February 8, 2017 / Cincinnati

The restoration of a historic home that sat vacant for more than 17 years got underway today as part of the neighborhood revitalization plan catalyzed by the Oyler Community Learning Center.  Directly across from the front doors of the Oyler School, a national model for community learning centers, the historic single family rowhouse has been a symbol of the blight that has plagued the neighborhood for decades.  Oyler House is now a symbol of a new era for Lower Price Hill.

Revitalization of the Lower Price Hill community began with the redevelopment of the Oyler School from a traditional elementary school to a prek-12 community learning center.  As the neighborhood is isolated and was without access to the services necessary for children and families to thrive, the Oyler community learning center campus now includes partnerships with an on-site health center, vision center, dental clinic, early childhood program, mental health therapists, college counselor and hundreds of other programs and volunteers  – all creating the conditions necessary for learning.

But beyond the school walls and after the school day, the conditions necessary for children to learn and thrive must include decent housing,  access to green space and clean air, recreational  and cultural opportunities, and safe, quiet streets.

Anchored by the Oyler Community Learning Center as the hub of the neighborhood, Adelyn Hall, Director of Housing and Community Revitalization for the Community Learning Center Institute, led a comprehensive planning process that engaged Oyler and the surrounding neighborhood to create the vision and priorities for the rehabilitation of this historic riverfront community with a proud Urban Appalachian heritage.  The Lower Price Hill Plan has provided a road map for the development of a network of partners who are working together under Hall’s leadership to implement the Plan.  With the removal of blight and the restoration of vacant homes to single family home ownership as the community’s highest priority, Hall has coordinated a network of housing partners including Habitat for Humanity to rehab long vacant homes.

In addition to the Habitat homes, the Oyler House is now being renovated to become an extension of the Oyler campus and a model for the future of housing in Lower Price Hill.  The renovation is expected to take approximately six months and has been made possible by funding from the Community Learning Center Institute and the Robert and Adele Schiff Foundation.

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