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SUMMIT MEETING NOTES May 13, 2010 Location: Aiken High School
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. Meet to discuss & decide strategy for NSP2, NSP3 Habitat, CHCURC 2. Send link for Dept of Justice article on youth to Summit members. Tom Strothers 3. Ask new director of Cincinnati Habitat for Humanity to Ron Cowgill attend Summit 4. Send out email with dates of key upcoming events for Matt Schwendeman Children’s Hospital.
ATTENDEES: (in alphabetical order) Name Organization Represented Pete Bauer CHCURC Karen Barrett Aiken High School Jim Bodmer CPOP/COP/Court Watch Ron Cowgill Facilitator Valerie Hershberger Facilitator Fr. George Jacquemin Ministerium Gary Robbins Spring Grove Village Dave Scharfenberger WIN Phyllis Schoenberger Forum QOL, CHHT Cyd Shuler CH Rec Center Matt Schwendeman CCHMC Arnice Smith Library Cheryl Sucher McAuley High School Eric Thomas Aiken High School Rev. Dan Weyand-Geise CCCH 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/Court Watch Housing Team Update WIN Sponsored Meeting with US Dept of Treasury CHBA Update CHCURC Update Schools Updates Library Update Children’s Hospital Update Ministerium Update College Hill Rec Center Update Children’s Hospital Update Discussion Topic: Increasing Community Involvement Community Activities & Announcements
DISCUSSION:
1. Special Announcements None.
2. Review of April 2010 Minutes
3. Review of Action Items from Previous Meetings (a) NSP2 and NSP3: It was reported that CHCURC is not pursing NSP2 because the funds have been designated to be used only for affordable housing. (b) Dept of Justice Article: Not done. (c) Youth Crisis Cards: Matt brought the cards to the meeting, and key groups (Library, Rec Center, etc) took them to make available at their buildings. (d) Email of Key CCHMA Activities: Matt will follow up to complete this. (e) Foreclosure Prevention Information: No one volunteered to coordinate all available information. WIN will make sure information on their work, counseling, and other help is well communicated to the community.
4. COP/CPOP/CourtWatch/CPD – by Jim Bodmer Jim handed out copies of the April Crime Report. Crime is up vs one year ago in several categories, but mostly in theft-related ones (Theft, Auto Theft, Theft From Auto). There have been reports of a door-to-door salesman who is trying to sell a home alarm system. Investigations have shown this to be a legitimate salesman, but his behavior is not what is expected from a professional. Someone is stealing porch furniture. In response, COP is doing some daytime patrols. CPOP started a Wii Tournament last week. They are trying to raise $1500 to provide youth/teen memberships to the Rec Center. The Forum has already paid for two Wii’s. Donations are tax deductable, and can be made to either the Rec Center or to the Forum.
5. Housing Team Update – by Hope Wilson The most recent new house at 1402 Cedar is nearly complete and is for sale. Please refer any potential buyers to WIN. The rehab of 5918 Lantana has started and is expected to be done sometime in June. Four other houses will be done this year through the NSP program: 1192 Cedar and 1309 Cedar will be started around the end of May. Plans are being developed for 1307 Cedar. WIN is in the process of acquiring 1549 Ambrose. 1307 Cedar and 1309 Cedar have been broken into, probably by people looking for copper pipe. Additional WIN activity on the street includes acquiring 1142 Cedar and 1301 Cedar, and the development of house plans for 1208 Cedar.
WIN is holding a Homebuyers Class at CHPC on May 15 from 9 am to 5 pm. June 5, WIN will hold their 11th Annual “Celebrate Housing” event at Ethel Taylor Academy, 1930 Ficke Rd.. Hope handed out a flyer with more details. The event is free, but every participant must pre-register in order to ensure there are enough lunches provided.
WIN will have lots volunteers in the neighborhood over the next couple of months helping WIN with clean out and light demolition on the various properties.
6. WIN Sponsored Meeting with the US Dept of Treasury – by Dave Scharfenberger WIN is a HUD certified housing counseling agency, and as such, participates in the Federal Government’s “Making Homes Affordable” program. This program is administered by the Treasury Dept, but nationally has not been as effective as desired. On June 15, WIN is sponsoring a local hearing with the Treasury Dept on this program, and WIN plans to host it in College Hill at St. Clare. The meeting will run 1-2 hours, and WIN wants both advocates and people affected by the program to attend. WIN would like to get help with publicity. Anyone can attend, although only selected people will be able to talk. It was suggested that Dave should attend the May 25 Forum meeting to help generate publicity, and he agreed.
Dave also covered a second topic. WIN is working in partnership with the Ministerium on a Christian faith-based program to help with avoiding foreclosures. The Planning Team for this program will meet next Thursday (May 20) at 3 pm at CHPC. Volunteers are welcome.
7. College Hill Business Association No one was present from the CHBA. However, other Summit members shared that the annual CHBA dinner was a big success. Tim Johnson was the guest speaker, and one of the things he talked about was a matching grant program that he initiated to help CHCURC. Tim has worked with investors to set up $200,000 which CHCURC will try to match so that CHCURC can invest the total $400,000 in income-producing property.
8. CHCURC Update – by Pete Bauer Highlights of the CHCURC update included: · The Annual Rhythm Race will be August 14. · The old car wash was rented and renovated by the Green Top Arts Collective for a specialty Iron Works. It will be opening the weekend of June 5 & 6. · City Council passed an ordinance yesterday (May 12) to enable CHCURC to purchase the Saba property. · The Northern Hills Swim Club will be opening in the spring. The Club is looking for investors. · CHCURC is still looking for an entrepreneur to purchase Hillrise and renovate it.
9. College Hill Schools Updates McAuley High School – by Cheryl Sucher There will be a music concert by the Vocal Ensemble on Friday, May 14, at 7:30 pm. On Thursday, May 20, there will be a golf ball drop on the soccer field. This is sponsored by the Athletic Association, which is selling chances. The drop will occur at 6 pm. McAuley continues their summer camp program, with 27 camps planned for this coming summer. 17 of the camps will be athletic, the rest will be enrichment. The school year will be done June 1. The next year will begin August 9, a little earlier than before. This year the school experimented with having exams before the Christmas break, and it was so popular with students & parents, and so effective for teaching, that it will be made a permanent change. But in order to do that, the school year needs to start a little earlier. Next year is the 50th anniversary of the school. There will be an entire year of activities; one of which will be a mass on Sept 12 with LaSalle and Moeller, the other two Catholic High Schools in the Cincinnati area. College Hill Fundamental Academy – the construction is on schedule. Aiken High School – by Karen Barrett The baseball team has done well. This year the Honor Society inducted 31 students; last year it inducted 14 students. This is seen as a reflection of the continuously increasing strength in academics at Aiken. Aiken has an annual “Top 10” awards. Next year, there will be a committee formed to work with the “Top 10” so that good performance is reinforced with attention from the staff. The tendency is to focus on the struggling or misbehaving students and to neglect those who are successful. Aiken wants to balance the time and effort. Next year Aiken will have a 7 bell day, replacing the current 8 bell day. The community breakfast was held, with good attendance. Yesterday (May 12), Dr. Odell Owens came and gave a motivational presentation to the student body, which was very well received. There will be a summer school program, as well as a bridge program for 8th graders coming into the 9th grade and an OGT study program for incoming 10th graders. Aiken is very hopeful that an “Excellent” rating will be achieved this year in the Ohio testing. The school will continue to be in the current location for the coming school year, and will move to the swing space the year after while the school is being rebuilt.
10. Library Update – by Arnice Smith Arnice handed out a calendar of Library activites for the month of June. Registration for the activities will be online (for the first time) or in person at the Library. June 4, 6:30 to 8:30 pm, will be the Teen Program kickoff and volunteers are needed to make this a success. There will an end of the school year party at the Library. The calendar is full for June, July, and August. Things are going really well at the Library. Staff are strategically placed at the doors to help monitor from 2:15 to 2:24 if fights break out. More adult volunteers would be helpful. The annual Friends of the Library Book Sale is the first week in June. Additional books, DVD’s, and CD’s can be donated for this sale. It will be at the Main Library. The sale starts June 6. Friday is “bag day” where a full bag can be purchased for a set price.
11. Ministerium/Christ’s Community Update – by Fr. George Jacquemin The Ministerium continues with their monthly meeting at Llanfair. There have been 5-6 meetings of the Bridges On The Avenue group. Drew Smith and some professional facilitators are working with the group. As already mentioned, the Ministerium is working with WIN to develop a Christian faith-based approach to the Foreclosure Crisis.
Christ’s Community: Ralph is the new Director of CCCH. The organization has seen an increase this year in people needing assistance. There will be an event with Feed The Children on June 2 which will minister to 1400 families. Volunteers are needed; training for volunteers will be June 1. Ron Whitt is organizing the summer program for kids. It will start in early July. Ron will be moving from CCCH at the end of summer.
12. Rec Center Update – by Cyd Shuler The Rec Center continues to be very busy. · A local College Hill resident volunteers to do youth basketball (5-7 ye olds). This is very popular. · The After-School programs are winding down as the school year comes to an end. · The Rec Center will be running 3 summer programs: Custodial Day Care, Teen Camp, and Drop In for 6-12 year olds · Other programs include: Reds Rookie Success League, 1st Tee Golf Lessons, Tennis Lessons, and Scuba Lessons for 12-15 yr olds · The Rec Center may do some programs at the Library. This is still being discussed. · Adult programs include Senior Dancers, and a recent Senior Health Fair.
13. Discussion Topic: Increasing Community Involvement Ron started the discussion by asking if there are other communities or groups who are good at community involvement that College Hill could learn from. McAuley High School was suggested as one successful example. Cheryl Sucher was asked to share about McAuley’s strategies. Some of the specific approaches are: · Always recruit by personal invitation, never by broad announcement. People today will only respond to individual, personal invitations. · Have food at events. · Have door prizes at events. · Frequently express appreciation to those who volunteer. · Create events that are interesting to people based on who they are and their lives. For example, McAuley had a typical Alumni meeting, and only 7 people came. The next meeting was a wine & cheese event, and 97 people came. Another meeting featured Zumba lessons, and 100 people came. At all of these meetings, the McAuley staff worked to know attendees individually, and then recruited them based on that knowledge. · Whenever potential volunteers at present, at any event, always work the crowd. · McAuley learned their approaches from looking at how successful colleges do it. · “Bring A Buddy” programs for donors. Active donors are asked to bring a friend to programs and events. It was pointed out that this is a key strategy used by the growing non-denominational churches as well. These strategies were interesting and provocative to the Summit members. It was acknowledged that the community has not been particularly good at one-on-one recruiting. Ideas for using current College Hill assets to sponsor “events” were shared, and included using Marty’s, McAuley’s, and other places.
Another strategy suggested was to “begin at the bottom”, which meant reach adults in the community through programs for kids. An example was shared of Montgomery Community Church which arranges activities that includes parents and kids together, such as planting trees. Someone recalled that the Housing Team used an intense personal approach to get local residents to attend information meetings a couple of years ago. Flyers were mailed to each house on the targeted streets, flyers were put on each door, and there were attempts at going door-to-door and talking to people (but security conscious residents wouldn’t answer their doors). Attendance at the events was good, but the Housing Team did not follow up with specific individuals to invite their continued involvement. Someone recalled that in the past the Forum used to focus on getting someone from every street in College Hill to attend meetings and events. It took a lot of work. Our guest, Gary Robbins from Spring Grove Village, suggested that a local consultant & author might be helpful to us in this discussion. The name of that consultant is Peter Block; he has written a new book entitled “Creating Abundant Communities” and teaches Civic Engagement.
13. Community Activities and Announcements Ø Plant Sale – Children’s Hospital is having a plant/flower sale. Matt will email more information to the Summit. Ø Garden Tour – the annual College Hill Gardeners Garden Tour will be June 19.
Next Summit Meeting: June 10 @ 8 am at the second floor above Marty’s Hops and Vines.
Summarized by: Valerie Hershberger May 22, 2010
Proposed Meeting Schedule
2010
General Meeting Time: Second Thursday of the Month, 8:00 am to 10:00 am.
Location Rotates
Tbc = to be confirmed
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