Hilltop gets one-stop website for information

After a nonprofit developer in Franklinton created a webpage to inform the neighborhood’s residents where to find government services, churches or festivals and events, it created a similar site for the Hilltop.

Hilltopusa.org officially goes live on Tuesday. Hilltop residents can browse the site or search for information on health services, coffee shops, emergency housing, furniture and other resources.

FUEL Franklinton, formerly the Franklinton Development Association, is behind the site.

“We’re helping to connect the community to resources that already existed,” said Eric Skidmore, FUEL Franklinton’s executive director.

But it’s a one-stop shop that residents can access, said Andrew Summerfield, the president and creative director of Summerfield Advertising of Columbus, which helped put together the website.

Summerfield helped FUEL Franklinton put together a similar site for Franklinton last year: franklinton.org. FUEL Franklinton had received a grant from Celebrate One — the partnership of Franklin County, Columbus Public Health and several private organizations to reduce the infant-mortality rate — that helped fund the creation of franklinton. org and a financial lifeskills program.

Hilltopusa.org groups information under topics such as recreation and the arts and services for refugees and immigrants.

“It’s a whole community resource tool, all driven to make connections available to family and residents,” Summerfield said.

“It’s really a branding initiative.”

Lisa Boggs, a Hilltop neighborhood leader, said she hopes it works.

“The most-important thing is getting connected to how to get your trash taken care of,” she said.