About Us

We need to TALK with each other.

DRIVEN BY SOCIAL GOOD

Community Happens Here is a resident-founded organization with 10 years of experience cultivating vibrant space for community members in Pleasant Ridge, Kennedy Heights, and Golf Manor. Our mission is to foster authentic relationships that combat isolation and strengthen community well-being through deepened belonging.

Since the very beginning, we've been committed to discovering what genuinely and meaningfully brings people together. We're dedicated to nurturing human connection by creating spaces of conversation, learning, empathy and hospitality both in our space and around our city.

This year, we will serve more than 10,000 cups of coffee at our programs. Each cup represents a meaningful connection strengthening social fabric and community belonging. We exist to connect people across difference, and we've learned to engage in this work more effectively over the past decade.

WHAT DO WE DO?

Sidewalk Hospitality is our flagship program. These weekly gatherings offer free and friendly spaces for neighbors to meet one another while they learn new skills and share unique experiences. Open to the public and staffed by teen volunteers, this program connects residents through activities that spark conversation, empowering neighbors to enjoy coffee, have fun with each other, and connect across racial, economic, and educational differences.

Coffee Cup Cafe is our award-winning in-school entrepreneurship education program that serves 100+ students at Pleasant Ridge Montessori School each year. This unique skills-based program introduces students to business basics, presents them with real-world problem-solving opportunities, and empowers them to be future marketplace and academic leaders.

Our Human Library programming, presented with the Cincinnati Public Library since 2022, dismantles bias through personal storytelling.

We also provide programming support to neighborhood celebrations like Ridge Day, Play in the Park, and Pleasant Ridge Montessori School's Handmade Market, while partnering with innovative initiatives like Imagine Cincinnati to host a weekly Friday-morning playgroup for parents and caregivers.

HOW DID IT BEGIN?

The story of Community Happens Here begins in 2010 at Pleasant Ridge Montessori School (a public, neighborhood Montessori school), when our founder, Ruth Anne Wolfe, started an entrepreneurship program for students that included weekly classes and a student-run coffee shop that served staff and parents each Thursday morning. In the first year of the program, the students named the program "Coffee Cup." The name stuck.

The "Coffee Cup" program remains a popular and meaningful extracurricular at Pleasant Ridge Montessori. Each year, more than 100 students are trained in the basics of business, learning about profit/loss, inventory, budgets and customer service. Participants also have the chance to create a plan for their own "dream" business and to present their ideas to the entire cohort for input.

What started as an educational program for students gradually became something more. As parents, teachers, and community members gathered around the weekly coffee service, Ruth Anne recognized something powerful happening — authentic connections were forming across the usual boundaries that often separate neighbors. The simple act of sharing coffee was creating space for conversation, understanding, and genuine community building.

Over time, this program evolved and developed into Community Happens Here's flagship program, Sidewalk Hospitality, taking the same spirit of welcome, connection, and neighbor-to-neighbor relationship building beyond the school walls and into the broader community.

In May 2017, Community Happens Here moved into its current home at 6238 Montgomery Road. Since then, the building and grounds have been rebuilt into a quality commercial property with ADA accessibility and a neighborhood-friendly space designed to welcome everyone.

The transformation didn't stop there. In 2022, we expanded our physical footprint by purchasing the building next door to our Montgomery Road location. With generous donor support and federal grants, we created a large gathering space with a full, functioning kitchen and spacious outdoor patios both in front of and behind the building to facilitate neighborhood connections.

Throughout the week, our building buzzes with activity as neighbors take advantage of our flexible, professional co-working spaces. Whether you're a student studying for an exam, a freelancer seeking a quiet corner, or a small team brainstorming ideas, we offer the perfect setting with fast internet, free coffee, and printing services.

WHAT KEEPS IT GOING?

We seek partners who are driven by community and a  sense of social purpose. Our mission is fueled by generous neighbors, public and private grants, space rental fees, and co-working memberships. We operate from the fundamental belief that every neighbor brings valuable strengths, experiences, and potential to our shared community fabric. We focus on creating platforms for neighbors to share their gifts, and funding that process through a variety of sustainable revenue streams.