Established in 1795, Newport started off as a small town along the Ohio River and eventually grew into the bustling city that it is today. Over that time we have seen many things come and go in the city such as a military post, floods, backdoor casinos, steel mills and a world renowned club. Because of Newport’s past, some thought that the city was only relevant when talking about history; however, recently we have seen that relevance and spotlight return to Newport.

Just in the last 20 years, we have seen drastic changes, improvements and major development occur in the city, such as the beatification of the East Row Neighborhood, the rising scores of our Newport Schools, the development of the Newport Aquarium, Newport on the Levee, and the soon to be Aqua on the Levee. These improvements occurred largely because of effective leadership, visioning and cooperation in the city and community. At Brighton Center, we are looking to help it continue and expand it.

Brighton Center has recently partnered with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), the Catalytic Development Fund, the City, and the community to begin a Quality of Life Process for Newport.

We’ve interviewed over 100 community members to hear what they would want to see in the future in terms of quality of life and we are about to begin a second and final round of interviews that will be done and administered by some of the community members we interviewed in the first round. During this process, we want to hear and hopefully inspire the hopes, dreams, and accomplishments our community has done and wishes to see in the future. This will all be leading up to a Visioning Session we will be having this spring, where we will be inviting the community to hear about the results we’ve gotten as well as continue to tell us what they would like to see from this process.

The final goal is by the end of the year, the community has developed a Quality of Life Plan that contains strategies and plans on how to accomplish the very thing the community is telling us during this process. To help ensure the process is known, I plan to write monthly to continue updating and asking the community for their support and input. I hope the readers of The River City News enjoy reading it as much as I do writing it!

It’s going to be a heck of a journey to accomplish this feat over the next several months, but we hope you’ll join us along the way!

If you are interested in learning more about the Quality of Life Process or participating in any way, you can look us up on Facebook by searching “ Newport Quality of Life ” or please feel free to contact me at: [email protected] or 859-491-8303 ext. 2421.

Written by Josh Tunning, community organizer at the Brighton Center