The Positive Force Collaborative

Based on the biblical story of Nehemiah, the Positive Force Collaborative uses a practical approach to restoring people and rebuilding communities by focusing on the spiritual, physical, mental, social, and emotional conditions of the residents living inside the urban core.

The Positive Force Collaborative is a regional movement that has been

organized to address the top nine critical issues in the city of Cincinnati and Hamilton County:

• Poverty (Self-Sufficiency, Sustainability, Livable Wages)
• Violence (domestic and gun)
• Health disparages (infant mortality, depression, heart disease)
• Access to high-quality education (Preschool and K-12)
• Unemployment/underemployment (Job Readiness and Skill Development)
• Police-Community Relations (Police Reform, Collaborative Agreement and Refresh)
• Re-entry (Returning Citizens)
• Trauma/Mental Illness (Intervention for Youth and Adults)
• Housing (Affordable and Home Ownership)

The Positive Force Collaborative works to build capacity around existing place-based and evidence-based initiatives, school-based programs, healthcare collaboratives and community-based projects. There are five priorities of the collaborative that serve as key drivers:

• Community Outreach
• Public Policy Advocacy
• Parent Engagement
• Youth Prevention and Intervention
• Shared Leadership

The Positive Force Collaborative uses each of the 12 access points as initial touchpoints to design a pipeline for information, recommendations and suggestions to flow from the various neighborhoods and communities through intentional conversations and deliberate dialogue with individuals in the lived experience of the focus areas.

The 12 Ps:

1. Pastors (faith, hope and restoration)
2. Parents (family, grandparents, foster care and guardians)
3. Principals (education – grade level)
4. Police/Public Servants (public safety includes firefighters and parks board)
5. Physicians (health and wellness)
6. Psychiatrist (mental illness)
7. Press (communication)
8. Philanthropist (funding for capacity building and operations)
9. Partners (existing programs, projects and initiatives, providers)
10. Probation (justice system, reentry)
11. Professionals (business/enterprise, legal counsel, and leadership development)
12. Politicians (policy makers – various levels of government)