Community members of all ages realize that everything they need to succeed is right here.
Who are the movers and shapers of Toledo culture? We asked Toledoans, from business owners to educators and professionals, to tell us who is really moving the community forward. Here is our list of ten progressive thinkers working towards a better future – a better Toledo.
1. Wade Kapszukiewicz
Chairman, Land Bank, Lucas County Treasurer
Property owners in Lucas County see the name Wade Kapszukiewicz at the top left corner of their real estate tax bill. This lifelong Toledoan, however, deserves a “thank you” for the innovative ideas he has brought to the otherwise mundane duties as Lucas County Treasurer. Since 2005, when he first took office, he has changed Ohio Law, allowing for the creation of the Lucas County Land Bank, which incorporated in 2010, with Wade serving as chairman. Inspired by a similar program in Cleveland, the Land Bank buys tax delinquent properties more quickly than a city otherwise could, and sells these blighted properties to enterprising people at greatly decreased rates—Cleveland’s Land Bank was tremendously successful at cleaning up deteriorating blocks, and may have something to do with decreasing crime in those areas. The Lucas County Land Bank will do the same here. Per Kapszukiewicz, the goal of the Land Bank is “to stabilize and rebuild neighborhoods by eliminating blight, and in the process raise property values for homeowners”. 1,200 properties have been acquired and repurposed since the Bank’s inception. “Everything we do, whether it’s a demolition, rehab, or greenspace,” Wade says, “it’s all done with the overall goal of strengthening neighborhoods and putting value back into people’s homes so that they can pursue their dreams.”
This program has been so successful over the last three years that the entity is now working on stabilizing historic structures. In July 2013, the land bank acquired the Pythian Castle adjacent to the Greyhound station on Jefferson Avenue, downtown, and now contractors are determining the best way to revitalize the building. In October, a blighted former nursing home on Cherry Street was demolished by the land bank with Ohio Arbors Holdings planning to invest in converting the space into an arboretum. Currently, the Nicholas and Spitzer buildings are being considered for acquisition.
When asked what inspires him to make Toledo a better place, Wade replied “There’s a real ability with creativity and vision to create whatever Toledo we want. Enough communities have reinvented themselves with the assets that they have and Toledo can do it too.”
For more information visit co.lucas.oh.us
2. Rev. Dan Rogers
2. Rev. Dan RogersPresident and CEO, Cherry Street Mission Ministries
Dan Rogers, President and CEO of Cherry Street Mission Ministries, has dedicated his life to helping the impoverished and downtrodden in their greatest times of need. A man of action, Dan’s newest project is quickly becoming a reality: converting the former Macomber High School into the Mission’s new home.
“We purchased the building in March with the goal of vocational training for adults,” says Rogers. “The big idea that we have moving forward is to streamline all of our critical services under a single roof.”
Rogers, who graduated from Clearview High School in Lorain and Life Christian College in Virginia, has been with Cherry Street for 12 years and the CEO for 7 of those years.
Cherry Street Mission Ministries operates 14 facilities throughout 9 Toledo neighborhoods. They are the largest organization serving the homeless in Northwest Ohio and are known for never turning anyone away. The breadth of services they provide is astounding, and Rogers believes that by consolidating them under one roof the Mission will be able to expand their client reach by 25 percent.
“We are an A-Z curb level organization, meaning we have all critical services—medical, education, drug and alcohol recovery, and housing for the elderly. You name it and we are working on it,” says Rogers.
The Mission purchased the former Macomber High School for $380,000 and is gearing up to launch a $13 to $14 million renovation of the 252,000-square-foot building.
“This will be a five-year project because it is an old building,” says Rogers. “It is going to take a minute to raise capital to get the project underway. We have already sustained major parts of the roof and put the first of three boilers into the building.”
100 percent of the Cherry Street Mission’s budget comes from private community donations. They receive no federal funding and no taxpayer money.
To donate to the cause or to volunteer, visit cherrystreetmission.org
3. Dr.Deitra Hickey
Owner, Serenity Health and Wellness Center
Dr. Hickey, a Start High School and University of Toledo alum, is the owner and operating manager of Serenity Health and Wellness Center, as well as a counselor and certified life coach. She demonstrates her daily commitment to the Glass City through Serenity Health Spa, which opened in April of 2010 and provides a wide variety of holistic treatment, detoxification and stress-relieving services.
After working with Toledo Public Schools as a counselor for nearly 17 years, she transitioned from the education field to health, with a concentration on psychological wellness. “I started as a teacher, then a school counselor, and then a principal. I was also a professor of PhD students at the University of Toledo. I felt that starting my own [health] business would empower more people and make a bigger positive impact on the community,” she said.
“We have recently expanded, doubling the space. We will host wellness education classes and workshops which will include Tai Chi and self-defense at affordable prices. Our goal is to move forward with a non-profit organization, to help raise funds for wellness services for individuals with chronic pain and ailments who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford them,” says Hickey.
“People underestimate what Toledo has to offer.”
Dr. Hickey helps her clients through strategies and planning to reach their goals, helping them articulate what they are looking to accomplish— physically, psychologically and emotionally.
Visit serenityspamaumee.com for more information
4. Keith Burwell
4. Keith BurwellPresident, Toledo Community Foundation
You can tell by his accent that Keith Burwell grew up in North Carolina. After college he worked in a family business before going into foundation work in the ‘triangle’ (Chapel Hill/Raleigh/Durham).
Burwell has been the president of the Toledo Community Foundation since 2004. He serves on several national nonprofit boards as well as serving on many boards locally.
Keith wanted to ‘give back’ to the community so he responded to an inquiry regarding his interest in Toledo. He liked the idea of living in a big/little town where he could make significant contributions to the community through a foundation.
He uses ‘social impact bonds’ to leverage in an entrepreneurial way how to address a problem. The bonds also known as Pay for Success Bonds or a Social Benefit Bonds, is a contract with the public sector in which a commitment is made to pay for improved social outcomes that result in public sector savings. These allows the government to experiment a little bit and it allows individuals to fund community change.
While Keith admits Toledo doesn’t have all of the money it needs to fix every single problem, he specializes in leveraging the resources we do have and allowing the Foundation to push that.
For 2014 “We’re continuing to focus on economic opportunities and education. We fund everything from support for Alzheimer’s patients to the zoo. We’re going to put a lot of our resources into economic opportunities both at a neighborhood level as well as a bigger spanning, educational level,” says Burwell.
Keith is continuing to push Strive which is a program that takes data from the community and helps take kids from cradle to career. “It’s no longer just a shotgun feel-good approach, it’s actually data driving the decisions of what programs we should be using and what money we should be spending.”
How do we create the culture to get young people to want to come to Toledo and start something? Keith is pushing the idea of a new culture where we grow our own. “That starts in the support systems we put in the community and we push our education system to make our kids come out of elementary, high school and college thinking outside of the box. Then they will be able to start, create or build.”
Visit Toledocf.org for more information about the great things the Toledo Community Foundation is working on
5. Tim Varner
Chief Marketing Officer, Notice Software
Toledo may not be the next Silicon Valley but Tim Varner CMO of Notice Software thinks Toledo is a great place for tech startups. Tim has worked across the US as a digital marketer serving businesses as a content strategist. Tim explained that a lot of cities around the US are becoming incubators for these new tech driven ecosystems. Tim is on the forefront of pushing Toledo into the world of technology – though currently Toledo is lacking companies that are willing to move here to take on the risk. “We have the talent here and, with the lower cost of living, companies are enthralled with the staffing bargain. They can hire employees very economically compared somewhere like San Francisco,” says Varner.
Tim is a born and raised Toledoan who attended college at BGSU. He’s proud of the fact that his company is on the leading edge of the tech-sector in Toledo. Notice Software that makes a product named Roost. They make push notifications for websites. Right now, push notifications are used by pretty much everyone with smartphones. When someone opens that push notification it takes them into the app or to a website.
“Although it isn’t the most obvious place to start up a tech driven company, there’s no reason it can’t be.” Says Varner
Varner says that it’s “neat to bring a company that was based out of Seattle to Toledo and to help add to our evolving technology ecosystem here. From that standpoint I’m really glad we were able to convince people that Toledo is a good tech choice.”
Visit Roost.me to learn more
6. Bob Meeker
6. Bob MeekerFormer President of Toledo Arts Commission
Toledo’s vibrant arts community is made possible, equally, by the local artists themselves and the people who band together to organize events like Art-O-Matic 419! and the Art Walks. Bob Meeker, a self-proclaimed “recovering theater major” and former president of the Toledo Arts Commission, dedicates his free time to improving the Toledo community.
“Volunteering is what I do,” says Meeker. “I don’t play golf, I don’t play tennis—I go to meetings.”
A life-long Toledoan, Meeker works as a financial advisor at Edward Jones. He also serves on 5 separate boards across town, including the Red Cross, the Libbey House foundation and Trinity Episcopal Church, but his work with the Arts Commission is the most visible.
“I’m not much of an actor and I can’t write, but I can go to meetings. I love doing the part that many great artists have a hard time doing—the business part,” says Meeker. “I am happy to find funding and run standard operating procedures. I enjoy the executive business decision making that has to go on behind the scenes.”
From the Art Walks to murals, ‘yarn-bombed’ parking meters and the funky bike racks downtown, Meeker’s behind the scenes work contributes to nearly all of the Arts Commission’s projects.
“Changing the fabric of how we do community, now that’s cool,” says Meeker. “When the streets get active, it changes the way that we do community. At some level, I am a recovering urban street artist too.”
Meeker is also active with Positive Toledo, a social media campaign with the goal of spreading positive ideas for the city.
“Positive Toledo has two easy functions,” says Meeker. “We put people together in the small groups they are already in, whether its a church group or their drinking buddies, and have them talk about what is positive in Toledo. The people then take that positivity and spread it amongst their other groups. It’s a ripple effect."
Visit theartscommission.org / positivetoledo.wordpress for more information
7. Lexi Staples
Manager/Owner Outskirts
Executive Director Toledo Pride
Wig & Makeup designer Toledo Opera
Since opening Outskirts (a clever name) in 2008, Lexi Staples, co-owner , with her mother, of the LGBT-friendly establishment, has been striving to make it more than “just a bar. We started doing fundraisers for local charities,” she said, “and wanted to do more for the LGBT community.” People she knew would travel to other cities to participate in PRIDE events, so why not start one in Toledo as well?
In 2010, accompanied by friends and volunteers, Staples spearheaded the first Toledo Pride event. Despite meager financial support, the event attracted 2500 participants. Now with the fifth annual event approaching, Toledo Pride and its related activities are flourishing into a bright trademark for the city. “We just want to keep growing and put on a great event. Toledo is an awesome city and we promote local groups, business, artists and musicians,” she said.
Toledo has many motivating factors that help propel the Pride movement. Staples says that showcasing the localized Toledo ‘brand’ allows the area to exude a certain coolness, so visitors realize that there is a lot to do in this city. “I just love it here. We have so much food, culture, art… and people, too often, discount those things in hopes of something better,” she humbly said. Staples credits her father for her admiration of the Glass City, “My Dad [longtime Toledo radio DJ Dennis Staples] loved Toledo and that rubbed off on me for sure.”
Future goals for the Toledo Pride community include the “backing of the Pride Center 419, which has a hygiene pantry, a [fantastic] LGBTQA library and a meeting space that can be used by several organizations.” Toledo Pride has organized a 5K run, family fun day, and established a fantastic community center, where everyone can feel safe and celebrated, regardless of their age, race or sexual orientation.
Visit equalitytoledo.org for more information about the Pride Center 419 and facts regarding equality in Toledo.
8. Dr. Iman Mohamed
8. Dr. Iman MohamedChief of Oncology University of Toledo
When thinking of Dr. Iman Mohamed, the word ‘altruism’ comes to mind. As the chief of oncology at the University of Toledo Medical Center and the mother of three, Dr. Mohamed is on a mission to increase awareness of how to prevent and treat breast cancer. She is the winner of numerous awards, including the Patients’ Choice award and Compassionate Doctor Recognition in 2012.
A graduate of the University of Kuwait and Westminster Hospital in London, Dr. Mohamed has studied and practiced medicine on four continents: “I want to hit them all. I am a citizen of the world… there is something to learn from everyone you meet, and those who are privileged enough ought to give something back to the world.”
In addition to her efforts to fight breast cancer, she considers herself fortunate for having the opportunity to select new candidates for the medical program at UT: “I can identify with those students who apply to become medical professionals, so I look at them with a personal perspective.”
Dr. Mohamed is no stranger to social media. Her twitter account (@immohmd) is inching its way to 1,000 followers. As a way of inspiring those around her, she begins every day with a tweet: “Off to make the world a better place.” When asked about the state of our city, she remarked “Toledo has good people, but we need to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps… There is potential, but we need to push a lot harder.”
Visit UTMC.utoledo.edu for more information
9. Duke Wheeler
Owner/operator, Wheeler Farms
Healthcare entrepreneur
There are a few things to know about Duke Wheeler—he’s a Physical Therapy startup entrepreneur, a Christmas tree farmer, a St. Johns Jesuit (and Ohio State) graduate. He has one of the warmest, firmest handshakes in the world. He’s just grounded, and that’s his big innovation—in the twentieth century, with all its digital two-facedness, Duke Wheeler is all about illuminating the joy in everyday life. Sometimes, that’s helping people walk again at United Rehab, and sometimes that’s cutting down a Blue Spruce for a local family’s holiday celebrations at Wheeler Farms.
“The closer you stay to the earth and the more you work with soil, the better your life will be,” Wheeler said. That belief inspired Wheeler to pursue his most visible project, Wheeler Farms, once a local Christmas Tree farm he purchased in 1990.
Wheeler Farms has become a gathering point for local military families: Wheeler gives away trees to the families of deployed military servicemen and Vietnam veterans. Wheeler himself brought the Vietnam Traveling Wall to Toledo in June of 2013 as part of a Vietnam Veteran Appreciation Week that he partially organized.
Since its inception, Wheeler Farms has slowly added family-friendly activities and attractions, such as an annual corn maze, a shrimp hatchery, and a world-renowned butterfly house. The nonprofit organization has become a staple educational getaway for local schools, regularly illuminating the minds of visiting students and senior groups about endangered native species.
Wheeler’s dedication to giving back to the community is endemic of his honesty. Try as you can, you just can’t find any duplicity in the man—he treats everyone, from students, to veterans, to seniors, like family, and that belief has guided his business practices, as well as his vision for a better Northwest Ohio.
“I believe we are all family, and each of us, regardless of what economic or social class we are in, can bring good to the community as a family,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler Farms, Obee Rd.,Whitehouse.
419-877-2733.
wheelerfarms.com
10. Dr. Celia Williamson
10. Dr. Celia WilliamsonProfessor, The Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition
Do you feel that you’ve made a difference Ohio-wide on the issue of human trafficking? The question was posed to Toledo-born Dr. Celia Williamson.
“Yeah, absolutely,” the good Dr. said with a smile, “Because I believe the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and I have been squeaking this from the rooftops since 1993.”
Dr. Williamson began working with women around the Toledo area before the phrase ‘human trafficking’ came into common parlance. Then a promising Doctoral Student at Indiana University, she could have taken her research anywhere, but she chose to stick to her roots—and her guns. “I knew my research subject was going to be here; I knew there was a hot topic here […] I knew I could be successful here,” Dr. Williamson said. At that time, according to Dr. Williamson, there was no supportive programming available for trafficking victims, “nobody would speak with these women.” And that problem birthed her big idea:
In 2009, Williamson began the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition, a roundtable group of organizations united to “remove barriers and build a system of care” for trafficking victims. The coalition hosts representatives from the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and Child Protection, as well as local churches and students, even an active sex worker. “At our coalition I’ve made sure that there’s diversity throughout, and that’s the hardest kind of diversity to accept.” Dr. Williamson said. Her strategy has been to allow almost any group to join, and use their talents to contribute assistance for which they are best suited. Dr. Williamson takes on the thankless work of grant writing and cold-calling for herself.
“The key to the Lucas County Human Trafficking Coalition is allowing people to use their own talents.”
The Coalition’s crew has proven itself an effective task force. In 2010 the coalition played in instrumental role, alongside Ohio State Senator Teresa Fedor, in passing the state’s first anti-trafficking law. In 2012, working together with the lawmaker, they passed Ohio’s groundbreaking Safe Harbor law, which places trafficked youth under the care of Child Protection Services, not Juvenile Court. “Because these children are not criminals,” Dr. Williamson said, “They are victims.” Dr. Williamson and Fedor’s next legal target is a law that would hold prostitution customers accountable as molesters of children—it would be the first such law in Ohio. Dr. Williamson’s collaborative approach has been so successful that she’s been called to other states, including Alabama and Minnesota, to consult and assist in dealing with human trafficking issues. The Coalition’s current project, a safety net program for runaways—children at the highest risk of trafficking—has garnered interest from United States Senators.
Checkout The Lucas County Trafficking Coalition (LCHTC) on facebook
Tina G. Photography had a great time shooting the portraits that you see in this article and on the front cover.
Tina G. Photography www.tinagionis.com
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