Summer Camp

As a signature program within OCIC, summer camp helps youth residents expand their vision of opportunities available to them and allows them to dream bigger. These camps afford students the opportunity to learn, explore, play, and form positive social relationships in structured, yet flexible and fun ways that complement their regular classroom learning experiences. Since the program’s inception, OCIC has made a tremendous impact in the lives of youth residents and has positively impacted their educational and socio-emotional learning and development throughout critical years of their lives. OCIC has made the following impact since 2012:

• Over $4.1 million awarded as summer camp grants since OCIC inception

• Funding nearly 300 Summer Camps, including 5 virtual summer camps and 3 remote summer camp activities

• Over 5,000 students served

• Various day camps focused on socio-emotional health and academic success, literacy, the arts, and sports and recreation

• Summer camps located throughout Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. (Akron, Ashland, Cadiz, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Elyria, Fairborn, Logan, Marion, Newark, Sardinia, Tiffin, Youngstown, and Warren, Ohio; Covington, Lexington, and Elizabethtown, Kentucky; and Memphis, Tennessee)

Bridging the Access Gap

Since technological barriers were highlighted worldwide in 2020, OCIC committed to combat the increasing gap in digital equity for low- and moderate- income residents. Through partnerships with Huntington CDC and CareSource, two separate initiatives were established to bridge the divide in our affordable housing communities.

In 2020, Huntington CDC made a $2.5 million multi-year investment to encourage innovation in digital inclusivity. To date, more than $580 thousand has been granted to 18 partners in 30 communities, supporting installation of hardware, distribution of equipment, and digital literacy trainings to improve digital access and further economic empowerment.

In 2021, CareSource dedicated $1 million to invest in digital connectivity to specifically target low-income renters living in any of Ohio’s Appalachian counties. In total, 867 units in 23 communities of affordable housing will benefit from the CareSource Digital Inclusion program. Residents will have access to free internet service and/or electronic devices to use on their networks.

OCIC believes these investments have and will continue to make a significant difference for residents, both in cost savings and opportunities now available to them.

Partner Supports

Partnerships are the key to creating strong, vibrant communities, which helps push our mission forward. OCIC also provides partners with unrestricted funds to help them better fulfill their missions and provide lasting solutions to serve communities. These are just a few ways OCCH has supported partners over the year.

Driven Foundation

Driven Foundation Backpack Giveback stuffed and delivered 400+ backpacks, and wellness packages and meals, filled with supplies, as well as wellness packages and BBQ meals, to Central Ohio students!

Greater Columbus Community Helping Hands

GCCHH provided 40 students in Columbus City Schools with laptops in advance of starting their college careers in the fall with the help of OCCH.

The Manse Apartments

Before The Manse in Cincinnati celebrated its opening this fall, young fellows (aged 16-20) with ArtWorks helped create a beautiful mural for the property envisioned by artist Cedric Michael Cox.

Ziegler Pool Party

POAH and Over-the-Rhine Community Housing residents received lunch, educational supplies, and free pool passes to Ziegler Pool, which also gave children in the household access to the pool's summer camp programs. Zeigler Pool partners were 3CDC, POAH, OTRCH, The Model Group, and Fifth Third CDC.

OCDCA Annual Conference

OCDCA hosted their annual conference, which highlighted innovative community development strategies in unique neighborhoods throughout Ohio.

Community Shelter Board

Community Shelter Board's signature fundraising event, Under One Roof, inspires ideas to fight homelessness and ignites change in our community so that everyone has a place to call home.

Introducing the New Affordable Housing Training Academy (AHTA)

Over the past 20+ years, the OCCH Training Academy provided high-quality, low-cost trainings to thousands of staff members across OCCH’s partner relationships, covering a wide range of content responsive to the needs of affordable housing practitioners. In response to the COVID-19 crisis, all in-person trainings were suspended since March 2020, requiring a reformulation of OCCH’s training platform as it transitioned to deliver content online and on-demand. As a result, OCCH announced the re-positioning and re-branding of its training platform under the name of Affordable Housing Training Academy (AHTA).  Formally introduced in December of 2021, this new learning management system (LMS) platform represents a dramatic expansion of e-learning content that is now available through OCCH.  As an online program, access to this content is no longer limited solely to OCCH partners, but OCCH partners do receive access to these trainings at a significantly reduced rate. Online content offerings cover a wide range of topics including Fair Housing, regulatory compliance, program layering, service technician training, along with a variety of trainings earmarked for those aspiring to grow their skills to become regional managers. AHTA’s nationally recognized content providers include Karen A. Graham, Mark Cukro, Dr. Debbie Phillips and the Fair Housing Institute, to name just a few. Want to learn more about this training platform to help onboard, grow and train new staff?  Please visit ahta.online to learn more.

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