GOOD Things Going On Around Cincinnati

Learn how making friends can help you get to work without a car…. How stories coming out of Cincinnati’s 52 neighborhoods about the ordinary people can be more interesting than People magazine… How trying a day filled with random acts of kindness can be a philosophical leap into a life where we realize how interdependent we all are on one another…

Shane Hines recently applied for a contest with GOOD, “a global community of people who give a damn,” in an effort to bring events like these to Cincinnati, where people can learn, play, and explore together. Check out Shane’s contest submission below:

GOOD asked that contestants submit a video, like the one above, then choose 3 themes out of a list they provided and propose an event.  Here’s what Shane and a team of leaders from Starfire came up with:

Transportation…
Our event on transportation would be guided by Joseph Scheets and representatives from Queen City Bikes. With an interactive lesson plan, people would be challenged to learn the bus/bike routes while linking with other people based on shared passions. In the end, participants will be surprised to learn how connecting with people from their local community helps eliminate the need to rely on vehicles for transportation, not just because of carpooling, but because the closer we become to our communities, the less reason we have to drive away to find activities to get involved in. This event would be hosted in the lobby of Union Terminal, Cincinnati’s Amtrak station. People would be challenged to use an alternate form of transportation aside from their cars to arrive at the event. Joseph’s network through last year’s Cincinnati Street Films Festival would help spread the word about the event.

Exploration…
Our event on exploration would be guided by a local appreciative inquiry expert/asset-based development instructor, along with Krista Brinkmeyer (artist from the Cincy Story Mural). At this event, people would break into groups and take off to various areas throughout the 52 neighborhoods of Cincinnati. Every team will have a tour guide, or someone who has grown up in the neighborhood, and will be given the challenge of exploring the positive parts of what each neighborhood has to offer. They will also collect stories from the locals, and bring these back to the group. The group will then reconvene at the end of the event to share what they have learned and any surprises they discovered. This event would be held on Fountain Square right in the heart of downtown Cincinnati. There will be a live Twitter feed as well as a Flickr page set up to load photos from the exploration. Krista’s network from the Cincy Story Mural would help us spread the word.
Neighboring..
Our event on neighboring would be guided by Kasey McCarthy (kindness expert), Meghan Snyder (random acts of kindness guru) from the World Kindness Club, Cincinnati chapter. At this event, people would learn about the power of giving and interdependence through random acts of kindness assigned to teams in the same fashion as a Task Party. This event would be held at Washington Park, located in Over-the-Rhine. Through this event, people will reach out to “strangers” to discover the ties that bind us all as neighbors, citizens, and friends.

We should hear by next month if Shane and Starfire’s application won the contest. Wish us luck!