Meeka Owens Goes Beyond the Status Quo

What inspires me the most is that it's people centered. And so, you know, policies have to impact people in the most positive of ways and and tangible ways. And and when we're talking about things like sustainability and we're looking at housing and how we put those two things together, meeting a young man who's using shipping containers as housing. It's like, that's the future.

Not only is it solving the the social issue of everyone should have a roof over their head, but it's also attacking issues around climate change as well. And so I get inspired because it's a demonstration that innovation and government can exist together and should exist together. And so when we're thinking about impact and efficiency, you bring people to solve problems. You bring technology. You bring data. And that in itself is how we become efficient with our budget and all of our other resources.

At Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub, we support early stage founders dedicated to creating a more equitable and sustainable community through a combination of coaching, subject matter experts, collaborative learning and innovation, and access to our network of start up resources. My name is Joan Kaup, host of On the Fly! Today, we are talking with a person who is no stranger to building and sustaining community, City Council Member Meeka Owens. Council Member Meeka Owens was elected to Cincinnati City Council in 2021, and she is currently the chair of the Climate, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee, one of the very first local environment committees in the nation to prioritize climate change. She also sits on the Budget and Finance Committee, and she serves as vice chair of the Equitable Growth and Housing Committee.

One of her goals for the city of Cincinnati is to create more quality, affordable housing. Toward that end, she partnered with Flywheel to facilitate the Housing Stabilization Hackathon in 2024. To talk about all that and more is Samuel Baker, program director of Flywheel Social Enterprise Hub, and councilwoman Meeka Owens.

Hello. Hello.

Hello. I'm so happy to be here.

Thank you so much for being here. Been a friend of Flywheel for years now.

Yeah. I've got the mug to prove it.

We're gonna jump straight in.

Let's do it.

As the chair of the climate environment and infrastructure committee, you've been an advocate for environmental sustainability. That's been something that you've been very vocal about as one of the key leaders of the Green Cincinnati Plan as well. Can you talk a little bit about why the city has made that a priority? Why is that important? And what you guys are doing right now?

Absolutely. One, thank you so much for having me here today. You all are an amazing asset to the city of Cincinnati and really how we become more innovative every single day. And one thing that I can say is that Cincinnati has led on a lot of issues. And so since 2008, we have to recognize that we were looking at how we reduce our carbon emission.

And so we have this Green Cincinnati Plan that I think not necessarily sitting on the shelf, but not getting the attention that I think it deserves because we know that the science is evolving. We know that it's the existential threat to community. And certainly, when we came in as a new council, we wanted to prioritize the issues that are important. And so the Green Cincinnati Plan and having a climate committee to hold us accountable to the results of those plans was something that I certainly was honored to be asked to chair. Because climate impacts everything that we're talking about at City Hall.

It impacts transportation and housing and quality of life and the way that people experience their communities. And so it is through that recognition that going through the update of the refresh of the Green Cincinnati Plan, and this latest plan also centering racial equity as a core tenet. In addition to sustainability and resilience, it's recognizing that we've got to make investments in communities that have not received those investments. And so when we think out, project out a little bit, now we're talking about railroad dollars that are helping us to improve infrastructure. Now it becomes a conversation of how do look at more green infrastructure investments even in that?

How do we make sure we are prioritizing neighborhoods even in that? And so becoming a more data driven city as we think about the umbrella of justice is truly where climate sits, really, it's just critical work for all of us and for the region, too. Because the city of Cincinnati, even some of our surrounding jurisdictions, we are one of the only cities with a climate action plan. And so it's important for us to really be leading the region as well.

Absolutely. I love that you talk about environmental sustainability in this comprehensive way that it touches everything, it's influenced by everything, influences everything, and even steps over into to racial equity as well. And so I'm excited to to have this conversation with you further just because I can tell that, one, you're very knowledgeable about it, but two, that you see just how embedded it is in our community and how necessary it is that we're finding solutions for these problems.

Very necessary. And what I appreciate too is that unlike other cities, again, we have a blueprint. And so even in this current federal administration who is saying that environmental justice is not a thing, we know better because we're rooted in science and data. And when we're talking about tree canopy, we're going to continue to do that, even in spite of what's happening right now. And so what I get hopeful about is that we've got a general fund.

And if we can continue to see make the investments again in infrastructure, transportation, all of those things, if we can continue to get that money into communities through our Seeds of Change grants, we will continue to pursue in spite of the challenges.

It's so comforting to hear that the city is impassioned about these issues, that they're working, finding tangible solutions for them. And especially in the work that Flywheel's doing, sustainability is a big part of what we do. And we work with founders that are in that scenario, which you know about because you've been a keynote speaker at our Sustainable Cincy Demo Day before, which is our pitch night for the founders that have come through our accelerator program. What inspires you most about social entrepreneurs and how they approach community challenges like environmental sustainability?

Yeah, what inspires me the most is that it's people centered. And so, you know, policies have to impact people in the most positive of ways and tangible ways. And when we're talking about things like sustainability and we're looking at housing and how we put those two things together, meeting a young man who's using shipping containers as housing. It's like, that's the future. Not only is it solving the social issue of everyone should have a roof over their head, but it's also attacking issues around climate change as well.

And so I get inspired because it's a demonstration that innovation and government can exist together and should exist together. And so when we're thinking about impact and efficiency, you bring people to solve problems. You bring technology. You bring data. And that in itself is how we become efficient with our budget and all of our other resources.

I love that you talk about, one, it being people centered. In my time at Flywheel, that has been the most exciting part of my job is getting to work with people who are solving problems, not just to make money, but to impact people. And I love also that you bridged together the fact that government and entrepreneurs can work together. And we kind of saw that last year with the housing stabilization hackathon, which you were very instrumental in. You know, this was an event where we saw 54 different thinkers, data engineers, computer scientists, landlords, entrepreneurs throw their hats in the ring.

And it culminated in about nine of them pitching some tech enabled solutions for how to reduce eviction. Can you talk a little bit about how you were involved in that and what has happened since then?

Yeah. Oh my gosh. This is a place where I've decided when I first came into counsel that I was going to have as my passion, one of my passion areas. And everything that I do, am pretty passionate about. But also recognizing that the conversation of affordable housing has to include those three S's.

It has to include stabilization. It has to include subsidy. It has to include stock. And all of these things have to happen at the same time. And so one, recognizing that we're a city of majority renters, 60% of us.

If we're not focusing on the conditions and the environment in which there are good tenants and good housing providers and quality places and further enshrining that and codifying that within what is lawful, then we're missing something.

One, let me just say, we know evictions has been a problem around Hamilton County for a long time. And going back to impact and our budget, one of my highest priorities is being a fiduciary agent of the city, right, and so making decisions around how we allocate resources. And so for the first time ever, I wanted to look at a way of solving a market failure like housing evictions by using city resources but going a little more upstream to say, how can we prevent it? Because so often, don't spend time on the prevention around a lot of things.

And so if we could come up with a way of seeing what that looks like and using data to do it, that sounds like a good place to be. And so we offered for the first time our Impact Award through our Human Services Fund. And so we just said x percent will go towards how can we predict someone being in jeopardy of losing their home? And we wanted to foster a collaborative environment because often, you have nonprofits who are competing for the same pots of money, of which it's not just an unlimited amount, right? And so again, going back to efficiency.

And so that fostered this environment of bringing folks together, like strategies in homelessness and Bethany House and legal aid and others, to then go about building a data set around what are the places in our systems– utilities being shut off, data points from schools, other points in the community. And so as we've been really moving that work forward, how can we use technology to help? And so you all being such experts at hackathons and this, again, innovation and government existing together to solve a problem was really just a natural step for the folks that got awarded that Impact Award. And so for me, it was so exciting to see tech enabled opportunities that tenants in our community can use to align themselves with resources to prevent that eviction could align with because what we're also understanding is that evictions happen as a result of people not being able to pay their rent for the most part. And so there's a systemic upstream of like, need jobs that are paying that, good because rents are outpacing that.

But we also need to make sure that we're setting up an environment where that tenant and landlord relationship how can we avoid that deteriorating on the front end? And so it's through technology and, again, access to resources like eviction rental assistance dollars, our work with legal aid and United Way and the Help Center, offering legal representation, all of those pieces. But it's kind of this upstream approach, right? Because it has to be all hands on deck. But ultimately, it's that front end work that's going to also help to prevent evictions in our city as well.

So it was so exciting and inspiring. Folks that just kind of lent their expertise to create something. In March, we introduced our first ever tenant guide, which is here are all the resources and the things that you need to know and If the number you need to you are concerned about your living conditions or your housing providers not being responsive, what does it mean to put your money in rent escrow? So it's really a piece of this environment where there's so many pieces to the puzzle and building something that's as comprehensive as possible, where there's a beginning, a middle, and an end point. And hopefully, end point being, you know, less folks going through those major eviction proceedings where legal aid has to get involved and, you know, the city has to get involved, bad actors that, you know, taking them to court.

And, you know, we've seen a few examples of that. But it's really a demonstration that, you know, it's all hands on deck when we solve problems that are most critical to the residents of Cincinnati.

Absolutely. That was my first project when I came on to Flywheel.

Oh, goodness.

And it was such a proof of concept of what drew me to Flywheel in the beginning anyway, which was startup innovation, business as a force for good. And utilizing to solve real challenges and get to get to be a part of that, to get to see that, to see the city behind us doing that, to see social service organizations collabing with, you know, the startup ecosystem was like, okay, cool. I'm in the right place. I'm doing the right thing. So thank you for all the work that you did for that to pave the way for that.

Absolutely. And it's also there are multiple benefits here because when we think about a city growing, that means we have to attract and also retain talent here. And so I think the more that we are using innovation and brilliance and folks coming together to tackle things, that is putting Cincinnati on the map of a place to live, to grow, to solve, you know, and and to really be a thought leader in the nation. That's always my goal for Cincinnati to be number one in everything. Of course.

And we can be.

And we can be.

That's right.

That's right.

We've been talking about this collaboration between entrepreneurs and the city and between innovation and government. What role does that collaboration play in your version of the city leadership, the city being successful, your vision for the future?

It's essential. I get excited about building things that don't exist. And so the entrepreneurial ecosystem has to be a part of that. I mean, are so many issues for us to tackle. Housing, transportation, food insecurity, supporting small business ecosystem. There's so many key pieces. And if we don't find ways to think differently, to do different, then that means we're just being status quo. And no one is Okay with that, right? Because at the end of the day, we're looking for impact. Impact and results and improvement and outcomes that are measurable.

Can you speak a little bit to what are the city's current priorities? How can organizations like Flywheel, like the founders that we serve, who are looking to make that impact, who are looking to contribute to flourishing not just of their own business, but of the community that they're in? How can we orient ourselves and fit ourselves into that vision that the city is laying out for us?

Yeah. That is a great question. And I think it starts with having this kind of open door dialogue. You know, young people having good jobs that are the jobs of the future. And so when we think about, you know, folks like Groundwork Ohio River Valley and Flywheel and others who can help incubate young people to get oriented to being the next folks, right, because when we think about planting those trees and where they need to go, they also need to be maintained.

I think it's through just ideation and creating spaces to do that. Because again, had it not been for the Impact Award and Kevin saying, hey, I think this is what this is a way that we can also help use this money is to bring in you know, let's do a hackathon. So I think it's creating, again, being very intentional about the need to collaborate.

Absolutely. Yeah.

You tell me, though. What how how do you all plug in? How do you how do you see yourselves plugging in?

The hackathon was something that really opened our eyes to the fact that we really do sit at this intersection between government, between social service, between the entrepreneurship community, and stepping into that role, owning that space, serving as a connector for the people that are in those different sectors to come and collaborate on challenges like this. I think that that's something that we are definitely more aware of now that we're looking at how do we own that space even more, how do we create more of those watering hole experiences where we get people together and put our heads together and really try and solve some of these situations, some of these issues. Because it's going to take all of us. For the entrepreneurs that are working on it, they can't do that in silos. They have to be connected to government.

They have to be connected to the social service organizations, and they have to know how to tackle that problem that they're solving and everyone plays a role. And so for Flywheel, we're looking at how do we continue to be that connector, how do we continue to resource those founders that are focused on that double bottom line, but how do we also serve as that connector for all those different sectors. So I'm excited about it.

Me too.

Well, thank you so much for your time. Thank you so much for your insight, obviously.

Thank you. And thank you for inviting me to be your guest on this storied podcast.

Hey. Absolutely. The pleasure's all mine. Thank you.

On the Fly! is produced by Joey Scarillo with music composed by Ben Hammer. Recorded at 1819 Innovation Hub in Cincinnati, Ohio, courtesy of the University of Cincinnati.