The 2014 Gay Games kick off August 9th with an expected 8,000 to 10,000 participants competing in some 40 sports. The comprehensive event will serve as the latest memo to the world that Cleveland is a sought-after host for large-scale events that add millions to the local economy.

It’s no secret that "destination" development is happening all across Cleveland. But thanks to the diligent work of community development corporations (CDCs), there also is a renewed focus on improving livability for the residents who call their neighborhoods home.

Thanks to a bevy of new accelerators and incubators -- all grooming startups to be the Next Big Thing -- the art of the pitch is more important now than ever. Whether it’s a casual elevator pitch or an intense 20-minute address to potential investors, there are some definite dos and don’ts to giving an effective pitch.

Christian Ostenson says that he wants to do for Slavic Village what Sam McNulty did for Ohio City. He's emulating that successful entrepreneur by opening Thee Six5 Bistro, a 5,000-square-foot restaurant in a renovated, historic bank building in the Warszawa District on E. 65th. And while Slavic Village isn't Ohio City -- and isn't necessarily striving to be -- the new venue seems destined to add to the area's hidden charm.

Ostenson says Six5 will be an affordable, all-American bistro with frequent Polish and Slovenian specials in a nod to the area's rich ethnic heritage. It will have an open floor plan, large push-open windows and a rooftop deck and bar. Situated directly across from St. Stanislaus Church in the heart of the historic district, the building offers great views in an area with plenty of foot traffic.

"We want to make Slavic Village a destination, to bring people back to see what the area has to offer," says Ostenson, who steered clear of pricier real estate in Tremont or Ohio City because he wanted a spot where he could be a "pioneer."

Ostenson, a custom home builder who also runs Best of Both Worlds catering, purchased the building a few years ago with his wife Sarah for just $31,000, according to county auditor records. The second floor ceiling had caved in, and the roof dated back to the 1930s. "The building had seen better days," he notes.

But the builder has completely renovated the place from top to bottom, blowing through his $15,000 plumbing budget and spending more than four times that amount instead. But he's not complaining -- this is a project of passion as much as profit, he says. "I plan on being here awhile, so I don't need to make it all in a minute."

While he won't yet reveal the name of the chef on the project, he promises fresh, upscale cuisine at affordable prices. "We don't even have a freezer in the restaurant."

Ostenson will launch a Kickstarter campaign to help fund his pizza ovens before Thee Six5 Bistro opens in April. He promises that the rewards will be stellar.

This spring, the City of Cleveland will spend nearly $9 million rehabilitating nearby Fleet Avenue as one of the city's first complete-and-green streets.

Thee SixFive Bistro was financed by Key Bank, the City of Cleveland Storefront Renovation Program and the Economic and Community Development Institute.


Source: Christian Ostenson
Writer: Lee Chilcote

An innovative art installation that transformed empty homes in Columbus into day-long art galleries is coming to Slavic Village.

Rooms to Let: CLE will take place Saturday, May 17 on Forman Avenue. The event promises not only temporary art installations that transform vacant homes into interpretive displays, but also a block party and street tour featuring live music on porches and activities for the whole family.

Ben Campbell, Commercial Development Officer with Slavic Village Development, says he got inspired to bring Rooms to Let to Cleveland after seeing the impact it made in Columbus. He also loves the idea of hiring mostly local artists to help transform the houses. So he partnered with other SVD staff, Zygote Press and Rooms to Let: Columbus to bring the project to vacancy-pocked Slavic Village.

Rooms to Let isn't just an art show in an empty house; the project transforms the house itself into an art installation, transforming telltale signs of abandonment like broken drywall into symbols of fortitude, loss and renewal.

"Among the 11 installations created by 28 artists, visitors will find fabric pushing out of holes in walls, kitchen images painted on the walls of a demolished kitchen and a giant hole in a floor exposing a message on floor joists," Jim Weiker wrote last year in a Columbus Dispatch article. "Structural issues that would have been major flaws in a gallery have been seized upon as artistic opportunities."

Several curators -- Westleigh Harper and Michael Horton of MAKER design studio, Barbara Bachtell of Broadway School of Music & the Arts and artist Scott Pickering -- will select specific artists interested in transforming the abandoned and foreclosed homes. The houses are located in the area surrounding the Slavic Village Recovery project, and they're all slated for eventual rehabilitation.

"Given the larger context of Slavic Village’s unique history and the national attention received in the wake of the American foreclosure crisis, Rooms to Let: Cleveland creates an opportunity to see one of Cleveland’s most historic neighborhoods in new light," touts the project's Facebook page.

Rooms to Let: CLE is supported by a Cuyahoga Arts and Culture project grant.


Source: Ben Campbell
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Some storefronts sparkle with inviting merchandise, while others languish behind a layer of dust. For the latter, Cleveland's Storefront Renovation Program has been lending a helping hand to entrepreneurs for almost two decades with financial assistance for exterior improvements and signage.

From a 3.25-acre hydroponic greenhouse in the Central neighborhood, Green City Growers Cooperative grows and sells a staggering three million heads of lettuce and another 300,000 pounds of herbs per year. All of those products are sold locally to grocery stores and food service companies within a 50-mile radius.

Even as the economy recovers, Americans are driving less and taking public transit more. With all that demand comes congestion and backups at major rail hubs. But smart cities are anticipating and adapting so that the transit station of tomorrow is a true neighborhood amenity.

In college, Glenn Harbold followed family tradition and pursued a degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering. While he was interested in the manufacturing process, Harbold quickly realized that he possessed an entrepreneurial spirit and wanted to be a part of bringing new products to market.
 
That curiosity and spirit led Harbold to buy into Zounds Hearing as a franchisee. He is opening his first of six stores in the area on February 10th, in Brooklyn.
 
“My career has been a bit of a winding road, but I’m really into entrepreneurship,” Harbold says. After a stint in engineering, Harbold went on to earn an MBA and moved to Cleveland to work with two local technology startups. “I enjoyed getting up every day knowing that the future was in the hands of a small group of people.”
 
Then last year, Harbold began looking for companies to acquire. He met Sam Thomasson, a fellow engineer and founder of Zounds Hearing. “Sam is an electrical engineer and I loved his passion,” says Harbold. “We really hit it off.”
 
Harbold was so impressed with the quality and affordability of Zounds hearing aids that he decided to buy into the company. “The price and quality of the technology are really special,” he says. “We’re going to make it a lot easier for some people who couldn’t previously afford high quality hearing aids.”
 
After the Brooklyn store, Harbold plans to open five more stores in the area. He will employ two people at the Brooklyn store, including an audiologist and a client care specialist. Long-term, he predicts he will employ 12 to 15 people in the six stores.

 
Source: Glenn Harbold
Writer: Karin Connelly

Pet owners are beginning to realize the value of quality pet insurance, resulting in rapid growth for Embrace Pet Insurance. With that growth comes new hires, a change in investors and a partnership with a celebrity veterinarian.

While less than one percent of U.S. pet owners insure their pets -- compared to 25 percent in the UK -- founder Laura Bennett is working to change those numbers by going to vets and educating them about the benefits of insurance and encouraging them to recommend Embrace to their clients.
 
Embrace partnered with some comprehensive insurance companies last year. Most recently, Bennett signed on several large, well-known insurance companies to offer Embrace pet insurance to their clients.
 
To keep up with its growth, Embrace hired 17 employees last year. “I was like, holy moly,” says founder Laura Bennett. “And we have a number of positions open too. We’re now at 47 employees from 30. That’s growth of more than 50 percent.” Most of the hiring was in the claims, customer service and tech departments.
 
Amid all the hiring, Beauvest US, a private equity investor from Canada, bought out Embrace's venture investors. “Our prior investors had been in for over five years and were ready to move on per their investment guidelines,” says Bennett. “It’s good for Embrace in that our new investor is prepared to invest more money for us to grow and become more efficient. This person used to work in the insurance industry in Canada and sold his businesses. He understands our business.”
 
Earlier this month Embrace announced that the company has partnered with celebrity veterinarian, Dr. Marty Becker, known as “America’s Veterinarian,” to help spread the word about the importance of pet insurance. “He basically approached us,” Bennett says. “It builds awareness to our product in general and brings a lot of credibility to the Embrace brand.”
 
Later this year Embrace will move offices to accommodate its growth.

 
Source: Laura Bennett
Writer: Karin Connelly

On the heels of a successful merger that brought together under one roof three nonprofit community development organizations, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress (CNP) has made a key hire to lead its policy and advocacy efforts. Alesha Washington, a Glenville native who most recently served as Director of Executive Administration and Government Relations at the Centers for Family and Children, recently joined CNP as its Senior Director of Advocacy, Policy and Research. Washington will lead strategic policy initiatives at the city, county, state and federal levels and identify and use academic research to inform community development strategies.

"Trying to create a shared advocacy platform for the CDC community is what attracted me to the role," says Washington. "There's a need and a longing for a very coordinated and aligned system. The goal is to work together to improve Cleveland's neighborhoods for all people."

"It's about connecting the dots," adds Joel Ratner, President of CNP. "The needs we're identifying at the neighborhood level should be articulated clearly, strongly and strategically to officials who are setting policy and government budgets."

In recent years, Ratner says, no such coordinated effort has existed. Policy priorities might include strategies and funding to address vacant and abandoned properties, maintaining and enhancing tax credit programs that lend to neighborhood development, and influencing the state budget.


Source: Alesha Washington, Joel Ratner
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Cleveland Neighborhood Progress has awarded $340,000 to nine community development corporations for green space improvements in Cleveland neighborhoods. The funds, which stem from the WellsFargo CityLIFT program as part of a multimillion dollar national settlement, will be used to fund side yards, pocket parks, pathway parks and street-edge improvements across the city.

"We feel this is very impactful," says Joel Ratner, President of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress. "Every day there are more vacant lots in Cleveland. The vast majority of them are scattered sites. How do we repurpose them in a way that supports neighborhoods? Urban agriculture is great, but you usually need larger pieces of land. This is a way of supporting the people that live on these streets."

Through a competitive process, CNP awarded funds to a pocket park adjacent to the E. 79th Street rapid station in Central, a pathway park in Tremont, and side yards in Stockyards, Brooklyn Centre and Clark-Fulton, among others.

The work will be completed on these lots in the spring and summer of 2014, with all improvements slated to be completed by November 2014.

"This is about the psychology of the neighborhood on some basic level," says Ratner. "It shows people their neighborhoods have not been forgotten. There may be many development opportunities in the medium or long-term future, but in the meantime, we want to keep the streets as strong as possible."

The grants were awarded as part of ReImagining Cleveland 3.0, a program whose earlier rounds fostered urban agriculture and greening projects across Cleveland.

Cleveland has been recognized nationally as a leader in urban agriculture and neighborhood greening as a response to population loss and the foreclosure crisis.


Source: Joel Ratner
Writer: Lee Chilcote

While the West Side Market and Terminal Tower demand center stage, what about the hidden gems, wallflowers and untold stories? With CityProwl podcaster and veteran architect Jennifer Coleman as our guide, we discover one treasure after another, from a tiny neighborhood worthy of Dickens to bouquets of flowers fit for a giant.

Two years ago, after a 17-year career as a communications consultant with some of the area’s larger human resources firms, Denise Reynolds decided she wanted to put a little color in her job. So after she was laid off from her last position, she launched Outside the Lines Creative Group (OTL), a company that uses cartoons to convey company messages.

“I wanted to take all of my knowledge about benefits, wellness, policies and procedures and make it fun,” she says of her newfound venture. “I thought, this stuff is so boring. If only we’d put cartoons with it, people would actually read it.”
 
So she recruited nationally syndicated cartoonist Jenny Campbell to illustrate Reynolds’ HR messages. Reynolds uses humor and illustrations to communicate sometimes not-so-exciting subject matter, like dress codes and employee safety rules. “Companies love it,” she says. “And employees think it’s great.”
 
Currently, OTL has about 20 clients, ranging from Jergens Industrial Supply to the Conservancy for the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. In fact, finding clients hasn’t been too hard, says Reynolds. “You have to find clients who want to do something innovative."
 
Jergens liked Reynolds’ campaign so much they asked that the cartoon characters be painted on the plant’s machinery. “Companies try everything to get the attention of employees, but they haven’t tried cartoons yet,” says Reynolds. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park hired OTL to create a children’s educational activity book featuring a river otter. The book won an international award and the otter has been made into a plush stuffed animal.
 
In fact, OTL won five international awards in two competitions in 2013 for its work on projects for Akron Children’s Hospital, ACRT, Jergens Industrial Supply and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
 
OTL recently was awarded a $5,000 loan from Bad Girl Ventures, which Reynolds plans to use to update her website and post some work samples. She also plans on hiring a second cartoonist.

 
Source: Denise Reynolds
Writer: Karin Connelly

In this, the second installment in a two-part series, Fresh Water development editor Lee Chilcote takes a close look at the Opportunity Corridor, a 3.5 mile planned roadway that would connect I-490 with University Circle. The project is being promoted as an economic development engine, but skeptics have their doubts.