LINCOLN HEIGHTS, Ohio — Residents in Lincoln Heights united Friday with one purpose. Led by volunteers from The Heights Movement, a group started the process of renovating their old elementary school, formerly South Woodlawn School.
"When the new elementary school (got) moved, this kind of became a community center for a little while," said Daronce Daniels, founder of The Heights Movement. "And then the doors just kind of closed on it. It’s just been sitting here ever since.”
Because of safety concerns due to high winds, the planned interior rehab work was delayed. Still, volunteers convened Friday was to gather those with different skill sets — construction, plumbing, and even marketing — to plan out how a little TLC to the building can lead to bigger change.
Learn more about their project here:
"I actually went to school here," said one longtime Lincoln Heights resident, Isaiah. "Most of the people here went to school here. It was an elementary school for us. We know we got a lot of history here."
In fact, generations of Lincoln Heights residents, going back to the village’s founding in the 1940s, were educated in the old building. It was once put up for public auction and now has a private owner.
Residents tell WCPO they hope what they’ve come to know as a monument to the past becomes a pillar for their future.
"We can achieve everything that everybody else has," resident Syretha Brown said. "Every community around us, they have grocery stores. They have pharmacies. They can walk to things in their community. We don’t have that option. We have to get in the car and go to somebody else's community, spend our dollars there; bring revenue to their community and come back home.”
Daniels noted the community was able to come together quickly the day neo-Nazis infiltrated the nearby overpass. Now, he's hoping they can come together to continue to grow the community.
"It’s the same skillset here of how collectively we come together … we ride past that thing every day. We just needed that little bit of push to say ‘OK, today is the time to come together,'" said Daniels.
