Wait and See?

For me 2017 will go down as the year of “wait and see what happens”; with the new president, the mayor’s race, the Tensing trial, the HUD budget, tax reform bill, health care, the EPA, the list goes on. As 2017 ended, and inevitably, 2018 started, we at CBI are also taking stock. At least for me, all that waiting and seeing created some uncertainty about how to react, and what to do next. The environment we live in is changing, climate is changing, society and politics are changing, and how we interact in this new space will help define what it becomes.

In 2017, CBI produced a report on the need for affordable housing in Hamilton County with support from LISC, we worked with Councilwomen Simpson’s office on a report on what life is like for young people in Cincinnati, we supported United Way and others on a focus on reducing poverty and we continue to support communities across the region on creating their own visions for the future, uncertain as it may be. We joined the regional conversation about the need to enhance and reimagine our transportation system.

For us, it is time to move past the “wait and see” period. In 2018, we at CBI are committed to working on these issues with the many partners and assets at hand in this community with a place-based approach.

Working with people to help support neighborhoods in Cincinnati and throughout the region that nurture the people who live in them, and create opportunities, a sense of place, and belonging – that is what we are going to be about in 2018. We are going to do this work by building relationships, and creating bridges, and looking for the common ground and helping with difficult conversations that need to take place. What we know from trudging through 2017 is this is not happy talk – this is hard work, and we are up for it.