It is based on Cincinnati’s annual Neighborhood Summit and will have speakers and presentations from various community members, unlike last year’s summit, which had selected topics and speakers. There are 16 topics with various speakers through two 45-minute breakout sessions and two 20-minute micro sessions.
Hamilton Director of Neighborhoods Bandon Saurber said the summit “represents a pretty broad group of people from throughout the city, different neighborhoods and different organizations.”
More than 270 tickets have been taken for this year — an increase from last year’s attendance of more than 240 attendees.
Saurber said this year’s theme, “How Do You Do,” works as both an introduction to fellow Hamiltonians and a start to instructions on how to be better connected in Hamilton.
“The main goal for this particular year is showing how to get more involved and how to take that next step,” Saurber said. “17Strong, at its core, is all about building connections. So from the earliest vision of this, it’s been about how do we connect passionate and interested Hamiltonians to one another to make great things happen?”
The 17Strong Committee has been working on gathering the speakers for the 16 options for the four sessions since November 2023 and decided on the topics by gathering feedback on what people wanted to learn about along with what wasn’t covered last year. This year’s topics include “How Citizens Like You Lead Hamilton,” “All About Funding Local Events” and “How to Stay Informed and Communicate Issues to the City.”
There will also be a session focused on meeting local non-profits, local elected officials and city infrastructure leaders.
Saurber said this year’s goal is to “demystify what it means to be engaged and help lead a community.”
“This year specifically is looking at engaging local leadership and how citizens lead Hamilton,” Saurber said. “[We’re] trying to get people to realize that what you can perceive to be a big barrier to getting involved in a board or volunteering in your community or creating a new event for the neighborhood or for the city, certainly requires work, but these barriers are not as significant as you may have thought.”
How to go
Tickets for the 17Strong Hamilton Neighborhood Summit are $10. Proceeds go to the Friends of 17Strong fund through the Hamilton Community Foundation, a fundraiser for the summit and the annual 17Strong Celebration Breakfast.
More details
17Strong is an organization representing the 17 neighborhoods in the City of Hamilton. See more online at 17stronghamilton.org.
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