Meet Mary C Miller | Founding Board President of Norwood Together

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mary C Miller and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mary C, how does your business help the community?
Norwood Together’s mission is to grow and build equitable economic and community development in Norwood, Ohio. We started as a grass roots organization trying to do good things to make a difference in our community. As many rust belt midwestern towns Norwood had lost major industries and therefore a large portion of the city income. When we moved here in 2015 people were discouraged and disengaged. A group of residents met together and started working in parks and cleaning up streets. This volunteer group partnered with LISC to interview residents to collect data for a SWOT analysis and created a Quality of Life Plan for the city. The plan was rolled out in February 2019. The question then was “What Now?” The leaders of this group decided to move forward by becoming a 501(c)3 nonprofit community development corporation. Since that time we have worked in partnership with the city to create experiences to bring life back and to improve both the internal and external perception of Norwood. We have written and received grants for events and renovation such as the redevelopment of our main thoroughfare and Duke Energy grants for economic development. The nonprofit created a welcome bag program for new neighbors focusing on what’s happening, connecting with the city, and promoting local small businesses, and hosts popular city events such as the Historic Home Tour, the International Art Show, and an award celebration for people making a positive impact. We work collaboratively with Xavier university and with the city officials to make connections for new business owners. The biggest impact of all of these activities is that the city’s personality has changed from being discouraged, to being involved and curious about new ways to create vitality in our town.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The story is actually quite amazing to me. I was a mom of three, a career educator, and the wife of a minister. After many years of teaching math from 6th grade through the community college level I was offered an administrative role in a small Title I school district in Arizona. My career took a turn when I became the Director of Federal Programs and Professional Development. The position required writing and managing both formula and competitive federal grants, making sure we were in compliance with all Title programming, and providing coaching and nonprofit professional development for the staff. I was very lucky to have had a lifetime of experience in excellent school districts which helped me make the transition. My husband and I retired in 2015 and decided to move to the Cincinnati area to be close to our 4 grandchildren. We hunted for a house the year before and bought a home in Norwood, Ohio, an enclave of the city of Cincinnati. After we moved here we both got involved in different ways. Norwood is a typical rust belt town that had been an industrial center until the 1980s. The largest employer was General Motors who closed their plant in the city in 1987. The little city had been in financial distress since that time and the residents were discouraged. Several of us banned together with the help of Interact for Health and LISC to create a Quality-of-Life Plan for the City. 75 to 100 residents met weekly to hammer out goals and strategies. We rolled the plan out in February 2019 and began work right away to make those goals a reality.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love to show off our beautiful historic homes, especially on Floral Avenue in the presidential district of Norwood. We would have to stop at Birdies, our newest privately owned coffee shop decorated with an Italian flare. I would share the story of the Ventura family who grew up in Norwood and have given back to the city by investing in residential and commercial real estate. In the 1800s Birdies was a general store, later a pawn shop, and then a church. Spurred by the vision of a local resident this third space was born. Not far from there is Red5 Coffee, owned by Jeff, a local roaster, who has a Cheers type venue where people gather to drink the brew and chat. For lunch we could hit one of our local burger restaurants – Gordo’s, Quatmann’s or Indian Mound. The evening would include a visit to Northwood Cider Co, the only cider brewery in Hamilton County and right across the street from Victory Park which hosts one of the only 2 historic market buildings in the county. I’d love to introduce you to Candace, the brew master or Joe and Darrin the owners. Northwood hosts a variety of food trucks and special events as well. In Norwood’s 3 square miles there are 13 parks. One of my favorites is Lindner Park and the McCollough Nature Preserve. It’s another great place of history and a nice short hike. The tour would not be complete without a visit to Factory 52, redeveloped by PLK as a mixed use community, preserving as many of the original buildings of the historic US Playing Card Factory as possible to create a whole living experience, with 2 breweries and the Gather-All containing a bar and several food venues. We could play pickle ball at Aces and end with Jeni’s Ice Cream. On a Friday or Saturday morning I’d recommend a farm to table breakfast at For the Life of the World Cafe, a pay as you can breakfast spot and local gathering place. It fills up with life as people meet with friends to eat and chat. Robert and Erin, the owners, are a great example of giving back to their community. We could take a longer hike on Wasson Way, a “rails to trails” walking, biking, and running path along the Norwood-Cincinnati border. The trail passes Rookwood Commons full of shops and restaurants and a great place to have dinner or drinks for the night.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people who deserve recognition, but I want to give a shout out to 3 amazing women who have helped us along the way. First is Kathy Schwab. Kathy was the director of LISC Cincinnati at the time we were just starting to get involved. She approached Angela Pancella and myself at a lunch for CDCs in the area and asked us to work with her to get involved in Norwood. Kathy and our LISC project manager, Alison Taylor, worked with us every step of the way to get the process going all the way to the official roll out in 2019. With funding from Interact for Health Kathy and Alison contracted an excellent consultant, provided all the help and tools to publish the plan, and supported us through the entire process. Alison has stayed with us as a founding member of the board from 2020 – 2023. Her knowledge and wisdom has been invaluable. The other woman who has been an advisor over the years is Liz Blume the former director of the Community Building Institute at Xavier University. Liz generously gave us an office which we shared with CBI for three years as well as much wisdom concerning this work. CBI is no longer at Xavier, but Liz is still available for advice whether concerning affordable housing, finances, zoning – you name it! These women have all been great mentors and friends.

Website: www.norwoodtogether.org

Instagram: @norwoodtogether

Linkedin: Norwood Together

Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/NorwooTogether/

Image Credits
Dyah Miller Kristen Bertke