After 14 years in business, Blue Star Design founder Julia Briggs can tackle just about every type of project that comes her way. Business is booming and now she’s challenged with managing the tremendous growth the firm is experiencing.
 
A graphic designer by training, Biggs started Blue Star out of her house. Blue Star has doubled in size since January, growing from three to six employees plus a part-time sales/business advisor, and they outsource to 25 compan... Read more >

Dogs in public parks have a positive impact on safety, says Kerri Whitehouse, a Cleveland Heights resident who wants to see a citywide ban on dogs in parks overturned. Dog walkers are active park users who enhance the safety of public spaces, she argues.

The Cleveland Heights Dog Project sprung from the efforts of the Cain Park Neighborhood Association, a grassroots group of neighborhood residents. Whitehouse says the association formed last year to address crime in the n... Read more >

The Cuyahoga Land Bank and Career Development and Placement Strategies, Inc. (CDPSI) have teamed up to create a pilot program to get formerly incarcerated fathers to work renovating houses. The pilot program, which began in November, puts participants through an intensive six-week program to teach them basic workmanship and professional skills. The participants then go into a six-month internship program with a supervisor in the field.
 
"The internships program ... Read more >

Since its launch in February, eFuneral has steadily grown as a resource for families searching for the right funeral provider. Now founders Mike Belsito and Bryan Chaikin are taking the company, which came out of the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business' 10-Xelerator last summer, to another level.
 
eFuneral recently announced a partnership with Hospice of Dayton. "Ever since we launched, some of our biggest supporters have come from the hospice c... Read more >

One third of children in the U.S. live at home without their biological fathers. In turn, these children are five times more likely to live in poverty than children whose dads are fully present in their lives.

A feature length film that is currently being filmed in Northeast Ohio will explore the crucial role that dads play in their children's lives. It is documenting the journey of fathers as they seek to become better dads by attending programs sponsored by the Cuya... Read more >

The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA) celebrated the completion of the stainless steel cladding being installed on its new home with a signing-off ceremony this week. The date when the glittering, gem-like new building opens its doors to the public is only months away, and that's when the true celebration will begin.

On a recent media tour of the building, the beautifully plotted details of the new museum were evident in raw form. A few of the finer points i... Read more >

With the aid of a $500,000 economic development loan from the city, a former cement company's headquarters in Cleveland Heights will soon be converted into a 120-person call center.

The Medusa Cement Company occupied the building on Monticello until the late 1990s. Founded 120 years ago, the company was originally called the Portland Sandusky Cement Company. It was later renamed after Medusa, the fearsome Greek gorgon whose gaze turned men to stone. Medusa thrived in ... Read more >

Despite support through entrepreneurial assistance programs, area minority business owners say they still experience barriers -- some subtle, others not -- in their goal to contribute to the local business community. Finding success, many explain, is ultimately up to them.

Recent media reports have highlighted neglect of Cleveland's lakefront park system by the State of Ohio, yet less attention has been paid to the dedicated volunteers and local heroes who have worked tirelessly to clean up our waterfront parks and offer free programming to the local community.

One such group is Friends of Edgewater State Park, which recently received a grant from the Cleveland Waterfront Coalition to support a cell phone tour of the park, and a grant f... Read more >

Lake Erie is a whole lot cleaner than it was decades ago, yet in the past 10 years, toxic algae has sprouted up en masse here, forcing state officials to post warning signs at popular area beaches.

The Healthy Lake Erie Fund, which was recently passed by the Ohio State Legislature and signed into law by Governor John Kasich, aims to address this problem by directing three state agencies -- the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and th... Read more >

While many still believe that bigger is better, some innovative Clevelanders are taking green living far and away from the standard colonials, ranches and split-levels. Be they mini homes or those built from upcycled shipping containers, today's sustainable living options challenge core residential concepts and structures.

Joddy Eric Matthews originally moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles to pursue his animation and filmmaking work. But after nearly eight years working for the likes of Sony, Pixar and DreamWorks, Matthews returned to Cleveland and created MadWerkz Studios in 2000, an animation and visual effects design firm.
 
Matthews and minority partners Rique D. Winston and Peter Li Cheung were glad to once again call Cleveland home.

“All of us had spent a good portio... Read more >

Is Lakewood enough of a draw to support adding a new hotel? City leaders aren't sure, but they're spending $7,000 to complete a feasibility study of the market here that will guide future decisions.

The hotel study, which will be paid for using money from the city's economic development fund, will examine whether Lakewood can capitalize on some of the development that is occurring in downtown Cleveland and its own revitalized city center to support a hotel. Currently, the... Read more >

We are on the hunt for a well-connected, motivated, sales/development-skilled professional to be the new Publisher of Fresh Water. Interested? Know someone who might be? Click here to find out more about the position and who to contact for more information on this great opportunity.

The Virginia Marti College of Art and Design recently opened its new Couture Fashion Design Studio, a modern, light-filled space that it hopes will inspire Cleveland's next generation of fashion designers.

With large windows, light bamboo flooring and an open floor plan, the new space is a vast improvement over the old one, which was housed in the building's lower level without any windows or natural light. The Couture Fashion Design Studio houses the computer-aid... Read more >

The National Park Service is proposing over $6 million of improvements to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, including up to 10 miles of mountain bike trails, the addition of boat launch sites, and several new bike-in and paddle-in campsites.

The ambitious plan "aims to develop a blueprint that will guide the expansion, restoration, management, operations and use of the trail system and its associated amenities over the next 15 years, while keeping with the purpose, ... Read more >