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News Politics

New Cincinnati non-profit takes on education equality

A newly formed Cincinnati-based non-profit is attempting to take on one of the more complex issues facing cities: Education. DevonshireSmith Diversity & Education Solutions (DVS) was launched last week with the goal of increasing high school and college graduation rates among minority groups.

DVS emphasizes that a lack of educational opportunities within minority communities can lead to other significant issues such as poverty. The non-profit points out that, in 2008, the median earnings of young adults (ages 25-34) with a bachelor’s degree was $46,000; $36,000 for those with an associate’s degree, $30,000 for those who complete high school, and $23,500 for those who did not earn a high school diploma or equivalent.

The progressive group will utilize community and school based initiatives, while also working towards filling service gaps and support for non-profit organizations, high schools, colleges, and universities. Some of the group’s projects include campus diversity education, curriculum development, and recruitment and retention plans.

Michael D. Griffin, Co-Founder and DVS Executive Director says “DevonshireSmith aims to shift the public conversation from the equality of educational access of minoritized groups to the equity of educational attainment for these groups.”

According to DVS, the state of education for minority groups has two major hurdles to overcome. First, the number of minority students being retained and graduating from high school and college has either become stagnant or is on the decline. Secondly, education and youth professionals are lacking the required level of cultural familiarity to effectively address the significant needs facing these students.

DVS believes that youth development and empowerment can lead to an increased number of minority graduates, thus leading to stronger communities in Cincinnati’s urban core. To help achieve their goals, DVS has created a plan that consists of three organizational hallmarks:

  1. A comprehensive youth development strategy that focuses on academic success, self-assessment, heightened expectations, personal development, character development, leadership development, civic engagement, career exploration, cultural/social justice education, and post-baccalaureate education exploration.
  2. A comprehensive community based approach that includes the participation of parents and other surrogate caregivers, educational institutions, the nonprofit community, the faith community, and the corporate community.
  3. Creating a process for educational institutional transformation that includes the participation of better prepared and engaged students and more culturally competent faculty, administrators, practitioners, and staff.

The most astonishing statistic provided by DVS compares the cost of a college education with that of a prison inmate. The group states that The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction spends about $2 billion annually, an average cost of $25,367 per inmate each year. Conversely, in 2008-2009, the average cost for one-year of tuition fees at a four-year public university in Ohio was $8,588 according to CollegeAdvantage 2010 data.

At the same time, the average reading level of inmates is at a grade level of 7.5, while 80 percent of the offenders are high school drop outs. According to the Ohio Department Rehabilitation & Correction, approximately 30 percent of the males and 20 percent of the females read at less than a 6th grade level and are considered functionally illiterate. DVS is hoping that they can begin to reverse these numbers by reaching out to a ‘hard to serve’ population in a more direct fashion.

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Arts & Entertainment Business News

Hive13 celebrates first year as Cincinnati’s hackerspace

A self-driving remote control car, a refurbished arcade game cabinet, and a MakerBot 3D printer are just a few of the things you may find at the Hive13 hackerspace.  Hive13 is not just a physical location, it has also become a community where hackers, artists, and other creatives come together to share ideas and work on projects they dream up.

In 2009, a group of 20 people began talking about bringing a hackerspace to Cincinnati.  After two months of planning, they moved into a former Camp Washington warehouse and set up shop.  Today, members of Hive13 have 24-hour access to the workspace and a variety of tools to help them with their projects.

Hive13 is still acquiring new tools — like a laser cutter that can pierce wood, plastic, or metal — and working on new projects — like a weather balloon connected to an Android-powered cell phone for communications.

To celebrate their first year of operation, Hive13 is throwing a party on Saturday, July 24 at their hackerspace, located at 2929 Spring Grove Avenue.  Music, refreshments, and games will start around 7pm.  One of the activities, at the party, will be “laser graffiti,” which allows you to virtually graffiti a building using a laser, webcam, and projector.  A silent auction will also be held to raise money for the group.

Follow @Hive13 on Twitter to stay up-to-date, and learn more about the group from this Soapbox Cincinnati video:

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Arts & Entertainment Development News

Dave Rolfes: A Year at UrbanCincy

It was exactly one year ago today that I published my first UrbanCincy post. It was a riveting piece to be sure, about the Cincy Beer Fest that was being held in <gasp!> Covington, KY. I had long been a resident of the Cincinnati area, always to the north of the river, but a move about two years prior into the Covington portion of our urban core had really helped me start to see our area in a different light. So the fact that my first UrbanCincy post captured what some considered to be a poorly named festival actually made total sense to me. It was a uniquely Cincinnati event that happened to stretch a few blocks south of the Ohio River, just as I had myself.

After spending many years on the sidelines and being a mostly passive member of the community, getting started helping with UrbanCincy gave me a chance to explore the world around me in a new and unique way. Having a part in the story telling of the rebirth of Cincinnati is not only something I take great pride in, it is something that has exponentially increased my passion for the Queen City. In these parts, depending on who you listen to, or who you read, it is easy to get bogged down in a lot of negativity about our fair city. I believe though, that the reality of the situation is quite different, and I am not alone. In fact, there is a growing group of energetic people involved in making Cincinnati a great place to live, work and play and UrbanCincy put me on the path to finding them.

As UrbanCincy has helped rekindle my passion about Cincinnati, it has also helped me become more involved with the community. As you know we are in favor of rail transit as urban development, so I spent time volunteering with Cincinnatians for Progress. We are passionate about activity in the urban core, so I played in the Fountain Square Broomball League. We are of course focused on doing everything we can to make the Cincinnati Streetcar a reality, so I went down to City Council and spoke my piece about the $64M bond issue to help fund it.

The beauty of all this is that I learned that Cincinnati is a place where anyone can make a difference and that is truly the most eye opening part of the past year. Try going to a bigger city, say Chicago, and helping shape the future of the city. That is quite a large city to have your voice heard and impact change, good luck. You could head to a smaller town where it may be easier to make a difference, but you will not find near the amount of activity and development like you see in Cincinnati. To me, and to many, we are at the right time and the right place in Cincinnati to step up and really impact the future.

The urban core of Cincinnati has an incredible amount of momentum right now: Cincinnati Streetcar is on the way; The Banks and Central Riverfront Park are taking shape; 21c Hotel is coming; people are choosing to live, work, and play downtown. However, it is not only the changing environment around us that will attract and retain talent; it is this chance to get involved as well. The chance to make a difference and have an impact is not something that is easily seen or easily measured, but it is what will keep our momentum sustainable for years to come.

While UrbanCincy has helped me find my way and my voice and increase my engagement as it relates to the future of Cincinnati, it is definitely not the only way to get involved. I encourage you to take a look around, and if you aren’t already, start to view this city as a place with a bright future. There are too many good things happening for there not to be a substantial positive change in our city. I ask you to think about what inspires you, and reflect on it. I recommend you go out and find a way to make Cincinnati a better place to live. You will not regret it, I know I haven’t.

Categories
Development News

Newport’s Southshore condominium tower promises life, luxury, fantastic views

Newport saw the completion of its first high-rise tower when the 21-story SouthShore condominium tower began welcoming residents over a year ago. With much of the tower now occupied, UrbanCincy was invited to tour the dramatic riverfront building to see where it stands now.

The building soars 240 feet above Newport, overlooking the Daniel Carter Beard “Big Mac” Bridge and downtown Cincinnati. SouthShore’s 61 luxury condominium units range in size from 1br to a 5,000 square-foot penthouse that encompasses the entire 21st floor. Condominiums range from $395,000 to $3.3 million for the large penthouse unit.

One of the most unique features of the SouthShore tower is its front loaded design that allows each unit to face north toward the Ohio River and downtown Cincinnati – a common design approach in high-end, waterfront residential towers. The building was intentionally designed with all of the mechanical features facing away from the river so that all the residents have stunning views of downtown, Mt. Adams and the river. Each unit also features a terrace, which range in size from a modest sitting area to an enormous 3,000 square-foot outdoor terrace for the penthouse.

With potential flooding being a concern for the structure, architects designed the building to be integrated right into the levee. The first four floors of the structure is a parking garage for residents and visitors, which feature two sets of floodwalls. If the City of Newport must shut their floodwall to protect the city from rising waters, residents at SouthShore can still exit from the complex’s private floodgate. The building then narrows as it rises from the garage, creating ample rooftop deck space for a swimming pool with fountains and a hot tub, an 1,800 square-foot fitness center, putting green, walking trails, gardens, and a two-level clubhouse for residents.

On the ground level, many of the residents use a secure storage area for their bicycles and segways. The building management is also looking to purchase two segways for residents to use at their leisure.  Many residents walk to Kroger in Newport, spend time at Newport on the Levee, or walk or bike into other parts of Cincinnati. It is just a ten minute walk from SouthShore to The Banks development on the other side of the river. Realtors from Sibcy Cline also speak highly of the building’s soundproofing which allows residents to enjoy peace and quiet despite sharing walls with their neighbors.

Capital Investment Group, the project’s developer, has plans to build a similar tower next door to SouthShore called The Marina. This residential tower is planned to feature many of the same amenities with the addition of private dock space for homeowners in the new 100-slip marina approved by the US Army Corps of Engineers early in 2009.

Those interested in obtaining more information about condominiums at SouthShore can contact Christine Schoonover with Sibcy Cline at (859) 431-8000 or CSchoonover@sibcycline.com. When you speak with her, mention that you read about the condos on UrbanCincy.

Categories
Development News Transportation

Streetscape projects helping transform Fort Thomas business district

The bedroom suburb of Fort Thomas, Kentucky is perhaps best known for its streets of tidy, well-kept houses and its nationally-ranked public schools. Located along a ridge overlooking the Ohio River and downtown Cincinnati, Fort Thomas is an attractive destination for those seeking the relative peace and quiet of a suburban lifestyle, combined with convenient access to downtown Cincinnati along with walkable streets and plenty of historic character.

In recent years, Fort Thomas has become one of several Northern Kentucky cities seeking to enhance its appeal by revitalizing its historic retail district and rediscovering the benefits of pedestrian-scaled, transit-friendly urban development. Fort Thomas’s neighbor to the north, Bellevue, has received recognition for its ongoing historic preservation work, and Bellevue and Covington have both made strides in implementing form-based codes that could ultimately serve as a model for zoning code changes in Cincinnati.

Over the past few years, Fort Thomas has undertaken a number of projects to enhance the city’s role as an attractive community within Cincinnati’s urban core. These projects include new buildings for Highlands Middle School and Woodfill Elementary School, a new amphitheater and bike trails in Tower Park, and the restoration of the city’s iconic 100-foot-tall stone water tower at the entrance to Tower Park. Perhaps most visibly, though, the city of Fort Thomas has recently completed major streetscaping improvements to its primary business district centered around the intersection of Highland and Fort Thomas Avenues and its secondary business district — the so-called Midway district — located adjacent to the site of the former Army post.

Aspects of the two streetscaping projects included burying overhead utility lines, the reconstruction of sidewalks and crosswalks to include brick accents and other decorative elements, the addition of street trees and thoughtful landscaping, installation of pedestrian-scaled light fixtures and signage, as well as the introduction of benches and other outdoor seating. The first phase to be completed was the primary downtown district at Highland Avenue and Fort Thomas Avenue.

Now complete for a couple of years, the trees and plantings in downtown Fort Thomas have begun to nicely mature. Of particular interest is the focus on the former Green Line streetcar, which provided transit access to the Army post and served as a catalyst for much of the subsequent development in the city from the 1890’s through the 1950’s. Fort Thomas is the classic “streetcar suburb”, and today’s TANK bus route through town still carries the Green Line’s old #11 route number.

Following the completion of streetscaping improvements to the downtown district of Fort Thomas, the second phase involved similar improvements to the so-called Midway district, a secondary business district on South Fort Thomas Avenue that grew up adjacent to the former Army post and was named after the carnival midway at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The site of the Army post — originally built to replace the flood-prone Newport Barracks — is now home to Tower Park, a large Veterans Administration nursing home, and an Army reserve center.

The streetscaping improvements recently completed in the Midway district are similar in nature to those performed in downtown Fort Thomas. Included in the Midway improvements were the reconfiguration of the River Road intersection, which now provides a small civic space that can be used for outdoor concerts or a farmer’s market, and the addition of sidewalk seating for neighborhood establishments such as the Olde Fort Pub and the Midway Cafe.

There are still a number of vacant storefronts in the Midway district, but it is hoped that the now-completed streetscaping improvements along with other measures, such as the restoration of long-vacant officers’ housing nearby and marketing efforts by the newly-formed Renaissance District, will see the addition of new retail tenants to the Midway district.