The Public Safety and Governance Committee convened a presentation from Dr. Wendy Ellis and her team on “creating opportunity and closing Cincinnati’s wealth gap,” outlining neighborhood-focused strategies, program recommendations and a data dashboard to model and measure policy impacts.

The presentation, delivered to Chair Scotty Johnson and council members, said the report was grounded in 10 years of community engagement in Avondale and Riverside and proposes place-based “hubs,” targeted financial-stability programs and measures to track cumulative social and economic returns on investment. "Economic stability is a crime prevention and public safety issue," Dr. Wendy Ellis said during the meeting.

Why it matters: presenters and council members framed the work as linking economic opportunity to public safety, education and health. The team argued that combining investments — for example, basic income or medical-debt relief along with child- and household-level savings programs — produces ripple effects that can reduce poverty, stabilize neighborhoods and improve school and health outcomes.

Key recommendations and details: the report groups actions into tiers that move residents from stabilization to asset building. Presenters described:
- Neighborhood hubs: colocated services in existing community sites (examples named included Riverside Academy and neighborhood-owned facilities) to provide financial counseling, access to affordable loan products, and job-development services.
- Financial-stability tools: proposals included guaranteed/basic income simulations in the dashboard, medical-debt relief, delinquent-utility-debt relief and increased credit access through community-focused banking partnerships.
- Asset-building programs: homeownership supports (mixed-income development, homesteading, expansion of down-payment assistance), independent development accounts with public-private matching and child-savings accounts with early financial education.
- Education sequencing: presenters recommended moving required financial-education curriculum earlier in high school (freshman/sophomore) so students encounter financial tools before entering the workforce.

Data and accountability: Daniel Chen, identified in the presentation as an assistant research professor at George Washington University, described an “opportunity dashboard” that simulates combinations of policy levers and projects short- and long-term outcomes for neighborhoods such as Avondale and Riverside. Chen said the dashboard is meant to show both social and economic returns and to reveal "win-win" investments that cross agency and philanthropic boundaries.

City updates and partners: Deanna White, director of human services, told the committee the city is near launch on a children’s savings account program and has identified the United Way of Greater Cincinnati as the nonprofit partner to house the accounts; private-sector match commitments and bank partnerships were described as in development. White also said Project LIFT’s redesign includes funding for individualized development accounts and that the city is exploring safeguards for guaranteed-basic-income pilots to avoid unintended impacts on other public benefits.

Council reaction and next steps: Chair Scotty Johnson and Vice Mayor Jan Michelle Kearney praised the report and urged public-private partnership. Members asked for continued updates and implementation coordination with the mayor’s Financial Freedom Blueprint and the newly announced Office of Opportunity. Dr. Ellis said the team will provide slides and demos of the dashboard and invited city officials and community partners to ongoing implementation discussions and a national convening planned for April 8.

The committee agreed to file the presentation and to work with city staff and community partners on follow-up demos, additional briefings and next steps for implementation.