SUMMIT MEETING NOTES - corrected

July 9, 2009

Location:  St. Clare Catholic Church

Approved Summit minutes can be found at the following website: collegehilloh.net

ACTION ITEMS

The key action items as agreed to in this meeting are as follows:

Item                                                                                                                   Responsibility           

1.   Prepare a one-page handout on Summit for the Block Party.                    Ron Cowgill

2.   Send out via email the address to send letters to concerning                    Chris Miller

      keeping Ric Schroer in College Hill.

ATTENDEES:  (in alphabetical order)

Name                                                               Organization Represented

Jim Bodmer                                                     CPOP/COP/Court Watch

Juanita Canfield                                              CHBA

Ron Cowgill                                                    Facilitator

Amy Finnegan                                                Forum

Dave Hawkins                                                ARCH

Valerie Hershberger                                        Facilitator

Fr. George Jacquemin                                     Ministerium, St. Clare Catholic Church

Missi Kershner                                                Whiz Kids

Christina Miller                                               Block Party, CHPC

Sheena Parton                                                 CHBA

Phyllis Schoenberger                                       Forum

Paula Sherman                                                Pleasant Hill Academy

Arnice Smith                                                   CH Library

Cheryl Sucher                                                 McAuley High School

Dan Weyand-Geise                                         CCCH, Ministerium

Officer Governor Williams                             CPD, District 5

Hope Wilson                                                   WIN

AGENDA

Welcome and Introductions

Host Greetings

Opening Prayer

Special Announcements

Previous Minutes Review/Approval

Action Items From Previous Meetings

CPOP/COP/CPD

CHBA Update

CHCURC Update

Schools Updates

Whiz Kids Initiative

Library Update

Children’s Hospital Update

Ministerium

Housing Team Update

Discussion Topic: WIN’s Program to Help with Avoiding Foreclosures

Community Activities & Announcements

DISCUSSION:

1.   Special Announcements

a.   National Nite Out - Amy reviewed plans for National Nite Out, and handed out a flyer.  She suggested that this is a great opportunity for all community organizations to share information with College Hill residents.  Organizations should reserve a table to be able to hand out written information and to be able to have personal discussions with people.  Amy also suggested that Summit might want to have a table.  After reflection and discussion, the members of Summit decided to not have a table, since Summit is a meeting and not an organization.   However, it was also decided to hand out a one page summary of Summit at the Forum Table.  Ron will follow up to prepare that one-page document by using the Vision statement now posted on the College Hill website.

b.   Block Party – Chris shared some highlights of the upcoming Block Party, Aug 4-7, and handed out posters.  She indicated that events will include:

-     A judging and sale of Aiken Senior photography on the topic of “Document Your World”

-     A Talent Show on Thursday, with auditions the prior week.

-     Wed night is jazz night.

-     A Balloon Artist on Friday night

-     A Caricature Artist on Friday night

-     A church service on Sunday morning, followed by a luncheon.

The entire event is free to the community.  Chris handed out posters.

2.   Review of June 2009 Minutes
The June minutes were approved with a couple of corrections.  Valerie will make these changes and reissue the minutes.

3.   Review of Action Items from Previous Meetings

Ron reviewed the Ongoing Follow-up List, and several items were either done or in progress.  Ron will modify this list and reissue it.

4.   Citizens on Patrol/CPD/Probation/Court Watch – by Officer Governor Williams and Jim Bodmer

Off. Williams reviewed the crime stats from June.  Arrests are up, but burglaries are still high.  Auto theft is increasing.   Thieves have become emboldened by all the news about City budget shortfalls and the potential reduction in police staffing as a result.   Also, there are relatively light penalties for theft.  One of the strategies used by police to combat the crime rate is for individual police officers to stop by houses already identified as having a lot of police calls, and talk to the residents.  Often this results in fewer problems with illegal activity at these houses.  This will be done with some properties in College Hill where drug activity has been observed multiple times.

Someone set fire to the trash cans behind Pleasant Hill Academy.   A letter was received by Jim asking for support and help with this kind of vandalism.  He has asked COP to include Pleasant Hill in their patrols, but Jim responded to Pleasant Hill to contact the police as a first step. 

5.   CHBA Update – by Juanita Canfield

Juanita had several informational items to report:

-          A new restaurant & catering company called Magnificent Morsels is reputed to be coming to the building previously occupied by Sisters Restaurant.

-          The building previously occupied by Elisha Hall has had the siding removed, and the brick sandblasted and tuckpointed.  Remodeling is going on inside.   A new business will open in the building, but is not ready for announcement yet.

-          The regular CHBA meetings are the 3^rd Wednesday of every month at Hammond North at 8 am.  You do not have to be a business owner to participate.

-          CHBA & CHCURC will have a joint table at National Nite Out.  CH Gardeners will also have a table.

6.   CHCURC Update – by Juanita Canfield

Juanita reviewed a number of items:

o       The 6^th Annual 5K Rhythm Race will be held Saturday, August 8 at Pleasant Hill Academy.  Registration forms are available online at CHCURC’s website.

o       This Old House Magazine named College Hill one of the top 20 neighborhoods in the country for great old houses.

o       Marty Weldishofer received the Renaissance Man of the Year Award for all his great work in helping to develop College Hill.

o       College Hill needs to be celebrating the successes of the surrounding neighborhoods, not just its own successes.  With fewer resources available because of the recession, it will be very important for neighborhoods to work together rather than compete.

o       The year 2012 is College Hill’s Bicentennial.   We need to start planning now how best to celebrate this milestone.

7.   College Hill Schools Updates

McAuley High School – by Cheryl Sucher

McAuley has a vocal ensemble group, who sing and dance at events throughout the community.  Every spring break, this group enters a competition, where they compete both combined with LaSalle High School and solo.   They won the regional competition this past April, and just recently won the national competition.   McAuley is very proud of this group of young women!

McAuley continues to sponsor Summer Camps for younger children.  There are 23 camps with over 500 kids enrolled this summer.  About half of the camps are sports and about half are “enrichment”, which focus on themes like crafts.  This year there are 220 girls in volleyball alone.

McAuley’s new auditorium continues to be well used.  On Friday, July 31, and Saturday, Aug 1, St. Ignasius has a talent show called “Show Biz”.  It will be 7-9 pm both days.  The auditorium is also being used for Catholic Inner City Schools (CICS) fund raising.  An entrepreneur named Pete Ellerhorst brings in entertainment and sells tickets, with about half of the profit going to CICS.  Cheryl invited local restaurants to set up informational booths in the lobby so that attendees can be persuaded to have a meal at a local restaurant after the entertainment.

Pleasant Hill Academy & Whiz Kids – by Missi Kershner and Paula Sherman

Missi has volunteered to site coordinator for the CityCure Whiz Kids program at Pleasant Hill Academy.  She is a former educator and was concerned about the very limited tutoring that was available to children in the neighborhood.   The focus of Whiz Kids is on reading and math, and uses prepackaged material.  Tutoring is an hour per week per child, with about 40 minutes spent on reading and about 20 minutes focused on math.  This program is not focused on homework help.  Volunteer tutors are trained, and a background check is done.  The tutoring is one-on-one, and the specific tutor-student relationship is continued throughout the entire school year.  This is a faith=based program.

Paula was candid that despite heroic efforts by teachers and staff at Pleasant Hill, the academic statistics are disappointing.  They see a real need for the Whiz Kids program, particularly since the program has achieved good academic results in other schools where it was implemented. 

Paula and Missi were invited to review this program again, once it is underway, at a future Summit meeting.

8.   Library Update

Because of reductions in the City budget, up to 15-20 branches of the Public Library may have to close.  More information will be available by the 14^th.  

In the meantime, the College Hill branch continues its planning for the summer.   There will be 3 reading programs going on: one for children, one for teens, and one for adults.  An overall calendar of events was handed out, as well as flyers for a Community Cookout and a Needling Circle.  The Community Cookout will be on Friday, July 17, at noon, and will have free hot dogs, chips, and juice.  The Needling Circle is for people who like to do needlework of  various kinds, and will meet once/month though October.  Meetings are the 2^nd Tuesday of each month from 6 to 7:30 pm.

9.   Ministerium Update – by Fr. George Jacquemin

Dates for the Interfaith Hospitality Network, in which churches temporarily host homeless families, will be set by the end of summer.  

CCCH is looking for a new Director.  The Position Description is on CareerBuilders.com.  Rev. Will Hagans is in a reduced role, primarily focused on the pantry.  Ron Whitt has about 120 kids signed up for the annual Summer Program

There was some discussion about the proposed Youth Council (from a previous Summit meeting) that Ron Whitt is supposed to participate in along with others including Ric Schroer from the Rec Center.  There was no update.  However, this led to a discussion about keeping Ric in the community, and Chris Miller committed to send out to Summit members the address for letters to be sent to.

10. College Hill Housing Team – by Hope Wilson

WIN hopes to start on the next two properties, 5918 Lantana and 1402 Cedar, by the end of summer.  5918 Lantana will be rehabbed and 1402 will be rebuilt.

WIN is finalizing the contract with the City for NSP (Neighborhood Stabilization Program) funding for 4 houses to be rehabbed or rebuilt.  WIN already owns 2 qualified houses and is looking for 2 more in the College Hill neighborhood. 

WIN will have a table at National Nite Out.   The Housing Team will have a brochure on this table. 

The families who bought the first two houses are doing well.  Both heard about the houses through neighborhood information, so keeping passing the word to friends, neighbors, and acquaintances.

11. Discussion Topic: Foreclosure Avoidance Work by WIN           

Hope handed out a brochure on WIN’s Foreclosure Prevention Program.  She also handed out copies of WIN’s Annual Foreclosure Study for Hamilton County.  She indicated that the sooner homeowners contacted WIN for help, the better.  WIN’s success rate is about 65% to keep people in their homes.  WIN is able to work with lenders on behalf of each homeowner.  It was suggested in the meeting that it might be good to keep copies of the brochure in public places, such as church and community literature racks.

Hope also reported on the planned meeting with the Federal Reserve, and handed out a flyer.  This meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 21, at 7 pm at the WIN Economic Learning Center at 1814 Dreman Avenue.  This is a community meeting to share with Federal Reserve how much difficulty regular people are still having in getting loans or even getting banks to talk to them about refinancing their mortgages.  Representatives of the City and County will be there.  They would like to see a high level of community participation.  For more information, call DeNeisha or Liz at 541-4109 or 853-3947. 

12. Community Activities and Announcements

Ø      Llanfair is hosting a Health Fair on Monday, July 13, from 2:30 to 6:30 pm.  No reservations are needed.

Ø      1^st United Church of Christ is having a concert by the Adagio Trio (harp/flute/cello) on Friday, July 17 at 7 pm.  Come for the music and enjoy viewing the Mandala.

Ø      The Library is having a Community Cookout on Friday, July 17 at noon.

Ø      The next meetings of the Needling Circle at the Library are July 14, August 11,  Sept 8, and Oct 13.

Ø      The annual 5K Rhythm Race will be held Saturday, August 8.

Ø      ARCH is starting to plan for the Pumpkin Patch in October.  They are also looking for more people to be involved in the arts in College Hill .  The recent Love Songs concert at CHPC to support ARCH and Sonlight Power was very successful/

Ø      National Nite Out is Tuesday, August 4.   The annual Block Party incorporates this and continues through Aug 7.

Ø      This year, 2009, is the Centennial Celebration for St. Clare Catholic Church.   Fr. George handed out a flyer with events listed through December.    More information is available on the church’s website. 

Next Summit Meeting: August 13 @ 8 am at Llanfair. 

                                                                                                Summarized by:

                                                                                                Valerie Hershberger

                                                                                                July 19, 2009

                                                                                                Revised July 30, 2009

Summit Meeting Schedule

2009

General Meeting Time: Second Thursday of the Month, 8:00 am to 10:00 am.

Location Rotates