The words “collaboration,” “transformation,” and “results-oriented partnerships” all capture the essence of the City of Cincinnati’s Neighborhood Enhancement Program (NEP).  This 90-day neighborhood based strategy focuses on targeted initiatives that address specific neighborhood quality of life issues related to an overlay and analysis of building code violations, vacant buildings, disorder and drug calls for Police service and drug arrests, as well as incidence of graffiti, junk autos, litter and weeds.  City services were integrated to include personnel costs and the Neighborhood Enhancement Program to improve quality of life by maximizing public resources, leveraging private investment, creating a physical and economic “ripple effect”, improving safety, and reducing blight.

The NEP is implemented in two neighborhoods per year, one in the spring and the other in the fall via a three-prong approach of enforcement, enhancement, and sustainability. The impetus for the City Manager to implement the NEP resulted from careful data analysis by City departments working together to resolve particular issues within the same neighborhood with limited resources. Statistics showed certain geographic areas where the strategic deployment of staff time, equipment, and other materials could reduce crime and improve an individual neighborhood’s quality of life.  The City Manager realized departments could not solely deploy resources in a vacuum without a better understanding of the day-to-day obstacles residents and other stakeholders were facing to combat neighborhood ills.  He directed each City department to designate staff to solicit input and commitment as team members and in neighborhoods warranting immediate attention.  Anchor institutions, other public agencies and the business community were also recruited to participate in these NEP efforts. The City proactively engaged those targeted neighborhoods through ongoing stakeholder sessions designed to outline priorities, goals, shared expectations and accountability, action steps, and timely reporting to be completed during and after the 90-day focus period.

Data has proven that, through focused, integrated and concentrated city service delivery and community redevelopment efforts, partners (City departments, residents, and community organizations) seek to create a physical and economic “ripple effect” in the neighborhoods surrounding the focus area to build and sustain investor confidence; affect real and visible physical improvements of the area; reduce the number of vacated buildings and increase homeownership; reduce crime; increase property values; strengthen neighborhood business districts; and increase resident’s community pride and self sufficiency.