Good things are happening in Ohio.
The national narrative surrounding Ohio and its urban areas is often dismal. National press often depicts Ohio’s cities as hollowed out ghost towns. The truth is, Ohio is a breeding ground for innovative programs and policies that make urban areas better places to live, work, and play.
Good Ideas is an initiative by Greater Ohio Policy Center to highlight the important work that is taking place in Ohio.
Through the case studies below, view examples of how Ohio’s cities are countering the national narrative and making communities better today than they were yesterday. Greater Ohio Policy Center is inspired by all the good and smart work represented on this list, and we hope you are too!
This Active Transportation Plan was catalytic in spurring many new and varied Active Transportation projects and programs throughout the city of Lorain. Today, projects are executed via a collective impact model in partnership with a host of community partners spanning health, education, social services, and housing.
Mansfield, as part of a multi-year economic development campaign, has embarked on an effort to make the Main Street corridor more welcoming and pedestrian friendly. The effort has been led by the public and private sector through a mix of philanthropic grants combined with federal, state, and local funding.
Youngstown’s SMART2 Network is a major infrastructure project that will connect community employers, institutions, and attractions in the city’s downtown. The project includes redesigning streets for pedestrians and cyclists, converting traffic lanes into sidewalks and bike paths, and incorporating emerging technologies through an autonomous shuttle.
Xenia, Ohio is located about 20 miles southeast of Dayton. This city of 25,000 is home to four regional bike trails1 (depicted by the colored lines on the map below). These four trails see 5,500 users per day who spend $16 million in the region each year (Friends of Xenia Station). Until 2017, none of the trails connected through Xenia’s downtown.
Over the past two decades, the City of Bexley, a land-locked community completely surrounded on all sides by the City of Columbus, with three major east/west routes serving as the main artery roads in the city, has invested significantly in cycling and pedestrian infrastructure to make the community safer for road users of all types and modes.
I.D.E.A. Troy is a donor-advised fund organized by the Troy Foundation to promote Inclusion, Diversity and Equity within the city of Troy, a predominantly white community 19 miles north of Dayton. The goal of I.D.E.A. Troy is to work towards racial equity by sponsoring engaging community events that provide opportunities to learn about non-white American history.
The Gem City Market is a community-owned, full-service grocery store dedicated to providing affordable, high-quality food in a designated food desert near downtown Dayton.
The City of Columbus constructed the city’s first protected bike lane in more than 30 years on a major arterial roadway connecting the University District with the downtown business district. The project, stalled for many years, was revived when a planned resurfacing project by the state DOT renewed interest in the corridor.
The Western Licking County Accord (2018) is a non-binding planning agreement between 3 jurisdictions for if, how, and where development will occur in the neighboring communities to help them anticipate potential changes and encourage responsible growth.
In 2020, the Affordable Housing Trust for Columbus and Franklin County evaluated their internal procedures to identify ways their work could be fine-tuned in order to improve measures of equity in their community.
Established through multi-sector collaboration, the Springfield Housing Solutions Consortium is a multi-sector group of community leaders that are addressing the City’s current market-rate and affordable housing needs.
Insight2050 Corridor Concepts provides a plan for population growth and development, over the next 30 years. Central Ohio is expected to grow by nearly one million residents by 2050; this study offers strategies for absorbing that new population.
Public-private partnerships have paved the road for a new dedicated transit service that connects residents, in Butler, Hamilton, Montgomery, and Warren counties, to employers across the growing I-75 industrial corridor.
Developed, owned, and operated by the Detroit Shoreway CDO, Aspen Place is an example of transit-oriented development that capitalizes on neighborhood assets and takes advantage of an innovative partnership with Greater Cleveland RTA.
Nehemiah Manufacturing and Beacon of Hope Business Alliance, now Cincinnati Works, engages in “second chance” hiring practices by providing social services and support to workers returning from incarceration.
In Sandusky, various sectors have aligned their missions and partnered to develop the nation’s first college centered on resort and attraction management—a $14 million investment that has also sparked improvements to other aspects of the City’s revitalization.
The Dayton Arcade is a historic rehabilitation project that has served as a vehicle for leveraging alignment in the city’s social programming, making it a notable example of how real estate development can spur equitable outcomes.
ECDI launched Capital for Construction to provide minority business enterprises (MBEs) with training and access to flexible and affordable short-term capital. The program works to reduce financial barriers and sustain MBE contractors’ businesses.
The Minority Business Accelerator highlights the power of leveraging existing anchors to yield more significant equity impacts. The Accelerator provides individually-tailored advisory support and coaching to help Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) acquire what they need to excel.
COTA provides eligible downtown workers with unlimited access to the entire bus system through the Downtown CPass program. CPass has been an innovative and effective way of encouraging alternative transportation, reducing parking needs, and increasing COTA’s ridership.
The Downtown Newark Revitalization Project is an excellent example of leveraging an otherwise traditional infrastructure project into a transformative placemaking opportunity and economic generator for the city by creatively designing the project to be eligible for multiple funding sources.
Hamilton CORE is a 501(c)(3) partnership established to help accelerate downtown revitalization in Hamilton, and reduce financial barriers for investing in the urban core by managing funds for strategic commercial and below market single-family residential real estate property acquisition and investment.
The South Side Renaissance Fund is a $20 million loan fund for the financing of community development projects and the acquisition, construction and permanent financing of affordable single family and multifamily rental housing in South Side Columbus neighborhoods.
LBCA’s traffic-generating events like fairs, festivals and open houses have drawn people to the historic Bridge Street in Ashtabula.
The Scioto Foundation brought together a broad group of community stakeholders to discuss and brainstorm a vision for the future of Downtown Portsmouth.
A 10 year, $50M place-based initiative to address the social determinants of health in a Toledo neighborhood.
One challenge that many legacy cities face is a lack of developers willing to build on the small, infill lots available. Many home builders today often prefer large sites to achieve efficiency of scale, as predevelopment and construction costs decrease with the greater number of homes built in close proximity.