Next year, it's Paint the Township

They come, they paint and they change neighborhoods.

They are volunteers for Give Back Cincinnati, a nonprofit founded to give young professionals opportunities to have fun, meet people and give back to their community all at the same time. Give Back Cincinnati sponsors Paint the Town each year, selecting a community and doing one day of intense community service. 

More than 1,000 volunteers descend on the chosen neighborhood, and more than 30 houses get a new paint job, refreshing the community and helping homeowners who are having difficulty maintaining their properties. 

This year, the volunteers brought their talents to Bellevue and Dayton in Kentucky. Houses have corporate sponsors, who help recruit volunteers from their staffs as well as support the project with contributions. Corporations can utilize the day for team building and volunteers come out individually as well. 

A milestone this year was the Sherwin Williams Paint house in Bellevue, which was the 500th house painted by Give Back Cincinnati since its first house in 2002 in the Columbia/Tusculum neighborhood.

That first year, the group had 130 participants who painted four houses. This year, the group had 1,000 volunteers and painted 40 houses. 

Community groups are instrumental in spreading the word about Paint the Town. A Greater Northbrook, a Colerain Township group working to improve its section of the community, was at the 2017 Paint the Town event to hear good news for its area in person: Paint the Town 2018 will happen in the Northbrook neighborhood. 

Lora Dakin, a Northbrook resident who has been active in the push for a better identity for her community, was excited to have the event come to the township. Derek Walker, a community liaison for the event next year, said neighborhoods are chosen according to need, and qualified homeowners are encouraged to apply for the service. 

The application process will begin in early 2018, and potential homeowners will be interviewed by teams, then final selections will be made. Dakin and her team of volunteers toured the 2017 event to see what they can expect when the group comes to Colerain Township next year. 

Sherwin Williams supplies the paint, and homeowners select paint and trim colors from palettes provided by the paint company. If needed, houses are prepped for painting prior to event day.

Volunteers work in teams led by experienced team leaders to paint a house. Volunteers are provided with breakfast, lunch, drinking water, a team T-shirt and painting supplies. Volunteer sign-ups take place in spring.

Geoff Milz, assistant administrator and director of economic development, said this is a big deal for the community.

"This is the result of an incredible effort by Northbrook residents to improve their neighborhood," he said. "It's exciting to see the level of engagement and care they have shown for the community." 

Representatives from the Northbrook area came to township officials last year concerned about the condition of property in the neighborhood, crime and what they described as a deterioration of their part of the community.

A series of meetings with neighbors and police has led to a number of plans to revitalize the area. Dakin is hopeful that Paint the Town will be a catalyst for improvement. She has organized cleanup days, but nothing on the scale of 1,000 volunteers. "It's unbelievable," she said. "I can't wait."