Forum Focuses on Issues Confronting Hamilton County And Cincinnati City Governments In 2019

Thursday, January 17, 2019

What are the important issues confronting City Council and the Hamilton County Commission in 2019 and beyond? At the first Community Issues Forum of 2019, Councilman David Mann and County Commissioner Denise Driehaus will address this question as well as assessing how they sees local government’s role in future developments and plans for the city and county. This luncheon presentation takes place at 12:00 noon, Thursday January 17th, Christ Church Cathedral Forum Room (Third Floor), 318 East Fourth Street.  VIDEO PART II


Forum Focuses on Homelessness In 2019: An Update By Josh Spring, Executive Director Of The Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition.

Thursday, February 14, 2019

U.S. Census data and other local research supply evidence that poverty and homelessness have grown worse here in recent years. This trend occurs even while several local anti-poverty initiatives have been launched. According to a report released by LISC, Greater Cincinnati has an affordable housing gap of 40,000 units. Spring will portray the current situation for homeless families and individuals, while reviewing potential policies and reforms that are needed to turn things around. As usual, time will be set aside for questions and comments from the audience  VIDEO PART II


Forum Focuses on How is Preschool Promise faring?

How is Preschool Promise faring? Passed by local voters in 2016, this initiative to make quality preschool available to every child in the Cincinnati School District is an ambitious goal. At the next Community Issues Forum, Shiloh Turner, Executive Director of Cincinnati Preschool Promise, will provide an update on its expansion since it got the green light to proceed. This luncheon presentation takes place at 12:00 noon, Thursday February 28th, Christ Church Cathedral Forum Room (Third Floor), 318 East Fourth Street.  VIDEO PART II


Forum Focuses on Improving Public Transportation In Greater Cincinnati
Thursday, March 14, 2019

A consensus exists that the current bus system administered by SORTA is inadequate. The debate now occurring is what to fix and how to fund any improvements. At the next Community Issues Forum, Mark Sanaan of the Better Bus Coalition, will discuss the needed improvements and whether the current funding proposals would be sufficient to bring them about. This luncheon presentation took place at 12:00 noon, Thursday March 14th, Christ Church Cathedral Forum Room (Third Floor), 318 East Fourth Street.  Putting Metro on the ballot in 2019


Forum Focuses on Developing An Affordable Housing Strategy For Greater Cincinnati
Thursday, March 21, 2019

Cincinnati confronts an affordable housing crisis. LISC (The Local Initiatives Support Corporation of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky) has through its recent studies provided both evidence of this crisis and the existing vacant housing to help address it. LISC is currently working with local partners to develop an affordable housing strategy for Greater Cincinnati. At the next Community Issues Forum, Paola Garrido Estevez,  Special Projects Associate for LISC, will review LISC’s affordable housing research and its initiative to forge a housing strategy for this area. This luncheon presentation takes place at 12:00 noon, Thursday March 21st, Christ Church Cathedral Forum Room (Third Floor), 318 East Fourth Street.


Forum Focuses on Appalachian Cincinnati – An Update
Thursday, April 4, 2019

Beginning in the 1940s, Cincinnati became the destination for many people migrating from rural Appalachia, and it continues to remain home for a large urban Appalachian population. How is this community faring today? At the next Community Issues Forum, Michael E. Maloney, a longtime urban Appalachian leader and scholar and one of the founders of the Urban Appalachian Community Coalition, will provide an update. This luncheon presentation takes place at 12:00 noon, Thursday April 4th, Christ Church Cathedral Forum Room (Third Floor), 318 East Fourth Street.

Maureen Sullivan reads poem by Oyler Students.
Poem Script We Are From Oyler


Forum Focuses on Two Creative And Effective Programs For Teens At-Risk- Elementz And Holistically Empowering All Teens
Thursday, April 18, 2019

The teen years are a critical time in a young person’s development, and a number of factors also put many teens at-risk in today’s urban culture. At the next Community Issues Forum, Tara Robinson, Program Leader for Holistically Empowering All Teens (HEAT), and Tom Kent, Director of Elementz, will describe two programs that are succeeding in involving teens in activities that are keeping them on track for positive and productive lives. This luncheon presentation takes place at 12:00 noon, Thursday April 18th, Christ Church Cathedral Forum Room (Third Floor), 318 East Fourth Street.

 


Forum Focuses on The Collaborative Agreement Today –  How Is This 2002 Legal  Agreement To Improve Community/Police Relations Faring? 

Thursday May 2, 2019, 12:00 Noon,

Where do things stand with the Collaborative Agreement today? This formal agreement emerged in 2002 as the result of a federal law suit filed by Cincinnati’s African American leadership against the City for longstanding discriminatory police practices. At the next Community Issues Forum, Jason N. Cooper, Collaborative Agreement Sustainability Manager for the City of Cincinnati, and Iris Roley, Project Manager for the Cincinnati Black United Front’s Collaborative Agreement and Its Refresher, will provide an update on the Collaborative Agreement after it underwent a recent reevaluation and planning process. This luncheon presentation takes place at 12:00 noon, Thursday May 2nd, Christ Church Cathedral Forum Room (Third Floor), 318 East Fourth Street.

 


Forum Focuses on Three Grassroots Efforts To Reform The City’s Policy Of Providing Unconditional Support To Private Developers 

Thursday May 16, 2019, 12:00 Noon,

Several grassroots efforts are currently underway that would reform the City’s longterm policy of providing unconditional support to large development projects. At the next Community Issues Forum, Jenn Arens of the Peaslee Neighborhood Center, Michelle Dillingham, Executive Director of Community Shares, and John Schrider, Director of the Legal Society Aid of Southwest Ohio, will describe the Equitable Development Rubric for neighborhoods, tax abatement reforms, and a policy proposal to require housing developers to include a percentage of affordable units in their projects

Forum Focuses on Neighborhood Organizing

Thursday, September 12, 2019

The Community Issues Forum kicks off its new season with a forum focusing on neighborhood organizing. A panel –Daughton King, Jenn Arens,  and Michele Dillingham -led by Joele Newman, Lead Organizer for the Peaslee Neighborhood Center, will discuss Peaslee’s Equitable Development Rubric and other collaborative neighborhood initiatives. This luncheon forum takes place at 12:00 noon, Thursday September 12th, The Peaslee Neighborhood Center, 215 East 14th Street in Over-the-Rhine. (Limited parking is available in the parking lot next to the Center.)

Forum Focuses on candidates running for the Cincinnati School Board.

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Recognizing the importance of public education, the Community Issues Forum will feature the candidates running for the Cincinnati School Board.  Featured are Marlena Brookfield, Carolyn Jones, Heather Couch, and write in candidate Ozzie Davis.  Because state government has never properly responded to the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling on funding for Public Schools, districts such as Cincinnati’s have struggled to finance their operations and programs. Meanwhile, Cincinnati Public Schools in recent years moved ahead with innovations such as Preschool Promise and a variety of special schools with unique programs. A renewal school levy is also on the ballot this fall. The candidates will be asked to talk about the current situation and their ideas for the future.

Candidates running for the Cincinnati School Board Continued.  Featured are  Ben Lindy,  Pamela Bowers, Steve Megerle and Gary Favors. 

Forum Focuses on  Initiatives To Reduce Gun Violence In Cincinnati  

Thursday, October 3, 2019

 Besides the mass shootings that receive the newspaper headlines, gun violence persists on an all too regular basis in cities across the U.S.  At the next Community Issues Forum, a panel will discuss the initiatives being taken to reduce gun violence in Cincinnati. The panel includes Mitch Morris,  who directs the Phoenix Program for Cincinnati Works, Rukiye Z Abdul-Mutakallim, Director of the Islamic Center of Understanding, Justin A. Weber, Chief Investigator of the Hamilton County Coroner’s Office, Jack Jose of Christ Church Cathedral, and Brian Garry. representing a new anti-gun violence initiative of Neighborhoods United. 

Recognizing the tragic results of gun violence in our community, Christ Church Cathedral became invested several years ago in supporting efforts to reduce gun violence and to provide healing to the people that it impacts. The Phoenix Program of Cincinnati Works is one of these initiatives, and Mitch Morris becomes directly involved with many individuals and families caught up in the tragic results of gun violence. A new initiative led by Neighborhoods United seeks to create a city-wide plan for dealing with gun violence. As usual, time will be set aside for questions and comments from the audience.            

Forum Focuses on  Legislative Efforts To Reduce Gun Volence:  Part II Of Initiatives To Reduce Gun Violence   

Thursday, October 17, 2019

Mass shootings in Dayton and El Paso have prompted new efforts to reduce gun violence through gun safety legislation. At the next Community Issues Forum, a panel will discuss current legislative initiatives in Ohio. The panel includes Michele Mueller, Local Group Lead for Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, and Andrea Herzig, a representative of Ohioans for Gun Safety. 

The Ohio General Assembly has been resisent to passing any gun safety regulations, but the recent tragedy in Dayton may have changed the minds of enough members of the House and Senate. Saying that “we have to do something,” Governor DeWine has proposed strengthening background checks and the possibility of enacting a “red flag” law (a court procedure to take away guns from people who are found to be a potential threat to others.). Meanwhile, Ohioans for Gun Safety is collecting signatures for a possible state-wide ballot initiative to put in place comprehensive background checks. As usual, time will be set aside for questions and comments from the audience.             

Forum Focuses on  the  just released report, “Fair Housing Assessment”. 

Thursday, November 14, 2019

A just released report, “Fair Housing Assessment,” confirms that Greater Cincinnati confronts a major affordable housing crisis.Researched and written for the City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County by Xavier University’s Community Building Institute, this assessment is required every five years from local governments that receive funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. At the next Community Issues Forum, Liz Blume, Director of the Community Building Institute and the principal author of the report, will review the assessment’s findings and recommendations.  Fair Housing Report Summary.

Forum Focuses on   Sanctuary Communities – A New Book That Will Have Its First Public Airing

Thursday, December 5, 2019

A timely book will be released on December 5th by the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center. At the next Community Issues Forum the author, David Tynes and Brennan Grayson   provide the first public airing of their  book, Sanctuary Communities.  This book examines the role of providing “sanctuary” in this current climate of deporting any person who cannot prove their legal status for living in this country VIDEO PART II