👋 GOOD MORNING, CINCY
A lot of this week’s good news has the same shape: someone keeps showing up.
A mentor returns to school. Volunteers pack another box. A researcher asks why a patient keeps coming back. A local organization notices a basic need getting in the way of a student’s day.
Small acts become systems. Systems change lives.
THIS WEEK IN CINCY
👥 350 more local students are getting school-based mentors this fall
🎓 UC celebrates its 100th Homecoming with a Saturday morning parade through Clifton
🩸 A Loveland nonprofit is expanding free period products into 22 Cincinnati Public Schools
New here? Good News Cincy lands every Thursday at 5:55 AM with the good happening around Cincinnati and how to be part of it.
PARTNER · MOBILITY FIT
Keep doing what you love.
Cincinnati-area Mobility Fit Physical Therapy helps active people recover from injury, move better and return to running, lifting, sports and everyday life, with local clinics in Blue Ash and West Chester.
🏡 WORTH KNOWING
350 more local students are getting a mentor this fall
Sometimes what a kid needs most is one dependable adult who keeps showing up.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati has secured more than $3 million to expand GameChangers, its school-based mentoring model. The expansion is expected to reach 350 additional students this fall, with more schools planned for 2027.
GameChangers works differently from the traditional Big and Little model. Big Brothers Big Sisters places full-time professional mentors directly inside schools, where they build relationships with students and work on confidence, decision-making, social-emotional skills and staying engaged in school.
The expansion includes schools in Price Hill, Oyler and other Cincinnati communities.
One of those mentors knows the model from both sides. Terrell Blue grew up with a Big Brother of his own. Through family loss and instability, that mentor kept showing up. Blue later served in the military, graduated from the University of Cincinnati and returned to Big Brothers Big Sisters as a coach at IDEA Price Hill.
A GameChangers pilot at Newport Intermediate School showed improvements in attendance, behavior, reading growth and social-emotional measures.
Demand still exceeds supply. Big Brothers Big Sisters says hundreds of local kids remain on its waiting list.
If mentoring has ever crossed your mind, this is a good week to revisit it.
📍 AROUND CINCY
Cincinnati STRIDE returns Nov. 13 for students ages 7 through 12th grade who stutter and their caregivers. The free day includes peer connection and confidence-building with UC, Cincinnati Children’s and local speech-language professionals. Registration closes Nov. 3.
UC, Greater Cincinnati Foundation and LISC Greater Cincinnati have launched a Housing Innovation Lab to test practical answers to the region’s housing shortage. One early project will study whether locally manufactured modular housing could lower construction costs.
One hundred Rotary Club of Cincinnati volunteers packed 40,392 meals during the organization’s annual Do Days, beating a 30,000-meal goal. La Soupe will distribute the meals to local families. Last year’s effort produced 24,000 meals.
Cincinnati-based Enerfab has signed a lease for a 240,000-square-foot Sharonville facility as it expands its modular construction business. The 125-year-old company says it has doubled in size over three years and now employs more than 4,000 people.
🙌 SHOW UP
💡 BEST WAY TO SHOW UP FOR A CAUSE
Thursday · Oct. 22 · 5:30–9 PM · Yeatman’s Cove · Free registration
Survivors, families and teams gather along the riverfront tonight for a roughly two-mile walk supporting blood-cancer research and patient services. The opening ceremony and walk begin around 7:15 PM, with fireworks afterward.
The move: Strollers are welcome, and kids 12 and under do not need to register.
🎓 BEST CINCINNATI TRADITION
Saturday · Oct. 24 · Parade at 8 AM · Clifton
UC marks its 100th Homecoming this weekend. The parade heads north on Clifton Avenue at 8 AM, followed by tailgating, the traditional Catwalk around 9:30 and Cincinnati vs. Texas Tech at noon in Nippert Stadium.
The move: Go for the parade even if you are skipping the game.
☕ BEST FOOD + LOCAL MAKER PICK
Saturday–Sunday · Oct. 24–25 · Music Hall · Tickets from $15
Coffee roasters, tea makers, chocolatiers and other vendors fill Music Hall for a weekend of tasting and demonstrations. Entry is sold in timed sessions throughout both days.
The move: Pick a session before heading downtown.
🤝 ORGANIZATION OF THE WEEK
Impacting Tomorrow
A student should not miss class because she cannot afford a tampon.
That is the problem behind Carry Her, a program from Loveland-based Impacting Tomorrow that provides period products, diapers and other basic care supplies.
The program began with a pilot serving students in Lockland and at Hughes High School. It has now expanded to 22 Cincinnati Public Schools, plus Lockland and Milford, with West Clermont next.
Carry Her is one part of a broader model. From its Wards Corner Road campus, Impacting Tomorrow operates a market, clothing boutique and other family support services without income or ZIP-code restrictions.
The organization reports serving about 3,200 people each week, including 2,000 Carry Her recipients, with more than 60 volunteers helping each week.
Food, clothing, period products, diapers and access to care are treated as connected needs rather than separate problems.
A two-hour volunteer shift can help serve hundreds of local families.
ADVERTISE WITH GOOD NEWS CINCY
Reach more of the Cincinnati people you want to serve.
It’s hard to stand out when your message is competing with everything else online. Good News Cincy gives local businesses and organizations a simple way to reach readers who care about where they live, work, shop, gather, and give.
We keep just two partner positions in each issue so your message gets noticed.
👋 SOMEONE TO KNOW
Dr. Portia Zaire
As a hospital nurse, Portia Zaire kept seeing some of the same patients return. Later work in a community health center helped her see why: the problem was sometimes whether someone could afford insulin, refill asthma medication or access preventive care.
Zaire recently joined the UC College of Nursing, where she studies how health systems can deliver cancer screening and care earlier and more effectively, especially for patients who are often missed.
🗓️ LOOKING AHEAD
Cincinnati ToolBank’s annual fundraiser runs from 6–10 PM and supports the tools and equipment used by local charitable organizations.
The Duke Energy Holiday Trains return to Union Terminal for their 80th season, with more than 300 rail cars and 50 locomotives.
The Cincinnati Zoo’s 44th annual holiday tradition returns with 5 million LED lights, animal lanterns, and Santa Village.
The free riverfront German holiday market opens for the season and runs through Dec. 28, with vendors, food, drinks and weekend programming.
Registration is open for Cincinnati’s 117th Thanksgiving Day 10K, plus the family-friendly 5K. Prices increase again after Nov. 15.
John Morris Russell leads the Cincinnati Pops at Music Hall for six performances of one of the city’s signature holiday concerts.
💌 PASS THE GOOD NEWS
Know someone who would enjoy this?
If this issue helped you discover something good about Cincinnati, send it to one person who might enjoy it too.
✝️ A GOOD WORD
“Encourage one another and build each other up.” 1 Thessalonians 5v11
Most of the good in this week’s issue is relational.
A mentor returns. A volunteer gives two hours. A researcher listens closely enough to ask a better question. Someone notices what another person needs and stays involved.
Building people up is rarely one dramatic act. More often, it is steady attention over time.
That is something all of us can practice this week.
See you next Thursday at 5:55 AM.
