Ten local neighborhoods will receive the All-Star treatment this summer as part of the Community Organizing Committee’s (COC) outreach initiative. The COC will infuse All-Star excitement into these All-Star Neighborhoods with a Baseball Across the Region ceremony, T-Mobile All-Star Fan Fest tickets, official All-Star Summer signage and All-Star Neighborhood celebrations. These celebrations are unique to each of the selected neighborhoods and are being envisioned and created by civic and residential leaders within each area.
Winners include the neighborhoods of Madisonville, East Price Hill, Clifton, West Chester, Walnut Hills, Pleasant Ridge, Green Township and Cheviot in Ohio as well as Bellevue and Taylor Mill in Kentucky.
This neighborhood engagement project is being supported and spearheaded by the Community Organizing Committee (COC), which is a group of volunteers and professionals formed last year in partnership with the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati USA Convention and Visitors Bureau. The COC is responsible for creating a unique and exciting experience for visitors and locals in the Cincinnati region. The committee is achieving this objective for the All-Star game by collaborating with community partners to execute more than thirty initiatives.
“One of our goals is to engage our regional residents within this All-Star experience,” notes COC Co-Chair Melanie Chavez. “Being able to take the excitement directly to our neighborhoods and seeing residents enjoying themselves within their communities is an amazing way to see that goal realized.”
The COC reached out to 63 regional areas through neighborhood councils, the local Chambers of Commerce and other vehicles to solicit applications for the All-Star Summer project. No less than two dozen neighborhood engagement applications were received and the 10 finalists were selected in early May. Applications were scored and selected based on content and creativity. Additional consideration was given to the committee’s goal of achieving geographic diversity and coverage of the Cincinnati region.
Selected neighborhoods are now partnering with a COC liaison to finalize specific plans and partner with adjacent neighborhoods to make each celebration exciting and interactive. Neighborhoods not selected as part of this program will still have an opportunity to get into the All-Star Summer action through the COC’s signage program. They can also connect to other COC All-Star efforts such as Reds Fridays and Baseball Across the Region.
Area residents, organizations and businesses are invited and encouraged to participate in these All-Star Celebrations. Since selected neighborhoods geographically blanket our region in Ohio and Kentucky, no one will have to travel very far to join in on this region-wide party celebrating Cincinnati’s first All-Star Game in 28 years.
Additional details will be announced at a later date. For more information about the All-Star Neighborhood process or the Community Organizing Committee, click here.
About the Community Organizing Committee (COC)
The COC was formed to support local and community events and activities surrounding the 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game coming to Cincinnati July 2015. In cooperation with the Cincinnati Reds and Cincinnati USA CVB, the COC is responsible for creating a unique, exciting and memorable experience for visitors and locals in the Cincinnati region.
COC Committees and Volunteers
COC volunteers are organized into committees to fund and execute projects that will enhance the All-Star Game experience in Cincinnati. Committees include neighborhood engagement, business engagement, entertainment, hospitality, décor, transportation, volunteer coordination, communications and others. Leading the COC are Sharry Addison, Lauren Bosse, Melanie Chavez and Delores Hargrove-Young.
