A rising consumer products executive in the early 1990s, Dan Meyer decided to use his talent for a higher cause.
Meyer ended up founding two successive companies that dealt in consumer products but ultimately benefited Greater Cincinnati. His first venture, Changing Paradigms, manufactured store-branded candles, air fresheners and household cleaners but donated 10% of its profits to urban ministries in Cincinnati. After selling the company in 2006, Meyer yearned to do more.
“What I wanted to do was to make a difference in our community that was bigger than just writing checks,” Meyer said.
Friends told him if he really wanted to help urban communities, he should bring light manufacturing jobs back into the city. So in 2009, he founded Nehemiah Manufacturing Co. Shortly after, the new company became a “second-chance” employer, hiring workers after prison terms or drug rehab.
Today, Nehemiah employs more than 200 workers at its factory in Lower Price Hill. The company generates more than $60 million in sales, producing Kandoo flushable wipes (a brand it bought from Procter & Gamble) as well as licensed brand extensions, including Febreze In-Wash Odor Eliminator, Tide Washing Machine cleaners and Dreft household and dish products. Two-thirds of its workforce are classified as “second-chance” employees – recovering addicts or ex-convicts.
“The genesis of the company was to come into the inner city core and provide jobs for those that are in most need,” Meyer said.
An aspiring business owner
A native of West Price Hill, Meyer attended the University of Pennsylvania then launched his career in consumer products working at P&G. Meyer left Cincinnati for Chicago to take a marketing job at Quaker Oats. He returned to Cincinnati to work for Drackett Co., then the maker of Drano drain cleaner, Windex window cleaner and Endust furniture care.
Meyer eventually ran Drackett’s entire O-Cedar mop and broom division but still eyed another role outside of the corporate world.
“My dream was to always start and run my own company,” Meyer said. “To do this, I felt I needed to learn… by working the big consumer package goods companies.”
After 12 different jobs at three companies in 15 years, Meyer felt he had enough experience to strike out on his own. When Drackett was taken over by SC Johnson Co. in the early 1990s, Meyer had the final push and a severance package to take the leap.
In 1994, he founded Changing Paradigms in West Chester. Over the next 15 years, Meyer grew the company making generic brands for the likes of retailers Kroger and Walmart. Later, the company also developed a relationship with P&G, producing niche packaged products under the banners of the consumer giant’s brand names.
Inspired by his devout Catholic faith and upbringing, Meyer donated 10% of the company’s profits to urban ministries. After selling the business in 2006 but agreeing to stay on to manage it for another three years, Meyer contemplated his next move.
“I wanted to give back: Time, talent and treasure,” Meyer said.
A new venture
For decades, Meyer lived in the Bridgetown area of Green Township, watching some nearby West Side neighborhoods of Cincinnati decline. Talking with friends, Meyer wondered if his next business could help rebuild a declining part of the city.
A friend suggested factory jobs within walking distance of a residential community would inject a welcome shot of stability, giving families better jobs nearby.
Nehemiah Manufacturing – named for the Old Testament prophet who helped rebuild Jerusalem – was founded in 2009 and originally located in Queensgate. At the request of a local nonprofit, the company began hiring second-chance workers and discovered with the right support such employees had strong potential to be loyal and dedicated.
The company doesn't hire sex offenders. Other criminal backgrounds are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. It typically hires second-chance employees as temporary workers for a period of four to six months. If they work out, they're hired permanently.
Now 39, Michael Taylor, was one of the first such hires.
A Mason native, Taylor developed a serious drinking and later drug problem attending college at Bowling Green State University. When he left school, his life unraveled into a string of jobs cut short by problems with alcohol and drugs. He was convicted of breaking and entering and burglary after a friend stole from a house and called him for a ride.
After serving eight months of a two-year sentence, Taylor wanted to start over but struggled to find work with his criminal record. After lying on an application, he was escorted off one new job by armed guards. Then, his father heard about Nehemiah and got him to apply.
On Taylor’s second day at work, Meyer told him “We’re here for you” and there were no limits if he worked hard.
“I didn’t feel like I had to hide,” Taylor recalled. “It was a good job that gave me hope and allowed me to be myself.”
Since joining the company 10 years ago, Taylor has been promoted 11 times and now is in management as the company’s director of operations.
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