Tag: education

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Arts & Entertainment News

Walnut Street Poetry Society to kick-off 2011 season at Mercantile Library

Like literature? Like poetry?

The Mercantile Library is hosting a one-hour poetry event this Wednesday, January 12 from 12pm to 1pm.  A Profusion of Poets is a kick-off for the 2011 season of the Walnut Street Poetry Society (WSPS), a local poetry group founded in 2004.

Participating poets include Bea Ostergart, a writer and UC English professor, and Richard Hague, a writer, editor and teacher at Purcell Marian High School, and several other local poets. The event will be moderated by Dr. Norman Finkelstein, poet and professor of English at Xavier University and Robert Murphy, poet and editor of Dos Madres Press.

The WSPS says that this year’s poetry series at the Mercantile Library focuses on poetry and inner life.

“Poems, as it were, are places made out of language where our inner life and the outer world meet.  In the coming months, we will read a wide variety of poets who invite us to participate in this inspiriting process.”

This event will take place at the 175-year-old institution at 414 Walnut Street in downtown Cincinnati, and is free and open to the public.  Mercantile Library members interested in joining the Walnut Street Poetry Society can do so for $30 annually.  All others interested can join for a $40 annual membership fee.

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Development News Politics

Cincinnati to host form-based code webinars at City Hall

Cincinnati leaders are hosting five webinars sponsored by PlaceMakers to give local residents a chance to learn more about the implementation of form-based codes. The sessions are intended to compliment the city’s ongoing effort at developing a form-based code.

According to Vice Mayor Qualls’ office, the webinars will take place on the third Thursday of each month starting October 21, 2010 and running through February 17, 2011. Each training opportunity will have its own unique focus led by specialists in that area.

On October 21, Ken Groves and Chad Emerson will look at the Montgomery case study. Dan Slone will then discuss how to integrate a form-based code with an existing code on November 18. The webinar on December 16 will include a discussion about SmartCode calibration basics led by Susan Henderson. At the second-to-last webinar Galina Tachiva will look at how to repair sprawl development patterns, and the final event will look at the Miami case study with the help of Marina Khoury.

The 75-minute webinars will be held at 2pm at City Hall (map). Those interested in attending the free sessions are asked to contact Jennifer O’Donnel at jennifer.o’donnell@cincinnati-oh.gov.  City Hall is accessible by Metro bus service (plan your trip), and free bicycle parking is available in the immediate surroundings.

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News Politics

New youth city council elected through YMCA’s Youth in City Government program

A new group of young leaders was sworn into office last week as part of the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati’s annual Youth in City Government Conference. This year’s two-day conference included more than 200 Cincinnati high school students from 14 participating high schools.

According to the YMCA, participating students were asked to perform roles of prosecution, defense and witnesses (with expert trial lawyer guidance) in a mock trial as part of a variety of structured activities meant to engage the young individuals.

The new Youth Cincinnati City Council was also treated to a question and answer session with local politicians, a luncheon with Judge Tyrone Yates, a gavel ceremony, and a proclamation from the U.S. Senate before being sworn in before Cincinnati’s regular City Council meeting at 2pm on Wednesday, October 6.

“This conference is all about helping young people to develop skills that will allow them to thrive as they move forward with their lives to become productive, socially responsible adults,” Jana Nattermann, youth zone director for the YMCA of Greater Cincinnati, stated in a prepared release.

The year-round YMCA Youth in City Government program gives Cincinnati students the opportunity to learn about local, state, national and international politics. It offers teen participants a venue to gain leadership skills, strengthen their ability to express ideas clearly and persuasively, and learn fellowship by working together with peers from diverse backgrounds.

YMCA officials say that the year-round program is structured to provide an opportunity for students to learn about local, state, national and international politics while also gaining valuable leadership skills.

YMCA Youth City Council – Mark Brockman (St. Xavier High School); Nick Staresinic (Moeller High School); Evan McConaughy (St. Xavier High School); Mary Crema (Mt. Notre Dame Academy); Le’Asha Moore (Hughes Center); Kyle Denman (St. Xavier High School); Brandon Craig (Withrow University); and Brandon Weiss (Wyoming High School). Standing is YMCA Youth Mayor Patrick Regan (Aldersgate Christian Academy) and YMCA Vice Mayor Jonte’ Pegg (Hughes Center).

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Business Development News

Over-the-Rhine college experiences record growth, eyes future expansion

Over the past four semesters, Chatfield College’s location near Findlay Market in historic Over-the-Rhine has increased its enrollment from 74 to 170 students. Leadership at the liberal arts college attributes much of the growth to an aggressive Cincinnati recruiting campaign and mission to reach the under-served population in Cincinnati’s urban core.

“We empower students that maybe could not succeed at larger colleges like Cincinnati State,” said Chatfield College president John Tafaro. “And even though we are growing, we stay committed to individual attention by keeping our class sizes capped at 20 students or less.”

The capped class sizes have maintained one teacher for every eight students in class. In order to maintain this ratio school officials are in the process of hiring additional faculty in a variety of subjects. In order to accomplish this the college will host a recruitment fair on Thursday, October 7 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at 1800 Logan Street in Over-the-Rhine. The fair will reportedly include a speech to prospective faculty members by President Tafaro.

While Chatfield’s Over-the-Rhine location has more than doubled its enrollment over the past year, the college’s main campus located in St. Martin, Ohio has only grown by 10 percent since last fall. To accommodate such growth school officials say that a move from their current 5,000-square-foot location may be in store, but for the mean time they plan on adding additional classes to meet the new demands.

“We offer blocked scheduling and both day and night classes,” noted Tafaro. “Beginning this spring semester, which starts in January, we will also offer Saturday classes to most effectively reach our students’ needs.”

The college currently has a lease on their Over-the-Rhine space through 2014, but officials say that an expansion in the neighborhood would be ideal moving forward due to the great location.

“Our Findlay Market location is convenient to urban community members, and we are near eight bus lines. Approximately 90 percent of our students are black and nearly 80 percent are women, many single moms, who appreciate Chatfield coming to their community instead of making them come to us.”

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Business News

Second annual 3E Summit to help local businesses create environmentally sustainable practices

The second annual Energy-Economics-Environment (3E) Summit will be held on Tuesday, September 28 at the Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati. The summit was started last year to help local businesses strengthen their bottom line through energy improvements.

The creation of the annual summit stems from the Green Cincinnati Plan which called for an educational outreach effort among other things.

According to event organizers, some of the nation’s largest companies have shifted focus towards sustainable practices and products in what some industry experts call the “triple bottom line” approach. They say that such changes have occurred because of new consumer habits and demands to do so, but that many small- and medium-sized businesses have been unable to incorporate such practices into their business plan thus far.

“The 3E Summit offers practical guidance on how small- and mid-sized businesses can incorporate sustainable business practices and products into their business plan and increase their bottom line,” event organizers state.

This year’s summit will include top panelists, from around the Cincinnati region, that will host breakout sessions covering topics like energy and water saving techniques, company-wide sustainability programs, green building, and how to engage local sustainability co-op programs among others.

The sustainability event will also feature James L. Turner and Gary Jay Saulson who will talk about how Duke Energy and PNC are leading the way in new energy approaches respectively.  Organizers also say that there will be more than 30 green exhibitors on-hand to discuss sustainable practices and showcase their energy saving products.

The 2010 3E Summit will take place from 7:30am to 2pm at the Duke Energy Convention Center on Tuesday, September 28. Those interested in attending can do so by register in advance for $50 online or by calling (513) 579-3111.  The early registration fee will not only get you into the summit, but also include a continental breakfast and “lunch by the bite.”