CINCINNATI — Valerie Lane finally has a new place to call home.

WCPO 9 first reported her story last month.

A ceiling in Lane's Westwood apartment had collapsed, and rain had soaked much of her clothing, furniture and other belongings. The landlord told all the building’s tenants they had to move by Sept. 30, but Lane was struggling to find a place to go.

RELATED: She has eight days to move but nowhere to go

Many readers and viewers responded to Lane’s story with offers to help. On Friday, help arrived.

Movers hired by Neighborhoods United began loading up her belongings to take them to her new home at City West in Cincinnati’s West End.

“I feel better,” she said Friday, sitting on her couch as her living room ceiling dripped and movers worked around her. “I feel better that I am, you know, at least going toward a better thing.”

Eric Clajus | WCPO

Neighborhoods United raised $2,000 to help Lane — initially planning to use that money to temporarily move her into a hotel so she could leave her place in Westwood, said chair Brian Garry.

But Lane didn’t want to leave her possessions behind because she has been robbed in the past, Garry said, so she stayed in Westwood until Garry found her someplace to move.

“She’s a disabled senior citizen, and she deserves better than this,” Garry said. “Normally, I’m a pretty connected person, and I can find people housing. I went to all of my resources — all of them. I exhausted my resources. Nobody could do anything.”

Finally, Garry said, he helped Lane find a place at City West. Neighborhoods United paid her application fee and security deposit, he said, and Garry took Lane to sign her lease and pick up her keys Thursday.

‘It can’t be this cold-hearted’

Lane, 64, has a housing choice voucher, the federal housing subsidy more commonly known as Section 8. The voucher was set to expire earlier this year, but she got an extension through the end of September. Garry said he helped her get another extension through the end of October.

Finding a place to accept the voucher was difficult, Garry said, and took much longer than he initially had hoped after first learning about her situation from the WCPO 9 story.

“The market has just gone through the roof, and affordable housing is at an extreme shortage,” he said. “I’m very thankful for the community, because they did come together.”

Courtesy of Brian Garry

Lane gave up hope more than once over the past six weeks, she said.

“It just seemed like don’t nobody care no more. And I say, it can’t be this cold-hearted,” she said. “But I’d say, I know God wouldn’t keep you here for this much pain and not give you a good outcome.”

Lane said she’s eager to have everything moved into her new home so she doesn’t have to think about the apartment in Westwood anymore.

Other tenants, including a woman with a little boy, are still living in the building because they have not been able to find anywhere to move, she said. Lane said she’s hoping maybe they can move to City West, too.

Now that Lane’s outlook is brighter, she said, she has a message for everyone who is following her story.

“Just have a little heart,” she said. “Just be there for each other. And this world will be a whole lot better.”

Lucy May | WCPO

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region — to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on problems we need to address. Poverty is an important focus for Lucy and for WCPO 9. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

HAMILTON — This week's Pet Pal is Voodoo, who came into Animal Friends Humane Society in Hamilton as a stray.

According to Kelley McClaughry, Animal Friends' dog care coordinator, Voodoo is a 2-year-old pittie mix who loves giving kisses.

McClaughry said they recommend a meet-and-greet with Voodoo and any potential family, especially if that family has another dog. Animal Friends Humane Society has a living room type area that would be similar to a room in the house called a Real Life Room of a new owner where people can meet-and-greet with a potential new pet.

"The best way to meet the dogs is to come in see their personalities and actually take them out and walk them and hang out in our Real Life Room here," McClaughry said. "They're a totally different dog outside of the kennel."

Animal Friends Humane Society is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. everyday except Wednesday and Thursday, when they're open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. You can see profiles of their animals at their website at https://www.animalfriendshs.org/ .

MONTGOMERY, Ohio — For Edward Zha and Katherine Wen, cooking is about more than food.

It’s about celebrating their Chinese heritage and sharing it with others.

That’s more important than ever now, they said, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the anti-Asian rhetoric that has accompanied it.

“During this crisis, like, Asian hate and all that, we really need to be proud of ourselves and show who we really are,” said Edward, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Mason Middle School.

“We shouldn’t be ashamed of showing our culture and things that we enjoy,” added Katherine, a 15-year-old sophomore at Sycamore High School. “I think with food, you don’t really need to know a certain language or be part of a culture. Anyone can enjoy food from any culture, so I think that’s really nice.”

The teens have been honing their cooking skills – and building their pride – as part of a new youth program launched by the Greater Cincinnati Chinese Cultural Exchange Association. The program has eight youth leaders who oversee its three pillars: sharing food, performing arts and storytelling.

Lucy May | WCPO

“I cannot tell you how excited I am, because I personally see the growth of these youth,” said Felicity Tao, the association’s co-chair. “I really think all of these young kids have the potential to be leaders in the community. They can really serve the community, and it’s always a way for them to discuss their passion.”

Edward and Katherine lead the cooking group, and both will be sharing what they’ve learned during the Asian Food Fest this weekend. They will oversee a secret menu booth and serve some of their tastiest dishes.

‘I get to find my true identity’

Edward will be making Biang Biang Mian, a spicy noodle dish that he first tasted at an authentic Xi’an restaurant in Columbus that his family likes to visit. It’s named for the sound that the dough makes when hitting the board as it’s being prepared.

He likes the dish so much that he got a recipe from YouTube and learned to make it himself. Now Edward sells the noodle dish to neighbors and friends.

“I always loved cooking, and then since COVID came in, my mom had a lot of Zoom meetings, because she’s a Chinese teacher,” he said. “Most days I would cook lunch or dinner by myself. And I would use YouTube and watch a lot of simpler dishes. And gradually I went to harder dishes and my own cultural dishes.”

Katherine said she started cooking more during COVID-19 quarantine, too, and usually made lunch for herself when she attended classes virtually last school year.

Lucy May | WCPO

For the Asian Food Festival, she’ll be making Zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings. Her Zongzi will be wrapped in reed leaves and stuffed with dates, although she said other varieties can be stuffed with meat or egg yolks.

“Zongzi is eaten for a holiday. It’s the Dragon Boat Festival,” she said. “It’s nice to be able to cook food from your culture and celebrate traditional holidays and be able to show it to people who’d like to learn.”

Edward joined the GCCCEA youth program a few months ago, he said, because cooking is his passion.

“My family is, like, really into cooking. My dad’s cooking is better than my mom’s – don’t tell her that,” he said with a grin as his mom stood a few feet away. “I feel like whenever I cook with them, I get to find my true identity with them. And it’s a lot of fun.”

Katherine enjoys cooking, too, she said, but joined the youth program primarily to meet people.

Passion, enthusiasm and commitment

“I’ve made a lot of new friends through this program,” she said. “And also volunteering with a lot of festivals and things, it’s just a lot of fun being able to help the community with things like that.”

Tao said Edward and Katherine have taken charge of the secret menu booth for this weekend’s Asian Food Festival with very little involvement from GCCCEA’s adult leaders.

“They were planning, and they were deciding on the menus, and they will cook some of the food on-site as well,” she said, in addition to staffing the booth to sell the food and talk with people who stop by. “Their passion and their enthusiasm and their commitment make us think they can run this program, and we will support them however we can.”

It’s all part of the goal of the youth program to help youth embrace their cultural identity, become strong leaders and serve the community, she said. While the group is open to youth from any background, Tao said, it has been especially important for Asian American youth during the pandemic.

Lucy May | WCPO

“We are very proud of our heritage culture, and there is no reason that they don’t belong here,” Tao said. “So by discovering themselves, connecting with others, hopefully they will find it’s a little easier for them to embrace their own culture.”

The Asian Food Fest will be from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 9, and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 10, on the new Court Street Plaza on East Court Street between Vine and Walnut streets in downtown Cincinnati. More information is available online.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

CINCINNATI — Greater Cincinnati’s Black and brown women business founders soon will have a new opportunity to grow their companies.

Black Girl Ventures is teaming up with Kroger for a pitch program that will give business owners a chance to win cash prizes, get technical training and grow their networks.

Business owners have until Sept. 28 to apply for the program, which will take place Nov. 4.

The BGV Pitch Program mixes “the premise of Shark Tank and Kickstarter,” said Shelly Omilâdè Bell, the founder and CEO of the Black Girl Ventures Foundation.

“It’s pitching and crowdfunding together,” she said. “But crowdfunding has an opportunity cost attached to it. You have to have a network already. You have to have great production prowess. And so we actually create that production and we crowdfund alongside the founders so they’re not having to do it all by themselves.”

To participate, founders must have been in business for at least a year, must have a product that has been tested and works, and they must be generating some revenue.

“We want to be able to grant people who can actually expand or grow based off of the grant,” Omilâdè Bell said. “The reason that we ask for you to be at least a year in business and to have an actual functioning product, or minimum viable product, is because that’s where we can be the most helpful. We can actually be instrumental in your journey.”

Omilâdè Bell launched Black Girl Ventures in Washington, D.C., in 2016. She said the organization’s goal is to help women of color access capital to grow their businesses, thereby creating jobs and strengthening communities.

Since its founding, Black Girl Ventures has funded 264 women of color, held more than 30 BGV Pitch Programs across 12 cities and has served more than 2,000 participants. Participants in the group’s pitch programs are collectively generating more than $10 million in revenue and supporting 3,000 jobs.

Omilâdè Bell said she wanted to bring a pitch competition to Cincinnati because of the good work of MORTAR, Lightship Capital and other local organizations and corporations that are working to support minority business owners. She said she connected with Kroger after the killing of George Floyd last year prompted so many companies to amplify their efforts to help minority-owned businesses and minority communities.

Courtesy of Black Girl Ventures

As part of its work with Kroger, Black Girl Ventures has selected six Cincinnati Fellows. They are local business owners who will organize the Cincinnati pitch competition and work with the founders who apply to be part of it. They are:

· Alexis Williams, founder of Selfie City Cincy

· Alice Msachi, owner and CEO of NKC Accounting

· Erikka Gray, CEO and co-founder District 78

· Calisha Brooks, founder of Soul Care

· Terri Hurdle, founder of T Marie Consulting

· Cyrina Thomas, chief plastic officer at Precious Plastic Cincy

“Their mission on the ground is to give people an opportunity for access to capital through the pitch competition,” Omilâdè Bell said. “We have helped them map out and understand the Cincinnati ecosystem itself.”

That allows the fellows to advocate for other business owners and learn more about the good work happening throughout Greater Cincinnati, she said.

“We’re trying to break that barrier of you don’t know what you don’t know,” Omilâdè Bell said. “So you know that these efforts for Black and brown women exist, and you know there are other leaders in the communities besides some of the people that just have become the go-to.”

Eight businesses will be chosen to take part in the pitch competition out of all that apply. The pitch competition will allow all those in the audience to vote with their dollars using Black Girl Ventures' Raisify platform for the founders whose pitches they like best.

Omilâdè Bell said the Cincinnati companies that take part in the upcoming pitch program don’t necessarily have to make products that could be stocked in Kroger stores.

“We’re pretty industry agnostic,” she said. “In Cincinnati, we want to make sure that we’re pulling in a pool of people who absolutely need support, especially considering the number of businesses that have had to shut down or pivot during the pandemic. And we’re still not out of the pandemic. So we want to make sure that we can be as supportive as possible.”

More information about the BGV Cincinnati Pitch Competition is available online, including how to apply and how to RSVP.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. She has been reporting on women- and minority-owned businesses in Greater Cincinnati for more than 20 years. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

CINCINNATI — Valerie Lane is running out of time.

A ceiling in her Westwood apartment has collapsed, and rain has soaked much of her clothing, furniture and other belongings. The landlord has told all the building’s tenants they must move by Sept. 30.

Lane has been packing and searching for a new apartment. But despite months of looking, she said she hasn’t been able to find anything.

“I’m stuck here because I don’t have nowhere else to go,” Lane said. “The water is running up under my furniture and going into the closet. So it’s gonna mess up more stuff of mine.”

The situation is more complicated than it appears, said T. Renáe Banks, the owner of Bankable Properties LLC.

Banks is managing the Westwood apartment building for her father, Dion Parker, who owns the property. She said Parker is away getting treatment for problems stemming from mental health issues.

Eric Clajus | WCPO

Banks said her father has been trying to make repairs that the building needs. But the federal government stopped paying Parker full rent for his Section 8 tenants because of the property’s maintenance problems, she said, which made it even more difficult for Parker to afford the repairs.

“We haven’t had a payment from Section 8 in almost three months,” Banks said. “During this pandemic, there was no assistance for him.”

A letter dated Sept. 7, 2021, informed tenants they would have to move by Sept. 30, Banks said, because of unsafe conditions in the building.

The letter told tenants they would not be required to pay September rent and suggested they use that money to find a new place.

Lane, who is 64, has a housing choice voucher, she said, the federal housing subsidy more commonly known as Section 8. The voucher was set to expire earlier this year, but she got an extension. Now she is running out of time on the extension, too, she said.

From Cincinnati City Hall to the White House

“I done called everybody, all the way up to tried to get the White House,” she said. “But nobody’s helping.”

A letter from the city of Cincinnati offered to help with relocation expenses, Lane said, but it requires her to provide records of her bills. She packed those papers in boxes before she got the city letter, she said, and isn’t sure she can find the records in time.

Banks said she has offered to help Lane get into a homeless shelter, but Lane has refused that help.

Lane said she doesn’t think she should have to move into a shelter – she wants a home instead.

“My nephew said if push come to shove and I’d be out on the street, I could come there,” Lane said. “But ain’t nobody else saying nothing.”

Banks said her father lived in the same building where Lane lives, and he has tried throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to keep it maintained. But Banks said his mental health issues, problems with employment and a lack of rent money have interfered.

“The pandemic definitely has a huge role to play,” she said. “I don’t want it to seem like there’s no helping hand being given.”

Lane has a week to find someplace to live, and she said she doesn’t know where else to turn.

“I done went everywhere,” she said. “I don’t know where to go now.”

Eric Clajus | WCPO

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on problems we need to address. Poverty is an important focus for Lucy and for WCPO 9. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky is a few weeks -- and $1.7 million -- away from completing construction on its new home in Covington.

The nonprofit on Thursday announced the launch of a Help Us Home campaign to raise $5 million over the next five years, with $1.7 million of that total earmarked to help the organization finish constructing and furnishing its new facility.

The rest of the money will help the nonprofit expand programs, replenish cash reserves and create an endowment to secure its future, said Executive Director Kim Webb.

“Would I have wanted to be doing a capital campaign and in construction at the same time? No,” Webb said. “However, given the opportunity – much like anybody else achieving housing right now – when the housing is available, you have to jump at the opportunity.”

Lucy May | WCPO

Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky began operating in 2008 and is Northern Kentucky’s only cold-weather shelter for adults. The organization has worked from a temporary location on Scott Boulevard in Covington for more than a decade and has been searching for years for a permanent home.

The nonprofit officially broke ground last December on that new home to serve people experiencing homelessness. The building at 436 W. 13^th Street in Covington is being expanded as part of a $2.7 million renovation and build-out.

The new facility will more than double the shelter’s current capacity with 68 beds in 10,000 square feet. The new shelter also will house Northern Kentucky’s first Daytime Navigation & Engagement Center with a medical clinic, meeting rooms for community partners, mail services for guests, self-service laundry, showers, phone charging stations and internet and computer access.

A capital campaign launched in 2013 raised $1 million for the new location, but Webb said she, her staff and board knew they would need to ask the community for help with the rest.

While the coronavirus pandemic raised construction costs for the new shelter, Webb said, it also gave her and her staff the opportunity to reconsider the facility’s design, giving guests their own spaces and the ability to maintain social distance.

There is not a firm date for the new shelter’s completion, Webb said, but she’s hoping it will be finished sometime in November.

“In an ideal world, we would close the doors here (at Scott Boulevard) one night and the next day open the doors at the new place,” she said. “And it’s seamless.”

The Carol Ann & Ralph V. Haile Jr. Foundation and Drees Home Foundation each have committed $500,000 to the Help Us Home campaign, and supporters and community leaders have lined up to help Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky raise the rest.

David Drees, the CEO of Drees Homes, is chairman of the campaign in honor of his mother and late father, Ralph Drees, who helped establish Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky.

“To continue this noble mission, the shelter needs our help now more than ever, and I am thankful for this opportunity to help ESNKY continue its mission while preserving my father’s legacy of care and compassion for the homeless,” Drees said in a news release.

As the campaign works to raise that money, the organization also needs help day-to-day to operate at its current location on Scott Boulevard, Webb said.

Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky relies on donations and volunteers to serve people experiencing homelessness in Northern Kentucky. Information about how to donate, help or buy items on the organization’s wish list is available online.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on problems we need to address. Poverty is an important focus for Lucy and for WCPO 9. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

CINCINNATI — Karen and Tobias Thompson have a love story that’s been years in the making.

The two Taft High School graduates dated as teenagers but ended up marrying other people and raising families with their spouses. When those marriages ended, Karen and Tobias got back together and married each other in 2014.

Their love didn’t stop there, though. Four years ago, the couple took in Karen’s niece and nephew, twins who are now eighth-graders at Taft. When they found out the children’s younger twin sisters were in the child welfare system, Tobias suggested the little girls should live with them, too.

That’s how it came to be that on Thursday morning, the Thompsons' blended family grew by four when the couple adopted both sets of twins in Hamilton County Probate Court.

“No sense splittin’ ‘em up. Keep ‘em all together,” Tobias Thompson said after the adoption was finalized. “Show ‘em a lot of love. That’s all they need. Love.”

Of course, two sets of twins need other things, too: A safe home, food, clothing and plenty of support. Hamilton County Judge Ralph Winkler said his review of the Thompsons’ case files showed they are more than capable of providing it all.

“You’re a great example of what parents should be,” Winkler said.

The Thompsons sat in Winkler’s courtroom Thursday morning flanked by both sets of twins with family and friends in the jury box behind them.

Amber Sawyer, the couple’s Hamilton County Job & Family Services adoption caseworker, spoke on the Thompsons’ behalf.

“One of the things that stuck out to me is how much family is important to them,” Sawyer said during the proceeding. “You can just feel the love and the bond in their home.”

Lucy May | WCPO

Winkler noted that several important superheroes were adopted – Superman by farmers in Kansas, Batman by his butler, Alfred, after his parents were killed, and Spiderman by his aunt and uncle.

“You guys are more like Spiderman than anything,” Winkler told the children.

But love was the superpower on display Thursday. And the Thompsons, both 55, said they have plenty of it for their adoptive kids, William, Wilmya, who are both 14 now, and Sharnia and Sharleathea, who are 9-year-old fourth-graders at Westwood Elementary School.

“It’s not easy,” Karen Thompson said. “But it’s not hard either. And if you’re got a lot of love, go ahead and give it to the children.”

The newly adopted kids said they love the Thompsons, too, whom they call Gigi and Papa.

The first thing her Papa told Wilmya when she and her brother moved in four years ago, she said, was “I don’t have to be scared, and I don’t have to worry about nothing because he’s going to take care of me. And I’m safe.”

“I love my Gigi so much,” Sharnia said, “that I’ve been wanting to live with her since we got to her house.”

And when asked to describe the best part of getting adopted by the Thompsons, William said: “Living with them. It’s best to live with them. I love living with them.”

There was no discussion in the courtroom about how both sets of twins became available for adoption.

Sawyer said simply, “the kids have been through a lot. They’ve made a lot of progress in this home.”

Now, the Thompsons said, they have four more children to add to the seven adult children from their previous marriages, not to mention their 27 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

“It keeps you young because you always busy. You always busy. There’s always something for them to do,” Karen Thompson said. “It’s just a revolving door just trying to do what’s right by keeping everybody together.”

Dwayne Slavey | WCPO

Winkler said he hopes the Thompsons’ story will inspire other families.

“Hopefully you’ll be encouraging people to adopt and take care of your family,” the judge said. “No matter how it’s built, it’s still your family.”

For the Thompsons, Thursday’s adoption marks another chapter in their love story.

“They family, and I feel like we should keep our family together,” Karen Thompson said. “We should try to, anyway.”

More information about adoption in Hamilton County is available online.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

LINCOLN HEIGHTS, Ohio — Taeleigha Greene has a little boy, a little girl and a baby due Oct. 1. As if that weren’t enough, Greene also is preparing to move -- without knowing when her family must leave their home or where they will be going.

Greene lives in Marianna Terrace, a 74-unit public housing community in Lincoln Heights. Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority has been telling residents for years that a major renovation of the property is in the works. But CMHA -- which is supported by federal taxpayers through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development -- hasn’t been able to pinpoint when residents will need to move or where they all will go to make way for those improvements.

“The baby can come early. It’s really on God’s timing,” said Greene, who has lived at Marianna Terrace since December 2019. “I’m trying to plan ahead, but you can’t plan ahead if you don’t have a date or, you know, even a location. So I’m just trying to hang in there.”

The uncertainty is making many Marianna Terrace residents anxious, said Daronce Daniels, a Lincoln Heights village councilmember and community activist.

“The residents, they deserve better. The residents deserve accountability,” Daniels said. “The residents deserve a sense of urgency.”

They also deserve a sense of empathy, said Carlton Collins, program director for the Heights Movement, an initiative working to help Lincoln Heights thrive.

Monique John | WCPO

“There was a communication breakdown somewhere,” Collins said. “And when you’re talking about people’s livelihoods, this is where their kids are. This is where their families have been planted. You have to take that with a certain amount of care, and I didn’t see that happen.”

A CMHA spokesperson insisted the housing authority has been communicating about the renovations. Plans were first announced in September 2017, and eight meetings have been held either in person or virtually since then, Lesley Wardlow, CMHA’s senior communications coordinator, wrote in an email response to WCPO’s questions.

“Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority has provided open communication with residents about the process for the past four years,” she wrote. “Just recently the CEO provided an update to the Lincoln Heights City Council, and there was no negative feedback.”

Making way for a major makeover

The renovation of Marianna Terrace will involve all 74 units in the complex, Wardlow said, as part of the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration, or RAD, program. The RAD program is designed to help local housing authorities tap into private funding to make much-needed repairs to public housing.

The RAD conversion in Lincoln Heights will include “aesthetic upgrades and improvements to the buildings’ major systems.” The units will get new porches with covered outdoor spaces, new flooring, new kitchen cabinets, countertops, sinks, lighting, plumbing fixtures, water heaters, entry doors and mini-blinds. Exterior improvements will include new doors, shingles, lighting, gutters, downspouts, mailboxes and stone veneer.

Courtesy of Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority

Common spaces in the community will be upgraded, too, Wardlow said, with new sidewalks, landscaping, fencing, gazebos and a recoating of the basketball court.

“CMHA took advantage of the rebid situation and added items to the scope,” Wardlow wrote, “including rear screen door replacement, fence line clearing, HVAC equipment servicing, cleaning of storm water and catch basin pits and jet cleaning of main waste lines.”

The work is so extensive that it would be unsafe for residents to stay while it’s happening, according to the housing authority. CMHA’s relocation team meets with tenants to figure out what they need in their temporary housing, Wardlow said, and asks residents to complete surveys that include questions about needs related to handicaps, in-home care and school-age children.

Residents will get at least one option for where they can move, she said, and CMHA will pay for third-party movers or give residents checks to help cover the cost of moving themselves. Wardlow said residents will receive a 30-day notice before their scheduled move. They will have the right to return to Marianna Terrace, she said, but CMHA can’t guarantee they will return to their same unit.

Lucy May | WCPO

But getting notified 30 days before a move isn’t enough for residents like Robyn Oliver. A self-described planner, Oliver is worried about mail delivery and voter registration and the fact that her temporary address won’t match her driver’s license. She’s concerned about whether premiums will change for her rental insurance and whether the temporary move will impact her 12-year-old son, who attends a nearby private school on scholarship.

“If you don’t know anything, how can you prepare?” said Oliver, who works as a nurse’s aide at Glendale Elementary School. “It’s not just physical. It’s psychological and emotional.”

Mitzi Jeffries said she’s grateful CMHA has provided a unit at Marianna Terrace for her and her three school-age children for the past three years.

“It’s a blessing CMHA gave me somewhere to live – me and my family,” she said. “They didn’t have to, but they did.”

Still, Jeffries wants more for her family. She has been working to pay off her car, repair her credit and save up to buy a manufactured home. The uncertainty about the renovation project and money she has had to spend because of problems with her unit are making it difficult to achieve those goals, she said.

“Sometimes I feel stuck,” Jeffries said. “But, hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. Because they didn’t have these children. I did. It’s my responsibility to take care of them and provide for them.”

The whole situation has been stressful for Angel Smith, she said.

“They’re not telling me, like, nothing,” said Smith, a widow with four children who also is visually impaired. “I don’t know where they’re putting me, where I’m going. And there’s certain places I don’t want to go.”

Monique John | WCPO

Smith's children are young adults, she said, and she worries they could become victims of violence in the wrong neighborhood. If her only option is to move someplace where she believes her children won't be safe, Smith said, she might need to find an apartment that isn't operated by CMHA.

Expecting more

“If I have to venture out and move out of Metropolitan, I need to know these things, like now,” she said. “You know, money doesn’t just fall from trees.”

Plus, the tight rental market makes finding a place to live more difficult than ever, Greene said.

“If it’s a place that I don’t feel comfortable in, then I’d like to be able to have adequate time to make my own situation,” Greene said. “And maybe just completely opt out from where they choose to send me, especially with a newborn baby.”

Monique John | WCPO

All the residents who spoke with WCPO said they understand the coronavirus pandemic has caused problems beyond CMHA’s control.

“Due to extreme increases in material and labor pricing, the financial closing and construction start for the Marianna Terrace renovation were delayed,” Wardlow said, adding that CMHA plans to meet with residents during the week of Aug. 9 to offer updates. “The team plans to discuss the reason for the delay, how CMHA had to pivot to keep the project moving forward and projected closing and construction start dates.”

Wardlow added that residents can always call or email the housing authority with questions.

Daniels said he applauds CMHA’s goals – and he’s excited about the plans for Marianna Terrace. But he said, as Hamilton County’s largest landlord, the housing authority should be able to do better.

“I do hold them to a higher standard, and they have not met that standard,” Daniels said. “If you are the biggest, then you should be doing the best. You should be doing the most. You should be the most involved, the most engaged in the process of what’s taking place in Lincoln Heights. And I can’t say necessarily that we’ve seen that. I don’t think the residents have seen that.”

Lucy May | WCPO

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on problems we need to address. Poverty is an important focus for Lucy and for WCPO 9. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

Monique John covers gentrification for WCPO 9. She is part of our Report For America donor-supported journalism program. Read more about RFA here.

If there are stories about gentrification in Greater Cincinnati that you think we should cover, let us know. Send your tips to moveupcincinnati@wcpo.com.

CINCINNATI — Sunni Smith had overcome some financial hurdles in 2019 and felt like she was back on track.

Then the coronavirus pandemic hit.

As the economy tanked last year, her hours as an ultrasound stenographer dried up. Expectant parents stopped scheduling appointments at the cash-only business where she worked. Her other part-time job with the YWCA of Greater Cincinnati simply wasn’t providing enough income to cover her bills.

Project Lift was there to help.

Launched in early 2019 by the Child Poverty Collaborative, Project Lift is a program designed to give families the resources they need to help lift themselves out of poverty. Families work with churches and other nonprofits to explain their struggles and the assistance they need, and Project Lift provides money to help them resolve their problems and get ahead.

Courtesy of Sunni Smith

“The Lift program, they came in right when I needed a lift,” said Smith, who lives in Woodlawn with her 13-year-old daughter. “I could have gone on a totally different path.”

Project Lift is now on a new path of its own. Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley will announce Wednesday that the public-private partnership is transitioning to become a program of United Way of Greater Cincinnati instead of being administered by Hamilton County Job & Family Services.

The new arrangement means United Way will take over the Child Poverty Collaborative’s efforts to raise private money to help families, said Sister Sally Duffy, the chair of the Child Poverty Collaborative. Hamilton County JFS will continue to provide as much public assistance as possible through its Prevention, Retention and Contingency program.

The move also marks a major change for the Child Poverty Collaborative itself. Duffy described it as a “passing of the baton.”

The collaborative has now transitioned all its programs and work to either United Way or the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber. The chamber oversees the Workforce Innovation Center, which is encouraging local businesses to adopt policies such as higher wages that make it easier for families to support themselves. And both the chamber and United Way will advocate for policy and legislative changes aimed at reducing poverty and helping families build wealth, Duffy said.

WCPO

“Millions of dollars are being spent now to the benefit of reduction of poverty,” Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley told WCPO 9. “From 2013 to 2019, the city poverty rate went down faster than the national poverty rate went down. The economy was good prior to COVID, and the poverty rate was going down everywhere, but it was going down faster in the Cincinnati area than the rest of the country. There are many contributing factors to that, but the efforts of this group and several other groups were part of that.”

That’s not to say the Child Poverty Collaborative is declaring victory, Duffy added, saying there is still much work to do. But the collaborative was never meant to become a nonprofit organization of its own.

“As a person of faith, we believe that there is seed time and harvest time. And the Child Poverty Collaborative has planted the seeds,” said Bishop Ennis Tait, a Child Poverty Collaborative co-chair. “And now there is a great harvest for our city that is taking place through our individual works, our organizations and our companies as well as those that are also benefiting from the seeds that have been planted.”

Joe Simon

‘It’s about lives changed’

The Child Poverty Collaborative launched in 2016 with some of the region’s most influential business and community leaders at the helm.

RELATED: ‘The goal is zero children in poverty’

Its leaders announced an ambitious goal to help lift 10,000 children out of poverty within five years and help 5,000 unemployed or underemployed adults get jobs. The goal was later described as helping 5,000 families lift themselves out of poverty.

Census data released in December showed a reduction of nearly 5,000 in the number of Cincinnati children living below the federal poverty level in 2019 as compared to five years earlier. Over that time, Hamilton County had about 3,970 fewer families living below the poverty level, according to the data. None of that information takes the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis into account.

After stops and starts with other strategies, Child Poverty Collaborative leaders launched Project Lift in 2019 in hopes that the program could help 1,000 families per year.

The program helped 460 families in 2019 and 456 families last year, according to a status report dated Feb. 4, 2021. The program also has helped four families so far this year. Nearly 17% of the families that got help from Project Lift reported an increase in their household incomes of at least 20%, the report showed.

Chandra Mathews-Smith, United Way’s chief community engagement officer, said she’s confident the program will reach its goal of helping 1,000 families annually in 2021.

Provided

The coronavirus pandemic slowed fundraising for Project Lift, and the fundraising helps determine how many families can be helped. But fundraising shouldn’t be the only measure of the program’s success, said Michael Fisher, CEO of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and one of the original Child Poverty Collaborative co-chairs.

The fact that private businesses, nonprofits, churches and government agencies are all working together to make Project Lift successful marks a major shift from where the region started in early 2016, he said.

“For me, the biggest change, five, six years later, is it’s really now an ecosystem and spirit of opportunity,” Fisher said. “Really it’s about lives changed. It’s about community and culture changed.”

Sunni Smith said Project Lift definitely has changed her life for the better.

Project Lift volunteers at Zion Global Ministries helped her with money to purchase new tires, pay the deposit and first month’s rent for a more affordable apartment for Smith and her daughter, and it even paid the fees for Smith to take exams to expand her skills to make her more marketable as an ultrasound stenographer.

Smith now is working a full-time job at the YWCA, a position that Project Lift gave her the confidence to seek, she said. And she tells all her clients there about the program and the help it can offer families who are working hard to help themselves.

“It was a hand up, not a handout,” Smith said. “If it wasn’t for the Lift program, my story would be totally different.”

Courtesy of Sunni Smith

More information about Project Lift is available online.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. Poverty is an important focus for Lucy and for WCPO 9. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

CINCINNATI — A coalition pushing for more affordable housing in Cincinnati has grown in strength and numbers, and its leaders say a funding proposal is on the horizon.

“We’re stronger today than we were before the ballot box,” said Josh Spring, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition. “We’re confident that we’re going to get this accomplished -- that we will get housing funded every year in this city by right.”

Voters in May rejected a charter amendment that would have required Cincinnati’s city government to set aside $50 million each year to build and preserve affordable housing in the city.

RELATED: Voters defeat Issue 3 affordable housing proposal

City officials and local unions opposed the measure, arguing it could require the city to reduce services and cut jobs to come up with the money. But labor leaders and affordable housing advocates have joined forces since the vote and say they’re determined to craft a winning proposal.

Eric Clajus | WCPO

“It’s been called a family reunion, if you will,” said Brian Griffin, director of communications and technology for the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council. “We are all back on the same side of the table. We’re all pulling on the same end of the rope again, and we have a very common interest. And we are very, very dedicated to the idea that this is an issue that needs to be brought to a front burner, and it needs to be addressed in the city of Cincinnati.”

The Rev. Damon Lynch III said he’s calling on faith leaders to join the effort, too.

“During the time of the fight for Issue 3, the faith community was visibly absent,” said Lynch, the pastor of New Prospect Baptist Church in Roselawn who has been meeting with the affordable housing coalition. “My charge and my challenge is for the faith community to get actively involved. These are members of our congregations, members of our families who need housing.”

Eric Clajus | WCPO

Elected officials and business leaders from across the political spectrum are working to address the need for more affordable housing, said Cincinnati City Councilman Steve Goodin, a Republican. But Goodin argued city government and city taxpayers should not be asked to tackle the issue alone.

“The folks who need this housing don’t really recognize the boundaries of the city and the county,” he said. “We’ve got to have a regional approach. There’s great housing stock in the county.”

Housing is considered affordable if it costs no more than 30% of a family’s monthly income. A recent report showed how high people’s wages must be to afford a typical apartment.

‘This is a good fight’

In Ohio, the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $865 a month. For people to afford that rent and accompanying utilities without paying more than 30% of their monthly income, they must earn at least $14.84 an hour, according to Out of Reach 2021, a report issued July 14 by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.

Fair market rental rates are higher in Cincinnati, at $916 for a two-bedroom apartment, according to the report, so tenants here must earn at least $17.62 an hour to reasonably afford that rent.

“As long as there’s low wages, there’s going to be a need for low-income housing,” Lynch said. “And the handwriting on the wall is that we’re actually losing affordable housing, wages are not increasing, and people are losing their homes.”

Fonsea Bonner and Barbara Prince are both residents of Gateway Plaza Apartments, a subsidized apartment tower in downtown Cincinnati, and both worked as volunteers trying to get out the vote for the affordable housing charter amendment known as Issue 3.

Lucy May | WCPO

They said that people who live in income-based housing are feeling stuck because their options are shrinking as the city’s redevelopment continues.

“If at any time I feel as if I want to move, where am I going to go?” Bonner said. “I’m not able to afford market rent. So what am I supposed to do if there’s no affordable housing here?”

“That’s the thing about it,” Prince added. “You can’t hardly find it because it’s not out here anymore. They’re making condos and everything else. So it’s hard for anybody, you know, to really go somewhere and live.”

Low-income people are being displaced in Cincinnati every day, Lynch said, making it difficult for them to build strong, healthy communities.

“As a Christian faith community, this is one of the fights that we should be involved in,” he said. “Vernon Johns, the great pastor before Dr. King, said this. He said his father taught him, ‘Son, when you see a good fight, jump in it.’ And this is a good fight.”

The language in Issue 3 suggested multiple revenue sources the city could use to fund Cincinnati’s affordable housing trust fund, but critics said several were unworkable. The coalition working to create a new proposal is looking at the suggestions in the Issue 3 charter amendment, Spring said, and other proposals surrounding the trust fund including Cincinnati City Councilman Chris Seelbach’s proposed ordinance to increase the city’s income tax by 0.1% to generate millions of dollars each year for affordable housing.

Courtesy: Graydon Head & Ritchey LLP

Goodin said he likely will oppose Seelbach’s proposal because he thinks it will end in another big fight that doesn’t lead to a solution. Plus, Goodin said, the city just lowered its earnings tax as a way to convince voters to pass Issue 7 for better public transit.

“I don’t want it to be a bait and switch for the voters,” he said. “I think the voters will have a very negative reaction to that. And I don’t think the business community will have a very positive reaction either.”

It’s possible, Goodin said, to create a sizable affordable housing trust fund with public and private cooperation that won’t increase taxes at all.

The city of Cincinnati already dedicates lots of tax dollars to tax abatements and incentives for higher priced homes and development, said State Rep. Tom Brinkman, a Mount Lookout Republican. If city leaders wanted, they could redirect that money to affordable housing without raising taxes at all, he said.

“Right now, I believe there’s plenty of funds out there,” Brinkman said. “Just redirect it, and right size it.”

However it is accomplished, the goal is to generate a large enough trust fund to create new affordable housing, help preserve the affordable housing the city already has and help people achieve the goal of affordable home ownership, Spring said.

‘We won’t stop’

“What we’re seeing is a renewed interest in, how do we provide or help to create an environment for safe and affordable quality housing for as many Cincinnati residents as possible?” said Jeniece Jones, executive director of Housing Opportunities Made Equal, Cincinnati’s fair housing organization.

Cincinnati’s affordable housing trust fund could include down payment assistance for low-income home buyers, she said, in addition to low-interest loans and assistance for low- or moderate-income homeowners whose are struggling to afford their taxes as their neighborhoods redevelop around them.

Zoom screenshot

“That’s where the rubber really meets the road,” Jones said. “That’s a way for us to move forward in a meaningful way to get homeownership as one of the many things that an affordable housing trust fund can and should be able to do.”

The coalition expects to craft a proposal in the coming months to put before Cincinnati City Council, Spring said, or to put before voters again.

“We are confident that the way we get this done is by having the power be in people’s hands,” Spring said. “Certainly, if city council – this city council or a future city council – wants to step up and move forward, we can work together.”

Griffin said there’s a compelling case for the business community to back the construction and preservation of more affordable housing, too.

Lucy May | WCPO

“This is something that, again, everybody at every layer of the community – from the business community to the labor community to everybody else – really needs to bring front and center and resolve as soon as possible,” he said. “There is a sense of urgency. And while we want to get it right, we also want to get it as soon as possible.”

It’s not a question of whether Cincinnati’s affordable housing trust fund will be funded, Spring said, but when.

“We will accomplish this,” he said. “The development and preservation of housing will be funded in this city. We know it will because we won’t stop until it is. So we’ll just keep pushing until we accomplish our goal.”

More information about the push for more affordable housing in Cincinnati – including how to get involved in the effort – is available through the Cincinnati Action for Housing Now website or the Greater Cincinnati Homeless Coalition website.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on problems we need to address. Poverty is an important focus for Lucy and for WCPO 9. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

CINCINNATI — This story was reported in partnership with The Herald.

About this time last year, Donny Harper opened his new Go(o)d Company Apparel store on Vine Street in Over-the-Rhine.

Before he could schedule an official grand opening, COVID-19 hit.

“This is a location that I’ve been, like, praying for,” said Harper, who launched his clothing brand in 2014 and had a shop on Race Street before moving to his new location. “We opened the doors at the beginning of March and, you know, the pandemic was stirring. And in the middle of March, they said, ‘Shut it down. We’re shutting down everything.’ And so it was super disappointing and disheartening.”

His store stayed closed until July 1, 2020, but that didn’t stop Harper.

He ramped up marketing on social media, focused his efforts on building online sales and designed face masks and other new products to sell, he said. He also took advantage of the help available to him. He got a Paycheck Protection Program loan, a Facebook loan and a PUSH Grant, designed specifically to help the region’s minority entrepreneurs persevere.

“Those funds really helped to sustain our business and help us continue to thrive and get more merchandise,” he said. “And to continue to market our brand to the public to let people know that we were still – we were still breathing.”

Lucy May | WCPO

Weathering the turmoil of the coronavirus pandemic has been especially difficult for African American entrepreneurs like Harper. Nearly a year into the COVID-19 economic crisis, WCPO 9 and the Cincinnati Herald teamed up to report on how the region’s Black-owned businesses are faring.

Black-owned businesses have an economic impact of $1.44 billion in Greater Cincinnati, according to a January 2021 study by the University of Cincinnati Economic Center. The 800 businesses included in the study support more than 8,600 jobs with earnings of more than $542 million, and they generate millions of dollars in tax revenue, the analysis found.

That makes the health of Black-owned businesses important to everyone, and the past year has threatened many of them, said Eric Kearney, the president and CEO of the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce.

“The pandemic has really had a devastating effect on Black-owned businesses and on our members,” Kearney said. “Some national surveys say that 40% of African American-owned businesses went under during this pandemic. Our statistics say that it’s about 30% in the Cincinnati marketplace.”

RELATED: Black-owned businesses feeling weight of difficult 2020

That amounts to as many as 300 local businesses that have closed permanently, Kearney said.

“Typically they’re smaller businesses, but they’re still just as important,” he said. “They still feed a family.”

‘You have to overcome those moments’

In Bond Hill, Davis Cookie Collection is feeding more than the Davis family.

The cookie business opened its first brick-and-mortar location on Reading Road last year after months of delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Lucy May | WCPO

Contractors working on the storefront experienced delays getting the materials they needed, and the electrician working on the project had trouble getting the supplies he needed, too, said Christina Davis, the company’s owner and CEO.

“What could have been a short turnaround time for us to get open took a long time,” she said. “We looked at this place in November 2018. We signed our lease in August 2019, and we didn’t get to open until Oct. 10 of 2020.”

Those delays forced Davis to get more creative than ever.

She lost important in-person marketing opportunities, such as the weekly pop-up location she used to operate at Jungle Jim’s. But Davis developed new business strategies that have helped her company grow.

“We really had to re-evaluate and pivot our business in a different direction,” she said. “Now we’re really targeting corporations where we can sell them individualized bags of cookies that they’ve been ordering for their employees. We’ve been shipping nationwide. A lot of different companies -- P&G to name one of them -- they order a lot of cookies for their employees.”

Davis also thought of new ways to make her shop stand apart once it did open, developing her “create a dozen” concept. Customers pick from a variety of toppings that get mixed into cookie dough and baked while they wait. The shop also sells ice cream and allows customers to customize ice cream sandwiches by selecting their own cookie and ice cream combination.

RELATED: Cookie shop opens with sweet new concept

“I do a lot of marketing research. Like, most times I’m up really late at night researching on how we can pivot our business, what we can innovate,” she said. “When the pandemic first happened and all the businesses were shut down, as well as ourselves, that was my moment to become creative. I spent a lot of downtime just thinking, OK, what are we going to do once we open?”

While Davis never feared her business would close permanently, she said, it wasn’t always easy to keep going.

“I remember one day I broke down. I was like, ‘We’re not going to get to open.’ But then our faith kicked in, and we knew everything would work out,” she said. “You have to overcome those moments to be able to see what’s on the other side.”

Lucy May | WCPO

Ultimately, the challenges made the business stronger, said Miles Davis, Christina Davis’ husband and the company’s co-owner and chief operating officer.

“I think in life period any time you go through stuff, and you make it through it, you always come out stronger,” he said. “We’ve learned, we’ve gained experience and we’re immediately trying to hand it to other people so that they don’t have to go through as much as we did.”

‘Super excited’ about the future

A survey by the African American Chamber found that the chamber’s members tend to need help in four crucial areas:

• Members needed a better relationship with their bankers, beyond knowing the teller. They needed a strong connection to get assistance with the government loans that have been available during the pandemic.
• They also needed a solid relationship with an accountant who could quickly provide financial statements required for government loan applications.
• Many members also lacked a strong relationship with a lawyer who could advocate for them and ensure their records were in order.
• And members also had a general need for more capital to operate their businesses.

“Typically our businesses are undercapitalized,” Kearney said. “That’s true of most small businesses, but it’s particularly true with African American-owned businesses, and so we took steps to address each of those concerns.”

Chamber staff offer counseling and technical support to help business owners navigate the various programs and loans available to them, he said. The chamber teamed up with the Greater Cincinnati Microenterprise Initiative and MORTAR to offer PUSH grants last year to help businesses stay afloat.

In February, the Urban League of Greater Southwestern Ohio and the city of Cincinnati announced a similar grant program called the “Resiliency Fund” to help small Black- and brown-owned businesses devastated by the COVID-19 economic crisis.

Kearney said he hopes some of the businesses that had to close will be able to reopen.

WCPO

“I really believe when people get vaccinated and the weather gets warmer, the economy will really rebound,” he said.

Even so, technology remains a challenge for some chamber members who were not ready for online sales and services when most in-person business halted, he said.

Harper said being able to sell his products online made all the difference for Go(o)d Company Apparel when his store had to close last March.

“But our store is our core,” he added. “This is where people can come and hear the story about Go(o)d Company, why we exist, why we started the brand.”

The name Go(o)d Company expresses the importance of being a good person to be around – and the importance of surrounding yourself with good people, Harper said. And the parentheses around the second “o” in the name have a special meaning, too.

“For me, I believe that keeping good company is important, but keeping God company is even more important,” Harper said. “When you take that ‘o’ out, we’re saying keep God company as well.”

Lucy May | WCPO

Harper’s faith – in God and in the community that supports his business – helped see him through the worst of the COVID-19 economic crisis, he said.

Now he’s looking forward to a better 2021.

“I’m super excited for what’s ahead,” Harper said. “At the end of the day, we have to wear clothing, right? We have to wear something. So that gives me hope. The message of my brand is my hope, is that people will continue to wear something that they can relate to, that represents who they are and that pushes a positive message.”

Donny Harper said he wanted to highlight businesses that have been his “good company”: BrownsKorner for health and fitness; MidWest Promo Source for promotional items; Pivot Commercial Services for commercial and residential cleaning; Robert Smith for real estate needs; and Happy’s Pizza for late-night snacks.

Information about the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky African American Chamber of Commerce and the services it offers is available online.

More information about how to apply for grants through the new “Resiliency Fund” is available online, too.

Nailah Edwards did an in-depth video interview with a dozen local business owners for the Cincinnati Herald. You can watch that interview online.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. She has been reporting on women- and minority-owned businesses in Greater Cincinnati for more than 20 years. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

CINCINNATI — Naima Jackson stood outside her Avondale home on a recent Friday, bathed in sunshine and flanked by people who have pledged to help save her family’s legacy.

Not long ago, Amy Goodman and David Noe were complete strangers to Jackson.

Now they’re part of a team helping her to preserve her home with a new roof and extensive interior renovations and repairs.

All told, the work could be worth as much as $60,000.

“I didn’t ever think in a million lifetimes would somebody step forward to help a person like me,” Jackson said, her voice cracking with emotion. “I’m grateful.”

WCPO 9 told Jackson’s story Feb. 2. She described her home on Alaska Court as “everything” to her. Her great-grandparents bought the house 53 years ago after moving from Mississippi to Cincinnati and becoming some of the first Black homeowners on the street.

RELATED: Avondale homeowner struggles to save her family’s legacy

Her father, Nathaniel Jackson, inherited the home and lived there until he died in 2015. Jackson cared for him in his final years and lived in the house with her dad when his Alzheimer’s disease made it unsafe for him to live alone.

Courtesy of Naima Jackson

The brick two-story now belongs to Jackson outright — with no mortgage hanging over her head. But it needs extensive repairs, and Jackson said her monthly Social Security disability checks can’t cover the costs. She sought help from churches and more nonprofit organizations than she could count but said she kept hitting dead ends.

Offers to help came almost as soon as WCPO 9’s story published online.

Tracey McCullough, whose own family moved from Mississippi to Cincinnati many years ago, started a GoFundMe campaign.

An office manager with Deer Park Roofing, where Noe is the director of human resources, emailed to ask if the company could help.

Then Goodman, a local real estate agent and fair housing officer, and her husband, Rich, a project manager with NorthPoint Development, both emailed to ask if WCPO 9 could connect them with Jackson so they could figure out whether they could help, too.

By early March, the GoFundMe had raised $5,250 toward its $10,000 goal, and the Goodmans and Deer Park Roofing had visited Jackson’s home to assess how much work it needs.

Courtesy of Naima Jackson

“I’m pleasantly surprised and happy at the same time,” Jackson said, as she laughed and wiped away tears. “Surprised more so than anything that people still care.”

A call to action

Jackson’s situation highlights a problem that is much bigger than one house or one homeowner.

Nationwide, homeowners with limited incomes struggle to keep their properties maintained, said Rick Williams, president and CEO of the Home Ownership Center of Greater Cincinnati.

“There will never be enough money to support existing homeowners who find themselves in a situation where their home is in disrepair and their incomes are limited to address that,” Williams told WCPO 9 for the story in February. “It is an extraordinarily common phenomenon across the country. And, of course, like most issues, they impact lower wage, middle- to lower-income families more than they do anyone else, and, of course, those families tend to be minority families.”

About 69% of white households owned their homes in Hamilton County in 2018, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey estimates based on data collected between 2014 and 2018. During that same time, only 32% of Black households owned their homes, according to the data analyzed by the Local Initiatives Support Corp., or LISC, of Greater Cincinnati.

That information read like a call to action to McCullough, she said.

Courtesy of Tracey McCullough

“I just felt like now’s the time to show love for each other,” she said. “I saw her story, and it made me realize how much we were alike.”

After McCullough and Jackson connected, that feeling grew.

“The more I got to know Naima, the more I realized how we are kind of the same, and that we both have had obstacles to overcome, and I really wanted to do something to make her family and Naima thrive,” McCullough said. “And Naima is just a great pleasure. She’s an awesome lady – funny and resilient, and I love those qualities. So that’s what made me want to try to help.”

Deer Park Roofing picks a charitable project each year to celebrate during National Roofing Week in June, Noe said. And when a company office manager in Louisville saw Jackson’s story and forwarded it to Deer Park’s leadership team, executives there quickly decided Jackson’s home would be a good project for 2021, he said.

An estimator visited Jackson’s home in February and determined that it needs a new roof, which Noe said could cost anywhere from $9,000 to $10,000.

Courtesy of Deer Park Roofing

“We’re definitely going to make sure that she is not going to be seeing any kind of cost with that,” he said. “We will have one of our roofing professional crews out here with the entire project to make sure that it’s installed properly, make sure that it’s going to last as long as we can with the kind of roof that we will put on.”

The Goodmans will focus their efforts on interior repairs and renovations, Amy Goodman said.

She read about Jackson on WCPO 9’s app and forwarded the story to her husband.

“I just wanted someone to complain to about how ridiculous it was that someone might not be able to stay in their house that they own free and clear,” Goodman said. “And he forwarded it to his company, within NorthPoint Development, called Live Generously, and it’s part of the NorthPoint foundation. And he instantly got hits of, What can we do? How can we help?”

New hope for the future

The Goodmans visited Jackson at her house on Valentine’s Day to get a close-up look at the home’s problems and talk with Jackson about her vision for the property.

“We’ve now spoken to a general contractor who has committed to coming out, and once we get that quote then we’ll be able to go back to the Live Generously Foundation and start raising money internally and partner with the person that put together the GoFundMe,” Goodman said. “Ours will primarily be inside. So the basement, some of the upstairs ductwork, AC, furnace, waterproofing, getting the garage door fixed, getting mold remediation done.”

Goodman said her husband estimates the interior repairs and remodeling could cost as much as $50,000.

“Our goal is to not put any of that cost on her,” she said. “We are really going to try hard to do whatever we need to do from a fundraising perspective to get that covered for her.”

Courtesy of Amy Goodman

Goodman said the goal is for Jackson to be able to keep the money that the GoFundMe raises for ongoing maintenance and repairs.

A WCPO.com reader who wanted to remain anonymous added to total funds raised with a $900 donation that WCPO 9 delivered to Jackson on March 12.

“We’re really excited to get started and see where this all ends up,” Goodman said.

Jackson said she’s excited, too, and overwhelmed by the offers of help – especially during the COVID-19 crisis that has taken a toll on so many.

“I’m still processing that somebody would even care during this time, when there are many other things going on in the world, to help out just a regular person like me,” she said. “I’m blown away.”

Having the repairs and renovations done will allow Jackson’s family legacy to continue on Alaska Court, she said.

“My children will be able to inherit something from me,” she said. “My mom will have a place to reside and not have to pay rent anymore.”

Lucy May | WCPO

Jackson said she mourned for two years after her father died and struggled to jump back into her “regular life.”

Once she worked through the legal aspects of inheriting the house, she said, “I could see the light, but I just couldn’t see a life.”

By the time she reached out to WCPO 9, Jackson said she didn’t know where else to turn. She was reluctant to be on the news, she said, and still wishes it hadn’t come to that.

But having people step forward to help in such a meaningful way, she said, has given her new hope.

“There was a time I didn’t have the faith. So it definitely restored my faith,” she said. “I know there’s people in the world that really, truly care.”

Lucy May | WCPO

The GoFundMe campaign to help Naima Jackson still is accepting donations. Click here for more information. Donations also can be directed to The Jackson Home Fund at any WesBanco Bank branch.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

CINCINNATI — Despite the many struggles of 2020, Greater Cincinnati made progress in one important area.

Hamilton County had a record-low infant mortality rate last year, according to Cradle Cincinnati, a community advocacy group working to reduce infant mortality.

A total of 76 babies died before their first birthday in 2020 in Hamilton County. That’s 20 fewer than in 2019 and the fewest infant deaths by far since modern record-keeping began in 1968, Cradle Cincinnati said in a news release.

The county ended last year with an infant mortality rate of 7.4 deaths per 1,000 live births — an 18% decline from the five-year rate recorded between 2015 and 2019.

“The credit here belongs to our entire community,” Cradle Cincinnati executive director Ryan Adcock said in a news release announcing the results. “Despite all of the challenges of 2020, our community rallied around moms and babies like never before.”

Locally and across the nation, Black babies for years have been twice as likely to die before their first birthday. Because of that, Cradle Cincinnati has focused its work in recent years on reducing infant mortality among Black families.

In 2020, 36 Black babies died in Hamilton County, for a rate of 10.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. That represents a 42% decline since 2017 and an all-time low for the second year in a row.

While Black babies still are more likely to die than white babies locally, the 2020 results mark the first time since 1994 that Hamilton County’s Black infant mortality rate has been lower than the national average, which is currently 10.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, according to Cradle Cincinnati.

The fact that the improved rates still are more than twice that of all other racial categories shows that much work remains, Cradle Cincinnati’s release noted.

“It is important to remember that these are not merely numbers,” Dr. Meredith Shockley-Smith, Cradle Cincinnati’s director of community strategies, said in the release. “What this means is that 26 fewer Black babies died in our community compared to just a few short years ago. That’s an entire classroom full of students who can now grow up to help Cincinnati thrive.”

Other racial categories – including Asian, Hispanic and white – also had declines in infant deaths in 2020 when compared to 2019, according to the release.

The new data was released at the start of Cradling Cincinnati: A Virtual Experience on Maternal and Infant Health. The event runs from April 19 through April 24 and includes more than a dozen virtual events on topics related to the health of moms and babies in Cincinnati.

Community members can see the agenda and register for free online.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.

SILVERTON, Ohio — When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Lakisha Best knew exactly how to help.

She moved her Best Early Development Center to a larger location in Silverton to accommodate more parents with jobs as essential workers.

“I’m an essential worker, too,” she said. “Being an educator, it’s important to me that the children still had somewhere to go that was quality and where the parents would feel comfortable.”

Parents of the children in her care include food service workers, health care aides and sanitation workers, she said. And 85% of them receive government subsidies called Publicly Funded Child Care or PFCC -- more commonly known as vouchers -- to help pay their child care expenses.

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“Child care is hugely expensive. Because of that, it is important that we as a society make it easier for parents to get out there and work,” Best said. “There’s a lot of parents that want to work. There’s a lot of parents that want to go to school. But if we don’t give them the opportunity, then they won’t be able to take it.”

For low-income parents across the region, however, those opportunities are shrinking.

The number of southwest Ohio child care programs that accept PFCC vouchers decreased 11% between December 2019 and December 2020, according to research conducted by the nonprofit organization 4C for Children. During that same time, the total number of child care programs in Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton and Warren counties decreased only by 3%.

“The predictions early in the pandemic that there would be 30% to 40% loss of programs have not come to fruition,” said 4C for Children CEO Vanessa Freytag.

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“What’s of concern is that programs that accept children from families who are getting help from the state to pay for care – that loss has been dramatically more than an overall loss in programs,” Freytag said, possibly because overwhelmed providers didn’t want to contend with the extra paperwork that comes with accepting the subsidies. “These are the programs that take care of children from hard-working, low-income families.”

‘The workforce of the workforce’

Bryana Thomas is one of those hard workers.

She has two little boys, works full time and goes to school in the evenings. She receives a PFCC voucher that helps cover her sons’ care at Best Early Development Center while she works as a teacher in the infant room there.

“It helps a lot of mothers who aren’t able to have babysitters and things of that sort,” Thomas said. “If we can’t go to work then we can’t pay our bills so I think the vouchers play a really big role in that.”

Thomas began working at Best Early Development Center last September about the same time her sons began going there for child care. She had been working as a home health aide but liked the idea of working for Best, Thomas said, because she has been thinking of possibly opening her own child care center someday.

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Now she’s learning the ropes from Best while pursuing her degree.

Getting more people interested in starting child care businesses is one of the ways 4C for Children hopes to address the decline in places that accept PFCC vouchers in southwest Ohio, Freytag said.

“Child care is the workforce of the workforce,” Freytag said. “We already have families that are struggling to find child care and yet we also know that many parents that lost their jobs, that lost those lower-income jobs, have not yet returned to work. So we also know that if we want to have an economic recovery, those families need to have a place for their children to go when they’re at work.”

Quality child care is critical, she said, and 4C offers help for everything from licensed, in-home care to launching center-based programs like Best’s.

“Child care has many parts to it,” Freytag said. “In addition to working with wonderful, resilient, fantastic children, you’re also doing something very, very important to the health and strength of your community.”

‘We make the world go round’

Best said that’s how she feels about her work.

“What society didn’t know is that we, as child care providers, we’ve been essential,” Best said. “We make the world go round.”

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Best said she believes providing quality care to families of all income levels is an important part of that work.

“In my past, while I was going to school, I was a recipient of vouchers,” Best said. “I have children and so that was hard. It’s a stepping stone.”

Best makes sure parents like Thomas know she can relate to how hard they’re working to provide for their families, she said.

“We’re going to make sure that we provide them with the best quality possible, as are other private child care centers, so that they can feel comfortable and know that while they are moving on to their career ladder or to the next step that they don’t have to worry about if their child is in a safe, nurturing place,” she said.

“Regardless of what their pocketbook looks like, we want to make sure that we’re still able to provide them with quality education,” Best said. “That is truly my heart, and that’s what we really do.”

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4C for Children helps parents find quality child care throughout the region. Visit its website for more information. The organization also has an Early Childhood Education Job Board on its website to help fill the many open positions at child care centers across the Tri-State.

Lucy May writes about the people, places and issues that define our region – to celebrate what makes the Tri-State great and shine a spotlight on issues we need to address. Poverty is an important focus for Lucy and for WCPO 9. To reach Lucy, email lucy.may@wcpo.com. Follow her on Twitter @LucyMayCincy.