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How Redlining Has Shaped Our Cities and Increased the Racial Divide in America Webinar

Wednesday, February 24 – 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm


In this webinar, Beth Johnson will present the history of redlining, the practice in which maps made by federal government entities in the 1930’s and 1940s outlined in red the neighborhoods that were considered hazardous to offer lending. We will look at how redlining has led to decades of disinvestment in neighborhoods of color. Sean Suder, esq will discuss the continued implications of redlining in our cities and how it has manifested into current land use policy.

This Webinar has been approved for 1.0 AIA HSW CEU

Presenters

Beth Johnson, Cincinnati Urban Conservator since 2016, is a leader in historic preservation planning in southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky, with experience in guiding investment in historic buildings to create vibrant neighborhoods in Cincinnati, Covington and as far as San Antonio and Austin, Texas.

Sean Suder received his Bachelor of Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia School of Architecture and his Juris Doctor from the University of Virginia School of Law. He served nearly four years as the City of Cincinnati’s chief land use attorney, became a partner in a top commercial real estate and land use practice, before forming his own law firm which provides quality commercial real estate, zoning, land use, and public law counsel extending beyond Ohio to Indiana, Kentucky and Washington, D.C., where he is licensed to practice.

Top Tips from the 2013 National Main Street Conference

Heritage Ohio staff and about 40 Ohioans, including Main Street Managers, and downtown revitalization advocates attended the conference, hosted this year in New Orleans.  Having just completed 5 days of inspirational and educational sessions, I thought I would share my top ten things learned, in no particular order:
 
1.      The JOBS Act of 2012 allows for locavesting and crowd funding, providing more options for financing businesses to create jobs.  There are many more platforms than I realized, and they are all slightly different, so finding the right match is important.
 
2.      The Entrepreneur – the term is thrown around so much we’ve begun to lose sight of who we mean. It can be anyone: a car mechanic, a gardener, a knitter, a computer geek. Think small, not so big. Make your downtown welcoming to anyone with a business idea; create an environment of support where business can thrive.
 
3.      Sponsorship – believe in the value of your program and its activities. Develop relationships with your sponsors with as much thought to the follow-up as to the ask.
 
4.      Streetscape projects can be challenging for downtown businesses.  Effective communication, frequent progress meetings and a creative attitude will get the community through the process.
 
5.      Business Enhancement Committees can create a Recruitment Manual to give them structure month after month to make the best use of your market analysis data and help you find the new businesses that belong in your community. Court your new business candidates.
 
6.      Fundraising isn’t so hard when everyone is able to share the story of your downtown.  Use your revitalization statistics. Tailor your story to the listener’s style.
 
7.      What is trending in 2013? Diversity, young talent, young women, deliberate spending, shortened commutes, health and wellness, main stream technology.
 
8.      Transportation – Reduce our car-centric decisions. Walkable communities are the future.  Healthy and hip, they attract the young people, your town’s future.
 
9.      Millennials (under 30 yrs.) – get them on your board and committees, or you may go the way of the dinosaurs.
 
10.    New Orleans is a party city.
 
Thousands of communities across the country are doing creative work in revitalizing their downtowns and neighborhood commercial centers.  You too can be part of this amazing process, it’s all about the can-do attitude.