Ministry continues on CCU’s former campus
After Cincinnati Christian University closed, its former Price Hill campus began a new chapter. BLOC Ministries is partnering with IDEA Price Hill to provide after-school support and community care. Leaders say the goal is simple: to be “good news” for students, staff, and families.
- CCU’s closure left a painful vacancy for students, alumni, and staff.
- BLOC Ministries is partnering with IDEA Price Hill to expand wrap-around support for students.
- Participation has grown from a handful of students to dozens within months.
MINISTRY CONTINUES ON THE FORMER CAMPUS OF CINCINNATI CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
By Joel Riehle
When CCU closed
In the Fall of 2019 while classes plodded on at Cincinnati Christian University, the devastating news broke that the school was closing. The ministry training school that had started almost a century before would not see another spring semester.
I stood in front of a History of Christianity class in Foster Hall the day the email came out. It was devastating and disorienting. Students didn’t even know what this meant for them.
It was a mess.
The beautiful hill that CCU sat on at the top of the Price Hill neighborhood was to be sold, leaving students and alumni feeling homeless.
A new school on familiar ground
Two years later the Texas-based charter school, IDEA, broke ground on the property as their new Price Hill campus. They champion their students to achieve academic success and boast a high acceptance rate for their students into college. They believe every child should have a shot at higher education and aim to assist students with low-income backgrounds and those from underrepresented groups to achieve higher education degrees.
The thought of the charter school for Price Hill may be great, but it didn’t feel like that to me. This campus used to be my mailing address, place of employment, and the place where I met my wife. Now it would be occupied by strangers.
However, another ministry in the area saw the purchase of CCU’s former site through a more Jesus-focused lens.
BLOC Ministries partners with IDEA Price Hill
BLOC Ministries has been a light to children and families in Price Hill for almost 30 years. They have 52 missionaries who live and work alongside the people of Price Hill. They run after-school programs and food pantries, a Teaching Kitchen, and even an Equine therapy program! They have a heart for the area.
A new partnership formed between IDEA and BLOC just a few months ago. Due to rampant absenteeism among the students at the school, IDEA went looking for support and a boost to morale among the staff.
“51% of the school was missing 2-4 days of school…a week” Chris Staser recalls. Staser is a key leader helping form the wrap-around program for IDEA from BLOC’s end. After research and exploration IDEA was looking for help from BLOC that would extend and expand services for students at IDEA Price Hill. The plan is for BLOC to offer an after-school program, tutoring, and community care to support students beyond the school day.
This is an area that BLOC shines in. BLOC already offers these programs in dozens of locations throughout Price Hill.
“You could pay an after-school type program, any secular group to do that. What they cannot do that we can do is we have 82 staff that live and work in the area.” Staser unashamed states about BLOC. This makes them the perfect partner for IDEA’s goals.
“Good news” in Price Hill
IDEA got a grant from a generous donor and the partnership was crystallized just last fall (2025). Starting as recently as November, BLOC offered their first after-school program at IDEA Price Hill. On the first night, Staser said, one mother brought her 3 daughters and they were the only ones who showed up. “So, we had this big idea and 3 girls showed up. But last week (March 2026) we had 40.”
BLOC’s after school program is more than your typical latchkey. They offer a farm-to-table teaching kitchen, sports performance and hip-hop music programs, equine therapy, and community navigating programs. “I want to do what do works,” says Staser. “If a kid needs to do homework, we’ll help them with that, but most of them just want to have fun.”
BLOC offers more than just after school programming, which they do 3 days a week. They bring teachers snacks throughout the week, sometimes feeding them a full lunch, and their staff hangs out on campus. BLOC’s plan is to reach students at the school with the after-school offerings, but also to connect students to other things that BLOC offers through their food pantry and churches.
”We’re very clearly a faith-based organization in a public institution and we’re not hiding that,” Staser says.
They pray and do Bible studies in their time with the students. Even though it has only been for 6 months, BLOC’s activities are catching on and more students are showing up each week. Staser estimates they’ll have closer to 75 students by the end of the school year and these students are coming to other BLOC community events as well. Even “some teachers will stop by the program for a couple minutes,” according to Staser, to see what’s happening and to check in on the students.
With all the metrics that could be used to judge the success of BLOC’s ministry, Staser sums up their overall goal by saying, we just want people at the school to say, “Gosh their presence here is just good news!”
BLOC has been good news in Price Hill for decades and now they’ve gained new ground. Ground that used to house Cincinnati Christian University. No one wanted to see the failure of CCU and the closing of that campus. As one who mourns that loss, however, I find the BLOC partnership with IDEA Price Hill to be a great encouragement.
Author: Joel Riehle
Joel Riehle is the Connect Pastor at Community Christian Church, Hamilton, Ohio.
