This past week in Exploring Community Engagement, my class and I visited Northside in Cincinnati, Ohio. It borders Mt. Airy, College Hill, Clifton, and South Cumminsville. According to Radel, it is an extremely diverse community where "differences are not tolerated - they're embraced" (Radel, 2013, 2). The area's "population reflects a diversity of income levels, races, lifestyles, occupations, and sexual orientations" (Radel, 2013, 1). When walking around I noticed individuals in sweatpants on the streets and men wearing suits and ties who were interacting with one another. The readings I did before traveling to Northside truly capture the strong sense of community that exists and the pride individuals feel about living in Northside. It is a beautiful part of the city full of murals, unique stores, and diversity.
When we arrived at Northside, we had a bit of time to explore before we met at WordPlay, which is a small organization that is earning a big name for its work with local public school children. Wordplay works on creating a safe atmosphere for children and teens who attend large public schools. The issue with these types of schools is that students often get overlooked. They get "lost in the crowd" in a sense and fall behind. Elissa Yancey, a journalism professor at UC who volunteers at WordPlay, explained how students from local colleges, such as UC and Xavier, come to WordPlay and tutor kids after school in any subject in which they may need help. The goal of WordPlay is to creates a positive learning environment in which kids want to learn. Elissa believes that the key to successfully teaching kids who live in harsh environments filled with gangs, drugs, and violence, is to form personal relationships with them. Therefore, volunteers work with kids for an hour and a half or more so that they can form that personal, one-on-one relationship. I believe WordPlay is an amazing organization that I plan on volunteering with in the future. If I did not already have an idea for my final project for Exploring Community Engagement, I would definitely consider doing something involving WordPlay. The reason for this is that Elissa taught me that no matter where you look, there are always places to engage in and assist a community, whether they be big and well-known or small and not well-publicized. Making a small effort and asking locals in a community can lead to a massive change in the lives of many people in need. This especially pertains to Northside. The sense of community that exists there is truly remarkable. One of the main reasons for this is that the community is an asset-based community. According to one of the articles we read, an ABCD approach to forming community is based on "appreciating and mobilizing individual and community talents, skills, and assets (rather than focusing on problems and needs)" and "community-driven development rather than development driven by external agencies." (Synergos, 2006, 2006). By focusing on the unique gifts of each individual in an area, a strong community can be formed that appreciates personal development and participation.
Throughout the whole trip, I noticed and heard about various aspects of Northside which put a bad image in my mind. Elissa explained that there is massive amount of crime which occurs in the area. There are shootings, robberies, and drug deals which occur. Personally, I thought the environment was full of old, run-down shops which gave the area an unfriendly feeling. Although I had a negative image in my mind, I did not feel uncomfortable like I did in OTR. OTR definitely looked more friendly and beautiful, but I still do not feel totally comfortable walking around there unlike in Northside. This leads me to believe that the bad stereotype of OTR I grew up with hearing is what made me feel uncomfortable traveling there. Overall, the trip to Northside was amazing. I got a glimpse at an extremely diverse area which is an artist's paradise.
Radel, Cliff. "'New' Northside Is Finally Looking Up." Cincinnati.com. PASSIONFORPLACE, 23 July 2013. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.
Synergos. "Asset-Based Community Development -- An OverviewBy Gord Cunningham and Alison Mathie, Coady International InstituteFebruary 2002." Asset-Based Community Development. Knowledge Resources, 2006. Web. 01 Nov. 2013.