Imago is an organization committed to living in harmony with the Earth and its people.  Its members embody lifestyles premised on the sacredness of all Creation.  Its mission is to create a new vision of human presence within the Earth community, drawing on Earth-centered traditions and a bioregional consciousness.
 
 

Imago, Inc. is an environmental education organization founded in 1978.  Imago's purpose is to educate communities of people about sustainability, with a particular focus on the urban environment; and to develop models for sustainable living as part of the education process.

The 350 members of Imago, the 1000 people who come to our workshops and presentations each year, the 4,000 school children in Cincinnati's public and parochial schools, and the 40,000 people in Price Hill, are the people we most directly serve.  We envision the Ecological Neighborhood Project as becoming a model for other neighborhoods and cities across the country.
 
 

• Provided workshops and presentations on sustainability since 1978.  More than a thousand people attend our workshops and  presentations each year.  Five hundred people came to the EarthSpirit Rising Conference in May. (See Earth /Spirit below)
• Offered monthly presentations on sustainable living for members and friends since 1979.  We have a potluck dinner and presentation/discussion the first Friday of each month, except summers.
• Provided Eco-Counseling for those interested in including an Earth connection in their healing.
• Recognized significant Earth events in celebrations and rituals.  We especially celebrate the solstice, equinox and cross quarter holidays.
• Established the Western Wildlife Corridor, Inc. to protect a 15 mile wooded corridor.  This forested corridor runs along the Ohio River from near downtown Cincinnati to the Indiana border.
• Purchased and renovated a condemned, dilapidated house as a way to demonstrate energy efficiency. This project was a pilot program showing how a neighborhood can work with the city's older housing stock.
• Purchased 15 acres of land that has now been developed into an outdoor earth center.  More than 5.000 children from more than 50 schools and scout groups came to the facility in 1998.
• In 1993, Imago launched a collaborative effort to develop the Price Hill community as the ecological or green neighborhood of the city of Cincinnati.  The vision is to see Price Hill as a model of sustainable living in an urban neighborhood.  A five year half million dollar grant was received in 1998 to rejuvenate Price Hill, a transitioning neighborhood, through ecological steps.
• Published a bi-monthly newsletter since 1985, with articles looking at the issues of sustainability.
• Maintained a membership that ranges between 350 and 500.  Members receive a discount on workshops and materials from the bookstore and receive the bi-monthly newsletter.  Membership is $35 for an individual, $50 for a household.

Imago remains committed to the fact that any long-term change in behavior regarding sustainable patterns of consumption of goods, land use, and resource use must be within some spiritual context. It is with this conviction that Imago's programs explore this dimension, particularly in the earth-centered traditions. A committee of members has been available to churches and groups to articulate the importance of spirituality and to demonstrate through ritual our connection to all of creation. Workshops addressing the concept of spirituality with well-known national speakers have always been a part of Imago's educational program.  In May of 1998, Imago spearheaded a conference called EarthSpirit Rising, a Midwest Conference on Celebrating and Healing the Planet Earth.  Some thirty speakers and 500 participants came to this gathering.  Keynote speakers were John Seed, David Abram, Rosemary Radford Ruether, Dennis Banks, Paula Gonzalez and David Orr.

Imago has also moved into full programming with Spiritual Eldering.  This model offers programs to persons age 50 and older to enable them to see a new role as mentors of our culture.  It offers techniques of life review and visioning exercises as ways to enter fully into this role. Imago has, during the past year, presented a major conference on Spiritual Eldering.  Four small groups are meeting with a staff facilitator on a biweekly basis.
 
 

In 1993 Imago, Inc., formed the Ecological Neighborhood Committee, largely in response to a challenge by Thomas Berry, cultural historian and author of  The Universe Story.  He believes that if human civilization is to survive, they must reinvent their ways of living and this must be done at the local level before it can reach national and international levels. This committee has been  responsible for the video produced in 1995 by Xavier University, an energy reduction campaign in Price Hill, a land survey of East Price Hill, a brochure outlining the project, and numerous articles and presentations that have successfully brought this new idea into acceptance. In l998, Imago received a grant for $100,000 per year for five years to develop an ecological neighborhood in Price Hill, a transitioning neighborhood in Cincinnati, beginning with developing a 50 block Eco-Village.  The first year will see a physical plan for the neighborhood and business district, construction of 11 ecological homes, block clubs created throughout the area, a booklet on the history of the area, establishment of a park and a bird sanctuary and the ecological renovation of an office building in the Eco-Village area.
 

Imago, Inc. has offered environmental education programs at its eight-acre urban outdoor learning site, the Imago Earth Center, for five years.  Programs are primarily intended for students who live in urban neighborhoods and attend city schools.  Our programs use a Woodland Indian theme to enhance student interest and ensure retention of the environmental materials.  Working individually and in small groups, students use hands-on activities to understand that their own family’s food, shelter and other resources come from their environment.  The focus on the Woodland Indians brings the concept of cultural diversity alive for children and provides an interdisciplinary curriculum of science, sociology and history.

Schools and scouts throughout the area continue to use the Earth Center for field trips. More than 4,000 students came to the center in 1998.  Grants were received to develop an internship program.  This program allows for interns to work from 3 months to a year at the Earth Center learning to teach, develop learning sites and curriculum, maintain the site and market programs.  A grant was also received to help in the marketing of the Earth Center.
 
 

ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Patricia Dolan   President
Elizabeth Moussas   Secretary
Frank Collins   Treasurer
R. James Schenk   Co-Director
Eileen Branigan Schenk   Co-Director

BOARD MEMBERS
Judy Bechtel, PhD
R. J. Weber
Katherine Hoelscher, SC
Kay Clifton, PhD
Deborah Jordan
Richard Haid

Imago, Inc.; 553 Enright Ave.; Cincinnati, OH 45205;  513-921-5124