Every neighborhood should have “access to great schools, and strong family and community support systems” that will prepare kids for college and a career. That’s the vision of the Department of Education which funds nearly 50 so-called “Promise Neighborhoods.”
The Neighborhood as Systems Toolkit, created after years of research by teams at Cincinnati Children’s and Design Impact, empowers residents to catalyze solutions for a thriving community. And it’s Free!
Every year in the Gem City, the Levitt Pavilion hosts over 50 free concerts for the public. This outdoor venue has been called Dayton’s “Living Room,” and up to 80,000 people come each year, some as far as Sweden and Japan, to enjoy a wide variety of music. “Some days when I’m getting off from work and I drive by and I see that the lawn is full of people, I go […]
For the individual, research shows that the arts can boost memory, decrease depression and foster creativity. For a community, it can improve the quality of life and benefit the economy. Despite finances drying up both nationally and locally, cities and counties are figuring out how to ramp up the arts because they see the benefits are increasingly worth it. Arts for All The sold-out Montgomery County “Arts for All” inaugural arts forum on April 13, “brought together a diverse group of attendees to explore how […]
Just across the river in the heart of West Dayton, Chris Voltz and his wife Grace live in the historical neighborhood of Wright-Dunbar Village. They own a blue two–story home with a large yard for their four children to play in, and Voltz says it’s a great place for their family. Their surroundings are steeped in history. Their neighborhood aptly named after historical giants who […]
70-year-old Carol Monahan retired 10 years ago from Procter and Gamble and enjoys the views from her lakefront home and tight knit community in Fairfield. But in 2023, residents in Butler County saw huge spikes in their property taxes, and many began to question their ability to stay in their home. Several homeowners wrote letters to the Butler County Treasurer expressing their concerns, including Monahan. “Is […]
A group of neighbors and business owners in the South Park area of Dayton are concerned about a half mile stretch of Wayne Avenue, which they say is extremely dangerous for pedestrians. Numerous traffic accidents, including the tragic death of 44-year-old resident Jennifer Johnson, who was struck and killed by a speeding vehicle in 2022 while waiting for a bus, prompted the coalition to come […]
As many of our neighbors in southwestern Ohio already know, challenges around housing and community development are persistent. But as we’ve seen over this inaugural year of reporting on Brick by Brick, there are a plethora of solutions either underway already in our region, or possibly worth bringing here. Spoiler alert: none of these solutions are ‘silver bullets’ to the problems of housing stability, or […]
Leading a bold new plan to address the need for stable, affordable housing for the homeless, Debbie Watts Robinson, CEO of the Miami Valley Housing Opportunities (MVHO), is working to build a tiny home community called Beacon Place Village in northeast Dayton. Robinson sees this as a cost-effective way to be able to provide housing, not just for the homeless but for others too. […]
An effort to improve one man’s suburban Dallas neighborhood is now spreading across the country, even touching South Bend, Indiana. Incremental developer Monte Anderson coined the term “gentlefication,” valuing people and buildings as he envisions what an area could look like. He’s teaching other cities to do it. Some say it can’t come soon enough as gentrification becomes faster and more widespread. The Issue The National Community […]
