Neighborhood Summit Envisions the Future

 A recent survey finds only half of Hamilton County residents consider themselves thriving. And for a variety of reasons, an increasing number is suffering. Community leaders want to turn this around, and during a recent Cincinnati summit envisioned neighborhoods with more housing, investment and a greater sense of belonging. Organizers hope the entire region can learn from the event. 

Interview guests: Elizabeth Bartley, executive director Invest in Neighborhoods; Brandon Rudd, deputy director of the Office of Strategic Growth for the City of Cincinnati; Laura Castillo, interim chief Procurement Office for the City of Cincinnati; Ruth Anne Wolfe, founder Community Happens Here; Ezra Logan, intern Community Happens Here;  Andrea Jandricek, architect and co-founder The Changing Ground Project; Ed Mathis, vice president of Republic Commercial Real Estate; Macda Mulugeta, Ohio State University graduate;  Gerald Stewart, ToolBank coordinator; Luke Greiner, UC freshman, led Project CREATE; Chris Valesky, UC senior. 

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Transcript

Ann Thompson:

Imagine Cincinnati 25 years in the future. A neighborhood summit recently did.

Brandon Rudd:

Now is the time to double down and to grow and become a place that is known for innovation and growth the way we were in the 19th century.

Ann Thompson:

In 2051, will the population be growing? Can it sustain enough workers to attract new business and will there be enough affordable places to live?

Elizabeth Bartley:

So it's not even what it's affordable at the lower ends. It is now what is more affordable for most people. And how do we make sure we have the different housing types and the different opportunities?

Ann Thompson:

Cincinnati isn't sitting still. The city is already moving on some ideas.

Natashia Smith:

I think the pre-approved plans will help if they are affordable and we know what building products cost. And then this depends on what they put inside these buildings. Is it just stock cabinets, stock floors, things like that, basic carpet. I mean, so it has to be affordable.

Ann Thompson:

Planning for the future can only work if the next generation is involved.

Gerald Stewart:

Doing the work that I do with the youth, we are training them to be able to make their communities great now so that they'll be even better in the future.

Ann Thompson:

Come along as we envision the next quarter century in Cincinnati. Let's get into it. This is Brick by Brick, solutions for a thriving community.

Ame Clase:

Brick by Brick is made possible thanks to leading support from Greater Cincinnati Foundation, AES Foundation and George and Margaret McLane Foundation, with additional major support from Laurie    Johnston, The Robert & Adelle Schiff Family Foundation, Murray and Agnes Seasongood Good Government Foundation and more. Thank you

Ann Thompson:

Hello and welcome to Brick by Brick where we're highlighting solutions for a thriving community in Southwest Ohio. I'm your host, Ann Thompson. The latest Well-Being survey from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center in the Gallup Poll finds just 50% of Hamilton County residents say they're thriving. More concerning is an increasing number of people who categorize themselves as struggling. In Cincinnati, a quarter of them say they don't have enough money to buy food. Others are struggling with housing and some people just don't feel accepted. Cincinnati Children's researchers are digging into the causes to determine how to help. One guide is the Ripple System which lists certain vital conditions like reliable transportation, humane housing, and meaningful work and wealth. There's a picture of it on our website. If any one category is disrupted, people struggle. Executive director of the nonprofit invest in neighborhoods, Elizabeth Bartley, understands a need for more housing, food access and employment, and how the daily news cycle can send people into a tailspin.

Elizabeth Bartley:

There's just so much change happening and rapid change and not always good change and people are just sort of in reactionary mode and in survival mode. And that's not just on a personal level. It's even if you look at the community organizations and the nonprofits and all of the people that work across the city, it's almost survivor mode. Just react and hunker down. And it felt like we need to get past that.

Ann Thompson:

That's why Bartley and the organization, whose mission is to empower community councils to advance the quality of life, decided the theme for the 2026 Neighborhood Summit should be envisioning the future, Cincinnati 2051. You can find a link to invest in neighborhoods on our website at cetconnect.org and thinktv.org as well as a link to all the community councils under invest in neighborhoods resource tab. At the April 25th event, Cincinnati Deputy Director of the Office of Strategic Growth, Brandon Rudd, was already thinking about the future. He uses the past as his guide.

Brandon Rudd:

We were the first kind of the largest city outside the original 13 colonies. We had grown to over a half a million people. We were the sixth largest city in the country. We had booms that surrounded first our waterways, the Ohio River and the canal and then the railroads.

Ann Thompson:

Over time, Cincinnati's population decreased to below 300,000. However, Rudd says it's on a better trajectory now. The city gained 20,000 residents in 2024.

Brandon Rudd:

Now is the time to double down and to grow and become a place that is known for innovation and growth the way we were in the 19th century.

Ann Thompson:

Rudd says we need to bring in more outside investment. Key to that is this year's reorganization of the Department of Community and Economic Development. Specific point people have been identified to speed up the process.

Brandon Rudd:

So developers who are building affordable housing, who are revitalizing neighborhoods, who are doing facade improvements, who are taking our old buildings and bringing them back to life, are able to access city funding and resources and we're able to get those projects across the finish line.

Ann Thompson:

Resources include 33 TIF districts or tax incremental financing and the Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The fund gets $2 million from the city's budget annually. This year, another five million was added to help finance projects. It's part of the Cincinnati Development Fund, which also leverages private dollars. In another initiative, city leaders hope the build ready plan will help speed up construction of more housing. These are pre-approved plans for two, three, and four family homes on single lots. Next year, the city will build two of them each on a vacant lot. At an information gathering session about it in Evanston, Walter Koucky thinks pre-approved plans could be beneficial.

Walter Koucky:

That people could just plug and chug with because it certainly is a delay in a cost to come up with a plan. But I think one thing that's clear today is this is just like a first step. And if you want to create affordable housing, someone has to finance it.

Ann Thompson:

Koucky is chairman of the North Avondale Neighborhood Association Zoning and Planning Committee. Both he and Natashia Smith, Vice President of Evanston Community Council, won assurances that any pre-approved plans won't change the feel of the neighborhood.

Natashia Smith:

I think we need to make sure that they do make the designs compatible to what's already in the communities that they're planning on going to.

Ann Thompson:

Some people like real estate agent Aaron Weiner are concerned that the pre-approved plans mean nothing without financial help from the city because he says many people don't have money to buy land and build a home.

Aaron Weiner:

That doesn't help the little guy, right? Because it's already hard enough to buy a home. You're in competition with people who have more money than you, who are paying cash, who are ... So it just makes it less easier for these people who already have the advantage.

Ann Thompson:

It's unclear if Cincinnati will help fund the purchase of a vacant lot and the building of a home using a pre-approved plan. Across Ohio, more than 100 communities are working on some version of pre-approved plans. As Cincinnati looks to the future, it's drafting a new artificial intelligence policy. One reason is more vendors are relying on AI to write their proposals. Interim chief procurement officer, Laura Castillo, says there must be safeguards to ensure companies are qualified.

Laura Castillo:

And this is definitely a national trend that we're seeing. We just recently attended a procurement conference and AI was a heavy part of the conversation, but the question came on how it is impacted when we have the city requesting a professional service and the bidder or the responder uses AI in their proposal. And it's definitely something that we are navigating and working through, but we anticipate to realistically see more of and more and more of. And so making sure that we're incorporating a final stage of in- person interviews to be able to have those conversations with folks that may be bidding on city projects to make sure that they're able to do the job that they're applying for.

Ann Thompson:

A quick Google search finds AI programs advertising they can help find, bid, and win government contracts. While the 2026 Neighborhood Summit focused on the future, it also shone a light on things residents are already doing to help neighborhoods thrive, like Sidewalk Hospitality, the brainchild of Ruth Ann Wolfe and her organization community happens here.

Ruth Anne Wolfe:

Sidewalk Hospitality is going literally or metaphorically to the sidewalk in your community with your own body and a little bit of lemonade or iced tea or something, little bit of hospitality and a little bit of art and sitting there and inviting people to join you. 

Ann Thompson:

She put It to use in Pleasant Ridge beginning in 2016 and at this conference with coffee sleeves.

Ruth Anne Wolfe:

On this cup holder, what I want you to do is first of all, you don't have to say I'm not an artist.

Ann Thompson:

In Pleasant Ridge and recently in Madisonville, Ruth Anne and her team have been sparking conversation to bring residents together.

Ruth Anne Wolfe:

You overhear people just the first level is, "Oh, where do you live? Oh, you live on that street? Oh, I walk on that street. You have a dog. Do I have a dog?" There's very small things and then you might hear, "Oh, I'm going to a certain high school or I have this. " And then when you're with Tyler, you'll hear the kids over, you might hear them talking about investment finance or Fortnite or anything. I tend to be the person who interacts by teaching them how to do the work. I'm a very work oriented, a doer. And so my conversations happen while I'm teaching them to make the lemonade and they might say, "I never got to do this before." Or, "I have a sister but I don't want her to come. I like that I can come by myself." Or I love drawing.

I always draw anime, tiny little pieces that then we try to hook on and create further conversations.

Ann Thompson:

You say you're creating culture and how do you define that?

Ruth Anne Wolfe:

That is because in our world right now, especially here, we have a transactional culture based on money. This is interrelational hosting and the moment we can show up as a relation host person and you're young or you're older and you're offering that, you're changing the culture completely because you're subverting transaction. Even art can be a transaction if you don't host. Could you help me make this? Could you sit here for a moment? Would you like some lemonade? That isn't transactional, that's interrelational.

Ann Thompson:

Wolf is quick to credit the youth. She says this program would not be successful if not for teens like 15 year old Ezra Logan, who is reaching out to other teens.

Ezra Logan:

We connect with people a lot. We host events, we go out, we play. We typically do the teens. I help mostly the teens. I was centered on setting up, but ever since I'm good at it and there's new teens every two weeks, I typically stop and I let the teens do it and I tell them what's good and what's bad. If say one of them, we have like a construction yard right next to us and we have Reese Towing and sometimes they kick a ball over there and I tell them like, "What's the procedure?" I say, "Okay, we have a laminated thing when stuff happens like this and I more so teach now and the reason why it's easier for me to teach than Ms. Anne or Tyler is because I typically know what's happening. I know the games, the fun, what they want to do when they complain about something.

I know what's going on.

Ann Thompson:

Ezra doesn't live in Pleasant Ridge. Sidewalk Hospitality started out as an internship for him. Now he feels connected to the neighborhood.

Ezra Logan:

What I've gotten out of this entrepreneurship, community-based learning, community togetherness. I don't have that a lot in Finneytown, like I said up there. And what I've also learned from it is the way people connect, teens connect and how they're more comfortable with adults when they're in that safe space.

Ann Thompson:

Ruth Ann Wolf's organization, Community Happens Here, hopes sidewalk hospitality spreads to every Cincinnati neighborhood. Organizers of the 2026 Neighborhood Summit realized envisioning the future involves youth and featured sessions on youth-led neighborhood change. Brick by Bricks Hernz Laguerre Jr. Talked to some of Cincinnati's future leaders and their mentors.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Chris Valeski is about to graduate from the University of Cincinnati and needs work.

Chris Valesky:

I am feeling like someone should give me a job, but ...

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

He wishes the city did a better job recruiting youth because he says they're a valuable part of the community.

Chris Valesky:

There is a really great opportunity to focus a little bit more on youth. I think that there is sort of like a missed opportunity with people that are necessarily like college age to get them invested and interested. College students I think get sort of forgotten about as a different demographic necessarily than adults.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

For example, cities could have city engineering students working side by side with working professionals on road repair and design.

Chris Valesky:

And honestly, any major that people are going into has some sort of community benefit, otherwise it wouldn't exist. People, when they are given the opportunity to express those skills that they feel like they are being reaffirmed in what they're learning, not only does that give them a perspective in the real world application that gives the community an ability to connect with those students to draw them in to give them a reason to stay.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

And connecting these students to their profession isn't the only way to have them stay in the area, but a way to keep them employed. According to a national graduate employability report from the Cengage Group, about 30% of 2025 college graduates and about 40% of 2024 graduates found entry level jobs in their fields while almost 50% felt unprepared to apply for such positions. Preparing young people to become the next leaders in the community was the focus of another session during the summit led by the group public allies. Macda Mulugeta was on the panel and said a nonprofit helped her establish herself in Cincinnati as she tries to help improve public health.

 Macda Mulugeta :

I'm hoping to get a master's in public health and health behavior and health promotion. I think this program has helped me learn what data equity is and help create programs for the community so that co-creation is important.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Macda, who recently graduated from Ohio State University, said that the only way a community thrives for the next 25 years is to focus on data equity, which means ensuring that the community's opinions are always being considered when making improvements.

 Macda Mulugeta :

But we need to actually listen to the community and take the data but not create a whole narrative out of it. I think that we still need to gain as much input and let them decide, okay, based on this data, this is what I want to do.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Another session led by the nonprofit Cincinnati Tool Bank had the same mindset. They asked the question, "What happens when young people are trusted to shape their neighborhoods, not just consulted?" One of the tool bank coordinators, Gerald Stewart, says the work that his organization is doing is preparing Cincinnati's next generation.

Gerald Stewart:

Doing the work that I do with the youth, we are training them to be able to make their communities great now so that they'll be even better in the future.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Cincinnati ToolBank is part of a national organization that focuses on giving other nonprofits and groups tools, equipment, and expertise to help them reach their community goals. The Cincinnati chapter has been operating for 14 years, but this year they started a ToolBank academy. This nine month program that places youth at the center of community revitalization by providing leadership training, hands-on workforce experience, and real world civic engagement.

Gerald Stewart:

So one of the things that I think our program is doing really well and what I wanted to implement is to be very intentional about giving them access to opportunities. Yes, and we're giving them certifications and tools. They're learning how to use tools, but on top of that, where do you use those tools, right? The construction companies that are building their schools that they're learning in are teaching them about how that school was built. Anna, I'll be coming in and teaching them about our city council. Now they have agency to go into their city councils as youth right now to make decisions about their neighborhood.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Programs like ToolBank may be crucial, especially when we see trade jobs increasing three times faster than wide collar positions. These jobs could help close the skills gap and also help sustain their environment by adding to the green workforce, which takes us to our last session about the Green Cincinnati Plan, Seeds of Change Youth Climate Action Grant Program. One of the grant recipients in the program is University of Cincinnati freshman, Luke Greiner, who led the initiative called Project Create.

Luke Greiner:

We focused on how can we make kids aware of green jobs, green pathways in the future and how can we get them excited about environmental issues that will concern them in the future, maybe alleviate the climate anxiety with knowledge of the work that's being done and the potential science.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Luke says a stronger Cincinnati is a sustainable Cincinnati and says the Green Cincinnati plan is part of the approach for going into the next 25 years.

Luke Greiner:

Obviously in Cincinnati, we have the Green Cincinnati plan, which is revolutionary document, puts us on par for collective action with larger cities like New York City and Chicago and larger urban areas. So I definitely see Cincinnati as a leader in the future as competing as a front in the environmental movement with those larger cities.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Luke says tree canopying is a simple approach that can make a huge difference in the future.

Luke Greiner:

And like the small improvements that have made the city better, I think the commitment to tree canopy growing, the city is much more green where we're hitting less neighborhoods with tree canopy deficiency.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

These targeted efforts to fortify Cincinnati through health, environment and job improvements is all well and good, but it's the effort to have young people lead these movements that may have an even more lasting impact for the next 25 years and beyond. For Brick by Brick, I'm Hearns Laguerre, Jr.

Ann Thompson:

Coming up on Brick by Brick, offering up your home to developers in exchange for generational wealth. We explore something called land readjustment.

Andrea Jandricek:

And after the 30-year mark, the developer would start to pay a ground lease back to the original owners and then after the 99 year when the ground lease expired, then all the improvements made to the land by the developer would eventually be owned by the descendants of the property owners.

Ann Thompson:

Plus, how do you motivate residents to attend neighborhood meetings? That's ahead on Brick by Breck.

Ame Clase:

Brick by Brick is made possible thanks to the generous support of so many, including Diane and Dave Moccia, P & G, The Camden Foundation,  The Stephen H. Wilder Foundation, TJ and Susie Ackermann, Patti and Fred Heldman, a donation in memory of Frank and Margaret Linhardt, and more. Thank you. We couldn't do this work without you.

Mark Lammers:

It takes time to create real impact, especially when we're talking about elevating our neighborhoods, making more housing, or inspiring the next generation of community leaders. It also starts with a solution mindset, which is why you're here, exploring responses to see what might work for your city, your neighborhood, or maybe just yourself. As the saying goes, "Be the change you want to see in the world." That's why we practice solutions journalism here on Brick by Brick, because if we all know what's happening, we can get behind it or change directions. One thing is for sure we don't get more thriving neighborhoods by burying our heads in the sand. I hope this episode is giving you more ideas to play around with and if so, we'd love to hear which ones are resonating for you or your neighbors. You can offer feedback via the link in the show notes or send an email or voice memo to brickbybrick@publicmediaconnect.org.

That's brickbybrick@publicmediaconnect.org. Creative problem solvers are always welcome. Now back to the solutions.

Ann Thompson:

Welcome back to Brick by Brick. Something interesting happened in the suburban Cincinnati City of Silverton in 2022. Residents explored using something called land readjustment to develop six acres at Montgomery and Plainfield Roads. The way architect and co-founder of the Changing Ground Project, Andrea Yandrick explains it, land readjustment consolidates fragmented properties into one new development designed in such a way that existing owners take part in the ownership and the new development. In this case, accepting property owners would give up their homes in exchange for a new condo and eventual payments from the developer.

Andrea Jandricek:

First of all, you would consolidate all of your properties together so you would all own this big piece of land together, right? You'd have on land entity, which you would rezone. So you would pick a spot where you would like to have your future condominium built. The developer would then build that condominium for you for free for no strings attached in exchange for a no fee ground lease on the remaining land like over 30 years. And then at the 30 year mark, the developer would start to pay a ground lease back to you for using your land.

Ann Thompson:

In Silverton, a half dozen homeowners came on board and so did other commercial properties. However, Jandricek says there was a problem with the developer and now Silverton is looking for another one. She says this concept is popular in Europe and Asia and could really work in any Cincinnati neighborhood. She's talking with a lot of them.

Andrea Jandricek:

Nobody is really ready to do this next week. It's really a conversation and so it's a learning curve for all of us, but we're hoping to make a more official launch like later on in the summer and we would really like to reach out to the greater Cincinnati area and Northern Kentucky area. So right now we are talking to different just CDCs, municipalities and just trying to figure out like a good cohort for our first year and that's still to be determined.

Ann Thompson:

Developer Ed Mathis, Vice President of Republic Commercial Real Estate says land readjustment accomplishes a number of things, including allowing future generations to be real estate investors and redevelopment of communities.

Ed Mathis:

I really believe that this model is really good. I think it'll work in places, let's just say in Bond Hill where they have the old Swifton Commons. That thing has been stuck in that particular way. I mean, they demoed it, but that'll be a place where it's 27 acres. You can be able to put something like that there. Let's just say if it was several homes on that and you took down those homes when they cleared it, those owners will be able to partake in that development that happens there and they'll be able to make money there. The developers are able to make money there. The tax base is there for the city.

Ann Thompson:

Mathis says he doesn't expect land readjustment to fix everything. It's just one development tool. Moving your city forward takes initiative. Invest in neighborhoods executive director, Elizabeth Bartley calls it civic muscle on the ground in your neighborhood, building community and working with one another. She hears about the constant challenge of trying to get residents to turn out for community council meetings. Here's one idea that worked.

Elizabeth Bartley:

Downtown Residents Council, they did not have a lot of participation and then they just started mixing it up so that they had their meeting at a different place every time that would showcase what was in the neighborhood.

Ann Thompson:

She says they got more people involved and more younger people involved. There are limitations to creating great neighborhoods and growing your city. In addition to the dedication of residents, political and corporate will is important. The global commercial real estate company CBRE lists these six elements crucial for cities to thrive. Economic dynamism, demographic potential, lifestyle vibrancy, resilient infrastructure, distinctive identity, and responsive governance. We have a link on our website. If you want to dig deeper into some of these ideas or want to learn more about Brick by Brick in general, there are plenty of other web articles and videos. Go to cetconnect.org and thinktv.org and we'd like to hear from you. Click on one of the big green buttons to share your feedback. In case you're wondering, invest in neighborhoods annual neighborhood summit is open to the public and will happen in April of 2027 again at UC.

We're going to flip the takeaways in this episode and have Emiko ask Hearns and I questions because we were the two who went to the 2026 Neighborhood Summit. So Emiko, take it away.

Emiko Moore:

Yes. I understand you both had some really interesting discussions with so many of the participants there. Hearns, your package focused on the youth. I really liked what you did there. What else did you find from the summit?

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

Yeah. Chris Velesky, his session was most impactful because he was really just connecting the college to the community that colleges could benefit the community with the skills and practices that these students are trying to learn. The example he gave was students who are taking up civil engineering could help out street designers in the community to help make safer streets and to help create better streets. We all drive into Cincinnati streets and we see the amount of potholes that's there and you know how some streets could just be designed better. Why not bridge that gap? And his connection there reminded me that in season one, episode five during our Right to Council episode, a funder for CET gave us the idea after listening to that and saying, "Hey, why not some of the UC law students? Could they be involved in some of these eviction hearings, these eviction court cases and represent those who don't have representation?" And for me, I was like, "Oh wait, that's such a genius thing." I believe he told Anne that comment and it made me just think, shoot, these people lack representation.

These college students are learning and becoming lawyers themselves. Why not just bridge the gap there and help both parties?

Emiko Moore:

And it makes so much sense because you have different generations with different perspectives and they might really kind of spark new ideas and new solutions for all of these things from different ways. And you are all at this conference. What did you find is the future for these Cincinnati neighborhoods?

Ann Thompson:

Well, we don't know what the future holds for Cincinnati neighborhoods, but residents are realizing they need to look to the youth. So I put this question to Elizabeth Bartley, the executive director who you heard from of Invest in Neighborhoods, how are we going to get the youth involved? Because as Hernz was mentioning, they are key. If we're talking about the future and 25 years from now, we need to be finding out what they think. And she said, in fact, there are leadership events where organizations like hers invest in neighborhoods are trying to give these high school students leadership skills and find out what would make their neighborhood great and ideas from them and understand that they can participate and make a difference. And she says, for example, youth, some of them are not interested in owning homes. They don't want to be tied down. So maybe the future looks a little bit different.

She emphasized that this is still a work in progress and then overall for this conference, when I ask her, "What do you want people to leave with? " And she says she wanted them to leave with hope.

Emiko Moore:

No, that's wonderful. Engaging a lot of the youth and building them kind of their community building muscles. Well, Brick by Brick will continue to follow the Cincinnati leadership and residents as they take steps to ensure a thriving community in the next 25 years.

Ann Thompson:

Thanks guys.

Hernz Laguerre Jr.:

No problem.

Emiko Moore:

Thank you.

Ann Thompson:

Coming up on the next Brick by Brick, Energy Insecurity. Today's disconnection is tomorrow's eviction.

Diana Hernández:

43 million households in the United States have some form of energy insecurity.

Ann Thompson:

Author of the book Powerless, Diana Hernandez details the symptoms and offers a prescription to help those in need on the next Brick by Brick. That's our show. We hope you learned something and want to share it with your friends and family. If you like what you heard, please rate and review our podcast. It helps make it easier to find. For Emiko Moore and Hernz Laguerre Jr. I'm Ann Thompson. We'll be back soon with more solutions. Take care. 

Our show is produced, hosted an edited by me, Ann Thompson with reporting and story editing from Hernz Laguerre Jr. and Emiko Moore. Our Executive producer of Mark Lammers. Audio sweetening provided by Mike Schwartz. Zach Kramer runs the lights and cameras. Derrick Smith is our production specialist and Jason Garrison is our production manager. Marketing and promotions from Mike Shea and Bridgett Dillenburger. Elyssa Stefenson handles the website and Josh Lusby and Steve Wright are our designers. Bill Dean and Andres Kruza are the engineers for the show and our Chief Content Officer is Colin Scianamblo. Our music is from Universal Production Music. Brick by Brick: Solutions for a Thriving Community is a production of CET and ThinkTV, Southwest Ohio PBS member stations.