Charlene Hinners
By Kelly Doran
Sun staff

After the Cincinnati riots in 2001 protesting Timothy Thomas’s death, the Cincinnati Enquirer organized Neighbor to Neighbor groups in the Cincinnati area to promote peace. Fourteen years after the groups began, only one remains.

Charlene Hinners is a Milford City Council member and has been involved with Neighbor to Neighbor in Milford since the group began in January 2002. After the Pleasant Ridge group disbanded four years ago, the Milford group was the only group left.

“We wanted to foster dialogue and friendship among all of our African American friends that we’d gone to school with in this town and seek some peace and understanding for all of us,” Hinners said.

The first emphasis of the group was to get to know one another and establish trust. After that, the group began having deep discussions on a range of topics, Hinners said.

The group began with a meeting at the Milford Council Chambers.

For a time when Bob Terwillegar was among the leaders, the group met at the Milford Methodist Church on Monday nights, Hinners said.

Neighbor to Neighbor now meets monthly at the Christ Church.

“It’s been wonderful,” Hinners said.

Being a part of this group has taught Hinners a great deal about white privilege, such as why her African American friends never played in town with her and the other white children in Milford outside of school.

“I’m just glad to be a part of it,” Hinners said.

The group currently has about 20 members, of which Hinners is the only original member but most have been there for most of the 13 years the Milford area Neighbor to Neighbor has existed. The membership is very diverse, Hinners said.

The ideas of Neighbor to Neighbor, unity, integrity, respect, family, community, brotherhood, pride, love and equality, are more important now than ever because there are more awareness of racism, Hinners feels.

“There’s more of a need for peace and understanding than there ever was before as far as I’m concerned,” Hinners said.

Neighbor to Neighbor supports the Milford area black history society and in February the group participates in an event at the Day Heights Fire House where young adults speak about their success, Hinners said.

The group also has a float in the Frontier Days Parade in Milford, Hinners said.

The group’s most recent efforts have been spent trying to increase the diversity in the Milford School system, Hinners said.

Hinners feels that Neighbor to Neighbor has made a difference and said the group will continue as long as it can.

Neighbor to Neighbor’s mission is important to Hinners personally because she’s had close African American friends in the past and she wants to see a kinder, gentler world.

“It really breaks my heart to see some of the misunderstandings,” Hinners said.

For more information about Neighbor to Neighbor, call Hinners at 513-383-0251.