When FC Cincinnati was overhauling the technical side of its organization late in 2021, opportunities to join the club must have appeared on the surface as enticing propositions, and easy to sign on for. Especially for a promising soccer mind like Kenny Arena.
FC Cincinnati had Chris Albright, an exciting, first-time general-manger hire, and Pat Noonan, who had been widely billed as the next great MLS assistant coach to get a chance to prove himself as head coach. Arena also had extensive past histories with both men and their respective families.
All of that, plus best-in-class soccer facilities and an ownership group willing to invest big in the final product, both on the field and in the back rooms of the organization. Who would say "no" to all that?
All those surface-level observations about FC Cincinnati would have been correct, but that was just the professional side of Arena's decision to relocate his family from Los Angeles to Southwest Ohio. Far more important than anything involving soccer was Arena's family, and his son, Holden, in particular.
Now 10 years old, Holden Arena was diagnosed with autism at age two. Holden Arena is minimal-verbal, and challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic impacted his development.
In Los Angeles, though, Holden Arena was comfortable. A younger brother to 12-year-old Wayde Arena, Holden Arena benefitted from having the same behavioral technician for years, and had a familiar set of other caretakers in place, said his mother, Jenny Arena.
Leaving all that behind for a job in soccer was a complicated and layered decision for the Arena family.
"We had a lot of concerns. We had therapists in place that had been working with him, understood him," Jenny Arena said. "The neurodiverse world is − you're always learning and every day is different, so that big of a change, we knew there was going to be some big differences that we might not have experienced before. How will we manage it? ... It's hard for Holden to adjust. Change is something that we work on with him but routine and schedule is something he prefers. We couldn't explain to him we were moving and I think it took him some time to understand this was our permanent residence."
Kenny Arena said he saw all the upside of joining the FC Cincinnati coaching staff, but both he and Jenny Arena still labored with the decision that would so greatly impact his youngest son.
"It really was a leap of faith," Kenny Arena said. "Whenever you do this and whenever you have different challenges within your family, it is a leap of faith and we just tried to stay positive and believe that our experience − finding solutions in Los Angeles while we were both working full-time, scrambling to make ends' meet for us and our kids − that that experience would help us in solving the problems in Cincinnati.
"I think an overall, general theme for families of kids with special needs is that it's extremely difficult to set up services, find a school, find the therapies, make sure that coincides with insurance, and so on. Yeah, when you move, you start all that over again."
The Arena family ultimately took the leap and came to Cincinnati ahead of the 2022 MLS season. Jenny Arena described the decision as one of the best they've ever made. That's not to say everything went smoothly, but one thing that did was finding Stepping Stones, a pioneering non-profit that serves hundreds of individuals in Greater Cincinnati with disabilities. The organization, founded in 1963 and operating out of four locations, offers recreational and educational programming.
The Arena's made their home in Terrace Park, which was a short drive from Stepping Stones' Indian Hill location. Other Stepping Stones branches are located in Batavia, Norwood and Western Hills.
"We didn't know it was going to be minutes − about 90 seconds − from our house, but we're just so happy we found the organization," Jenny Arena said. "It really helped us settle into a new life and have less qualms about how Holden was going to adjust... He found an immediate connection with the volunteers and staff at Stepping Stones where he felt like a place that (felt like) home... It's a special time of day for us when we go to drop him off and pick him up."
Holden Arena started attending Stepping Stone's Saturday camps early in the family's time in Terrace Park. He then moved to one of the organization's summer camps, which Stepping Stones is perhaps best known for.
As the Arena family continued to wade through waiting lists for schools and services to meet Holden Arena's needs, Stepping Stones was an immediate solution to some of their biggest concerns. At the other end of the Arena family's leap of faith to move cross-country to Cincinnati, Stepping Stones helped alleviate untold stress and anxieties about Holden Arena's quality of life.
"The one thing that we found right away was Stepping Stones," Kenny Arena said. "That was the greatest blessing... This is a place that has everything. It isn't just for autism. It is for kids who need help, adults who need help, and the amount of people that are working there make it possible for hundreds of people to find the joys in life that we take for granted."
Jenny Arena paid forward her appreciation for Stepping Stones in 2023 by helping promote the organization's annual and largest fundraiser, "Bloom." With her help, Stepping Stones significantly increased Bloom's revenue.
Jenny Arena was then asked to be the event chair, a position she accepted and where she is aiming to better Bloom's 2023 revenue.
Bloom 2024, scheduled for Sept. 7, is the 20th anniversary of the event, is taking on a James Bond theme: "Live and Let Bloom."
The event will be staged from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. at Element Eatery at 5350 MedPace Way in Madisonville, and feature food, live entertainment, a silent auction, casino-themed games, and other activities.Organizers are calling the evening's dress code “license to dazzle,” or dressy casual.
The event websites offers would-be attendees an invitation to "leave the tuxedo at home," although Jenny Arena said she's hoping for some creative, Bond-themed outfits from attendees.
Tickets to attend are available on the organization's website, and cost $150.
General Donations can always be made to Stepping Stones via the organization's website.
"We want to celebrate this milestone and how much this organization has grown," Jenny Arena said. "Element Eatery, which is one of our favorite spots and when we were thinking about as many different pieces of Cincinnati together, we felt like it was great in a logistics sense but also gives that environment of socialization and moving around and enjoying food, laughter, drinks and interacting with each other and enjoying this communicating."
