Despite roadblocks, people are creating thriving communities. How are they doing it?
Ask ten people what a thriving community looks like to them, and you will likely get ten different answers. But usually access to affordable housing and healthcare are top priorities. With 2025 approaching, Brick by Brick went searching for answers, talking to both adults and teens. The nonprofit organization Interact for Health reports on roadblocks and successes for Southwest Ohio. In Dayton plans are underway for a wellbeing index, and a Middletown neighborhood is already seeing improvements after the installation of a community garden.
The definition
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the adverb thrive is “characterized by success or prosperity,” and as a verb means “to grow vigorously: flourish, gain wealth or possessions: prosper,” or “to progress toward to realize a goal despite or because of circumstances.”
Our team at Brick by Brick uses thriving community as its series subtitle. But what does a thriving community look like and how do we get there?
What people are saying
Brick by Brick’s Hernz Laguerre Jr., combed through months of responses to that question and compiled them for this podcast.
Interact for Health, a nonprofit organization based in Cincinnati but charged with ensuring people in a 20 county Tri-State region have a just opportunity to live their healthiest lives, regardless of who they are or where they live, also wanted to know what a thriving community looks like.
It heard people say:
- “A thriving community, in my opinion, is one where there is a sense of unity, support and equality among community members.”
- “I envision a society where everyone has the opportunity to success and where mutual respect and understanding drive communal and individual growth.”
- “To me, a thriving community looks like a place where, there’s equal access to resources for all people.”
Interact, in its 2024 Our Health, Our Opportunity report, says “The people in this region have big hopes and dreams for the future,” and to meet these, “we have to tackle the biggest barriers getting in our way.”
- Lack of vital conditions for good health
- Racism and discrimination
- Social Isolation
- Feeling powerless to effect change
There are stories of progress. Interact’s Vice President of Policy and Engagement Ashlee Young points to Cradle Cincinnati’s Mama Certified program which helps moms identify the best birthing place for them and works with local hospitals to develop metrics.
Young also praises the YWCA for “really trying to look at racism and discrimination with their initiatives and working with nonprofits,” to do training.
When Brick by Brick asked her to pick one of the obstacles that we are closest to removing, she said, “There is a lot of energy within our community around housing. We’re not there yet and tying to address it, but I think there are the right people around the table and a diverse group of stakeholders.”
Mental health and wellbeing is a huge area of opportunity, according to Young.
Creating a wellbeing index in Dayton
The Community of Wellbeing Initiative in Dayton is the brainchild of Collaboratory founder Peter Benkendorf who, like Gallup’s wellbeing index, will focus on career, social, financial, physical and community in a standardized survey. He says, “You can’t realize your potential unless you’re experiencing wellbeing.”
Organizers have been working on this project for five years and after gathering some initial data in focus groups, are raising $1M for phase two.
Another component is the Richter Scale of Health. Unlike the earthquake measurement, it revolves around measuring self-reported personal achievements and then helps provide guidance and connections to individuals to assist them in their journey.
Benkendorf says, “It’s shifting the script from a needs-based to a gifts and talent space script to give people the ability to see that I can actually be something more than I am.”
He says, on a zero to ten scale, you’re asking people questions about where they are now and where they want to be. “So you’re allowing people to really describe their own future state. You’re not putting something in their head saying, oh, you should be a forklift operator. They’re saying, I want to do this. This is where I want to be. This is how I want to feel and when I get here, this is how I’m going to feel ….you’re allowing people to really describe their own future state.”
Benkendorf sees his group helping to support that journey by working with and connecting people to service providers, community groups and programs.
As the team continues to build momentum around its wellbeing index and Richter Scale model, in the near-term it is stepping up to erase medical debt. The Community of Wellbeing Initiative will help more than 11,000 people in seven counties pay off $18 million in medical debt. The thinking is, without these payments, residents can better spend their money to help themselves and their community.
Cincinnati is doing something similar, forgiving $134 million through a city-funded partnership.
Teens weigh in
Teens have a lot to say about what a thriving community means to them. Brick by Brick’s Emiko Moore sat down with a group of them to hear their concerns and what they are doing to make Dayton a better place to live. Her story is also in the podcast.
South of Dayton and west of I-75 is the home to Middletown Connect. Interact for Health points to it as a success story. It started as a focus on teens and preventing drug use. What the group found as a root cause was a lack of connection to the community. It is working to fix that both for teens and adults.
Middletown Connect
On its website Middletown Connect describes itself as “a community-led initiative seeking to foster health equity and to improve healthy behaviors through meaningful engagement and cross-sectoral collaboration.”
Ambassadors Maylinda Stidham and her partner Otis Trammel are doing that in very small concrete ways. In their Sherman neighborhood, where people are living twelve and a half years less than people in other communities, they planted a community garden.
She says, “If you sit there and have dreams and see that you have a chance to do something and be part of something great and be the change the city needs,” and Trammel jumps in “If you do nothing, nothing will happen.”
Already the neighborhood is seeing changes after the Blueprint Community Garden was planted. People are fixing up their houses and painting their fences.
Program Manager DeAnna Shores, also known as “The Connector,” noticed. “The innovation is crazy and what we are really trying to do is connect folks with some resources to make those things kind of, it’s more than dreams come true, it’s actually really practical ways we can make a phenomenal difference in our community.”
Middletown Connect has a grant from Ohio to score communities based on transportation, education, housing, poverty and access to fresh food. Nine of 16 census tracks in Middletown consider people vulnerable. The organization is focusing on three of those neighborhoods where people aren’t living as long as their neighbors.
Shores says, “These are real things. It’s about equality. It’s about equity. What do I need to feel healthy, get healthy, be healthy?”
It goes beyond gardening. Once a month the Elks Lodge holds an expungement hub because people have records and that creates barriers to housing and jobs.
Just down the street from Stidham and Trammel is Sherman Park where the City of Middletown dedicated new playground equipment, when Brick by Brick was there.
Park Board President Steve Lewis urged the kids to take care of it and had this advice for adults. “If you’re waiting for things to get done in town, that’s great. But the town has a lot to get done. How we get a lot of other things done is through volunteers.”
He pointed to Danielle Woodward who lives across the street in the same house she grew up in and is now a member of the park board. She urges others to get involved in their community. “Going around, cleaning up trash, anything like that, just the smallest thing can really help out your community and once people see you doing something, they will always follow.”
What do you think makes a thriving community and what will it take to get there? We want to build community around context and solutions in our cities. Your feedback is very important to the effort, as we continue to dig deeper into the responses to some of our most pressing social issues, including the housing crisis. Click on the green button below to take a short survey to help reinforce and refine our work. Thank you.
Ann Thompson – Host, Producer
Over the last thirty years in Cincinnati, Ann Thompson has brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise to her reporting. She has reported and anchored for WVXU, WKRC, WCKY, WHIO-TV and Metro Networks and freelanced for NPR, CBS and ABC Radio. Her work has been recognized by the Associated Press and she has won awards from the Association of Women in Communications and the Alliance for Women in Media. She is a former News Director and Operations Manager. Ann has reported from India, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Belgium as part of fellowships. Ann thinks of the Brick by Brick project as “journalism for good.” She serves as host and producer. Ann lives in Anderson Township with her husband Scott. They have two boys. Jake graduated from the Air Force Academy in 2022 and Kurt attends West Point.
