OES is thrilled to announce the release of the Cincinnati Green Workforce Landscape Analysis. It is the culmination of almost two years of work as OES and partners respond to the largest cross-cutting theme of the 2023 Green Cincinnati Plan engagement process – our residents' interest in being an active part of the emerging green economy. Earlier this month, community members gathered at City Hall to celebrate this milestone and hear an overview of the report. The event featured remarks from OES Director Oliver Kroner and Councilmember Meeka Owens, who emphasized the importance of green jobs as a key to achieving the goals of the GCP. FUSE Executive Fellow Thanapat Vichitchot shared appreciation for the many partners who make this work possible, with several partner organizations offering remarks and showing support during the event.

Special thanks to the Cincinnati Regional Chamber and Co-op Cincy for their leadership and collaboration on this report and for advancing green workforce development in our region. If you are interested in a presentation of the report to a group you are part of, please reach out to Thanapat at thanapat.vichitchot@cincinnati-oh.gov. 



In partnership with the Urban League, Groundwork, and Avondale residents, OES spent the past few months engaging Avondale in a planning process to establish a Resilience Hub. In our April Newsletter, we shared that we were conducting a Needs Survey in Avondale to ask residents about their experiences with emergencies, needs during an emergency, life goals, and everyday needs. Since then, our Needs Survey wrapped up with nearly 440 responses, thanks in large part to the hard work of the Avondale Youth Council who canvassed their neighborhood for survey responses. These responses were analyzed to understand the most common emergency and everyday needs in Avondale, resulting in the Avondale Resilience Hub Needs Assessment!

The Avondale Resilience Hub Needs Assessment is now linked on our website and available for viewing. This report aims to answer the question: how can we better support Avondale residents to reach their goals and respond to emergencies? In celebration of publishing the data from the Needs Survey, the project team held a Milestone Celebration to share updates on the Resilience Hub project and foster discussion on the data. Thank you to all who attended and lent their insights on this project! If you have questions about the project, Resilience Hubs, or the Avondale Resilience Hub Needs Assessment, please contact Howard.Miller@cincinnati-oh.gov.

In April, our Recycling Team launched a new project to increase recycling participation in the neighborhoods of West Price Hill, Bond Hill, North Avondale-Paddock Hills, and Sayler Park. Through this campaign, indoor recycling bins are being offered to residents who are already participating in the residential curbside recycling program. Since 2021, the team has rolled out similar initiatives in communities across Cincinnati, each contributing to a measurable increase in the number of recycling carts placed out for collection.

What sets this recent campaign apart is the expanded eligibility—now including 2-, 3-, and 4-family households. We’re excited to see increased recycling participation from multi-family homes and look forward to continuing these efforts in additional Cincinnati neighborhoods throughout the year and beyond.

Interested in recycling? Visit cincinnatirecycles.org to learn more or contact 311 to request a recycling cart.

Throughout the 2025-2026 school year, several members of the OES team had the privilege of volunteering with Ms. Dressel’s 6^th grade class at Mt. Washington Elementary through Adopt-a-Class. Each month, the OES mentor team facilitated age-appropriate, interactive activities to engage the students in topics such as electric vehicles, recycling, energy use, air quality, and green jobs. Some of the highlights included hopping in and learning how to charge an EV, participating in a trash and recycling sorting activity, breaking down an energy bill to understand it better, and learning how many green jobs pay so well! The mentors and students topped the year off with an awesome Sustainability Tour of the Cincinnati Zoo. It was a wonderful opportunity to personalize OES’ work for the next generation of environmental leaders and have some fun along the way.



Groundwork and Green Umbrella are seeking highly motivated residents from the West End neighborhood to participate in a Community Advisory Group (CAG). The CAG is a PAID focus group that will create a neighborhood climate action plan for the community, addressing issues like flooding, heat, and air pollution; understanding how the West End neighborhood’s history resulted in increased climate vulnerability; and influencing the local government’s processes to better support neighborhood plans. Meetings will take place one evening per week throughout August and into early September at the Seven Hills Neighborhood Houses. To submit your interest in participating, Apply Here!

The City’s Community Composting Coordinator, Laura Lair, has been hard at work with resident leaders creating composting infrastructure, filling them with food scraps, and harvesting finished compost across numerous neighborhoods. To date, Avondale, Camp Washington, College Hill, CUF, Kennedy Heights, Mt. Airy, Mt. Auburn, Northside, South Fairmont & Westwood have all joined in the growing network of community composting sites! Could your neighborhood be next? Contact Laura to explore building a bioreactor composter in your neighborhood or learn how to use MakeSoil to connect to other composters nearby! This effort is made possible through investments by the USDA and the City.