The Community Learning Center Institute is honored to have its work highlighted at the upcoming European Network for Housing Research conference to be held in Tirana, Albania September 4-8, 2017. With the theme “Affordable Housing for All – Redefining the Roles of the Public and Private Sector”, ENHR (which attracts several hundred housing scholars and practitioners from around the world) has chosen to highlight CLCI’s school-centered community revitalization strategy in Cincinnati with a focus on the neighborhood of Lower Price Hill as part of a two day series of papers on revitalizing neighborhoods.
Based upon the work led by Adelyn Hall,the Community Learning Center Institute’s Director of Housing and Community Revitalization, Professor David P. Varady of the University of Cincinnati’s School of Planning (currently on sabbatical at Delft University of Technology) will share CLCI’s work in the Greater Cincinnati Region to transform all Cincinnati Public Schools into Community Learning Centers, as well as discuss the efforts to move beyond the walls of the classroom to revitalize its neighborhoods into campuses for learning. Hall and Varady will describe and assess the CLCI model, one that (1) anchors the school as the center of community, (2) that is based on community input, (3) that promotes neighborhood spillover effects (better housing, less blight, reduced crime) and (4) that ultimately creates a feedback loop whereby improved neighborhood conditions elevates school performance.
The housing and revitalization effort led by Hall in Lower Price Hill is estimated to bring more than $23 million dollars of investment by 2020. A paper co-authored by Hall and Varady entitled “Why Neighborhood Matters: Intersecting Education, Planning and Development” will be published soon.