Why Community Matters

Our Mission

Community Matters exists to create a thriving and more just community by removing barriers to opportunity.

Our Model

We believe that a thriving and more just community exists when all people have sustainable families, access to education, leadership opportunities, and vibrant spaces to live and work.

Over the past 50 years, our work has grown as our neighbors continue to partner with us to identify and co-develop new opportunities. Each pillar of our work is equally valued because they are each centered in the expressed voice, ongoing organizing, and leadership of our community.

Our Values

1) Relationships come first. We prioritize our relationships in all of our work. Our mission is based on trusted and real relationships with our neighbors.

2) There is equity in partnership. We partner with our neighbors to address needs, change unjust systems, and build opportunities. We do not use a service-based approach in our work, as it tends to create an inequitable divide between the service and those served.

3) We are strengths-based. We believe all people have strengths and skills that contribute to a thriving community. We reject the deficit-based, problem-centered approach.

4) Our work is rooted in the Lower Price Hill community. 50 years ago, we were founded by neighbors in Lower Price Hill to create new opportunities. However, our work is not exclusive to people living in Lower Price Hill. We define neighbor as being inclusive of all people who partner with us to break down barriers.

Our Neighbors

Community Matters partners with more than 2,000 families each year. 2/3 of these families reside in the Lower Price Hill neighborhood, while many of the remaining families live in the adjacent communities of East Price Hill, West Price Hill, and Westwood.

Our partner families reflect the diversity of these communities with 49% Black, 36% White, 10% Hispanic/Latinx, 1% Asian, and 6% Other. More than half of these households are led by female-identifying adults, and 95% of partner families are currently living below 200% of the Federal Poverty Line.