch Party in Sharonville. 

For more than 20 years, ReSource has collected surplus donations from corporations, and then made items like office furniture and personal care products available to nonprofits for pennies on the dollar. 

“We’re the connector to the nonprofit organizations,” says Development Director Martha Steier. She says ReSource’s ability to bring businesses together has broadened her ability to make an impact in the community. 

Steier says the organization’s mission is to help build stronger nonprofits, so ReSource provides warehouse space for member organizations to come shop for what they need.

“So much we have here with a little creativity and a little open-mindedness can be put together for reuse,” Steier says. 

In addition to offering needed items for low-cost purchase, ReSource will now offer items for rental with its Event Décor Rentals program.

“We’ve had—for about five or six years—a fall fundraiser, as many nonprofits do, and we have a decorations committee who is responsible for decorating tables and making invitations,” Steier says. “And we’ve had several board members that do these same events for other nonprofits, and everyone borrows from everybody else, or they go and buy things and end up storing them in their basements.” 

Rather than buying things and getting limited use from them, ReSource had the idea to get donations for décor, store the items in the warehouse space and then make them available for rental. This allows nonprofits to save money, which they can instead put toward serving the community, Steier says. 

In addition to the Event Décor Rentals program, ReSource will launch its room makeover program, which already has two clients: the YWCA Clermont County women’s shelter and the Lower Price Hill Community School.

ReSource has several architects on its board with the skill and talent to show rather than tell community members the benefits of the nonprofit. 
 
With an all-volunteer design team, ReSource will create specifications to transform rooms within area nonprofits so that they are more useable and conducive to serving the organization’s mission. 

For example, ReSource will replace ripped carpet and make the YWCA’s living room more inviting for women and children. The organization will also renovate a 50-year-old annex within the LPHCS so that it can serve as a classroom for individuals enrolled in the Cincinnati State Technical and Community College’s Bridge program.

“It’s sometimes hard to explain our story,” Steier says. “We really want to be able to show everyone what nonprofits can do with the corporate donations.” 

For the past 38 years, People Working Cooperatively has worked to keep homeowners safely and securely in their homes. Now the nonprofit thinks it has come up with a business model that extends beyond its mission by reaching entire communities, as opposed to just PWC-served homeowners.

CADMUS, in conjunction with the University of Cincinnati Economics Center, recently released results from its 2009 study that evaluated PWC’s performance. And results revealed economic, academic and health-related benefits for a wide range of individuals. 

Energy conservation, for example, is one of PWC’s focus areas, so when the organization receives a call that a homeowner can’t afford their fuel bill, the nonprofit sends a professional who is equipped with the knowledge of energy conservation into the home to assess the situation and lead volunteers in arranging for a more ideal situation.  

The study revealed energy savings of about $248 dollars per year per client, which in turn, saves taxpayers money. 

According to Jock Pitts, PWC's president, the organization’s energy conservation efforts have reduced the amount of subsidy needed to cover low-income homeowners’ fuel bills. So everybody saves.

“Social service is a great thing—everybody would love to provide benefits to people because it’s charitable and it’s in their heart to do that,” Pitts says. “When times are tough, making an investment in someone that is both charitable but cost-effective. Finding that nexus between what’s cost-effective and also helpful to people.”  

In addition to energy conservation, PWC provides critical home repairs, in addition to accommodations that increase residents’ mobility so they can afford to stay in their homes rather than move to subsidized housing or a nursing/extended care facility. 

Study results indicated that PWC-served homes had a housing value that was 6.5 to 10.5 percent higher than similar homes that were not serviced, and homes surrounding PWC-serviced homes went up 1 to 3 percent in value. 

“If PWC doesn’t make this intervention, these homes deteriorate, and people leave the home because they’re forced to, and those are the homes that you hear about or you see in other cities, much more commonly than in Cincinnati, that are abandoned—and who pays for that?” Pitts says. “So you’ve got the homeowner off at some place with subsidized living, then you’ve got an empty cell of a home that’s bringing property values down across the neighborhood. So PWC’s intervention saves the home, gets the people to be able to stay there longer and safer, and then increases the values of the homes in the neighborhood.” 

Not only does PWC bring about economic and environmental benefits, but elderly individuals are healthier, as falls are reduced because of the installation of bathroom rails, for example. And individuals are able to get in and out of their homes to get to the doctor because of increased mobility options, Pitts says. 

Children are also doing better in schools because they do not have to move frequently from their homes, find new friends and change school districts as often. The study indicates that children in PWC-served homes did 15 percent better in reading and 17 percent better in math than children living in homes that did not receive PWC services. 

“It’s an unintended benefit, but still, isn’t it great that it occurs?” Pitts says. “We were able to pull this together and come up with a business model that is touching upon some really important issues our country doesn’t know how to handle right now, and they all benefit, so I’d love for this model to be able to spread.” 

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.

Poet and teacher Pauletta Hansel leads a group of 13 women toward spiritual and personal growth in her weekly Practice of Poetry class at Grailville, a retreat center that takes up more than 300 acres of farmland in Loveland. 

The women meet in a 19th-century Victorian home where they learn, write, listen and share their work with one another.
 
In one of her most recent classes, Hansel says the group of writers looked at the “events, people and places that live on in our memory in a way that we always come back to them as personal touchstones.” 

The women work together to see what they can “make come alive” in each other’s work, Hansel says. Just this past week, they had the opportunity to share their work on a larger scale through their partnership with The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County for the 15th annual Poetry in the Garden Series. 

Seven of the 13 women from Practice of Poetry read their work in front of the audience of 58. Though most have read their poems in front of others before, Hansel says the event provided many of them with their first real opportunity to share in a more public way.   

“One woman read a poem that she had brought recently to craft class, and that was about a moment when both her parents were still alive, and she walked in and saw them in a very quiet, intimate moment at the kitchen table,” Hansel says. “It was about how moving that was for her to see her parents sitting quietly holding hands and taking that moment to—you know, [with] illness and their children’s worry swirling around them—to just be quiet and just be in love.” 

It’s these powerful and important life moments that Hansel’s poets and other community members have the opportunity to share during the Poetry in the Garden Series, which features contest winners in addition to local and regional poets who appreciate the art of poetry. 

“They’ve worked incredibly hard to promote and create a group of readers that is really diverse,” Hansel says. “There are some academically connected poets, but most in the group are community poets. They are people who are working in other walks of life who are using poetry as a way to communicate.”

The series also provides audience members with the chance to read their work at an open mic session that follows each set of readings. 

Hansel says participation in the Poetry in the Garden Series was incredibly meaningful to her group of poets because many of them are inspired by listening to what they hear. 

“Just coming and having the opportunity to use writing as a way to pay attention to their own inner lives and listen to themselves and be listened to by other women is the most important thing.”

Do Good: 

• Learn more about Grailville's programs, and register to participate. A new Practice of Poetry series will begin this summer with registration opportunities coming soon.

• Attend readings or share your own work at the Poetry in the Garden Series, which takes place at 7 p.m. each Tuesday in April.

• Like Grailville and The Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County on Facebook to keep up with each organization's latest news and 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. 

Part of Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation’s mission is to create spaces that are open and welcoming; and one way 3CDC achieves its mission is by offering an array of programs within its two public spaces: Fountain Square and Washington Park.

Beginning April 5 at Washington Park, EcoSculpt installations will be on display in an effort to not only raise awareness about green living, but also to recognize and celebrate local artists. 

“Washington Park is in the center of the arts community—we’re across from Music Hall and SCPA is right next door—so we’re always astounded by the level of creativity surrounding the park,” says Brittney Carden, communications officer at 3CDC. “So we want to in turn promote some of that creativity and open people’s minds.” 

In years past, EcoSculpt, which is a collection of sculptures made entirely of recycled materials, has taken place at Fountain Square, but Carden says 3CDC wanted to move the event to Washington Park so that it would reach a greater variety of people and encourage them to maintain the spaces that are intentioned for their use.

“People might look at Coke cans or bottle caps and see at it as garbage—nothing can be made from that—and that’s not true,” Carden says. “People have made fantastic art from a lot of these recyclable materials that we no longer value.” 

Tom Tsuchiya’s “Atlas Recycled,” which is a seven-foot tall sculpture made of recycled cans and bottles, was a 2010 EcoSculpt submission that gained national recognition. It traveled to New York City’s Grand Central Terminal and Washington D.C.’s National Mall. Carden says it's these types of memorable pieces that showcase local talent through the lens of reusing and recycling items often viewed as trash. 

“We’re showing that these items do in fact have a use, and something beautiful and wonderful can be made from them,” Carden says. “Hopefully EcoSculpt will attract more [people] to the park and promote eco-friendly living.”

Do Good: 

• View the EcoSculpt exhibit April 5-26 at Washington Park.

• Attend events at Washington Park. 

• Like Washington Park'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.

Since September 2011, ChangingGears has rehabbed 30 donated vehicles with the aim of providing affordable transportation to those in need; and at the end of March, the nonprofit will provide its first client with a car.

“I think she’ll be a really great client,” says Joel Bokelman, ChangingGears’ president. “She had owned vehicles, had a good job; but because of health issues, [she] couldn’t work and her finances became a mess—and part of that was she wasn’t able to keep her car—so she has been getting around on the bus for the last 12 years.” 

Getting around on the bus isn’t that easy, according to Bokelman, who says most high-paying, entry-level jobs are located near the airport or in the northern suburbs—in locations that are oftentimes hard to reach via public transportation.

“For folks who are job-ready, transportation is consistently in the top three needs or areas of need or hurdles that need to be overcome,” Bokelman says. But ChangingGears hopes to ease that burden for others by providing affordable, safe and reliable vehicles. 

As a residential partner of the CityLink Center, ChangingGears provides CityLink clients who have gained employment through Cincinnati Works and who have developed and successfully lived on a budget for at least three months, with a vehicle at fair-market value, which they can purchase with a no-interest loan. 

As CityLink clients work with SmartMoney Community Services to learn about finances and budgeting their money, they also attend classes at ChangingGears in preparation for owning and maintaining a vehicle. 

“We teach them about what it really costs to own a car—it’s not just paying for the car—it’s the gas, insurance and maintenance and everything about the legal requirements, the licensing and auto insurance and car seats,” Bokelman says. “And then we teach a hands-on basic maintenance class—how to check your oil, how to jumpstart a car, how to change a flat tire—the majors dos and don’ts of driving.” 

Bokelman says the nonprofit understands, however, that cars “break and can quickly become a burden for someone who has a fragile support structure around them,” so ChangingGears has created a business model that provides clients with a one-year warranty that covers free maintenance and repairs as long as clients provide the parts. 

“We want to make sure they’re empowered through ownership,” Bokelman says. “For many of them, this will be the first major asset they’ve ever owned and that they’ve purchased themselves with no government assistance, and to see that as really a stepping stone of ‘I own this. What’s next?’—that’s really a big part of it.” 

Do Good: 

• Donate your used vehicle to directly support clients in need of a car. Your donation is tax deductible for fair market value, and ChangingGears will pick up your vehicle and handle all paperwork.  

• Volunteer as a mechanic or as a workshop leader with ChangingGears by signing up through CityLink and attending a training session. 

• Contact ChangingGears if you are interested in forming a business partnership or if you are interested in donating in-kind contributions. 

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.

For the past month, Cincinnati Parks’ naturalists have been busy tapping sugar maples, collecting sap and boiling it down to produce real maple syrup. They’ve even taught the public how to make use of their own backyards to do the same. 

With March quickly approaching, maple season will come to a close, but not without celebrating what Explore Nature! program assistant manager Erin Morris refers to as “Maple Madness.” 

Maple in Mt. Airy and Pancakes in the Woods are “for those who maybe aren’t interested in doing it in their backyard, but for those who love the sweet success of the season, who want to taste that and who want to learn a little bit about the history,” says Morris. 

For decades, Cincinnati Parks’ representatives have worked to relay the importance of nature education to the public.

“When we started in the 1930s, technology was pretty minimal—we only had vehicles in the last 20 years, so people were outside,” says Morris. “There was no air conditioning, and they’d often sleep outside during the summer season, so people were much more connected to the outdoors and natural experiences.” 

With a changing culture and a technologically oriented society, Morris says people have lost the connection with the outdoors. The Explore Nature! program aims to remedy that, however, and celebratory maple sugaring events are some of the ways in which it teaches people about the outdoors. 

At both maple events, participants begin with a pancake breakfast, where they enjoy the syrup that’s been produced by the trees surrounding them. They then go on to learn the story and process behind maple sugaring. 

Following breakfast at Maple in Mt. Airy, participants are immersed in the time period. They ride through the woods in a hay wagon to an area where naturalists dressed as Native Americans and pioneers teach about the first uses of maple syrup in the United States through taste-testing and hands-on experiences that explain photosynthesis and the ways trees provide nutrients for both humans and nature. 

“When people think of maple sugaring, they think of Canada because they have the sugar maple leaves on their flag, but Ohio’s been producing maple syrup since the Native Americans in the 1700s,” Morris says. “It’s getting back to our history in Ohio—and even history in Cincinnati—but also having that connection with local products.” 

Maple Madness events take place throughout the first two weekends of March. 

Do Good:

• Register your family, friends or student group for Maple in Mt. Airy.

• Enjoy pancakes cooked by celebrity chefs and learn about maple sugaring at Pancakes in the Woods at the California Woods Nature Preserve.

• Like Cincinnati Parks on Facebook, and join and share their events with your friends.

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. 

From organizing events involving beer and historic churches to providing affordable housing and jobs to those who have struggled to attain them in the past, the Over-the-Rhine Foundation does a little bit of everything. And it's all for the purpose of reinventing and celebrating a diverse, historically-rooted community.

At the beginning of February, Kevin Pape, who’s lived in Cincinnati his whole life and who grew up with a fondness for the OTR community, stepped up to the role of president of the foundation. 

OTR has been a part of Pape’s family history for multiple generations, so he’s someone who understands what the community has to offer. 

His grandparents lived in OTR and operated a business there until 1935, though it was actually started back in 1850. Pape lived in the community himself for about four years in the 1970s, and his office at Gray & Pape—a cultural resource management and historic preservation consulting firm—just celebrated 23 years at its Main Street location.

Pape says because of his background, he deals with the renovation of historic buildings all the time, but his vision for OTR contains much more than the preservation of buildings.

“I think my interest really is in community-building,” Pape says. “The message is that it’s really all about putting people back into historic buildings and finding ways to do that in a meaningful way.” 

One way Pape and the OTRF plan to build on that vision is through their strategic plan, which entails owner-occupied redevelopment, historic preservation and the goal of making OTR the greenest historic neighborhood in the country. 

“We also want to encourage people who are investing in the neighborhood to seek ways to provide meaningful employment and jobs for people that live in the neighborhood who may not have had access to opportunities before,” Pape says. 

While working to show that “green buildings, sustainable buildings, LEED certification and historic preservation are actually compatible,” the OTRF also helps organize events like Bockfest, which Pape says showcases what’s good and great about the community.

This year, the nonprofit, in conjunction with American Legacy Tours, is offering historic church tours, which will highlight the architecture and stories of four different 19th century landmarks within the community.

 “When you think about the size of OTR and the number of churches, it gives you a good sense about the density of people and the diversity even at that time that would have such a population to support a variety of churches,” says Pape.   

It’s that diversity that has withstood the test of time, and which Pape says the community embraces at all levels.  

“Socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, you name it,” Pape says. “It provides residential density that allows people to share ideas and celebrate those differences in being able to all live in a compact place at one time. It’s about not only economic vitality, but residential vitality.” 

About a month ago, a donation from Green BEAN Delivery to the Freestore Foodbank brought a recently unemployed young woman and mother of three to tears when she went to pick up food for her family. 

“She knew the importance of fresh fruits and fresh vegetables for her kids, and typically, her meal money and her food money doesn’t go that far,” says Kurt Reiber, president and CEO of the FSFB. 

Reiber says people often try to “stretch their resources,” which often means buying food that is affordable but also unhealthy. 

Because of FSFB’s efforts to put healthy foods on the tables of about 300,000 food-insecure individuals throughout the region—110,000 of whom are children—fresh produce and healthy eating habits are increasingly becoming more ingrained in the lifestyles of our neighbors in need. 

As a result of a longtime partnership with Green BEAN Delivery, FSFB recently received 2,200 pounds of fresh produce to distribute to local pantries and food banks, which Reiber says will go a long way for the families FSFB supports. 

“These are people who really don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” Reiber says. “They’re coming because the car broke down or one of their children has gotten sick or their utility bills are out of whack and they spent the money they otherwise would have spent on food on those bills, so when I talk about paycheck to paycheck, that’s really it.” 

Most of the recipients of FSFB’s donations visit the food banks or pantries just five times a year, according to Reiber. “It’s the community supporting the neighbors that are just down the street,” he says. “Most of them are going to church with them, or their kids see them at school.” 

Reiber is appreciative of the Green BEAN Delivery’s donation because he says it has helped to provide healthy foods during a time of the year when the nonprofit is particularly in need. 

In November and December and throughout the holiday season, he says, people recognize the problem of hunger, and donations come in with an abundance; but hunger is a problem that doesn’t go away. “The reality is that the following week, when we turn the page on the calendar, we’re still looking at folks out there that are hungry and don’t know where their next meal is coming from,” Reiber says. 

Because of partnerships with community organizations and individuals, FSFB ensures that 35 to 40 percent of its food distribution is composed of fresh fruits and vegetables. Through its community farming program, The Giving Fields, FSFB was able to provide 175,000 pounds of fresh produce to 12 food pantries in Northern Kentucky last year; and that number, according to Reiber, will continue to grow. 

“Our goal is to have it so that 50 percent of all the food we distribute will be fresh, nutritious produce and fruits, and that’s something we’re going to continue to strive to get to.” 

Do Good: 

• Support the Freestore Foodbank by making a donation.

• Start a virtual food drive and encourage your family and friends to partcipate. 

• Spread the word about hunger by liking and sharing Freestore Foodbank'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.

Aubree Forrer runs a one-woman show at the Campbell County Environmental Education Center. From maintaining taxidermy displays, fish tanks, birding areas and trails, to coordinating and leading free activities to engage the public and educate them about the environment, she does it all. 

Forrer started working at the Center about two years ago, and ever since, she’s kept busy by immersing herself in nature and sharing her love of the outdoors and all of the living things that inhabit it with others. 

In the past few weeks, she’s led night hikes and activities where people have had the opportunity to build birdhouses and bird feeders. 

“Little kids and adults both enjoy it,” Forrer says. 

While leading night hikes, Forrer says she uses experiments and hands-on activities to engage children and get them excited about nature. 

“I do one activity where I blow up balloons, and you have to guess the color of it, and most times, you get the color wrong,” she says. “I shine a light in it, and that teaches you about rod cells and cone cells in your eyes and how it’s different from humans to nocturnal animals, and you see that the color of your prey—like an owl trying to capture a mouse—isn’t as important as seeing the shape or shadows of that mouse.”

Then participants sit in a group and actually watch the owls in action. Forrer says owls are just one of the many animals in the area. Those involved in the hiking program get to see bats, badgers and possums, among other wild animals. 

One of Forrer’s favorite activities, and perhaps one of the most popular at the Center, is coming up in March, when people come together to make a nesting wreath for birds. At this event, Forrer provides the public with twigs, wheat, feathers, fur and other materials that they can piece together, which birds can later pick apart, as they gather supplies for a nest.

“So if you put it by your house or on the side of it, you can watch the birds gather that material from your wreath,” Forrer says. “It’s a lot of fun because you can use your own creativity in terms of making it as colorful as you want and decorating it.” 

While Forrer prepares for events, she also puts together educational supplies so she can provide people with a PowerPoint, for example, so they can take it home and see pictures of birds in the area and know how to identify them as they gather material from the nesting wreaths. Forrer says activities like this are nice—especially for the kids who live in the city who don’t have as much involvement with nature. 

“A lot of kids in the city areas that don’t really get to go outside and be in the woods, they can come out here and see things they normally don’t get to see, and they can ask questions—normally they’re always full of them,” says Forrer. “Sometimes it sparks their interest and they want to come out here all the time, every other weekend or so, and their parents are making the trip out here to just take a walk outside or come in our building and look at our different animals and our fish tanks.” 

Forrer says she’s fallen in love with teaching kids about nature and that she's living her dream job. Though she has quite the responsibility, as she’s the only employee at the Center, she loves every minute of it and couldn’t be happier to be achieving her mission.

“My ultimate goal is to educate the public, especially kids, about what the environment has to offer and how they can help preserve it, help it and use some of the things that natures provides us with to learn from.” 

Uptown Consortium, an organization dedicated to building up and revitalizing the neighborhoods of uptown Cincinnati, currently has about $700 million worth of development that has been completed, is underway or will be completed in the next 12 months, says Beth Robinson, president and CEO of the nonprofit. 

“We were looking for a way we could reach out to the residents and make sure they’re participating in the economic and development boom here in Uptown,” Robinson says. 

So the organization partnered with the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati to sponsor and modify sections of its SOAR Program and Construction Connections apprenticeship. 

Robinson says the Urban League’s programs are a perfect fit because they have high job-placement rates for their graduates and are also located in Uptown. 

“A few years ago, we did some work in this area and did a session with HR representatives from the big institutions up here—an informational session—and from that, we learned job readiness is something that our residents here who are out of work could really benefit from," she says.

To help address that issue, SOAR, which is a three-week program that provides training in areas like resume writing, interviewing and employer expectations, will help to prepare Uptown residents and then help them gain employment.

Once participants complete SOAR, they are encouraged to take part in the Construction Connections program if they show an interest in the trade. Through the eight-week program, participants learn the basic skills needed to secure employment. “Urban League is great because they have working relationships for job placement with all the big construction companies in town,” Robinson says. 

Uptown Consortium is looking at its sponsorship of the two programs as a pilot project, but Robinson says she’s confident that it will be successful. If all goes as planned, about 25 Uptown residents will go from unemployed to employed in the coming months, with 15 of those residents working on the construction and developments in their community that will improve livability and promote place-making. 

“We’re really excited,” Robinson says. “We feel like it really adds value for Uptown residents.”

Do Good: 

• Learn more about SOAR and similar programs by visiting the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati's website.

• Keep up with all the news from Uptown Cincinnati by liking its page on Facebook.

• Be a part of community building in Uptown by checking out the events happening in the area.

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. 

Kyle Campbell remembers designing his first house when he was home sick from school in the fourth grade. 

“Ever since then, going through high school, while most people would go out and do things, I would actually build models of houses I designed just for fun,” he says. “Coming into architecture was sort of a long time coming.” 

Campbell, who currently serves as the Architectural Foundation of Cincinnati’s board member for the Architecture by Children program, did not initially make the decision to major in architecture, but he says the built environment has always had a huge impact on him. 

“I was a huge LEGO nerd,” says Campbell. “So the thought of building space and constructing things and designing things has always been a big part of who I am.” 

Now Campbell is sharing his childhood love with others in the ABC program. Jointly sponsored by the AFC and a local chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the program aims to teach architectural principles to students through hands-on projects, as explained by volunteer architects. 
 
Campbell is one of those volunteers, but he’s also working to evaluate the program by matching it with the Ohio Department of Education's academic content standards to ensure that it has a lasting educational impact. 

“The AFC, as of this year, has decided that we want to take a more invested role in how the program unfolds because essentially, what we’ve been in the past is a donor of money,” Campbell says. “We’d like to be able to provide more manpower and more resources to help it be more successful.” 

The program currently reaches about 60 schools and 1,100 students, with ideally one architect assigned to each school. Participating students are tasked with a new project each year. This year, they are designing a museum of their choice for a space at 12th and Vine streets downtown. 

One seventh grade student has envisioned a nature museum with a river running throughout and a grand staircase with water flowing from the roof to simulate a waterfall that flows into an outdoor pond the public can enjoy. Her museum also contains a fountain enclosed in glass so people who are not inside the museum can interact with it.

“It’s just amazing coming from a seventh grader because those are the things I’d dream to do in a real-world project,” Campbell says. “The most important thing is to keep the kids understanding that it’s okay to be creative and to think outside the box.”

Campbell says he’s proud of the architecture this city has to offer, and he’s made it a personal goal to help the AFC achieve its mission of “educating the greater community of Cincinnati on the built environment.” 

“Most people don’t realize that Cincinnati has a fantastic history in architecture; it’s actually one of the most historical cities in the development of modern architecture,” Campbell says. “I want to be able to use the AFC as a way of educating the general public on those kinds of things.” 

Do Good: 

• View ABC student projects at the downtown branch of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County during the week of April 13-20. 

• Contact the AFC if you live in a home or know of a historically significant building that you'd like to share or learn more about. 

• Attend the AFC's exhibit,  ENVISION CINCINNATI. 

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.