Slavic Village Development, Cleveland Public Art and Parkworks all claim their share of a national trail award.

American Trails, the world's largest online trails resource, held its 20th National Trails Awards on Nov. 16, in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The awards program recognizes exemplary people across the landscape of America who are working to create a national system of trails to meet the recreation, health, and travel needs of all Americans.

Winning the "Trai... Read more >

In a one-hour PBS special that airs tonight (November 18th), NOW host David Brancaccio visits communities across America that are using innovative approaches to create jobs and build prosperity in our new economy.

The special, which is called "Fixing the Future," includes a visit to Cleveland, where Brancaccio highlights the successes of Evergreen Cooperatives. During the segment, he speaks to Mendrick Addison, a worker-owner of Evergreen Cooperative Laundry, and Ted Howa... Read more >

In anticipation of the Cleveland Orchestra's long-awaited return to Korea, the Korea Times published a gleeful article by Lee Hyo-won.

"It would be an understatement to say that much has changed since the last time the Cleveland Orchestra played in Korea, 32 years ago under the baton of Lorin Maazel," writes Hyo-won. "Back in 1978, it was a rare occasion for local classical music aficionados to hear a world-class foreign orchestra live."

Of the performance and pe... Read more >

Shelterforce, the nation's oldest continually published housing and community development magazine, recently devoted considerable attention to Cleveland's Evergreen Cooperatives. Written by Miriam Axel-Lute, an associate director at the National Housing Institute, the article tells how cities and governments are taking notice of the paradigm. Titled "Green Jobs with Roots," the piece begins with powerful lede: In a couple years, residents of some of the poorest neighborhoods i... Read more >

When it rains it pours for Cleveland's Evergreen Cooperatives, which continues to attract local, regional and national attention for its approach to job creation and neighborhood development.

Recently, John Yang of NBC Nightly News visited Evergreen Cooperative Laundry to see how that green operation is giving traditionally "hard-to-hire" folks living wage jobs and a path to company ownership.

Watch the video here.

Earlier this week, the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) announced that its "Women of the World" program, films made by women or about women empowerment, was the recipient of a $20,000 grant from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The CIFF is one of 30 U.S Film Festivals to receive this funding in the 2011 calendar year.

Debuting in 2008 at the 32nd CIFF, the "Women of the World" program continues to grow in popularity, thanks in part to sponsors... Read more >

Reporting for CNET, medical blogger Elizabeth Armstrong Moore reports on the Cleveland Clinic's recent Medical Innovation Summit, where the "top ten" medical breakthroughs of 2011 were predicted. Taking top honors was the new brain-imaging compound AV-45, which will aid in early detection of Alzheimer's.

In the post, Moore writes, "To this day, diagnosing the disease while a patient is still alive is tricky, and there is still no cure. But there have been several breakthr... Read more >

Since it was posted last week on YouTube, Dan Wantz's passionate short film "LeBron James 'Rise' Commercial & Cleveland's Response" has gone viral, to say the least. It has been viewed over 3 million times, received well over 15,000 comments, and has become required posting on Facebook. Within a single day, the video appeared on TMZ.com, which quoted Wantz as saying that he "just wanted Cleveland to have a voice" and that James was "more than just a basketball player" to the p... Read more >

In a segment that aired earlier this week on the Today show, Adam Richman, the cherubic and itinerant host of the Travel Channel show Man v. Food, sat down with Cleveland ex-pat Al Roker. While plugging his new book titled "America the Edible," a paean to regional cuisine, Richman brings up the West Side Market.

As video of the local landmark rolls on the monitor, Roker and Richman are overcome by a case of the "oohs" and "aahs." Roker calls it his favorite place while R... Read more >

This year, Cleveland State University produced the second most Fulbright scholars in the nation, matching George Washington University, University of North Carolina and University of Florida, all of which produced six Fulbright scholars for the 2010-2011 academic year.

Coming in third place with five Fulbrights were Harvard University and Stanford University.

"This is a significant accomplishment for CSU because it demonstrates our commitment to expanding the Uni... Read more >

In the latest issue of The Deal, Cleveland earns major real estate and attention for its remarkably robust deal-making environment. In a multi-feature special report titled: The Anatomy of a Dealmaking Community, numerous Cleveland companies get major props.

The magazine poses the rhetorical question: "How do deals get done in America?" And answers it with: "This once-powerful industrial center boasts a vibrant network of advisers and investors. This is how it works."
... Read more >

Last week we helped spread the word about the Cleveland Orchestra's new Center for Future Audiences, launched with a gift of $20 million from the Maltz Family Foundation. This week, it seems, word is spreading across the national classical music landscape.

Writing in the Baltimore Sun, classical music critic Tim Smith reports, "There's enough bad news in the classical music business that any good news seems extra good. So it is with word from the Cleveland Orchestra, whic... Read more >

Slashfood, a popular online magazine devoted to food and drink, recently touted Cleveland's efforts to combat health, economic and foreclosure problems by launching multiple urban farming projects.

Citing the just-announced $1.1 million pilot program to fund the Cleveland Urban Agriculture Incubator Project, the writer notes that "Cleveland is planting seeds to counter the serious problems of obesity, food deserts and urban blight."

Supported by the USDA, the Cit... Read more >

If you didn't have an opportunity to attend the Reclaiming Vacant Properties conference held here two weeks ago, we urge you to read this thorough rundown in Next American City.

Reporting for the mag is Cleveland-based sustainability writer Marc Lefkowitz, a frequent Next American City contributor.

Cleveland was chosen to host the conference, explained keynote speaker Alex Kotlowitz, not simply because the city is plagued by foreclosures and vacant properties, b... Read more >

Boasting the highest score and largest circulation in its expenditure category, the Cleveland Public Library snagged top honors in the annual Library Journal Index of Public Library Service (LJ Index). Crunching numbers in the categories of library visits, circulation, program attendance, and public Internet usage, the index ranks more than 7,400 library systems around the nation.

"This is great news for our Cleveland community," said Felton Thomas, director of Cleveland ... Read more >

Santé, the Magazine for Restaurant Professionals recently announced its winners of the 2010 Santé Restaurant Awards. Currently in their 13th year, the Santé Awards were created to recognize excellence in restaurant food, wine, spirits, and service hospitality.

Claiming three of the 88 awards were Cleveland restaurants Parallax and Table 45, which won in the "Innovative" category, and Moxie, which took honors in the "Sustainable" category.

"At Table 45, we take... Read more >

In its second annual ranking of "America's Smartest (and Dumbest) Cities," the Daily Beast website credits Cleveland as the 17th smartest big city with one million people or more. That puts us ahead of Chicago (#24), Atlanta (#28), Dallas (#41), and Las Vegas (#55).

Crunching figures that take into account per-capita numbers of libraries, residents with bachelor's and graduate degrees, nonfiction book sales, and institutions of higher education, the survey determined the ... Read more >

Thanks to an extraordinary financial gift from the Maltz Family Foundation in the amount of $20M, the Cleveland Orchestra has announced the formation of the Center for Future Audiences.

With the stated goal of having the youngest orchestra audience in the country by 2018, the symphony's centennial, the endowment will remove the financial barrier standing in the way of Cleveland's youth by subsidizing or offering free admission to young concert-goers.

"It's incomp... Read more >

Discussing a season of rarely travelled Vatican artifacts on tour throughout the nation, arts reporter Eve M. Kahn writes in the New York Times about an upcoming stop at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Here is an excerpt: "On Sunday [October 17] 'Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe' opens at the Cleveland Museum of Art, with a half-dozen Vatican loans. Displayed are marble sarcophagi and tomb fragments from the fourth century, a boxed collection o... Read more >

It was Oscar Wilde who penned the phrase, "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

Only a fool would protest that that very phrase is the raison d'être behind this very section. So it's fitting that this item from the Wall Street Journal deals with the Great Lakes Theater Festival's repertory production of Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" and Shakespeare's "Othello."

Written by WSJ drama critic Terry Te... Read more >