Earlier this month, Burton D. Morgan Foundation Trustees approved more than $3.2 million in grants to organizations that promote entrepreneurship in Northeast Ohio. 
 
Beneficiaries include:

St. Clair Superior Development Corporation - $100,000 to develop youth entrepreneurship opportunities that integrate the unique maker culture of the St. Clair Superior neighborhood into Northeast Ohio’s rich entrepreneurship programming (2 years).

JumpStart - $1,000,000 to support the expansion of the Burton D. Morgan Mentoring Program to serve companies in new sectors (3 years).

Case Western Reserve University - $193,381 to support the publication of a book and the design and execution of data collection protocols associated with the Beyond Silicon Valley massive online open course (2 years).

Hawken School - $100,000 to support the development of a digital platform for the Hawken Educators Workshop, and provide scholarships for public school educators in Northeast Ohio to attend the workshop (2 years).

Notre Dame College - $100,000 to support entrepreneurship programming in 2016 and 2017 ($50,000) and to secure and improve program space on campus in 2016 ($50,000).
 
A complete list of grantees is available here.

While Interstate highways connected Cleveland proper with points across the county and beyond, the street-level impact on dense urban neighborhoods was profound and enduring. Guest contributor Tim Kovach reveals this topic with a sobering bird's eye view.

The Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit has created the equivalent of 1,729 full-time jobs since 2011 and generated more than $400 million in economic impact - and Northeast Ohio has had a starring role in all of it.

Approximately 200,000 Leap Year babies in the United States celebrate their real birthday once every four years on Feb. 29. This year, if they do so at the area's Hard Rock Cafes' downtown or Northfield Park locations, they'll receive a free entree from Hard Rock Cafe’s "Leaplings Eat Free" menu, items on which include Twisted Mac, Chicken & Cheese; the Veggie Leggie and the Hickory-Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich among others.
 
Get all the details here.

It may still be February, but March is set to come in like a lion, with a bevy of short alt films, a celebration of Leonard Bernstein and a glittering green art opening.

Joe Calabrese, CEO and General Manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) advocated for more transit funding in testimony on Feb. 16 at the Statehouse.

"RTA is the largest public transportation agency in Ohio. My employees, who reside in 16 of Ohio counties, serve approximately 50 million customers each year in Cuyahoga and several neighboring counties," said Calabrese in his address.

"Public transit in Ohio is a $900 million industry that supports many manufacturers, suppliers and jobs.

Public transit gets workers to work, students to school, connects important destinations, drives economic development and provides mobility to many Ohioans who have no other mobility option due to economic realities or disabilities."

Read his comments in their entirety here.
 

From lumber to antique books and vintage guitars, local businesses share their secrets to success amid big box competition, financial pressures and changing times.

Well-educated millennials are living in Cleveland, but the city must adapt to their needs if we want them to stay.

Boot-camp style computer coding courses are rapidly growing alongside Northeast Ohio's tech sector. 

The technology and software business startup accelerator Flashstarts  will now offer a way for companies in the formulation phase a way to speed up the process.

Starting today, the organization will begin taking applications for Flashstarts Labs – a way for startups to prepare for the accelerator program.

“It’s a formalization of something we’ve been doing for the last couple of years, where we can work with teams before they are accepted in to the accelerator,” explains Flashstarts co-founder and CEO Charles Stack.  “A lot of teams are missing something – skill sets, market validation, strategy, a co-founder – this will help them get into the accelerator program.”
 
The idea behind the Labs is to offer the fastest path between business concept and startup formation. Companies accepted into the three-month program will receive access to more than 40 mentors, consulting, business tools and office space in StartMart, Flashstarts’ 35,000-square-foot entrepreneurial co-working space in the Terminal Tower.
 
Stack explains that in Flashstarts’ three-year history, he has found that a lot of startups need help getting things organized. “We learned that a lot of people and ideas need a high-speed on-ramp,” he says. “Now we have StartMart, so we have a lot of space to bring in Labs. When a good idea bubbles up from the goo, we grab it and put it in the accelerator.”
 
There's room for 50 people in the Labs, and accelerator companies will be chosen from the Labs teams. "I don't know how many we'll pick for the accelerator, but we will pick from these teams,” Stack says. “We will spend a lot of time working with these teams.”
 
Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis. Selection criteria will include uniqueness, market opportunity, team background, and likelihood of success.