All-Star Game legacy projects thrive months after renovations

It’s been four months since Cincinnati hosted the 86th Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

The giant hat and mustache have come down from atop the Scripps Center, most of the mustache statues have been removed and Todd Frazier’s Home Run Derby victory has become but a pleasant memory in the Queen City.

But, life is anything but normal at Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses, one of many sites transformed over the summer by MLB, the Cincinnati Reds and other partners in the community, including the Cincinnati Zoo and University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning.

Neighborhood Houses, which serves as a food pantry, public neighborhood playground, boxing ring and Boys and Girls Club of Greater Cincinnati location, didn’t even have adequate locks on its doors before its transformation.

Water pooled on the roof and leaked into the building, there was mold, the HVAC system didn’t work properly and heat was escaping from the roof. The fire alarms weren’t even hooked up to the city’s system.

Not only have all of these problems been solved, but the site also received a new playground, teen center, conference table and upgrades to its gymnasium and boxing room.

The playground started out as a vacant lot, littered with broken glass and surrounded by a rusty fence.

“It didn’t have a lot of hope,” said Charley Frank, the Reds Community Fund Executive Director.

It now features painted walking lines, an upgraded fence, playsets, working lights, benches and trees.

“Now it’s really a park,” Frank said. “This, to us, represented the most transformational element in the neighborhood.”

The Neighborhood Houses building was also transformed. Lighting and ceiling tiles were replaced, locking and safety systems are being installed and unused appliances were unplugged, saving the nonprofit hundreds each month. The relocation of the Boys and Girls Club from Central Parkway has also helped with revenue.

Monthly energy bills have gone down about $400.

Neighborhood Houses Executive Director Alexis Kidd said the new teen center helped spur the move of the Boys and Girls Club. The Boys and Girls Club and Seven Hills STEPS have more than 90 students enrolled in afterschool programming, compared to 25 students one year ago.

Neighborhood Houses also received a grant from the Ohio Valley Foundation for capital improvements for its kitchen. Kidd said they hope to begin cooking classes for parents.

The site also features a bread pantry and emergency food pantry, with donations coming from Panera Bread and Kroger.

In October 2014, Neighborhood Houses assisted 39 people with emergency food assistance or toiletry and household items. In October 2015, they assisted 130 people.

Champion boxers have also long been born out of the West End and the boxing room in the basement received upgrades, such as heating and air, better lighting and an upgraded portable boxing ring.

Three new programs have also been implemented, including a dance group for girls, the Sister Link Women’s Program, which will provide support to young mothers, and Brothers, a boys group which will provide mentors, guidance and support for disadvantaged young men.

Twice a month, volunteers from Procter & Gamble offer programming for youth, including tutoring. Students from UC’s DAAP program created chairs, a trophy shelf and a conference table for the site.

Frank said this project will be hard to top, due in large part to MLB’s contribution.

“We couldn’t have done this project without MLB,” Frank said.

Kidd said there has been a restoration of hope in the community because the Neighborhood Houses site provides a safe place for the community to gather.

P&G Brand Manager Jeff Metzner said projects like this don’t happen without leadership and people who are passionately invested in their community.

“Everybody’s got a lot of heart,” Metzner said.

Baseball leaves its mark

Other All-Star Legacy projects included:

• Major League Baseball funded an activity center at the new Larry and Rhonda Sheakley Boys & Girls Club in West Price Hill.

• Renovation of nine youth baseball fields, including Dyer Fields in West End; Howell Field in Dayton, Ohio; the Withrow High School Fields in Bond Hill; Meinken Field in Covington; the Don Johnson Field at the Procter & Gamble Cincinnati MLB Urban Youth Academy in Roselawn; Queensgate Field.

• A new veterans reintegration center on the CityLink Center campus in the West End.

• Renovation of the pediatric primary care waiting room at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.