Douglas J. Guth is a Cleveland Heights-based freelance writer and journalist. In addition to being senior contributing editor at FreshWater, his work has been published by Midwest Energy News, Kaleidoscope Magazine and Think, the alumni publication of Case Western Reserve University. A die-hard Cleveland sports fan, he also writes for the cynically named (yet humorously written) blog Cleveland Sports Torture. At FreshWater, he contributes regularly to the news and features departments, as well as works on regular sponsored series features.
Euclid Square Mall is hardly abandoned or dead, you just need to take a closer look to witness signs of life, maintains Cleveland artist Jef Scharf. Walk into the mall on a Sunday morning, in fact, and you may hear songs of worship reverberating through its halls.
The former large-scale retail center now has nearly 30 churches renting space for services, Bible studies and choir practice. Scharf, an artist-in-residence at SPACES Gallery, spent a year interviewing chu... Read more >
Let's imagine that the Northeast Ohio healthcare innovation community is a football team. That would make business recruiter BioEnterprise the quarterback, "handing off" startup companies to Austen BioInnovation Institute in Akron, with an aim of scoring funding and resources a company needs to succeed.
Strained metaphors aside, BioEnterprise and Austen are two local groups working as a team to push a regional economic transition from staid manuf... Read more >
Thanks to Northeast Ohio's collaborative medical startup community, one fueled by forward-looking economic organizations and angel investors, entrepreneurs with viable ideas are making waves. Here are five Cleveland and Akron healthcare companies poised to be the Next Big Thing.
Saint Luke's Foundation's stated mission is to move the needle in the area of healthcare, effectively impacting the root causes of what the organization deems as inequities in the quality of care received across all economic and social sectors.
The foundation has a long way to go to achieve its goals, but at least it knows it has a champion in former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. David Satcher, who spoke to foundation trustees and staff at The Free Medical Clinic... Read more >
Steadfast. Tenacious and uncompromising. Someone with an encyclopedic knowledge of the issues at hand.
Those are just a few of the plaudits Earth Day Coalition (EDC) executive director Scott Sanders has for his retiring compatriot, EDC co-executive director Chris Trepal, who will be honored on Friday, Nov. 9 during the organization's Instrumental Evening for the Earth.
Trepal co-founded the nonprofit environmental education/advocacy group with Sanders in 1990... Read more >
The Cleveland Foodbank has a message for Cuyahoga County children as they head into another school year: "You will never go hungry."
The nonprofit food distributor is fulfilling this promise through its annual "Backpack for Kids" program. Throughout the academic year, the Foodbank will partner with 30 schools and afterschool programs to provide children with nutritious meals, says Karen Pozna, the organization's director of communications.
If children and the arts are two of a community's most precious commodities, then the Cleveland Foundation has got Northeast Ohio covered.
As part of an overall grantmaking surge totaling $21.6 million in grants to local nonprofit organizations, the foundation has authorized monies to separate programs focusing on youth development and arts and culture.
Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland received $250,000 to expand its reach, says foundation executive vice pre... Read more >
Last year, Saint Luke's Foundation took a good long look at its infrastructure as well as its impact on the region. The result was a refined grantmaking philosophy that ties funding directly to three overarching priorities: health, community and family.
Saint Luke's most recent round of grants reflects its new approach, says president and CEO Denise San Antonio Zeman. The foundation recently awarded a total of $1,385,332 to 13 organizations that advance its trio o... Read more >
It might seem obvious, but making a movie costs lots of money. Grips, props, camera, lighting equipment and special effects all add up. For a small film, just ensuring that the entire crew's gas money is covered can make up a large chunk of the budget. Applying to film festivals so people actually see your movie is yet another expense.
Cleveland Heights filmmaker Tiffany Laufer knows the cost well, and she's looking to get a crowdfunding boost to help her latest p... Read more >
Mobile workforce management software company TOA Technologies has spent most of its existence dealing with the "nuts and bolts of American industry," says Jeff Wartgow, vice president of channels and alliances. It's the company's tech, for example, that ensures the cable technician is getting a proper signal so he can complete his work.
Thanks to its recent partnership with Racktime Sales & Marketing Services, a Netherlands-headquartered field ... Read more >
If someone loses a leg or arm due to war or accident, a recent endowment from Parker Hannifin Corporation to Cleveland State University is aiming to place the school among the top national options for replicating that lost limb.
Parker Hannifin, a manufacturer of motion technologies, has pledged $1.5 million to CSU for a professorship and the overall study of human motion and control. The money will be spent on a new laboratory in human motion. The lab will include treadm... Read more >
A parent can cover their child's eyes when there is violence on television, but who will do that for a child when they're exposed to real-life trauma? That is the question United Way is answering with its 2-1-1 community access line, a 24-hour help number that's part of Cuyahoga County’s Defending Childhood initiative.
United States Attorney General Eric Holder and Cuyahoga County Executive Edward FitzGerald hosted a news conference September 28 at ... Read more >
TWIST Creative had been adverse the word "agency" for many years, as the term represented something the Cleveland-based branding firm was not. That all changed eight months ago when TWIST shifted its strategy to target bigger clients, spurring a period of growth that has led to a flurry of new hires as well as new customers.
That's four new hires and about 20 new clients to be exact, says Michael Ozan, TWIST's president and chief creative officer, who in... Read more >
If the future belongs to those cities that can frame their opportunities and challenges, act in ways that demonstrate measurable progress, and connect and engage with the smartest people and the smartest ideas, than City Vitals 2.0 can act as a road map for urban leaders.
How do you export an entire region? That's the question Northeast Ohio's promoters are pondering as the investment in local tourism is projected to reach into the billions of dollars over the next few years. Harnessing the economic power of the tourism industry means telling the world loud and proud, "Northeast Ohio is the place to be."
Bringing the 18-county Cleveland Plus region to the disposable income-flush masses should not be a hard sell these days... Read more >
A healthcare industry vet and resident of Cleveland since 1982, Jim Bennett was hired in April by developer MMPI Inc. to oversee the $465 million medical mart and convention center. The complex is expected to draw 200,000 visitors annually, add thousands of new jobs, and generate about $50-$75 million in economic impact per year.
Thanks to game-changing, large-scale architectural efforts largely absent during the recession, Cleveland steadily is catching up to other similarly sized cities in terms of design. Long known as a "brick city," Cleveland's recent and forthcoming high-profile projects are adding progressive new materials to the mix.
It took 305 straw bales harvested from a nearby farm to build one couple's fairly tale home. The three-bedroom, 1,800-square-foot "Asian Craftsman-style" house in Cleveland Heights is the only one like it in Greater Cleveland. Unlike the straw house in The Three Little Pigs, this is one built to withstand rain, wind, snow and the Big Bad Wolf.