Not sure how to get more involved in the Northern Kentucky community? Public figures from around the region chimed in Thursday night at LINK nky’s second-ever community conversation, which focused on ways people can get involved.
The conversation piggybacked on LINK’s recent print super issue, which pulled topics from responses to a community survey commissioned with Northern Kentucky University. Survey respondents overwhelmingly said they wanted more ways to get involved with community life.
The night’s panel featured three speakers: Dayton Mayor Ben Baker, Fiesta CEO Theresa Cruz and Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati VP of Marketing and Development Amanda Emmons Shumate (you can read the panelists’ bios here). Former WCPO Anchor and Reporter Evan Millward served as moderator, fielding questions from attendees submitted using an electronic app.
Topics and questions ran the gamut from how to get involved with local government to how different populations and demographics could get more involved. Some key themes emerged throughout the night, the first of which is that one of best ways to get involved was simply to follow your interests and passions and see where they took you.
“Say you’re at a party, and you’re that person that’s always finding that dog, and you’re sitting next to that puppy and petting that dog the whole time, then guess what? You probably would do really great thriving in an opportunity to go walk the dog once a week at your local shelter,” said Shumate.
“I think we all have our own talents, treasures that we each have inside ourselves,” Baker said, “Whether that’s art, maybe it’s a passion for parks, maybe it’s a passion for children; these types of things that we all have, we need to express those.”
One audience question asked how diverse communities could become more engaged with the rest of the region. Cruz said that educating people could go a long way in ensuring everyone stayed involved. Volunteering with community organizations and helping out with immigrant communities was one way to do this.
“There are a lot of tables,” Cruz said. “It’s making space at those tables, right?”
Cruz’s organization Fiesta is based in Boone County that provides various resources to the local Latino community. A simple gesture of kindness is sometimes all it takes to build a new relationship, she said.
“I have families that are just so grateful that you’re trying to help,” Cruz said, “that even if you point them in the right direction, that person at least tried to help me. They were kind to me. They smiled at me.”
What about local government?
“Run for office,” Baker recommended. Alternatively, if you’d rather not take on the responsibility of becoming a mayor or a city council member, there are other ways to get involved.
“We do want volunteerism, and we have that on our websites, on our social media, saying, ‘Hey, there’s an opening on our park board. There’s an opening on our code enforcement boards,'” Baker said. He recommended checking out city websites or calling your city hall to find out what’s available as there’s probably an opening somewhere.
“How do you inspire, how do you empower the younger generation to give back?” asked Millward, parroting an audience member question. “I think that there is a overriding belief from a lot of people that kids don’t want to get out and do this. And I don’t know that that’s true, but I do think it is a challenge when you had a break for a number of years where no one was doing the traditional level of service.”
“I think the biggest answer to that would probably be exposure,” said Shumate. “I think if you are an advocate, and you show them the impact that one person can make and expose them to different opportunities, that is when they can see [the power] of their own impact and what they can do even even as a young voice.”
To that end, she recommended including kids and teens in community projects and volunteering opportunities to model what good citizenship looked like, whether that was with a church, charitable organization or other community org.
“There has to be an expectation,” Cruz said, reiterating the need to model good behavior.
“You don’t want to pack boxes, great, but I’m sure when we are at our food distribution events, there are about five other things that you can do,” Cruz said. “If you don’t want to pack boxes, you can help at the registration table. You can carry the boxes out to the cars.”
In the end whether you’re talking about kids, immigrants, seniors, young professional transplants or longtime residents, there are innumerable ways to contribute to communal life if you take the time to do the research, whether that’s searching on the internet, making phone calls or talking to your neighbors.
“Families feel isolated,” Cruz said. “People feel lonely, and that’s why it’s so important for us to stay connected,” whether that was through the local school, a church, a government agency or nonprofit.
“There are tons of places where you can go,” Cruz said.
You can watch the full event on LINK nky’s Facebook page.
Check out the links below to explore deeper dives into different aspects of community life.
Do you love the outdoors? Go here to find groups like the Sierra Club or CORA (or flip to page X to find out what CORA is!) that you can join.
Are you passionate about education and aren’t sure how to get involved in a way that is doable for your schedule? Go here to learn more about how to join programs like Adopt a Class or to become a mentor.
Are you into sports? Here, sports editor Evan Dennison has a list of mentoring programs for youth sports, or other ways to get engaged, like becoming a referee or joining an adult sports league.
Thinking about starting a business or want to become part of the small business community in NKY? Find that here.
Do you want to become more involved with local government, whether that’s running for office or just showing up to local city council meetings? Find that here.
If you’re more of an arts and culture person, you can go here to find out where to audition if you like theater, where there are local book clubs, mic nights or comedy clubs.
Or maybe you’re a senior or recently retired and you want to find community. Go here for suggestions about programs you can find at the library, the Y, and local senior centers.
If you’re looking to get fit as part of a community, go here to find some places to work out that offer you not only the equipment, but the people to keep you motivated.
Meghan Goth contributed reporting to this story.