American Planning Association / October 8, 2020
The Ohio Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA Ohio) is pleased to announce winners of the 2020 Ohio APA Great Places awards. The biennial awards program honors outstanding physical spaces that planners have made permanent through careful planning and unbridled imagination in Ohio.
APA Ohio presented the following awards at the 2020 Virtual Planning and Zoning Conference on October 8, 2020. APA Ohio Board Member Matthew Schmidt, AICP, noted that the Great Places Awards “2020 designees were selected from submissions for great commercial districts, parks and public spaces, and neighborhoods from communities large and small from across the state. The entries represented beautiful designs, inspiring stories, and community-led transformations that honor their unique histories.”
APA Ohio offers the utmost congratulations to this year’s Great Places in Ohio designees – Downtown Cuyahoga Falls – Promenade Park – the Oyler Community Learning Center – and South Fountain Neighborhood.
Parks and Public Space – Oyler Community Learning Center in Cincinnati’s Lower Price Hill Neighborhood
Built as a school in the 1930s, by the early 2000s the Oyler School was failing, with 85% of its students never making it to 10th grade. After extensive community engagement and lobbying to Cincinnati Public Schools and beyond, in 2012 the Oyler Community Learning Center was formed through funding by the Facilities Master Plan a tax levy and philanthropic resources.
Not only did this expand the school to a high school, but a hub for the whole community. The Oyler Community Learning Center model provides a myriad of services to students and community members alike, such as early childhood education; mental health, primary, vision, and dental services; case management services to help parents navigate resources such as housing, employment and food security; as well as mentorships and tutoring – while becoming a catalyst for the holistic revitalization of the community.
Since its transformation, the Lower Price Neighborhood has graduated more students in the last 7 years than in its entire 90-year recorded history, with an estimated 97% graduation rate in 2019-2020. The multi-generational approach to this place especially impressed the review committee, and how it has created an activity hub that has made the community as a whole a better place both today and into the future.
Please visit the Great Places page on the APA Ohio website to see our previously designated Great Places, where this year’s designees will be added. But most certainly, go and visit each of these, and we hope you’ll be as inspired as we are by what has made them Great Places.