EPHIA Newsletter
February 2006
Welcome Michael Wigle, EPHIA's new Vice President!
Michael Wigle was elected EPHIA Vice President in the November election. Michael is from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and moved to Cincinnati in 1999 to accept a job at the Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired. There he teaches blind and visually impaired people to use computers for independence, daily living and work.
He moved to East Price Hill in June of 2000 and in 2003 he and his wife Heather were married. Both Michael and Heather are very active in the community and their church. Their faith plays a very important role in their day-to-day lives and they try to be positive role models in their neighborhood.
The Wigles chose their Enright Avenue home because of the proximity to their church, its room for many children and its affordability. The house had long been a problem "party house" and needed lots of work. The Wigles take pride in their continuing efforts to turn a once-problem property into a family home. They hope that it will soon be in good enough shape to allow them to become foster parents. They have been through much training and evaluations in preparation for reaching this goal.
Michael feels that "East Price Hill is already an amazingly diverse community economically, culturally, politically and philosophically." One of Michael's major goals is to help eliminate false stereotypes and "us-versus-them" attitudes so that the diversity which now appears to be weakening our community can be transformed into one of its strengths.
The East Price HUI Improvement. Association's next general meeting will be held on February 20, 2006 at 7:30pm at the Elberon United Methodist Church at the corner of Phillips and Elberon. The Board of Directors will meet at 6:30pm prior to the general meeting.
Monday, February 20 is Presidents' Day...
and that means no garbage pick-up until Tuesday morning. Please don't put your garbage out until Monday evening ... and also remember that Monday will be a bank holiday.
And ... if you work downtown, Monday is the first day that Fifth Street will be closed while Fountain Square reconstruction is underway. Check with Queen City Metro for bus stop changes.
District 3 to get 25 additional officers
District 3 will soon be putting many more officers on the street. Some of the officers will be experienced officers who are being transferred from other districts. Some will be from the new recruit class. And some of the officers will be those who are currently serving as our neighborhood officers. Putting more officers on our streets is a very good thing and we applaud the efforts to make our streets safer.
East Price HUI has been served by excellent Neighborhood Officers. Specialist Joe Coombs, Officer Scott Schearer and Officer Chris Pohlman have done a terrific job and deserve our thanks. While we will miss the relationships that we have developed with these officers, Captain Raabe assured that the services they have provided will continue. More specific information on how this will be done is expected to be made available soon. In the meantime we wish these fine officers all the best in their new assignments.
Spring cleaning is just around the corner
This is a reminder that the regular garbage collectors will not pick up appliances, tires, furniture or other large items. If you want such items picked up you need to call the City of Cincinnati Customer Service number at 591-6000 and schedule a special pick-up. Whenever you contact the Customer Service number be sure to ask them to provide you with a control number so that you can refer back to it if any problems arise.
Literacy Center West
Many people are surprised to learn that East Price Hill is home to one of the best literacy program in the area. Literacy Center West is located at 3015 Phillips Ave. The Center's motto is "changing the world, one reader at a time." They have three program focus areas:
- The "Youth GED" program works with young people between 14 and 17 years old who are no longer in school. This is a structured program aimed at preparing these students for their GED tests and it has a very good success rate.
- The "Adult GED" program works with adults 18 and over to help them obtain their GED.
- The center's "Next Level" program targets men between 19 and 21. This program offers job assistance, career planning and GED preparation. The Next Level pogram is an 18-month program aimed at helping these young men become economically self sufficient.
For more information about the Center or to offer support, contact the Director, Jason Hecker, at 244-5062.
New Membership Chairman Named
Darrell Shelton was named by President Dan Boller to fill the recently vacated position of EPHIA Membership Chairman. Guy Vollrath, who has long served as Membership Chairman, has resigned for personal reasons. Guy has done an excellent job and will be missed. However, he will be staying involved as much as possible. Thank you to Guy for his long service and thank you to Darrell for stepping up to fill this important post