See what we’ve been up to in North Fairmount!

We’ve been keeping busy! Check out our recent photos and videos of our many projects and programs.

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Dive into Our 2024 Camp Highlights!

2024 I Love Myself Camp was a resounding success, leaving every child with cherished memories and newfound confidence. Campers splashed joyfully at the water park, giggled while washing cars, and danced the night away at a fabulous prom. With various engaging activities designed to foster self-love and friendship, the kids embraced their uniqueness and supported one another in a nurturing environment. From arts and crafts to outdoor adventures, the summer was filled with laughter, growth, and unforgettable experiences, making I Love Myself Camp a truly wonderful place for every child involved this summer.

Explore, Learn, and Thrive: Join Our After-School Adventure!

It’s that time of year again to secure your children’s spots in our after-school enrichment program! Located conveniently at 1769 Carll Street, our program runs from 3 to 6 pm every Monday through Friday. We’re gearing up for an exciting start on August 14th, offering a variety of enriching activities designed to stimulate young minds and keep them engaged after school. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to enrich your child’s education and provide them with a safe and nurturing environment to grow.

For additional information, please contact Samantha Wagner at 513-904-7970.

Gear Up for an Unforgettable Summer Adventure!

Summer is just around the bend, and with it comes the end of another fantastic school year! Our After School Program bids farewell on May 23 for the 2023/2024 academic journey. But fret not, because exciting adventures await at our upcoming Summer Camp! If you’re a local parent seeking enriching activities for your kids this summer, look no further. Dive into days filled with fun and learning by joining us. To secure your spot, reach out to Coach Shadaka at 513-787-9517. Let’s make this summer unforgettable!

Thank you to the Charles H. Dater Foundation!

We are deeply grateful to the Charles H. Dater Foundation for their generous $25,000 grant to our After School Program! Their support allows us to continue to provide our community’s children with healthy food, homework assistance, and fun and educational activities. Many of the parents of the children in our program have reported improvements in their kids’ grades – we’re excited to keep up the positive momentum!

Thank you, Charles H. Dater Foundation!

Thank you to the Unnewehr Family Foundation!

Thanks to the Unnewehr Family Foundation, teens within the North Fairmount community will have the chance to learn entrepreneurship skills through our Teen Cricut Workshop! Through a generous $25,000 donation to our organization, teens will learn how to design and produce their own creative merchandise while also building their financial knowledge and marketing skills! You can learn more about our FREE Cricut Entrepreneurship Program here! We are SO grateful that the Unnewehr Foundation shares our vision for empowering the youth in our community to take control of their futures.

Thank you, Edelweiss Foundation!

We are honored to share that NFCC recently received a grant for $25,000 from the Edelweiss Foundation in support of our educational and recreational programs for the North Fairmount community. We are so grateful that the Edelweiss Foundation shares our vision of strengthening the neighborhood by providing free educational and developmental opportunities such as our After School Program to the families that live there. A bright future starts today!

Our latest newsletter!

This year has been one of tremendous growth for NFCC! With the assistance of foundations and individuals like you, we have added services and programs that have benefited so many.

So far this year, we have hired a social worker, provided additional programs for the children, and developed supportive programs for adults. Our part-time social worker is aiding families in imminent danger of losing their homes, are in need of food, or facing loss of utilities and/or water, and other family crises. Children’s programming has expanded dramatically to meet the need. This summer, 60 children attended the 8-week day camp provided by NFCC and Building Better Futures. Reports from kids and parents were enthusiastically positive and hopeful that the program will be available again next summer.

NFCC provides a safe afterschool enrichment program to support educational needs and to expose grade school children to new activities and ideas. The program incorporates physical activities with homework assistance, neighborhood projects, cooking classes, and field trips. Instead of being home alone or on the streets, children spend their after-school hours in a safe, nurturing environment focused on the positivity in their lives.

Within the next few months, we plan to add a basketball program and finalize an arrangement with an existing girls’ dance team. We will also be adding a Cricut program for teens. We currently offer two Cricut classes for adults, providing the education, equipment, and supplies needed to create items for personal use – or to sell to supplement the family income. These classes include sessions on financial literacy provided by PNC Bank to provide budding entrepreneurs with the basic accounting skills they will need as their sales climb. Thanks to the compassion and generosity of folks like you, these programs truly make a difference in the lives of many of Cincinnati’s poorest families.

There is no charge to participants in any of our programs or services – your support is vital. Donations can be made through our website – https://nfcommunitycenter.org or by mail to North Fairmount Community Center, PO Box 58221 Cincinnati, OH 45258. We truly appreciate your support! Linda Klems, Executive Director

Thank you, Millstone Fund!

NFCC is proud to be partnering with the Millstone Fund, a Greater Cincinnati foundation that funds non-profits dedicated to health, education, and/or the arts. Millstone Fund has made a very generous grant in support of our After School enrichment program, which provides children with the educational support, safety, physical fitness, field trips, and fun they need. The program also includes cooking classes, neighborhood beautification projects, gardening, and more. If you are looking for a safe place for your children between 3:00 and 6:00 on school days, please contact Samantha Soden at 513-904-7970. There is no charge for participation in this program. Ages served Kindergarten to 8th grade.

What a year!

Well, 2022 has been an amazing year here at NFCC. Here are just a few of the highlights:

At the end of 2021, we began to clean up the gymnasium at the Carll Street Family Center, which had been used as a storage room for many years. The furnace was not functional, the glass windows were broken, the paint on the walls was worn, and the floor was woefully out of date. Luckily, we were able to purchase a new furnace just in time for further renovations to continue during the cold winter months. With the help of volunteers from First Financial Bank, we were able to clean the space and paint the walls with bright colors including beautiful artwork and murals by Ben Thomas. To our great delight, we applied for and won a grant to replace the outdated gym floor with a modern wooden floor, and replace the ceiling lights with bright, energy-efficient LEDs. Once we added the new windows, our neglected gym had turned into the community-welcoming facility of our dreams!
We debuted a free After School Program for the children of the North Fairmount community that was held Monday through Friday from January through the end of the school year. Over the course of the program, the participating children were able to receive help with their homework and engage in fun recreational and educational activities and creative projects. We are proud to report that we brought the program back in the fall of 2022 with considerably higher student enrollment and the support of talented and caring staff and volunteers. Along with providing a fun, safe childcare option for working parents in the community, many of the children are displaying improvements in academics and increased confidence in school.
During the summer months, we also introduced two new summer camps that were offered to children in the community at no cost to their families. The Sports and Wellness Summer Camp was dedicated to teaching the fundamentals of sports, fitness, and mental health and wellness five days a week over the duration of the summer. The I Love Myself Summer Camp, led by Shadaka and William Simpson of Building Better Futures, took place three days a week and focused on building fitness and discipline through the sport of boxing, while also reinforcing academic skills through math, reading, and writing assignments according to grade level led by educators that provided excellent support. The camp’s curriculum was planned with the intention of teaching children to increase their self-esteem, and build confidence and emotional maturity, along with stress management and healthy coping skills through exercises such as journaling and meditation. Both camps were a massive success, and we are happy to announce that we intend to bring them back during the summer of 2023.
Throughout it all, we continued to offer free sports and recreational programs for kids and cooking classes, while operating our Angel’s Arms Free Store, providing services to the golden members of our community at the North Fairmount Senior Center, supplying the community with free food and quality affordable housing.
We were also honored to be named one of seven finalists for the 2022 Impact 100 Grant. Although we were not selected as one of the four winners, we met many wonderful people along the way and we congratulate this year’s winners!

It’s been a very busy year, but a very energizing one as well! We could not have done it without our volunteers, donors, and friends. With your support, we know that 2023 will be an even more exciting year.

We hope you’ve had the happiest of holidays and wish you health and happiness for the new year.

Sincerely,
Linda Klems and the NFCC Staff.

Bringing art to the Carll Street Family Center!

We’re excited to share that we are planning to paint a mural outside of the Carll Street Family Center! We can’t wait for it to bring new color and life to the heart and soul of the programs we offer in North Fairmount. Huge thanks to First Financial Bank for cleaning and painting the wall in preparation for the artist!

I Love Myself Summer Camp!

Summer is flying and we’ve been having a blast! Check out this video of the I Love Myself Summer Camp brought to you by Building Better Futures and North Fairmount Community Center! Video by NuAira Arts.

Summer’s heating up! Check out the action at our FREE summer camps for kids!

Gym update!!

Programs such as our After School Program, Saturday basketball camp, and acrobatics classes have been postponed or temporarily relocated in order to install a brand new, state-of-the-art wooden gym floor! Check out our progress!

The installation is taking slightly longer than originally anticipated, so the reopening date will likely be in early to mid-May. Thank you for your patience, and we can’t wait to welcome you back into our beautiful gym – stay tuned!

Welcome to February!

It’s cold outside, but warm in our new gym!

Check out some photos from our free programs! To learn more about our After School Program, gymnastics classes, or basketball classes, contact our office at (513) 921-5889.

Happy New Year from NFCC!

We’re so excited to start 2022 with you!

Happy holidays! As we look forward to 2022, we here at the NFCC would like to look back on some of the accomplishments we’ve had over the last year. In addition to maintaining our Senior Center at the St. Francis Court Apartment Building, our partnership with Council on Aging Southwestern Ohio to provide hot meals for seniors, and the Angel’s Arm’s Free Store, and our focus on affordable housing, we have also developed programs supporting youth development and life enrichment! At the Carll Street Family Center, we have been offering basketball, soccer, and acrobatics programs for kids, as well as financial literacy, homemaking, and cooking classes for adults, and we have had a great time doing it.

Speaking of the Carll Street Family Center, we are very proud of the progress that we’ve made in rehabilitating our gymnasium! Thanks to the hard work of volunteers from First Financial Bank, we have cleaned out and painted a gym space that hasn’t been used in years, and we’re only getting started! We’ve already made significant progress with updating the gym’s HVAC system, and are working on big changes in the new year – stay tuned!

We are also excited to offer a new after-school program for families of North Fairmount to take part in starting on January 10th, 2022 that will facilitate physical activities and provide educational support to kids, including tutoring. As with all of our programs, this program is completely free. Contact our office for more info!

We are so incredibly grateful for the support we’ve gotten from our community, from the neighborhood of North Fairmount, and beyond. We truly could not do what we do without you.

Thank you, and we wish you a happy and healthy start to 2022.

– Linda Klems, Executive Director, and the whole North Fairmount Community Center Team.

December 14, 2021

Our gymnasium is looking great!

Big thanks to our volunteers from First Financial Bank!

Talk about a glow-up! With the help of our tireless volunteers from First Financial and amazing artwork from Ben Thomas, we’ve been working hard to clean out and paint the gym in the Carll Street Family Center. The gym is the center of many of the programs we offer to the residents of North Fairmount, and we are so excited about the progress we’ve made! Check out some before and after photos below: