Innovation Team Director, Joshua, has accepted a new position within the City, just two doors down the hall in the Office of Grants Administration and Government Affairs. We are sad to see Joshua go but excited for him in his new role as Supervising Management Analyst. Here's what Joshua had to say about his experience on the team:

"It's been an incredible honor to serve as the i-team Director for the past year and I'm proud of the exciting work that we've already accomplished and even more excited to see what the team will continue to advance moving forward." - Joshua Pine

There are exciting new projects ahead! In this newsletter, Nia and Rachel share program updates, new pilot initiatives launching, and calls for participation in our quest to improve transportation and mobility across Cincinnati for and with residents like you.

The Innovation Team at the Community Bike Bash event. Left to Right: Rachel (Community Storyteller), Nia (incoming Director), Mayor Pureval, and Joshua (outgoing Director)

The E-Bike Incentive Program has been active since June, offering interest-free payment plans for residents purchasing e-bikes. Data and insights from the pilot program continue to roll in along with more and more bike applications. We’ll be sure to share final results once bike-riding weather winds down in the late fall. This preliminary data has helped us explore plans to improve and expand the progam in our on-going effort to improve access to more affordable transportation options for residents.

Here are the stats so far!

Our efforts to improve mobility don't start and end at just e-bikes alone. Last Monday, the i-Team hosted our first community event! The Community Bike Bash was held in Walnut Hills where dozens of residents showed up, enjoyed the DJ and free pizza, test rode e-bikes, and had their existing analogue bikes repaired for free.

Thank you to our event partners Cincy Nice, the Garage OTR, Queen City Bike, and Mobo Bicycle Coop! Also, a big "thank you" to Mayor Pureval who made an appearance and even test rode an e-bike. Watch coverage of the event by WLWT.

Bikes are cool, but we have even cooler projects ahead! The i-Team has a new pilot in the works: Adopt-a-Cool-Spot.

It goes without saying that extreme heat has been hard on everyone this summer, especially people without cars who have no choice but to walk, bike, or take the bus to get where they need to go no matter the conditions outside. Being outdoors during extreme heat isn't just uncomfortable, it can be life or death for both vulnerable populations and the able-bodied alike. How might we make moving through our communities safer today and prepare our city for a warmer future?

Introducing Adopt-a-Cool-Spot! Our team is designing a first-of-its-kind combination drinking fountain-mister to provide people relief on hot days. Here's how it works:

• Residents and businesses volunteer to host a cooling station
• A station is delivered, attached to the volunteer's hose bib, and set up along the sidewalk
• Hosts turn their station on and off in the mornings and evening for the remainder of the hot weather
• The cost of the water is either deducted from their water bill, or volunteers will receive another form of compensation
• When the hot weather has passed and we head into fall, the station will be picked up

This pilot project is done in partnership the Cincinnati Toolbank and seeks to see if a mutual aid-style intervention to extreme heat is both beneficial to residents and scalable.

Interested in maybe hosting a cooling station outside of your home or business? Please, complete this interest form.

Pictured: The public using early prototypes of the cooling stations.

This summer, we moved on from digging deep into residents' transportation and mobility challenges and set our eyes on solutions. The i-Team hosted our first "Ideation Session", a focus group with residents where we brainstormed ideas to overcome transportation barriers, together. 

Pictured: Residents at our first Ideation Session, sharing their ideas to improve mobility for walkers, cyclists, and transit riders.

Ideation

This fall, we will resume more ideation sessions where we look forward to getting together groups made up of:

• Parents & Caretakers
• Children & Youth
• People with Disabilities
• People who live in exceptionally hilly neighborhoods
• Immigrants & Newcomers

Interested in joining us for an ideation session this fall, please contact Nia Baucke.

We are also planning a few full-day and half-day ideation workshops with stakeholders across sectors. These workshops are prefect for those working in transportation, local government, people and planet-centered non-profits, universities, activism, the arts, and more. Workshops in the pipeline:

• Biomimicry Mobility Lab @ the Cincinnati Zoo - exploring how the natural world can inspire innovative solutions to our City's transportation and mobility challenges.
• Mobility Futures Workshop - exploring 4 future scenarios as they relate to the theme of transportation, and brainstorming how to prepare for, prevent, or bring about those futures. We will confront how the growth of AI and automation, the constraints and turmoil of environmental crises, and hope of a just, sustainable Cincinnati can and should shape our work.

Interested in joining us for an ideation workshop this fall, contact Rachel Cranmer.

Bike Bus Summit

Bike Busses are sweeping the nation as a unique opportunity to promote active lifestyles for kids, improve cycling culture in a neighborhood, and reduce parents’ dreaded feelings of rushing to school in order to wait in a long pickup or drop-off line. Queen City Bike is hosting a Bike Bus summit on Sunday, August 23rd to teach parents how to start their own bike bus program.

Learn more about the event and register here.

Youth Climate Action Fund

The Office of Environment & Sustainability's GCP Seeds of Change Youth Climate Action Grant Program provides grants of $1000-$5,000 to youth groups ages 15-24 who have an idea for a sustainable solution they want to bring to their school or community. Applications open soon! This year, to give youth a headstart on developing their ideas and applications, OES and the i-Team will host two Idea Jams around Neighborhoods & Transportation (September 3rd from 4pm-6pm) and Zero Waste (September 12th from 10:30am-12:30pm).

Learn more about the program and share with the organizations, parents, and youth in your life, here.

Left: Rachel, Nia, and Dwayne (Green Umbrella Climate Action Fellow) take a research field trip to the Zoo.

Right: The i-Team with Mayor Pureval at their Community Bike Bash event as seen on the Mayor's office social media page.