CINCINNATI – Residents joined the City of Cincinnati and various stakeholder groups on Agnes St. on Friday morning to celebrate the kickoff of a months-long Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP) benefiting the Camp Washington and South Cumminsville neighborhoods.

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City Manager Patrick Duhaney emceed the event and was joined by the presidents of the Camp Washington Community Board (Joe Gorman) and South Cumminsville (Marylin Evans) Community Council. Other participants included Bob Alexander, Working in Neighborhoods (WIN) Board Chair and Sister Barbara Busch, WIN Executive Director.

The signature moment of the celebration was the formal groundbreaking of the Net Zero Urban Village, a high-efficiency 25-unit affordable housing development in South Cumminsville. This is one of the many projects coming to these neighborhoods over the next few months as part of the NEP. Both communities have been working collaboratively with the City to identify their most important wish list items as well as potential signature projects.

In attendance Friday were staff and leadership from various participating City departments including Police, Fire, Public Services, Community and Economic Development, Buildings and Inspections, Transportation and Engineering, Environment and Sustainability, and many others. The City teams will work throughout portions of both neighborhoods over the next 90-days on various safety and beautification initiatives including cooling down hot spots, removing blight and litter, attempting to identify resources to build a Walking Trail on Cincinnati Recreation Commission (CRC) property in South Cumminsville.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the support of various community sponsor agencies. Thank you to the following groups for their participation and their continued support of Cincinnati and its various neighborhoods.

• South Cumminsville Community Council
• Working In Neighborhoods
• Camp Washington Community Council
• Camp Washington Business Association
• Camp Washington Board
• The Port
• BB&T Bank
• PNC Bank
• First Financial Bank
• Huntington Bank
• U.S. Bank
• Keep Cincinnati Beautiful
• Community Action Agency
• People Working Cooperatively

About the Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP)

The City of Cincinnati's Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP) is a strategy focused on addressing neighborhood quality of life issues and has been successful in proactively revitalizing neighborhoods by creating long-term strategic partnerships in the community to address crime, blight, and building code violations. One of the key elements of the NEP is sustainability. In partnership with community and business leaders, the City works to develop neighborhood assets thereby transforming neighborhoods throughout the city. The initiative was designed by the City of Cincinnati to jump start long-term neighborhood revitalization and reinvestment and to build on the community initiatives already in place.

You can learn more about the NEP at www.cincinnati-oh.gov/manager/nep/