Nora Gerber - How Hometown Pride Built an Impactful Local Leader

[00:00:00] Dominique: Hello. Welcome to another episode of Green Champions.

[00:00:13] Adam: Thanks for joining us in a conversation with real people, making real environmental change in the work that they do. I'm here with Dominique, the sustainability expert.

[00:00:20] Dominique: And I'm so glad to be here alongside Adam, the social enterprise extraordinaire. We bring you guests who saw the potential for impact in their job or community, and have done something pretty cool about it.

[00:00:30] Adam: From entrepreneurs to artists, scientists, to activists. This podcast is a platform for green champions to share their stories and plant new ideas.

[00:00:37] Dominique: Today, Adam and I are joined by Nora Gerber. She is the executive director of the University District Organization. Today, we're approaching sustainability from the lens of a nonprofit leader who's built a program to engage others in sustainability and built a program that should change how a community of college students interact with recycling and how a city manages recycling collection.

We're gonna chat with Nora to focus on her program called The Can Fairy Program. More our next episode. But in short, it's a curbside recycling program. It takes a fun spin on a big litter problem. Thanks for joining us, Nora. 

[00:01:11] Nora: Thank you. Oh, that was such a fun intro. 

[00:01:15] Dominique: Well, Nora, I am so excited to have you here and I think we'll focus the first episode a little bit more on your background and like who you are and how you got here. Before getting into that, tell us about yourself. Who is Nora?

[00:01:25] Nora: Oh man. Who is Nora? I wonder that sometimes every day. Well, Nora's just a gal from Columbus, Ohio, born and raised in The University District and have lived here basically my entire life. Went to Ohio State after graduating from Columbus City Schools and then found myself working kind of in workforce development at the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, which also gave me a view into small business, which also gave me a view into like city happenings. And then I wound up doing some startup stuff. I actually participated in the second ever GiveBackHack.

[00:02:08] Adam: Woohoo. 

[00:02:09] Dominique: Nice plug for Adam over here.

[00:02:10] Nora: Yeah. And all of a sudden I found myself driving a big red, white, and blue van called Mobile City Hall with, for the Department of Neighborhoods. Doing a lot of community engagement and outreach and went to all corners of our Great City of Columbus, and then all of a sudden an opportunity popped up with the university district organization and a friend that I had actually met through GiveBackHack said, "Hey, you should throw your hat in the ring for this role. I think you'd be great for it." And I looked and I was like, "Oh, this looks really exciting." You get to do a lot of different projects and it focuses on like a hyperlocal, area of the university district, and I love hyper-local things and projects, and then all of a sudden, here I am. Uh, I just celebrated my third year anniversary with UDO.

[00:03:01] Dominique: Wow. Happy anniversary.

[00:03:02] Nora: Thank you. 

[00:03:03] Adam: For those that are not from Columbus, what is The University District?

[00:03:07] Nora: Yeah. The university district is a set of 13 neighborhoods that surround the academic campus. So you think about Ohio State, the Ohio State University, they have an academic campus. And then a lot of times people think, "Oh, the university district is just east of high and it's all off campus."

And people call it campus. Well, yes, that's part of it, but it 's actually 2.89 square miles. So I guess if you're not looking at a map, but it covers from like a railroad track to a river. And then if you are familiar with Columbus, right before the short north of Victorian Village all the way up to south Clintonville.

So that is all of our area and the university district has lots of different people. We are the densest set of neighborhoods in all of Columbus. and we have the biggest population, So we have over 40,000 people living in the university district and at any given time, we have an average of a hundred thousand people in the district every day and on football weekends, it's even more than that. 

[00:04:13] Dominique: I liked your mention of just like loving hyper-local things. Why is that? Where'd that love come from?

[00:04:17] Nora: I wanna give like a fake answer, but that's also a real answer. One answer is that I feel like growing up in Columbus, in like the nineties and two thousands. I don't know. I think that a lot of people my age, I think we're snobs is what I'm trying to say. 

We grew up with Jenny's starting for the first time. Jenny's Ice Cream.. Yeah. Jenny's ice cream. Stauff's was really starting to get its groove and so there were all of these really fantastic mom and pop shops, as people would call them, are just small businesses and there was so much pride in it and I think it was so much North Star, oh my gosh. North Star was also cheap. 

I love you North Star, but before North Star was North Star, or before Jenny's was Jenny's. I mean, it was just this era of like supporting small business and then also knowing who those people were or are. I think that just felt very cool. And then it just felt like, "Oh, well that's Columbus and that's ours." And maybe now it feels like a little bit snobby. 

[00:05:25] Dominique: So was it like the human element of being able to see like the people behind, like what became Jenny's Ice Cream giant? What became like these things that were like loved by so many that you kinda saw how like real and human it started out to be?

[00:05:38] Nora: Yeah. I think something that is still true about Columbus I believe, and something I think is really special about Columbus, is that it's completely accessible in terms of if you have a big idea, you can usually pursue it and you can usually try and meet the right people to pursue that dream or that goal and it's that personable aspect. I worked for Jenny. Jenny hired me, so like at a scoop shop when I was 16. I think it started there. It was just kind of a really natural thing that that Columbus had and still has.

 Columbus is very accessible. You can meet people. And then I think that it has a way ofcreating pride in our different neighborhoods in Columbus' says, " Many Neighborhoods, One Columbus" is I believe, our tagline from our mayor, and when you have pride in your neighborhood, I think that it develops a hyperlocal approach and it makes you want to get to know your neighbor. And I believe in resilient neighborhoods that bring people together, that create vibrancy. Maybe it's also because I'm a product of public schools. I don't know. 

[00:06:48] Dominique: That's all fair. That'd be one of those things.

What did you study when you were in college?

[00:06:51] Nora: I studied Public Affairs & Spanish, the John Glenn School and then public arts. ' cause I love tangible things.

[00:06:58] Dominique: How did the space of like interest in community contribution, ' cause you obviously joined GiveBackHack like of these social enterprise spaces, where did that interest come from and like where does sustainability fit into that for you?

[00:07:10] Nora: I've always had a want to be part of my community. I feel like growing up there was always some type of service aspect of what I did in my household. My mom was a social worker, so, I think that that kind felt very natural to me in terms of type of some type of public service. 

I liked Political Science, but I don't like sitting still, and so I felt like Public Affairs was more action and more action oriented. And you know, being able to see impact a little bit quicker than if I was just studying theory. No offense to any public science majors out there, they're very important, but that's why I kinda went there. 

And then sustainability, I think has continuously grown.

I mean, I've, I've always had a love of the outdoors. And then as I think we see more and more climate change affecting our daily lives, I think that sustainability is just a part of how we can get better as a society and as a community. Whether that's through public transit or changing litter habits or just small things that make our neighborhoods a little bit cleaner and more vibrant.

[00:08:20] Adam: So fast forward to three years ago, you joined UDO. What is that organization and what do they do?

[00:08:25] Nora: Yeah. University District Organization, as much as I am a Columbus kid and from this area, I did not know what it was. If you don't know, I don't blame you. But UDO has been around since 1971. 

[00:08:39] Dominique: Oh wow. 

[00:08:39] Nora: Yeah, right? Yeah. Mm-Hmm.

[00:08:41] Dominique: And just 'cause I'm curious how old's the university. Did it get born with the university or are they separate?

[00:08:46] Nora: The University Area Commission, which is recognized by the city, which is a group of residents that get together and approve or don't pass zoning legislation or to pass on to council and other various things.

That started in 1972, so it came after the formation of the University District Organization, and I believe it still was very grassroots. So it was residents that had moved there and wanted to have a body of a community that was representing the people that actually lived there full time, whether they were grad students, professors, teachers, firefighters, whatever it was. All these different people that lived there wanted to have a voice so that the University didn't completely take over or be a behemoth in that area. 

I think that that was the reason for creating the University District Organization and then also the Area Commission. But UDO really it was about, if we're the densest part of the city, we have the most amount of people, we have unique problems or we have a lot of people have trash problems, but we have a lot more trash ' cause we have a lot more people. As an example, how do we create unique solutions? And then are we able to pilot them in the University District? And if they work, can they expand to other parts of the city? And so it's all about improving the quality of life for those that live, work, and play in the university district and promoting the economic growth of the district itself.

[00:10:15] Dominique: And I know we're gonna talk about the Can in the next episode more, but can you share maybe just like why it's called that and the purpose behind what is the Can Fairy program? And then I wanna ask you more about like the other programming things you do. 

[00:10:26] Nora: Yeah. Can Fairy Curbside Recycling is called the Can Fairy because for many generations now, students have thrown their cans into the lawn and said "The Can Fairy will get it". And that is a hard tradition to break 

[00:10:43] Dominique: And I was one of those students, like, I, like I, that was not long ago, and I think you, you too. 

[00:10:47] Nora: I was as well. Yeah. 

[00:10:49] Dominique: Like I remember being a student and being at like parties or you know, hanging out with friends and they would throw their cans on the lawn, and almost people talked about it as if it was like a sustainability thing because like the Can Fairies who weren't socially able in the community who needed extra money, who would be coming around to grab these cans. Sorry, jump into story 

But I, I, I remember talking about it as like, it was almost like not the worst thing to do because they were gonna get it to the facility where it gets recycled because it's how they would get like a few cents for each can. So I think it's so cool how you've taken this thing and reframed it, but it wasn't like a fully negative thing, so it was hard to break.

[00:11:25] Nora: Yeah, they're gonna recycle it and they'll get some money and they need the money. But then when you kinda like look, dig a little bit deeper, it's like, "Oh, I'm literally having somebody else clean up after myself." And that's kind of rude. 

[00:11:39] Dominique: Yeah, and a little rude. And it's also it's not for sure getting collected. Like I always felt differently like if you had just bagged it up and put it on your lawn, it'd be like different. 'cause then at least you guarantee it's like been bagged, and all gonna accounted for, but like wind, like precipitation, things that can take all those cans become litter. 

[00:11:57] Nora: Yeah. 

[00:11:58] Dominique: Nothing is stopping that from happening.

[00:12:00] Nora: Right. And so I think it was, "Okay". Well, we also saw there were always lots and lots of parties, across the off-campus area. But especially over the last three years, we were seeing still parties, but less can fairies or less can collectors that were going to the individual parties.

They were working smarter, not harder. They're going to places like The O on Lane or Midway which are bars, very, very popular bars on campus.

I don't know if they're throwing their cans into a recycling bin or if it's just a big dumpster or not. But the can collectors are going there and just collecting all of the cans that they could possibly need to make actual money and getting them there instead of walking up and down the streets and going into people's yards. So we were also just seeing a lot more litter. 

But then how do you create a program that people are throwing their cans on the lawn saying, "Well, the can fairy will get it." 

And you're saying, "Well, hey, we have like a curbside recycling program." We could have called it the University District Curbside Recycling Program, which is fine, but can fairy puts it so that way they something that they've already learned about.

They're like, "Oh, if it's the can fairy, like the can fairies will get it, but we have to put it in this bin or this box, not on our lawn." Yeah. And so, yeah, that's why we, we were trying to take back that terminology essentially.

[00:13:22] Adam: And we're gonna dive in deeper into that in the next episode. But that's not the only program that you run. Like what other programs do you do? 

[00:13:28] Nora: We have a lot of different things that we do at the University District. So all of it is about how do we create better quality of life. So we're all about connecting or creating ourselves or collaborating to do different projects in and around those 13 neighborhoods. 

Something that we just completed was a park project where we had a partner, the Indianola Presbyterian Church, who said, "Hey, we have a big green front lawn and we wanna figure out how we give that back to the community and actually make it a community space but we don't really know how to do that and we think that the community should lead it" And we said, "Oh my gosh, yes. We need more green space." 

[00:14:09] Dominique: This is in the heart of of apartments and housing for off-campus students that like yeah has no other green space access. 

[00:14:16] Nora: Yeah. They would have to go to all the way to the oval. But that's like that's academic campus. 

[00:14:21] Dominique: That's gotta like at least a mile away. 

[00:14:23] Nora: Yeah. 

[00:14:24] Adam: So what's that called? 

[00:14:25] Nora: Oh, we don't have a name yet.

[00:14:27] Adam: Oh, very cool. But what, what's it look like? If you were standing in this space, what would you see? 

[00:14:31] Nora: The space.. So we designed it with the community and then we built it with the community as we did all these workshops. And we said, "Well, what does community mean to you? What does The University District mean to you? And also if you could design some, a perfect pocket park, what would it look like?"

And they came up with all these different suggestions. And a big thing was we want a sense of play and adventure, but also a sense of refuge even though it's directly center in the university district, it is surrounded by a lot of off-campus student housing. So how do we make sure that it feels that it's not just a student park? So how do we bring in everybody from the university district? 

So we have benches that are designed to represent our map. So our map is very colorful. Every neighborhood has its own color, and then there are seven benches that our design that have each of our neighborhoods on it. And you can see our map and you can see how it relates and that's really lovely.

And then we also have swings. So that's a sense of kind of whimsy and play. But the swings are not regular swing sets. They are saucer swings. So you can think of like a saucer swing that you sometimes see in the front yard of somebody's house. It's a literally a big saucer, but instead of it coming from a tree, they are hanging from two large wooden posts. And so it definitely gives a sense of place, but then you can sit in it and swing on it like you would, or you can Chill and relax. 

So there's always kind of two things you can usually do in the park. We also have a hopscotch hidden in the path.

[00:16:11] Adam: Why? Why is it called a pocket park?

[00:16:13] Nora: A pocket park? Because a pocket park is like a third of an acre or less of space within. usually an urban environment and it's something that you activate for the community. So that's why it's a pocket park and it needs a name, but that's what we call it. 

The pocket park. 

 If you wanna submit a name suggestion, it's on our website, so universitydistrict.org.

[00:16:36] Dominique: From someone who's seen you as you've been building the park. I think the way you incorporate feedback from the community is really cool. And the way that you've like, let the community be part of building it. 

Can you just share a little bit about like how you think about those things or how you engage the community with every step? Cause you do a good job of doing it. 

[00:16:53] Nora: Oh, thank you. So I think I keep going back to a principle of like, you listen to what somebody wants. So we did hear that people wanted more green space, another third space that you don't have to pay anything to just go and enjoy. And so you hear that and then you say, " Okay. Let's do it." And you put energy behind it. And I think when people start to show up, they get really excited that this will actually happen.

And I think it's a lot of active listening and then a lot of trying to connect to all parts of the community. There are a lot of frat houses around the park, so we connected to a couple of those fraternities so that way we could have a specific workshop with just those boys.

There's so many stakeholders in the university district too.

I think a lot of times, I say that I'm transparent to a fault, just as a personality trait but I am that transparent. And so when doing a project, I don't really keep a lot of cards close. I do try to manage expectations though. Yeah. Because I don't wanna promise the moon. I'm gonna try to get the moon, but I don't wanna necessarily promise the full moon. 

I think it's, "Hey, this is what we would love to do. We wanna hear your feedback. We know you want this too". I mean, that's kind of easy. You want a community green space, for example. This is great. 

And then it's providing the space in the infrastructure and the time to listen and to then come through on your promises. And then when you share really, really tight deadlines, people also respond because it's almost like, " Do you wanna be part of this?" "Yeah." "Okay, we're gonna do it. Now." so you gotta get on board. I mean, you're already on board. We you gotta show up. 

The pocket park, I can't believe this. We essentially built it in six weeks. 

[00:18:46] Adam: Six weeks? 

[00:18:47] Nora: Yeah. 

[00:18:48] Adam: Wow. It

[00:18:49] Nora: It was insane. We broke ground in June 10th, and our last big like volunteer day was July 10th, so maybe a month. We had other small things that we needed to figure out, how to install or other budgetary things that have pushed our timeline back in terms of making sure that all of those elements were installed and in. 

But when it came to the actual building of the park, and when we did that this summer, which was wild, and I really, I am like a one woman show. I have a creative project designer. Her name's Camille Snyder. She's fantastic. She's the one that designed all of the benches. And we also have a full-time Social Worker, which is another one of our programs. But other than that, it is just me in a lot of ways and so I need that. I can't, I, I can't do it alone. 

I think that when community really wants to be involved, " Yay!." That, that I'm doing my job right, and then we can make a big impact. And so...

[00:19:53] Dominique: Two birds with one stone.

[00:19:53] Nora: Yeah. I mean, yesterday we had this little party, and they're like, "You did a great job." I was like, "No." 

[00:19:58] Dominique: "We did a great job"

[00:19:59] Nora: No, I didn't do this. You dug this path and you laid those bricks. like, you know, like I didn't do anything. I mean, I, maybe I did a little bit. Yeah.

[00:20:11] Adam: So three years in. Do you have any really cool takeaways from the work that you've been doing?

[00:20:15] Nora: Hmm. Three years in? I think I've seen a lot of really good energy continuing. And it's been really, really cool to see something go from nothing or like a brainchild to fully yeah, fully realizing and then seeing people start to recognize it. I think that's really lovely. 

And then I think it provides people to say, "Oh. You can do this, can we continue to do this?" And I'm like, "Yes, put funding".

So, which I think is everybody's big kicker is funding.

[00:20:48] Adam: Well, and just kudos for getting people involved in taking part in their community to look after it and make it a, a better place. 

[00:20:54] Nora: Yeah, thank you. 

[00:20:55] Dominique: Back to Adam's question real quickly of like all things under the UDO umbrella, so like Can Fairy Program, The Pocket Park, can you rattle off some other projects that have been under that umbrella?

[00:21:05] Nora: Yeah, so we do Move Out, Move in, which is a collaborative process with the city and the university where everybody's moving out of their apartments and moving back into apartments, and there's all of the major bulk trash. So we help coordinate those efforts. 

We also have a outreach program with our unhoused. We work with Southeast Healthcare as a provider for that. We also manage The Special Improvement District, which is on High Street and the main kind of campus, High Street Area. And so we take care of graffiti and litter and safety efforts there as well.

And we also do a lot of public art. So we have a, an event called Pearl Alley Jam that we have done two years in a row where we paint dumpsters. 

[00:21:51] Adam: How fun.

[00:21:51] Nora: Yeah. So beautify and hopefully people will do less graffiti on them and also throw their trash inside the dumpster instead of next to it.

Groundbreaking. I know. So yeah, so it's all about beautification and a lot of it is sustainability and community engagement.

[00:22:10] Dominique: Hearing all of that makes it all the more impressive when we talk more about Can Fairy itself next episode. ' cause like the fact that you do all of that and all of those are like big and heavy projects. 

[00:22:19] Nora: Yeah. very 

impressive.

Thank thank you. 

[00:22:21] Adam: Well, I mean, we're so glad to have you on today and hear about all the programs that you're doing and really this effort of getting the community around you involved in taking care of the living space and making it better for everyone.

Is there any way that people can support the work that you're doing or connect with the work that you're doing?

[00:22:35] Nora: Yeah. You can follow us on Instagram @universitydistrict. You can also go to our website, universitydistrict.org that has all of the information about all of our different programming, and there's definitely links on our website to donate if you want to support or if you wanna just sign up to volunteer and be involved with any of our little projects. 

[00:22:59] Adam: Fantastic. Well, thank you for joining us today.

[00:23:01] Dominique: Yeah, thanks, Nora..

[00:23:01] Nora: Thank you

[00:23:02] Dominique: I'm excited for our next episode.

[00:23:03] Nora: Me too 

[00:23:04] Adam: Me too. As always, our guests have found a unique way to champion sustainability. We're here to put real names and stories behind the idea that no matter your background, career, or interests, you really can contribute in the fight against climate change.

[00:23:15] Dominique: You can find our episodes at thegreenchampions.com. If you wanna stay in the loop, give us a review and follow us your favorite podcast platform. If you have questions about climate change or sustainability, you can visit us on website, thegreenchampions.com. Our music is by Zane Dweik. Thanks. Listen to Green Champions. We'll be digging further into Nora's sustainability success story in our next episode. 

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