There鈥檚 a storefront on North Main Street with 91导航 Marion鈥檚 name on it 鈥 and a seat at the table with yours. The Downtown Engagement Hub isn鈥檛 another office or classroom. It鈥檚 where the people who live and work in Marion and the people who teach and study at 91导航 sit down together and build something.
No. The Hub is not a satellite office, extra classroom space, or a lecture hall where somebody stands behind a podium, settled in advance on who鈥檚 talking and who鈥檚 listening. It鈥檚 a place where the people who live and work in this community and the people who teach and study at this university sit at the same table, share what we know, and see what we can build together.
Codesign starts from a simple premise: the people closest to a problem should help shape the response to it. That sounds obvious. It鈥檚 not how most things get done. The usual method is that experts study a community, produce a plan, and present it. Codesign inverts the sequence 鈥 residents, students, employers, nonprofit leaders, officials, and faculty come into the room as co-creators. We surface what people know from living it, make invisible systems visible, prototype, test, get it wrong, and revise. It鈥檚 not a suggestion box, and it鈥檚 not a public meeting announcing a decision already made. It鈥檚 slower, more honest, and 鈥 when it鈥檚 working 鈥 genuinely joyful.
. For more than thirty years, Lois J. Fisher & Associates has done the patient, unglamorous, consequential work of putting buildings Marion had written off back into use across downtown and the Medical District. She鈥檚 given 91导航 Marion this building for three years 鈥 deliberate, on both sides. We鈥檙e not going to tell Marion we鈥檝e built something permanent before we鈥檝e earned it. Three years is enough time to find out what this place should be and to prove it belongs here. If we get it right, we intend to stay.
, Associate Professor of Interior Design in 91导航鈥檚 Department of Design 鈥 the same designer behind the in Columbus. She works in the sensory register: materials, light, texture, the way a space tells you how to feel before you鈥檝e consciously decided anything. The result is flexible (a workshop Tuesday, a gallery Thursday), comfortable (people don鈥檛 think well in bad chairs), legible from the sidewalk, and unmistakably a working space 鈥 somewhere things get made, moved, marked up, and figured out.
No 鈥 Marion already has a lot, and we鈥檙e not here to repeat it. For example: teaches you how to start a business, a block away at Marion Tech Downtown. is Marion鈥檚 coworking space. The convenes the business community. supports local creatives. The (from Aspire Ministries) coalesces local service agencies. brings key advocacy groups together. Instead, 91导航 Marion鈥檚 Downtown Engagement Hub works at the systems level 鈥 the conditions Marionites share and the challenges no single organization can solve alone. Said differently: we鈥檙e here to get the right people in one room and see what they make together.
Join the mailing list to follow programming 鈥 but also, come to us with a need, a project, an idea, or an experiment that wants a room and some company. The calendar is built substantially from what the community proposes.
You might bring us: a challenge your organization is stuck on 路 a project you want to test with real people 路 a partnership idea with campus faculty or students 路 an event that just makes downtown a better place to be on a Saturday.
You do not need: a connection to 91导航 路 a polished proposal 路 a budget 路 a degree.
Ways in: Propose something 鈥 rough is fine. Or just visit during open hours.
Yes 鈥 it鈥檚 not a facility that happens to belong to the campus; it鈥檚 where the campus does its work in public.
Faculty: hold community office hours downtown, bring a class for a session or critique, propose or place a community-engaged research project. If your scholarship would be better with someone from Marion in the room, this is the room.
Staff: bring a program downtown, meet a partner here, use the space for work that鈥檚 easier when people can walk in off the street.
Students: join a project team, pitch an event, present what you鈥檝e made to an audience that isn鈥檛 your professor.
How to start: Contact Leslie Beyer-Hermsen.1 or use our
We take this as seriously as we take parking, and for the same reason: what keeps people away usually isn鈥檛 a lack of interest 鈥 it鈥檚 not knowing whether they鈥檒l be able to get in.
We鈥檙e new to this block. Our immediate neighbors鈥, , , , , , , and a lot of others鈥攚ere making downtown Marion a community long before we unlocked this door. We鈥檝e arrived excited to share space with them, and ready to listen. If you鈥檝e been living or working downtown and have thoughts about what we should be doing 鈥 or should stop doing 鈥 come tell us.
146 N. Main Street, Marion, Ohio 43302. Wednesday鈥揊riday, 10 a.m.鈥5 p.m. (events often fall outside these hours 鈥 watch the calendar). Leslie Beyer-Hermsen, Assistant Dean 鈥 beyer-hermsen.1@osu.edu 路 Jennifer Schlueter, Dean and Director 鈥 schlueter.10@osu.edu.