SUMMIT MEETING NOTES

January 8, 2009

Location:  College Hill Presbyterian 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.   Inform & invite parents of students at Pleasant Hill Academy                 Paula Sherman &

      to participate in WIN’s Homeowners classes.                                            Sr. Barbara Busch

2.   Explore whether drug forfeiture money might be a source of                   Ron Whitt, Jim Bodmer,

      funds for Ron Whitt’s work among community youth.                             & Off. Governor Williams

3.   Contact CHCURC and get a new rep for Summit                                    Ron Cowgill

4.   CHBA to prepare presentation and/or summary for Summit                     Sheena Parton &

      members to enable the discussion on “Healthy Business                           Phyllis Schoenberger

      District”.

ATTENDEES:  (in alphabetical order)

Name                                                               Organization Represented

Karen Barrett                                                  Aiken High School C&C

Jim Bodmer                                                     Community Problem Oriented Policing (CPOP), Forum

Sr. Barbara Busch                                           WIN, Housing Team

Rev. Harold “Chappie” Chapman                  CHPC, CCCH

Ron Cowgill                                                    Facilitator

Treena Goodwin                                             Pleasant Hill Academy

Valerie Hershberger                                        Facilitator

Mike Jones                                                      College Hill/Northside Probation

Chris Miller                                                     CHPC

Sheena Parton                                                 CHBA

Steve Rossi                                                     Aiken High School Athletics

Phyllis Schoenberger                                       Forum, CHBA

Paula Sherman                                                Pleasant Hill Academy

Rev. Drew Smith                                            CHPC

Off. Governor Williams                                  CPD, Dist 5

Ron Witt                                                         CCCH

Lowanda Wooten                                           College Hill/Northside Probation

ABSENT:

ARCH

CHCURC

College Hill Fundamental Academy

McAuley High School

College Hill Gardeners

College Hill Library

College Hill Recreation Center

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital

Mercy Hospital Mt. Airy Foundation

AGENDA

Welcome and Introductions

Host Greetings

Opening Prayer

Special Announcements

Previous Minutes Review/Approval

Action Items From Previous Meeting

CHBA Update

Children’s Hospital Update

CPOP/COP/CPD

CHCURC Update

Schools

Ministerium

Housing

Discussion Topic

Community Activities & Announcements

DISCUSSION:

1.   Special Announcements

None

2.   Review of December 2008 Minutes
The minutes for the December meeting were not approved, due to lack of time for review.  They will be approved at the February meeting.

3.   Review of Action Items from Previous Meetings

(a)  Aiken Security has been visiting the Library during the day.  However, the security person was recently called up to go to Iraq, so the visits will stop until the person is replaced.

(b)  No update on the idea of cooperation between WIN and Pleasant Hill to offer WIN’s various classes on homeownership, credit, etc to parents.

4.   CHBA Update - by Shena Parton

There were several significant items of progress by CHBA reported by Sheena:

·         The University of Cincinnati Planning Dept has decided to include a focus on College Hill in their “studio”.  The objective of the studio is to develop a plan and strategy for revitalization of the Business District and adjacent neighborhoods.  They will use all previously done studies as input, include the marketing study done by NKU students, a Business District Design Plan done in 2000, and a study done by Al Neyer company.  As a first step, there will be a meeting at the College Hill Coffee Shop on Jan 26 from 2-4 pm.  All stakeholders are invited, not just the Business Association, because UC will look at all of College Hill, not just the Business District.

·         One of Llanfair’s Board members is a professor who teaches at Mt. St. Joe and has a class in “Evaluation and Research Grantmanship”.  Through this professor, a student is now working with CHCURC to do a grant study for a park in the College Hill area.

·         CHBA is looking at iron rod fencing for between the buildings, to prevent loitering and foot traffic between the buildings on the Avenue.  Several questions still need to be answered, such as fire safety.  They are looking at applying for a Clean & Safe Grant.

·         As reported last Summit meeting, the city’s NEP (Neighborhood Enhancement Program) is coming to College Hill.  All city services, such as those that deal with litter, building code violations, and so on, will be available to College Hill.   US Bank gave a $5000 gift in support of the NEP in College Hill.

·         CHBA is happy to report that a resident of Llanfair donated $10,000 for the College Hill portion of the Form Based Codes study.

·         Activation of the cameras is moving forward, but waiting on money from the city.  Also, it has been identified that an RFP study is required, which checks the feasibility of wireless transmission in the area.  Interference from trees is a potential issue.  A gift of $3000 was given by a Llanfair resident to fund this study.

·         Because PNC and National City Bank are merging, it is expected that one of the banks currently on the Avenue will be closed.  CHBA has expressed a preference for them to keep the current PNC bank property open, and have asked them to donate the National City Bank property to the community.

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

12 extra COP patrols were instituted during December, in anticipation of the seasonal increase in crime.  The closing of the Queensgate jail created concern, but only a slight increase in loitering on the Avenue was observed.  

Officer Williams reported that crime did increase from Nov to Dec, as expected.  It was unexpectedly higher than year ago, despite the fact that overall yearly totals were down.  Some of the increases in crime were due to specific individuals, such as in Aggravated Burglary/Burglary/B&E and Auto Theft, where the police identified the perpetrators and arrested them.   Unfortunately, with budget constraints creating a shortage of jail space, many criminals are getting out of jail very quickly.  This is discouraging to both the police and the community.

Some discussion followed this report, focused on how to connect and minister to people while they are still in jail or prison.  There seem to be many programs for youth in place, the situation for adults is less clear.  Money is available from the drug forfeiture program, which must be used for drug prevention, but the guidelines for this usage are broadly inclusive.  Ron Whitt, Jim Bodmer, and CPD will follow up to see if funds might be appropriately requested to support Ron’s work among the neighborhood youth.

6.   CHCURC Update

There was no one at the meeting to represent CHCURC and give an update.   It was mentioned that Marty is no longer going to be coming to these meetings, so Ron Cowgill committed to follow up with CHCURC to get someone else to come.

7.   College Hill Schools Discussion

Pleasant Hill Academy – by Paula Sherman

Ohio Achievement Tests will be held in Jan/Feb/March.  They are still looking for volunteers to tutor.  There are many kids who have really improved and need just a little more help in order to do well on these tests.  Math and reading are their main focus.  The school really needs to improve beyond Academic Watch status, or they risk going through a Re-establishment process in which all staff are let go and have to apply to be reinstituted.  This same information is going into the Currents newsletter.

They had a great winter break.  The highest percentage of students ever turned in their homework packets when returning to class.  18 of 25 classrooms had 100% participation. 

Adopt-A-Class is working very well.  The kids are not only having fun, but they are learning a lot about the community.  As an example, one class went to College Hill Coffee Co to have hot chocolate and cookies, and were surprised to learn that they could go into this business anytime to eat or buy cookies.   The experience created a new connection for all these kids.

Aiken College & Career High School – by Karen Barrett

Aiken participated in the Giving Tree project with the Homeless Coalition, and the school contributed about 250 gifts.  This was a fun and satisfying community service project.

Recruiting has begun for 9^th graders.  Karen is personally visiting all CPS 8^th grade classes to tell them about Aiken.  The next step will be to invited the 8^th graders from all CPS schools to visit Aiken on Jan 22.   On Jan 26, all 8th graders will go to computer labs and option, meaning they will pick what schools they will go to in the fall.

On Jan 13, CPS leadership is coming to the Aiken Campus, and will be at school all day.   This is part of their program of having community conversations, and the Aiken visit invites participation from this general section of the city, not only College Hill.   Parents and other interested people are invited to come to the school at 6 pm.

The new Aiken building is being designed, but a new issue is that there is no swing space for Aiken to move to while the old building is demolished and rebuilt.  The original swing space is being occupied longer than anticipated by another school.  The Aiken Design Team will be working options.

8.   Ministerium Update

The Martin Luther King service will be January 18.  People will gather at 4:30 pm at the Firehouse on Galbreath Rd, then will walk to the Hilltop United Methodist Church..

The Bridges dinners will continue in March, but format this time will be a little different.  Participants will be invited to 5 meetings in a row, one per week.

People interested in Community Development are encouraged to attend the Christian Community Development Association conference which will be in Cincinnati this year on Oct 25.  Details can be found at the CCDA.org website.   A preview can be experienced this coming weekend at Xavier.

Ron Whitt briefly reviewed his work in College Hill among the youth.  The City Cure approach is to have a relational focus, not programs, so any activities are planned to enable the relationships.  Currently, there are separate weekly teen programs for girls and boys as well as other activities such as taking kids to the beach.  Info on activities and events can be found on the website impactcollegehill.com.  Mostly the groups meet at CHPC.  The biggest need is for food for the kids to snack on before and during the activities.  Treena suggested that they might use the Kids Café with the Free Store.  Pleasant Hill Academy has used them, and the food is delivered.   Phyllis suggested that leftovers from local restaurants, such as Panera and ingredients from Dewey’s Pizza (the kids could make their own pizzas).  Ron indicated that he was interested in these possibilities.

9.   College Hill Housing Team – by Sr. Barbara Busch

Although most people who have been interested in the new houses have been over the limit for income, she believes they are very close to selling the house on Saranac.  They are close to signing a contract for the rehab on Lantana, and a house for 1402 Cedar is being designed.  WIN recently bought two more REO’s on Cedar.

Sr. Barbara was asked for her perspective on the NSP monies the City just received.  She indicated that the City got around $8 Million, and is projecting that 28 houses can be torn down and rebuilt, or rehabbed, throughout the city in 10 neighborhoods.   But the Federal government has put a requirement on the money that it all has to be paid back whenever the houses are sold.  Sr. Barbara is concerned about the impact on equity for the homeowners, and she suggests that the best use of the funds may be just for tearing down blighted buildings, since tear-down money does not have to be repaid.

10. Discussion Topic: Support of Local Schools

In preparation for this meeting, Aiken did some prework to develop some ideas for additional support they would like to have.  A big need is for donation of food at Ohio testing times.  Many students don’t get breakfast, and teachers have been using their own money to buy food.  The next test time is in March, when the 10^th grade will be tested.

Another major need is for help during the testing. Nearly 40% of the Aiken kids have IEP’s (Individual Education Plans, for kids who need addition attention or have special needs).  These kids need to have the tests read to them, and conversation to be sure they understand.  Training of volunteers is required, and the time commitment is for 5 days during testing.

Pleasant Hill has several needs which the community could help with.  They need volunteer tutors and help providing uniforms and undershirts.    They also could use support providing after school activities for the kids in June; they are going to be a 5^th quarter school, which means full time school attendance through the end of June.   The school has set aside a room  to be the Parent Center Room for visiting parents or community members.  Pleasant Hill would like to see the community, as well as parents, attend programs at the school such as the recent Christmas program.  During a brief discussion at this point, it was suggested that Pleasant Hill could use the Currents newsletter to inform the community as well as the e-newsletter.  The Currents goes to all 28,000 households in the community, many of whom do not have computers and cannot receive the e-newsletter.   It was also pointed out that all groups who want to communicate to the community need to avoid using the unique abbreviations and language of the group or institution. 

11. Community Events & Announcements

Aiken Basketball – There is a boys basketball 5 team showcase this Saturday at the Schottenstein Center at OSU.  Aiken is participating. 

Aiken Fundraiser – Aiken wants to hold a Bingo fundraiser this March, and Steve is looking for information on how to do Bingo.  

Next Summit Meeting: Feb 8 @ 8 am.  Location is to be confirmed.  Discussion topic is “Healthy Business District”, and the CHBA is requested to prepare a presentation and/or summary to enable that discussion.

                                                                                                Summarized by:

                                                                                                Valerie Hershberger

                                                                                                Jan 10, 2009

Summit Meeting Schedule

2009

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

Location Rotates

tbc = to be confirmed