THE INFLUENCERS SIX MEN AND WOMEN ARE USING THEIR CONNECTIONS AND REPUTATIONS TO BETTER THE TRISTATE By the Editors
What does it meant to be influential? It of course has its dictionary definition (having the power or capacity of producing an effect), but in Cincinnati it means having the reputation of getting things done. In Cincinnati, only those who take the time to get to know the people and the city can convince others to join their cause. It’s those social connections that have allowed our city to thrive. There are many influencers in the Tristate, but we spoke with six to learn how they’ve used their clout to move themselves forward in their careers and to improve the region.
Laura Jekel and Eddy Kwon
THE COMMUNITY BUILDERS
When it comes to getting things done MYCincinnati—a free program that offers Price Hill youth the opportunity to learn an orchestral instrument, play in an ensemble and be connected with supportive mentors and peers—has plenty of success stories. Since MYCincinnati was founded in 2011 three MYCincinnati students have graduated high school and all are attending college, including one recent graduate who received a full scholarship to study music at Miami University, says Eddy Kwon, director. In addition, MYCincinnati has successfully assisted more than a dozen students applying for Cincinnati’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts and Walnut Hills High School, he says. And one of MYCincinnati’s first students joined the teaching staff this year as a strings teaching artist, says Kwon. And that’s just a small sample of the program’s success.
Some of those core values include: every child is a main character; learning and growing together; centering racial equity; and striving for excellence, she says. Jekel and Kwon have certainly influenced an entire community in Price Hill through the MYCincinnati program. So who has been the biggest influence on each of them? For Jekel her biggest influence has been Kwon. “His continual growth as a musician, educator, activist, thinker and fellow Price Hill community member has influenced me deeply in my own life and practice in those areas,” says Jekel. Kwon says his biggest influence has been those around him. “Every day I am immeasurably transformed by MYCincinnati’s students and staff,” he says. “It has truly been the greatest honor of my very little life to create, work, play and grow within the MYCincinnati community, a community that inspires me every day to live with more openness, joy, warmth and strength.” —ERIC SPANGLER
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL WILSON
PHOTO COURTESY OF ANNA JEKEL
The MYCincinnati program, now in its eighth season, has about 130 young people engaged in daily programming after school. But the intensive program— where most students spend at least two hours rehearsing every day—isn’t about developing “artistic talent” or even professional musicians, says Kwon. “For us, musical study is a tool with which young people can empower themselves, imagine more just realities and open new pathways toward joy, beauty and strength,” he says. The MYCincinnati program, founded by Laura Jekel, has grown from 11 students and two teaching artists to 130 students and a staff of 16, says Kwon. Its instrumental programming has expanded from strings to winds, percussion and guitar, he says. That growth and success is because MYCincinnati is more than just an afterschool program, says Jekel, who is now the director of creative placemaking and community art initiatives, a new position created at Price Hill Will. MYCincinnati is a community, she says. “The MYCincinnati community is comprised of teachers, students, families, donors, volunteers and others,” says Jekel. “Wanting to become a part of that community, and to stay a part of that community, is what draws people to MYCincinnati and what keeps them there year after year,” she says. The key to creating that community has been a dedicated staff and placing a lot of priority on engaging families, says Jekel. “The importance of this engagement cannot be understated, and it has to be prioritized through dedicated staff hours,” she says. Another key factor in creating that community and organizational success has been MYCincinnati’s core values, says Jekel.
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Jeff Capell
THE OUTSIDER
It may be hard to believe, but FC Cincinnati was not Jeff Capell’s first stadium fight. In fact, he’s been an outspoken opponent of such taxpayer-subsidized projects dating back to his college days. An activist—today, the loudest foe of FC’s new stadium request as part of its Major League Soccer bid—Capell was actually exposed to his first such debate while attending Ohio State in the late 1990s. The “town elitists” at that time, he says, were proposing a sales tax hike to build two new arenas. Capell played a much more secondary role—he changed his voter registration, for example, so he could formerly cast his ballot of dissent, and encouraged others to say nay to the measure, too. But the efforts worked. Nearly 60 percent turned down the request. He was hooked. “It was a good learning experience,” Capell says. “They [the stadium backers] were saying there was no way they could raise the money locally and that a stadium tax was the only option. After it was defeated, a few weeks later, those same people held a press conference saying, ‘Hey, guess what? We raised the money privately.’ It was a good learning experience 46
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and helped solidify to me that stadium taxes and subsidies are a giant rip-off.” In the decades since, Capell—an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Cincinnati for nearly 19 years—has fought off a number of other issues locally: a sales tax hike in 2007 that would have funded a new Hamilton County jail, which was rejected in a landslide that year, and his biggest “victory” to date, a move to drop Music Hall from the icon tax in 2014, which ultimately funded repairs at Union Terminal only. It was a victory that “saved taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars,” he says. But stadium(s) are still in the forefront. As chairman of No More Stadium Taxes, a grassroots group, Capell is also prepared to go toe-to-toe over proposed renovations at U.S. Bank Arena. Hamilton County taxpayers could be on the hook for that project, too, and lobbying efforts are expected to ramp up next year, he says. The Cincinnati Bengals lease also expires in 2026. “This is going to be an ongoing thing,” he says. These days, he does have to be choosier. While Capell is still an active voice on social media—to date, he’s
fired off 19,000 tweets and counting, while blocking roughly 40 FC fans along the way—he’s toned down his rhetoric some since his election to the Blue Ash City Council in November. “I’m changing it up a little bit. I’m not getting in as many catfights,” Capell says. “I can’t be quite as loose as I used to be.” His decision to run for a government seat was completely separate from the FC fight. He also downplayed its baring on his race. But he’s already counting his wins there, too, which include paring down the number of apartments allowed in a mixeduse development at Summit Park and increased government transparency. “Most Blue Ash voters are concerned with Blue Ash issues,” Capell says. “The biggest thing is that, when you run for office, at the beginning you sit down and figure out, what do you want them to see? I think my work on the stadiums helped back the persona I ran on—that I wanted to bring fresh perspective, fresh ideas, and I wasn’t part of the larger local establishment. I was an outsider cut from a different cloth.” —LIZ ENGEL
News anchor and media personality Charisse Gibson gets the opportunity to connect with the Tristate five days a week as the breaking news anchor on Fox19 Now’s Morning Show. “I’m a talker and I’m great at communicating. I can talk to hundreds of people or five people and connect with each of them,” she says. Graduating from Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisana, Gibson didn’t set out to work in television as she originally majored in child psychology. She began getting involved in the university’s media program and interned at a local news station. After getting a taste of what it was like to be in the studio she rushed her graduation date to quickly get in television. “I overloaded myself in the summers with classes. I graduated college on a Friday in July and started that following Monday with my first job as a desk assistant,” she says. Even before getting into television her inspiration for stories and news content came from her upbringing. “I grew up in a family where we were very community oriented. The neighborhood my dad grew up in was hard but it was all about the community. His neighborhood had such a huge group of people and they were so embedded in each other as there was a great sense of pride,” she says. A “professional storyteller,” Gibson has always valued stories that are from the community. To get the best stories she often frequents local hangouts and will introduce herself to complete strangers. “People are more willing to tell you what’s going on when you meet them in their space,” she says. She especially has a passion for telling stories that involve African American history. Upon her arrival to Cincinnati, some of her first stories included doing a series of documentaries on locals who were part of the Freedom Riders. She also interviewed residents from Oxford who took part in Miami University’s Freedom Summer Project Movement. When Gibson isn’t spending countless hours behind the news desk and crafting content she’s serving as the president of the local chapter of the Greater Cincinnati Association of Black Journalists, (GCABJ). The organization provides networking opportunities, career development and volunteer services for professionals in the journalism, media, public relations and communication fields. Some of the outreach GCABJ has done includes a high school journalism boot camp (partnering with the Cincinnati chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and UC) and empowerment sessions highlighting topics on barriers and opportunities affecting minorities. “Organizations such as GCABJ empower us with the tools and knowledge to deliver factual content, especially in today’s political climate,” Gibson says. She adds that now it is more important than ever for new and young journalists to have these resources to better navigate in the era of fake news. She says, “Those of us who have been here have a responsibility to help the next generation of journalists and reporters because the city has too many stories that need to be told.” —WILL JONES
Charisse Gibson
THE STORYTELLER
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John Yung
THE PLANNER
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“Every neighborhood has a story,” says John Yung, A.I.C.P., senior project executive at Urban Fast Forward. And through intentional urban revitalization strategies aimed at preserving and building upon a community’s unique characteristics, Yung is actively contributing to the sustainable future of some of Cincinnati’s most cherished neighborhoods. When Yung was 12 years old his family moved from Chicago to a suburb in Lebanon. Pinned between a cul-de-sac and state highway he wondered why he couldn’t walk to school, the library or other amenities that were accessible to him in a more walkable urban setting. It wasn’t until he took an undergraduate course during his time at Muskingum University that he learned about the phenomenon of the “cul-de-sac effect,” which examines the relationship between reduced communal social interaction and the limited freedom and mobility of closed-off street designs. Resonating personally with this issue, Yung decided to devote his time to integrating neighborhoods to be more harmonious through better developmental strategies. He earned his master’s degree at the University of Cincinnati DAAP School of Planning in 2013 and has 10 years of community development, planning and zoning experience. Yung currently works at Urban Fast Forward—a consulting and real estate firm that specializes in urban development and retail district revitalization. “Whereas traditional firms tend to lease, sell or purchase any real estate based on historic market data and drive times, we work with communities to develop a retail and community vision that emphasizes the unique assets and characteristics of communities,” says Yung. “We build a relationship with them, so we can help them grow and prosper. I don’t know of any other real estate company that works this way.” In 2017 he helped complete the Camp Washington project plan, “Made in Camp,” highlighting the trademark qualities exclusive to the area, including Camp Washington Chili, the American Sign Museum, and vast collection of historic industrial buildings. Before employment at Urban Fast Forward, Yung developed a form-based code (FBC) for Bellevue, Kentucky—one of the largest planning efforts ever conducted in the city and the first form-based code in the Cincinnati region. This type of zoning regulation enables communities to construct new buildings that better integrate into the existing historic fabric. The code has guided development in the city since 2010 and is still in place today. Above all, Yung passionately believes in the personality of individual communities and discovering ways to elevate the foundation that already exists. Part of this is staying away from monoculture storefronts and restaurants ubiquitous to cities all across America. “One of our strengths in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky is that we have so many distinct neighborhoods. We offer opportunities for almost everybody, which we need to leverage. The key to longevity and long-term success is for neighborhoods to realize their own destiny. The goal is not to be the next Over-the-Rhine, it’s to be the next best version of that community,” says Yung. —JESSICA BALTZERSEN
As president and CEO of the Northern Kentucky Regional Alliance, a group of leaders pushing initiatives to improve the region, Karen Finan knows all about influence. Started in 2017, the Alliance focuses on education, job growth, health and community vibrancy initiatives that will produce tangible results for Northern Kentucky in the coming years. “They’re a CEO group that’s pushing initiatives forward in a big kind of transformative way. They look at things through the lens of a one Northern Kentucky,” Finan says. “How can we use influence, funding, time, talent and treasures, if you will, to push things forward that make sense for the community?” With a background in real estate, economic development and private sector experience, Finan was an ideal choice to lead the Alliance. Her three-person office is in charge of initiative support, implementation and due diligence in researching ideas, but also brings initiatives to the board of directors to push things forward. “My role is to really make sure things are running on all cylinders,” she says. While the Alliance assists in short-term community goals, its focus is on major transformational initiatives that will improve the long-term future of Northern Kentucky. The Alliance helps fund projects through its corporate board of directors, manages fundraising efforts and partners with other organizations to get big things done. For job growth, the Alliance partnered with the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and several other groups to roll out Grow NKY, a comprehensive strategy growing the talent pipeline, attracting future business and maintaining a strong economy. A goal in community vibrancy is to build a vibrant front door for Northern Kentucky and that has been helped by the development of Riverfront Commons, an 11.5-mile uninterrupted walking, running and biking trail that links six river cities to Cincinnati and other local trail systems. Project partner Southbank secured an infrastructure grant from the Army Corps of Engineers for the project and the Alliance is driving financial and community support to provide matching funds for the grant. Much of the public may not have heard of the work the Alliance is involved in and that is just fine with Finan. “We’re not after headlines, we’re not after big splashy websites. This is about leading by doing,” she says. She describes the group’s work as a shot of adrenaline for many ideas and projects that have long been discussed but have come up short on implementation. “We’re really trying to push things a lot more, we’re trying to move things at a faster speed than what we have been seeing,” Finan says. “When you see our membership, you see companies that have a social conscious. I think these leaders understand that we cannot stand still.” The interim president of economic development agency Tri-ED, Finan knows a thing or two about not standing still. – SCOTT UNGER
Karen Finan
THE SUPPORTER
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