Emerging Neighborhoods
Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, a nonprofit community development organization, has begun offering Cleveland City Life tours to expose suburbanites, millenials, empty-nesters, boomerangs and newcomers to town to all the city has to offer.
CNP Director of Marketing Jeff Kipp says the tours really are about helping Clevelanders see for themselves the positive change taking place in the city.
"We'll do the proverbial handholding and take you into the neighborhoods," he says. "You see the positive headlines and positive trends, but a big chunk of our population doesn't have firsthand experience with the city. This is about removing that intimidation factor and bridging the gap."
Tours starts in Ohio City and include stops in Detroit Shoreway, the lakefront, University Circle, Little Italy, Midtown, downtown and Tremont. Along the way, it also touches on neighborhoods such as Cudell, Glenville and Fairfax. Each lasts two hours, costs $12 and comes with a free Live!Cleveland/City Life T-shirt.
"As we drive through University Circle, we can reference the excitement that's happening in North Shore Collinwood," Kipp explains, adding that while the tours can't feasibly cover the whole city, they will highlight all city neighborhoods.
The tours are being marketed through CNP's website and partner organizations such as Global Cleveland and the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. There currently are tours scheduled between Christmas and New Year's and around the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.
"This is a way to roll out the red carpet and give a reintroduction to your Cleveland neighbors," Kipp adds.
Source: Jeff Kipp
Writer: Lee Chilcote
CNP Director of Marketing Jeff Kipp says the tours really are about helping Clevelanders see for themselves the positive change taking place in the city.
"We'll do the proverbial handholding and take you into the neighborhoods," he says. "You see the positive headlines and positive trends, but a big chunk of our population doesn't have firsthand experience with the city. This is about removing that intimidation factor and bridging the gap."
Tours starts in Ohio City and include stops in Detroit Shoreway, the lakefront, University Circle, Little Italy, Midtown, downtown and Tremont. Along the way, it also touches on neighborhoods such as Cudell, Glenville and Fairfax. Each lasts two hours, costs $12 and comes with a free Live!Cleveland/City Life T-shirt.
"As we drive through University Circle, we can reference the excitement that's happening in North Shore Collinwood," Kipp explains, adding that while the tours can't feasibly cover the whole city, they will highlight all city neighborhoods.
The tours are being marketed through CNP's website and partner organizations such as Global Cleveland and the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. There currently are tours scheduled between Christmas and New Year's and around the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.
"This is a way to roll out the red carpet and give a reintroduction to your Cleveland neighbors," Kipp adds.
Source: Jeff Kipp
Writer: Lee Chilcote
In this, the first 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 a bike- and pedestrian-friendly boulevard, but skeptics have their doubts.
new study on regionalism comes at ideal time, says next city
In a feature titled "Three Lessons on Regionalism," Bill Bradley, writing for Next City, outlines the findings of a report recently released by Fund for Our Economic Future.
"Regionalism, from Paris to Portland, offers cities with closely woven outlying suburbs opportunities to broaden their tax bases, increase minimum wages and develop unified approaches to transit -- which could, in turn, give low-wage workers better access to jobs. Advocates have touted these benefits for years. Now, a new report explores how regional collaboration can help spur economic growth."
The Northeast Ohio-based Fund for Our Economic Future, which along with the Knight Foundation, released the report.
In sum: "Data is hugely important, investing in groups that find funding can enlarge your pools of grant money, and big thinkers must be instrumental in turning those grand ideas into reality."
Read the rest here.
"Regionalism, from Paris to Portland, offers cities with closely woven outlying suburbs opportunities to broaden their tax bases, increase minimum wages and develop unified approaches to transit -- which could, in turn, give low-wage workers better access to jobs. Advocates have touted these benefits for years. Now, a new report explores how regional collaboration can help spur economic growth."
The Northeast Ohio-based Fund for Our Economic Future, which along with the Knight Foundation, released the report.
In sum: "Data is hugely important, investing in groups that find funding can enlarge your pools of grant money, and big thinkers must be instrumental in turning those grand ideas into reality."
Read the rest here.
It's a fact that $68 of every $100 spent locally returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. We all know that shopping small is good for the local community, but what are the real and tangible benefits behind the movement? A closer look reveals how buying local feeds our region in ways both obvious and subtle.
Since the Great Recession, more and more folks have been living the "gigging life," working multiple jobs or hopping from one project to the next in hopes of cobbling together a living budget. While that might seem arduous, it also allows those living the lifestyle to follow their true passion.
new grant program funds business incubator, other innovative community projects
A new grant program launched by Neighborhood Progress Inc., a nonprofit organization that provides funding and technical assistance to community development corporations in Cleveland, recently awarded $200,000 to five projects. The recipients include a new business incubation program in North Collinwood, youth programming in Ohio City and surrounding neighborhoods, an effort in Central to teach fourth graders about healthy, local food, arts-based development in St. Clair Superior, and a community engagement effort in Tremont.
"The program came to be when we, as an organization, made a decision to develop a program that all CDCs had access to," says Colleen Gilson, Vice President of CDC Services for NPI, of the Neighborhood Solutions grant program. "The idea was, let's not be prescriptive. Let's let CDCs tell us what their solution to a neighborhood problem is or a cool project in their service area."
The awards break down as follows: NPI awarded $45,000 to ActiVacant, a program to recruit entrepreneurs to vacant retail spaces on E. 185th; $45,000 to Near West Recreation to expand its network of youth programming, including baseball, soccer, softball, basketball and bowling; $45,000 to St. Clair Superior for its Urban Upcycle project; $45,000 to Burton Bell Carr for its Urban Farm Diet Program; and $20,000 to Tremont West for its efforts to engage residents in creating a community-based development plan around MetroHealth.
Gilson says the projects reflect "deep collaboration" and non-traditional approaches towards community development. For instance, Near West Recreation is an effort to engage and retain families in six neighborhoods on the near west side -- Ohio City, Tremont, Stockyards, Clark-Fulton and Detroit Shoreway -- and build "intergenerational mixed-income neighborhoods." ActiVacant, spearheaded by Northeast Shores, is a "new take on the American dream" and a "business incubation project on steroids" that will entice young retailers to fill empty spaces on E. 185th by offering them free or reduced rent for a period of time, access to mentors and other support, and incentives for meeting benchmarks.
"The process was pretty amazing," says Gilson, describing a Shark Tank-esque format in which finalists presented in front of a panel of community development leaders, who then ranked and voted on winners. "We invited other CDCs to come watch and learn from their peers, and it was a really good opportunity to learn."
Source: Colleen Gilson
Writer: Lee Chilcote
"The program came to be when we, as an organization, made a decision to develop a program that all CDCs had access to," says Colleen Gilson, Vice President of CDC Services for NPI, of the Neighborhood Solutions grant program. "The idea was, let's not be prescriptive. Let's let CDCs tell us what their solution to a neighborhood problem is or a cool project in their service area."
The awards break down as follows: NPI awarded $45,000 to ActiVacant, a program to recruit entrepreneurs to vacant retail spaces on E. 185th; $45,000 to Near West Recreation to expand its network of youth programming, including baseball, soccer, softball, basketball and bowling; $45,000 to St. Clair Superior for its Urban Upcycle project; $45,000 to Burton Bell Carr for its Urban Farm Diet Program; and $20,000 to Tremont West for its efforts to engage residents in creating a community-based development plan around MetroHealth.
Gilson says the projects reflect "deep collaboration" and non-traditional approaches towards community development. For instance, Near West Recreation is an effort to engage and retain families in six neighborhoods on the near west side -- Ohio City, Tremont, Stockyards, Clark-Fulton and Detroit Shoreway -- and build "intergenerational mixed-income neighborhoods." ActiVacant, spearheaded by Northeast Shores, is a "new take on the American dream" and a "business incubation project on steroids" that will entice young retailers to fill empty spaces on E. 185th by offering them free or reduced rent for a period of time, access to mentors and other support, and incentives for meeting benchmarks.
"The process was pretty amazing," says Gilson, describing a Shark Tank-esque format in which finalists presented in front of a panel of community development leaders, who then ranked and voted on winners. "We invited other CDCs to come watch and learn from their peers, and it was a really good opportunity to learn."
Source: Colleen Gilson
Writer: Lee Chilcote
fast co. digs into 'world's first biocellar' in east cleveland
In a Fast Co. feature called "Turning A Vacant Cleveland House Into A Fancy Farm," California-based sustainability writer Adele Peters details the plans and construction of the world’s first BioCellar, located in East Cleveland.
"The BioCellar, the brainchild of a Cleveland biologist named Jean Loria, will use just the basement of the house -- the rest was torn down -- and will top it with a greenhouse so crops can grow inside. Why a cellar? At depths below four feet, the ground stays at a constant temperature, so even in the middle of a harsh Cleveland winter, the room won't get colder than 50 degrees. With light flooding in from the glass roof above, food can grow year round."
Read the rest of the crop report here.
"The BioCellar, the brainchild of a Cleveland biologist named Jean Loria, will use just the basement of the house -- the rest was torn down -- and will top it with a greenhouse so crops can grow inside. Why a cellar? At depths below four feet, the ground stays at a constant temperature, so even in the middle of a harsh Cleveland winter, the room won't get colder than 50 degrees. With light flooding in from the glass roof above, food can grow year round."
Read the rest of the crop report here.
There's so much pop culture ephemera floating through the average American brain, it's impossible to keep track of it all. No worries: Three Cleveland-based authors have recently published pop culture books on Superman, breakfast cereal and film, which take dead aim at our nostalgia centers.
Cleveland is home to a vibrant collection of women-owned businesses, many of which are in fields traditionally dominated by men. From manufacturing to moving, these heavy lifting ladies credit their success to hard work and a soft touch.
Shaker Heights entrepreneur Kai Wingo recently launched the Buckeye Mushroom Farm on a vacant lot on E. 127th Street off Buckeye Road. Wingo is growing oyster and garden giant mushrooms on beds and racks there. She also teaches classes and sells mushrooms under the moniker Kai's Kultured Mushrooms at the Coit Road Farmers Market.
"I'm a mushroom ambassador," she says. "I want people to know about benefits we get from mushrooms. I'm the only one I know of who's doing it at this scale."
Wingo began growing mushrooms four years ago, and launched her business when she got laid off from her job with the Cleveland Municipal School District. By then, she'd outgrown her home garden, so she applied for a vacant lot through the land bank. Recently, she also built a hoop house there to extend the growing season.
"Mushrooms are a powerhouse of nutrition," she explains. "The gardens also benefit because of the compost they provide. They're just a grand recycler."
Wingo says there is great untapped demand for local mushrooms, which are a high-value crop, and that her business and classes are taking off. "There's a long waiting list of farmers markets that would love to have mushrooms there, but there aren't any people to fill the niche, so that's why I'm teaching people."
Hough entrepreneur Mansfield Frazier also has tapped Wingo to grow 'shrooms at his new biocellar project. She can be reached via Facebook or by phone at 216-561-3200.
Source: Kai Wingo
Writer: Lee Chilcote
"I'm a mushroom ambassador," she says. "I want people to know about benefits we get from mushrooms. I'm the only one I know of who's doing it at this scale."
Wingo began growing mushrooms four years ago, and launched her business when she got laid off from her job with the Cleveland Municipal School District. By then, she'd outgrown her home garden, so she applied for a vacant lot through the land bank. Recently, she also built a hoop house there to extend the growing season.
"Mushrooms are a powerhouse of nutrition," she explains. "The gardens also benefit because of the compost they provide. They're just a grand recycler."
Wingo says there is great untapped demand for local mushrooms, which are a high-value crop, and that her business and classes are taking off. "There's a long waiting list of farmers markets that would love to have mushrooms there, but there aren't any people to fill the niche, so that's why I'm teaching people."
Hough entrepreneur Mansfield Frazier also has tapped Wingo to grow 'shrooms at his new biocellar project. She can be reached via Facebook or by phone at 216-561-3200.
Source: Kai Wingo
Writer: Lee Chilcote
d.c. streets covers major policy shift at local planning agency
In a DC Streets Blog post titled "In Cleveland, An Old-School Planning Agency Sees the Light," writer Angie Schmitt writes of the dramatic turn around currently talking place at Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA), a topic Fresh Water recently covered in depth.
"NOACA was so notoriously averse to change and ineffectual that it acquired the nickname NO ACTION," Schmitt writes. "But as impossible as it seemed even a year ago, things are changing at NOACA. They’re changing fast, and for the better. Last year the agency hired a new director, Grace Gallucci, who had been the head of finance for the Chicago Transit Authority. Since the Cleveland native assumed her role at the head of the NOACA, the region agency has adopted a completely different tenor."
Read more about how the local planning agency is shifting gears here.
"NOACA was so notoriously averse to change and ineffectual that it acquired the nickname NO ACTION," Schmitt writes. "But as impossible as it seemed even a year ago, things are changing at NOACA. They’re changing fast, and for the better. Last year the agency hired a new director, Grace Gallucci, who had been the head of finance for the Chicago Transit Authority. Since the Cleveland native assumed her role at the head of the NOACA, the region agency has adopted a completely different tenor."
Read more about how the local planning agency is shifting gears here.
When Sharie Renee opened Cosmic Bobbins on Shaker Square last November, she originally intended for it to be a temporary pop-up shop for the holidays that showcased her handbags made from recycled magazines and other items from local artisans.
A year later, Cosmic Bobbins not only is still going strong as a permanent Shaker Square presence, the store's owner has expanded its offerings and the number of artists it features from 10 to 20 and again to more than 30.
“I have been such a lover and supporter of the arts that many of the artists I carry in my shop are people that I admire and have become my friends over the years,” she says. “Other artists have started out as our customers.”
Renee carries a few fair trade, vintage and boutique items and has custom embroidery services. Business is going so well that Renee has hired two employees to help her run the shop. “We would love to hire more people,” says Renee.
Furthermore, Renee now offers private and semi-private sewing lessons, a fragrance blending class with Yates Apothecary owner Melissa Hale, and plans to offer classes on beauty care products when Renee launches her new spa line, Cosmic Bubbles. Renee is renovating the basement to have a larger workroom and classroom.
In the summer, Renee works with Youth Opportunities Unlimited to create mentorship and summer jobs for youth in the community. “This year, we worked with MyCom South Shaker to identify students in the area that had a particular interest in the creative arts and entrepreneurship,” explains Renee. "Some of the students wrote a community grant to further education in sewing and textile arts. We made it to the interview process, but have yet to hear about the grant.”
Source: Sharie Renee
Writer: Karin Connelly
A year later, Cosmic Bobbins not only is still going strong as a permanent Shaker Square presence, the store's owner has expanded its offerings and the number of artists it features from 10 to 20 and again to more than 30.
“I have been such a lover and supporter of the arts that many of the artists I carry in my shop are people that I admire and have become my friends over the years,” she says. “Other artists have started out as our customers.”
Renee carries a few fair trade, vintage and boutique items and has custom embroidery services. Business is going so well that Renee has hired two employees to help her run the shop. “We would love to hire more people,” says Renee.
Furthermore, Renee now offers private and semi-private sewing lessons, a fragrance blending class with Yates Apothecary owner Melissa Hale, and plans to offer classes on beauty care products when Renee launches her new spa line, Cosmic Bubbles. Renee is renovating the basement to have a larger workroom and classroom.
In the summer, Renee works with Youth Opportunities Unlimited to create mentorship and summer jobs for youth in the community. “This year, we worked with MyCom South Shaker to identify students in the area that had a particular interest in the creative arts and entrepreneurship,” explains Renee. "Some of the students wrote a community grant to further education in sewing and textile arts. We made it to the interview process, but have yet to hear about the grant.”
Source: Sharie Renee
Writer: Karin Connelly
Once ground zero for all things rock 'n' roll, Cleveland has steadily shed its reputation as King, and in the process squandered many of the economic benefits that go along with it. An effort by local advocates is attempting to change that by raising the industry’s profile and marketing it to a wider audience.
Once the province of sculptors, public art has evolved into an essential element of urban placemaking and social engagement. From murals on vacant buildings to art in laundromats to edible art installations that are as mouthwatering as they are aesthetically pleasing, we take a look at how public art is transforming our cities.
“We’re shifting because the times are shifting,” says Grace Gallucci of NOACA, adding that the planning agency will shift its focus to multimodal transportation, developing a fix-it-first approach that prioritizes existing infrastructure over new road projects, and basing funding decisions on their regional economic development impact.
Starting a successful food-based business takes more than a great idea and the ability to cook. Like any entrepreneurial venture, food startups require planning, money and a willingness to be flexible. But those who do dive in have found there's plenty of guidance, support and collaboration in the local food startup community.
A grassroots urban placemaking movement that started in Portland has made its way to Cleveland, and a few weeks ago, residents from three Cleveland neighborhoods came together to remove blight with community-led art.
City Repair, which started in Portland as a guerilla movement to add splashes of color to city streets, is so new here that the City of Cleveland denied a permit request at the last minute, forcing organizers to scramble to adapt their project. The original idea was to paint city intersections, and Cleveland officials now acknowledge that they need a new policy to deal with these requests.
In the end, City Repair Cleveland created three successful projects and built a greater sense of community in the process, says Adele DiMarco-Kious, consultant to the effort.
"This is about neighbors getting to know one another and taking shared action about things important to them in their neighborhood," she adds. "You get people to come together, take ownership of the public realm and start taking action and it has a multiplier effect. People build trust, take action and build a sense of power."
In Buckeye-Shaker Square, residents created a vision for a mural that they hope will be painted on a bridge over the RTA tracks that historically has divided their two neighborhoods; Clark-Fulton residents beautified the long-neglected Newark Court alley by painting a mural of the river that once ran through the community; and Stockyard residents covered up a blighted retaining wall with colorful designs.
DiMarco-Kious says the impact goes far beyond the physical projects themselves, as neighbors work shoulder-to-shoulder and families come out of their houses to help paint.
City Repair Cleveland was supported by Neighborhood Connections, a small grants and community building program affiliated with the Cleveland Foundation.
Source: Adele DiMarco-Kious
Writer: Lee Chilcote
City Repair, which started in Portland as a guerilla movement to add splashes of color to city streets, is so new here that the City of Cleveland denied a permit request at the last minute, forcing organizers to scramble to adapt their project. The original idea was to paint city intersections, and Cleveland officials now acknowledge that they need a new policy to deal with these requests.
In the end, City Repair Cleveland created three successful projects and built a greater sense of community in the process, says Adele DiMarco-Kious, consultant to the effort.
"This is about neighbors getting to know one another and taking shared action about things important to them in their neighborhood," she adds. "You get people to come together, take ownership of the public realm and start taking action and it has a multiplier effect. People build trust, take action and build a sense of power."
In Buckeye-Shaker Square, residents created a vision for a mural that they hope will be painted on a bridge over the RTA tracks that historically has divided their two neighborhoods; Clark-Fulton residents beautified the long-neglected Newark Court alley by painting a mural of the river that once ran through the community; and Stockyard residents covered up a blighted retaining wall with colorful designs.
DiMarco-Kious says the impact goes far beyond the physical projects themselves, as neighbors work shoulder-to-shoulder and families come out of their houses to help paint.
City Repair Cleveland was supported by Neighborhood Connections, a small grants and community building program affiliated with the Cleveland Foundation.
Source: Adele DiMarco-Kious
Writer: Lee Chilcote
WMMS "The Buzzard" reached the largest radio audience in the history of Cleveland media. A new film hopes to document the glory years when a charmed roster of on-air talent introduced national rock acts like Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and Joe Walsh to the people of Cleveland and the rest of the country.
Micro-lending organization Bad Girl Ventures (BGV) wants Cleveland to connect with the next generation of entrepreneurs and small business owners. That hopefully beautiful friendship will begin on Thursday, October 3, when BGV Cleveland hosts its kickoff event introducing the 10 finalists of its fall business plan competition.
The 10 women will present themselves at Battery Park Wine Bar, pitching their ideas to an audience before embarking on BGV's nine-week course to help tweak their fledgling enterprises. The final class will be in mid-November, with the winner of BGV's $25,000 low-interest loan announced during a "graduation ceremony" the following month.
Financing and mentorship are just two of the benefits for program participants, says Reka Barabas, director of BGV Cleveland.
"Networking is a huge motivating factor for them," she says. "These women are not just sitting in a stuffy classroom, but extending their professional network."
This autumn's class represents a wide range of industries and specialty areas. There's a children's party bus, granola bar company, match-making business, and more.
BGV Cleveland offers business education courses and financing twice per year to help women-owned startups launch, manage and market their businesses. In May, custom cake baker Sugar Plum Cake Company earned the business group's $25,000 loan. Two other ventures -- Journey Art Gallery and The Agrarian Collective -- each received $5,000 loans from a private giving circle.
"We're exposing these businesses to as many resources as possible," says Barabas. "There's a huge value in that."
SOURCE: Reka Barabas
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth
The 10 women will present themselves at Battery Park Wine Bar, pitching their ideas to an audience before embarking on BGV's nine-week course to help tweak their fledgling enterprises. The final class will be in mid-November, with the winner of BGV's $25,000 low-interest loan announced during a "graduation ceremony" the following month.
Financing and mentorship are just two of the benefits for program participants, says Reka Barabas, director of BGV Cleveland.
"Networking is a huge motivating factor for them," she says. "These women are not just sitting in a stuffy classroom, but extending their professional network."
This autumn's class represents a wide range of industries and specialty areas. There's a children's party bus, granola bar company, match-making business, and more.
BGV Cleveland offers business education courses and financing twice per year to help women-owned startups launch, manage and market their businesses. In May, custom cake baker Sugar Plum Cake Company earned the business group's $25,000 loan. Two other ventures -- Journey Art Gallery and The Agrarian Collective -- each received $5,000 loans from a private giving circle.
"We're exposing these businesses to as many resources as possible," says Barabas. "There's a huge value in that."
SOURCE: Reka Barabas
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth