Brian Schaffran has been riding motorcycles for 15 years, starting with a 1978 Honda CB750 he found on the side of the road in his hometown of Strongsville. He quickly fell in love, not just with the romantic notion of riding itself, but with the restoration and maintenance required to make his baby street-ready.

"There's a gratifying aspect to fixing something with your own hands," says Schaffran, 43.

A mechanical-minded DIY attitude is something S... Read more >

When kids commit themselves to an art form, they gain self-confidence and set high expectations for themselves. How do we create more access to arts education for youth in urban neighborhoods? 

A few years ago, local arts groups faced declining audiences. Today, many of these organizations have reinvented themselves and begun to thrive -- or at least turned the corner.

Arts education programs that teach mastery have the greatest potential to impact child development, yet many urban youth lack access to them. Learn why these programs work and how we can cultivate them in Cleveland.

Ohio is no longer flyover country when it comes to attracting venture capital for biotech companies. In 2014, Cleveland had $398 million in investments among 40 companies, ranking second in major Midwest cities behind Minneapolis. Yet access to local capital remains a concern.

"As chief executive of the City Club of Cleveland—a 102-year-old institution created to foster dialogue about local, national and international issues—I often find myself in the midst of conversations about the city. So when I—a white guy—am in a meeting about policing or witnessing the inability of some white people here to understand why Tamir’s death catalyzed such vocal and visible protests, I remember what a divided city this really is."... Read more >

Marrion Demore has always loved improving on commercial bottled barbeque sauce. “I used to have really big family cookouts and I’d just doctor up some Open Pit to make it taste better,” Demore recalls. “People always said, ‘you should market this.’ I never gave it much thought until the economy went down hill. Then I knew I had to make it from scratch.”
 
Today, Demore calls himself the Rock and Roll Star of Sauce. In 200... Read more >

"Not your average flea market, this pop-up event serves as a business incubator for small businesses and has helped spur development in the neighborhoods where it's held."

Read the full story here.

The Health-Tech Corridor was once a forgotten stretch of Euclid Avenue. Today the three-mile stretch between downtown and University Circle has become a hub of growing biotech and startup companies, with another round of development on the way.

Cleveland and other cities have struggled for years with vacant schools. As empty buildings hang in limbo, they deteriorate, increasing the likelihood that they'll be torn down. Adaptive reuse, while challenging, can be a tool for preservation.

New research suggests that innovation districts, whose growth is fueled by anchor institutions, companies and startups working in close proximity to one another, may be growing faster than traditional downtowns.