Planning meetings for January and February 2025

To brainstorm and to make sure that we’ve discussed everything that could potentially be onsite at the Sustainability Central campus, we’re having two meetings in early 2025 for stakeholders, which includes organizations that will have space at the campus, as well as community members who want to be involved to help the organizations increase their impacts.

The first meeting will be on Sunday, January 12th, and the second meeting will be on Saturday, February 1st. UPDATE: The meeting on Sunday January 12th (Noon - 4 PM) will be on Zoom, due to snow. Please email Colleen at sustainabilitycentralcinti@gmail.com to get the Zoom link. The meeting on February 1st is still currently scheduled to be at EarthConnection (370 Neeb Rd., Cinti, OH 45233), across from the campus of Mount St. Joseph University, from Noon - 4 PM. (The links will take you to the event posts on Facebook — please respond as “Going” or “Interested” if you’re able to, so we know how many people to expect each day.)

All organizations who want to participate in the sustainability campus (Sustainability Central) should send at least one representative to at least one of the planning meetings, if at all possible. Each participant should bring a lunch or snacks for themselves, and a drink in a refillable water bottle. We will have tap water available for refills.

TRANSPORTATION:
1) Free parking in the Mount St. Joseph University East Lot by the stadium:

• From the corner of Neeb Road and Delhi Pike, go south on Neeb Road (the MSJ parking garage will be on your left)

• Enter the 1st driveway to the left (the same driveway that goes to the parking garage),

• Go up the driveway to the right of the parking garage,

• At the top of the driveway, turn right into the East Lot. The yellow building in front of you will be EarthConnection.

OR

2) Take Metro 77 to the Mount St. Joseph University flagpole and walk over to EarthConnection:

• From the bus stop:

  • Follow the covered walkway to the Quad,

  • Go down the ramp/steps toward the statue of St. Joseph,

  • Go diagonally to the left toward the sliding glass doors into the Seton Lobby,

  • Go out through the "front" doors of Seton Center,

  • Take the sidewalk to the left of the fountain (which may be off in January and February) to the crosswalk and cross the street (Neeb Road),

  • Go up the steps or driveway into the East Lot and turn right. EarthConnection is the yellow building at the south end of the lot.

OBJECTIVES FOR THE PLANNING MEETING:

• Better define all of our needs – figure out best way for pieces to fit together (which organizations need to be near each other for best impact/accessibility)

• Brainstorm ways to best “walk the walk” – what resources can we use to keep building and organizational costs down (ex. -- use ByBlocks, Cinti Reuse Center, Building Value, Habitat ReStores, OneSource)

• Create a rough timeline, w/ defined building phases; list of possible vendors to help w/ various aspects of the project (soil testing, brownfield clean-up, architectural plans, landscaping plans, etc.)

• Read draft of 501(c)(3) application – any changes before we submit it to the IRS?

• Set date for first board meeting

• Initial donations? (will be retroactively tax deductible)