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Building Nonprofit Capacity Is What SVP Cincinnati Does

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In 2007 it may have seemed unimaginable that the run down, abandoned space on Reading Road where a gas station once stood would be transformed into one of the region’s most unique hands-on learning laboratories teaching youth and adults about sustainable practices.

It was to be a dream-come-true for Cincinnati’s Civic Garden Center of Greater Cincinnati. The staff of the Center brought the idea…along with a request for funding and professional leadership support to a group of local philanthropists wanting to build the capacity of area nonprofits.

And soon, the very first grant of Social Venture Partners Cincinnati (SVP) was awarded. By 2009 the innovative Green Learning Station was open, teaching people about environmentally responsible methods for growing gardens – anywhere and everywhere. That includes yards, walls, patios, driveways, parking lots…and even roof tops.

SVP not only granted the Civic Garden Center $74,000 over four years, its partners also gave of their professional expertise and time. They provided guidance and assistance with strategic planning, leadership development, marketing, and fundraising.

That is just the beginning of the SVP story. Since June, 2008 until December, 2011, the organization and its 38 partners have invested over $598,000 collectively including financial contributions and professional service volunteer time to four different Cincinnati area causes. (SVP is in the process of deciding upon its fifth investee.) Those nonprofits include – the Gorman Heritage Farm, Whole Again International, Imago for Earth, and the Civic Garden Center.

Money is good. Capacity is better.

 “We had the audacious idea that, instead of just throwing money at a nonprofit to address its needs, we would throw ourselves into the organization, giving of our diverse talents to become a true partner,” SVP Chair Wijdan Jreisat wrote in its report to the community. Wijdan is also an attorney at Katz, Teller, Brant & Hild.

When I spoke first with director Lisa Davis Roberts, director, and then Wijdan, their passion came through loud and clear. If we had had all day together, I know each of them could have spent the entire time talking about their common cause.

How does it work?  At the heart of SVP are its partners who each donate a minimum of $6000 annually and volunteer their time. (There are 38 partners in Cincinnati.) They go through a rigorous process in deciding upon the organizations they will support, and then, for the next three years they basically give of their hearts and their minds to further missions that are important to them.

 “SVP is hands-down my favorite volunteer experience,” said founding partner Susan Ingmire, president of Ingmire Philanthropy Advisors.

 

 

 

Through ArtWorks Cincinnati Summer Project, Talents Bloom

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If you’ve driven around Greater Cincinnati this summer, you may be seeing new color in unexpected places. Teenage apprentice artists have been working side-by-side professional artists as part of ArtWorks Cincinnati summer program. Actually there are 115 teens who have created 15 beautiful, eye-catching murals to be exact.

Yes, these paintings are great masterpieces with vivid imagery that will enrich communities for years to come. But what is really special to me about this program is the opportunity it provides young, aspiring minds to blossom. It is so much more than just getting together to create art. Apprentices strengthen their communication skills and their confidence. They learn about teamwork and responsibility.

“A lot of them gain skills they never knew they had,” ArtWorks Communication Specialist Marian Kelly told me.

The goal, Marian said, is to ultimately have an ArtWorks mural in every Cincinnati neighborhood…and they are up to 32.

There is a lot of competition for becoming an ArtWorks apprentice. Each year the organization interviews more than 300 diverse youth between the ages of 14 and 21. Key criteria are a positive attitude, ability to work as part of a group, talent and time availability.

Cincinnati Kids Can Apply For Grants To Nonprofits

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I love the whole concept of Bake Me Home – two sisters who share a love for helping others and a mom who believes in encouraging their dreams reaching out to brighten the days of families struggling day-by-day. (To read my blog story about them, please click here.)

Bake Me Home is also encouraging other kids to get involved and give back.

Through the Bake Me Home’s Bake It Forward Program, kids entering 2nd through 9th grade who have made a difference in the lives of children can apply  for a $100 grant to the nonprofit of their choice from Bake Me Home. Along with the grant money to benefit their chosen charity, winners will receive a Bake It Forward t-shirt, jar of Bake Me Home cookie mix, and will be invited to a celebration at the Duke Energy Children’s Museum on October 14th, 2012.

Deadline for submissions is September 6, 2012.

Elementz Uses Hip Hop To Spark Teens’ Talents

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Living in Cincinnati, we’ve all experienced over the past few weeks how music can uplift and transform us. It can bring out talents and inspire dreams.

Those magical abilities of young people, many of whom never even knew they had it within themselves to create, are the mortar for an Over-the-Rhine nonprofit whose sole purpose is to nurture strengths through hip hop arts.

Elementz sparks the flame

The origins for Elementz trace back to 2005 when community leaders began an outreach effort to give Cincinnati’s urban teens a safe place to hang out after school. It didn’t take long for them to realize the huge untapped potential in young minds with imagination and passion.

Today, in its new building at 1100 Race Street, over 320 aspiring artists ages 14 to 24, are building their confidence, becoming leaders and collaborators, learning about pushing their comfort zone as they perform new hip hop dance moves before live audiences, honing communication skills through writing and performing rap; and using their creativity to paint graffiti, and shoot videos and photos.

One of the great things about nurturing a young person’s strengths is that that energy tends to ebb into so many other aspects of that person’s life. Since coming to the nonprofit Elementz studio, a number of youth have attained their GED’s and are either enrolled in or are preparing for college.

Executive Director Tom Kent told me, “The bottom line is – every youth has gifts. Sometimes they don’t realize that those gifts are and so we are on a mission to help them figure that out.”

Elementz Spring 2012 Video Newsletter

 

Cincinnati Camp For Homeless Kids Needs Your Help

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It is so difficult to imagine young children already knowing what it is like to be homeless, but sadly there are so many in our area. Faces without Places is a wonderful nonprofit organization that keeps such young victims of poverty connected to education. It offers them hope and laughter.

And this week, it will be offering them the experience of summer camp. Two buses will be transporting kid (ages 5 to 12) from shelters, motels and neighborhoods to an inviting place where they will work on their reading and math skills, learn about team work and character values, and leave a more enriched child with optimism for the new school year.

What a beautiful gift to give to an impressionable young mind!

Faces Without Places needs your help. In the past it has partnered with other organizations to offer this opportunity. This is the first summer for its very own Yellow Bus camp and it needs supplies. Below is a list. If you can help, please contact Beth Griffith-Niemann, MA, at 513-389-0805 or 513-389-3583.

•       Deep Freeze

•       Refrigerators

•       Microwaves

•       New swim suits for boys and girls (one pieces or modest tankinis) aged 5-12

•       New flip flops for boys and girls aged 5-12

•       New beach towels

•       individually wrapped snacks

•       juice boxes

•       Cheerios cereal

•       copy paper

•       construction paper

•       crayons

•       markers

•       pencils

•       electric pencil sharpeners

•       staplers & staples

•       Epson 125 ink (black, cyan, magenta, & yellow)

•       packing tape

•       extension cords

•       surge protectors

•       New or gently used outdoor recreation equipment (basket balls, soccer balls, jump ropes, hula hoops, etc.)

•       New or gently used board games

•       Sunscreen

•       Box fans

•       Tissues

•       Toilet paper

•       Paper towels

•       Paper plates

•       Disposable cups

•       Plastic silverware

•       Large bottles of hand sanitizer

•       New or gently used books for students aged 5-12

•       Gift cards to Target and Wal-Mart to purchase clothing and swim suits

•       Gift certificates to Kroger or Sam’s Club to purchase perishable goods

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