The Ohio State University at Marion is opening a new downtown engagement hub Wednesday. The aim is to bring people together to collaborate and work on solutions for the community.
WOSU’s Debbie Holmes spoke with Dean and Director at Ohio State Marion, Jennifer Schlueter.
Debbie Holmes: So where is the engagement hub located exactly?
Jennifer Schlueter: It is in downtown Marion at 146 North Main Street. It's a little building that has a long history in this town. It was a restaurant, it was a pawn shop, it's been a lot of different things, and now it's going to be Ohio State Marion's home in the downtown.
Debbie Holmes: Well, tell me about the purpose of this. Is it meant to bring more jobs to Downtown Marion and how many people will work at the hub?
Jennifer Schlueter: Its core purpose is not about bringing more jobs to downtown. It's a place that's going to be a kind of collaboration zone and a space that we're going to host, co-design and collaborative conversations to leverage everything that Ohio State knows and does in the service of this wonderful city that hosts Ohio State Marion. So, it is a space that's going to have programming that will touch on things like community problem solving, workforce for the public good, building educational pathways.
But what happens inside of it will change from day to day. And it's going to be focused on the projects that the community brings to us and the work that we want to do along with them.
Debbie Holmes: Are there specific problems and issues in Marion that need to be addressed?
Jennifer Schlueter: Of course, you know, every city has its challenges. Marion is a legacy city, which means, you know, it had a strong manufacturing history and then underwent significant change and challenge and transformation. And right now, I think one of the biggest things out in front of Marion to grapple with is how to continue the reinvention of the city itself in light of new industries and new workforce demands.
The other thing that I think is really pressing here, and Ohio State Marion has been a great part of convening folks to talk about, is the needs around addiction and behavioral health that sort of come alongside a city that has been challenged as it transforms. So, there's no shortage of things that we could collaborate on to think about together.
And I don't want to forget the fact that there's also an awful lot of joy here. There are great stories to be told, to be archived, to be celebrated. And we want to do that work too.
Debbie Holmes: And who's going to be part of this hub?
Jennifer Schlueter: It will be a fusion of Ohio State Marian faculty and staff and students and core community members that will come together. We're also excited to be bringing in experts from across the spectrum in Columbus to Marion because you know we're a land-grant university. Our job is to teach and to do research, but it is also to share what we learn with the communities that host us.
Debbie Holmes: How do you think specifically, this hub can help a family in Marion?
Jennifer Schlueter: I think there's going to be several ways. Out of the gate, we're saying this hub is beginning with questions, not with a calendar of events. So, if we think about the kind of questions that a family in Marion might have, they might have to do with what is a four-year degree for? Is it worth it for my child to pursue that?
There's that. But then there's also thinking about how we might grapple with the needs around the changing economy here. How might we think about the ways in which we become a more AI resilient city, for example. So, I think there will be all kinds of things that a family might be impacted by. What we're really interested in is engaging with the challenges of a legacy city at the level of the system. And we are excited to bring expertise to that.
Debbie Holmes: Did you model this engagement hub after one in another city?
Jennifer Schlueter: We didn't, you know, I mean, there are all kinds of spaces and initiatives that rhyme with this. You know, co-design is not something that Ohio State Marion owns. It is an approach and a process that folks, even like Liz Sanders at Ohio State in Columbus, are truly an expert in. But I want to shout out one key example. I'm thinking about the ways in which Zora's house in Columbus collaborated with the Women's Fund of Central Ohio and the Columbus College of Art and Design around an equity-centered Design Institute for Women of Color. It's a good example of something like this.
Debbie Holmes: How will you know when it's successful?
Jennifer Schlueter: I think we will know when it’s successful when we have to turn problems away, when we have such a full calendar of work that we have to put ideas on a waiting list. And I think we’ll know it's successful when the hub is bringing students and faculty and staff together with the community and we're bringing foot traffic downtown. We're bringing events that celebrate downtown to the space, and when we really are seeing movement around some of the problems that we deal with.
