Tom Gill, Jacqueline Gillon, Stephanie Buda and Shelly Gracon are thinking outside the box to make their communities stronger. They are this year's #Fresh4, recognized by the Cleveland Leadership Center and FreshWater Cleveland as innovators who are making a difference.

Class is in session for the first students at Welsh Academy, housed inside St. Ignatius High School on Cleveland's Near West Side. The 21 sixth graders, from Cleveland and its inner-ring suburbs, will receive a top-notch education, with donors covering their tuition.

For an “undeniably Cleveland” experience, try exploring the Lorain Avenue Antiques District for an enjoyable Saturday afternoon.

The Comeback Café serves up breakfast and lunch to state workers in downtown Cleveland, prepared by women seeking a jump start on a career after they are released from prison.

Ever thought about starting a community garden? Or how about starting your own urban farmers market? Well, Slavic Village Development is looking for someone with an agricultural mind to take a half-acre-plus plot of land on Union Avenue in Cleveland and build a community garden or urban farming operation.

Elio Calabrese doesn’t like to let moss grow under his feet. But he does like to preserve the carpet-like plant and use it for decoration. And as the owner of Urban Planting Cleveland, Calabrese produces unique custom moss decor to bring nature inside in virtually any environment.
 

When their Love Letter to Cleveland mural in Ohio City succumbed to the weather in 2017, Laura and Gary Dumm launched a campaign to resurrect their beloved public art. Now it will be displayed outside the Cleveland Memory Project at CSU.

Projected to be a $5 million to $7 million business in 2019, with sales growth expected to be as much as 500 percent, Cleveland Kraut is considered to be one of the fastest growing businesses in the fermented food industry.

Kauser Razvi says she became motivated to create a literary lot based on the children's book The Wild Robot after the 2016 election. “It’s about identifying, bullying, isolation, and belonging,” she explains. "It's about having value in your own space."

Four years after the Western Reserve Land Conservancy (WRLC) acquired the former Henninger Landfill on Pearl Road in Old Brooklyn, plans are moving ahead to convert the land into a 25-acre connector park that will link to Ohio & Erie Canalway Towpath Trail, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, and Brookside Reservation.

Meadville, PA-based Voodoo Brewery is slated to open its first tap house outside of Pennsylvania and its eighth location overall later this year.

As soon as officials with Ohio City Incorporated (OCI) began pulling furniture off the truck earlier this month, the crowds started to gather. By the time they were finished, the new Market Avenue pop-up park was bustling with activity, and it hasn't stopped since.

The neighborhood restaurant will reopen this month under the West Side Catholic Center using the EDWINS model of employing formerly-incarcerated adults.

 

A new book by Bob Perkoski and Erin O'Brien documents the colorful history of Cleveland’s burlesque scene, from the 1800s to modern day.

Some might call it divine intervention that brought Jason Thompson and Scott O’Con to Cleveland. They came to the city from northern Virginia in 2017 when Thompson joined West Park United Church of Christ as senior pastor—his first pastoral role—and the couple have never looked back.
 

A 1.07-acre plot of land at the corner of Lee and Meadowbrook Roads is about to be developed to comprise a total of 4.8 acres in the heart of the city's commercial district.

A joint effort to connect 101 miles of biking and hiking paths from New Philadelphia to Cleveland's Lake Erie shoreline via the Towpath Trail Extension Project is preparing to cross the finish line. 

When Anya Rudd was a child living in University Heights, she imagined what it would be like to live in the majestic house at 2178 Harcourt Drive in Cleveland Heights. In 2016, Anya and her husband John made her dreams come true when they bought the 1910 Elizabethan Revival, 7,422-square-foot mansion known as Harcourt Manor.

Ever since Cove Park unofficially reopened last fall, Lakewood councilman Dan O’Malley has been watching to see how residents are enjoying the revamped recreation area. “I’ve been riding my bike to the park a couple of times a week to see how people are using it, and it’s really popular,” the Ward 4 councilman says. “It’s great to see it already being used.”

For the past four years, Eric Huber and his wife, Julie, have been quietly operating Lake Erie Pet Food Company as a convenient way to get natural, locally-made dog and cat food delivered to Northeast Ohio pet lovers.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, June 12, the Hubers will officially open the doors to their first brick-and-mortar retail store at 4164 Lorain Ave. in Ohio City.