University Circle

city of cleveland hosts sustainable economic development symposium
The City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County have invested millions of dollars in public money to help make urban development projects happen over the years. But do they provide the maximum benefit to the taxpayers paying for them?

Amanda Woodrum, a researcher at the liberal think tank Policy Matters, says that Northeast Ohio leaders have not always maximized the public benefits of development projects. Yet cities like Cleveland have a tool at their disposal called Community Benefit Agreements to help ensure the public gets the biggest bang for its buck when it comes to public subsidies.

"Community Benefit Agreements involve an economic development approach that balances the three E’s of sustainability: environment, equity and economy," says Woodrum. "One of the biggest things is ensuring that the workforce involved is hired locally. The second thing is that it is diverse and reflective of the population as a whole. There are other questions, too. Are we behaving responsibly towards the environment? Is there access to the development site for public transit?"

Woodrum adds, "The whole process is done in a very open discussion in which key stakeholders come together. There is a movement nationally to do development this way. In many cases, anchor institutions are voluntarilyy creating such agreements because they recognize that they have stake in community."

Woodrum stated that the City of Cleveland does not have a comprehensive policy towards creating Community Benefit Agreements with developers, and that the absence of such a policy can lead to inconsistent results. She cited the Horseshoe Casino as a potential model project due to its local hiring practices; on the other hand, a new housing development at Cleveland State University has drawn ire from the local building trades union for its failure to hire local workers.

To generate a discussion about Community Benefit Agreements in Cleveland, Policy Matters has helped to organize a daylong symposium with local and national experts at Cuyahoga Community College on Friday, August 3rd. The event is cosponsored by the City of Cleveland and Cleveland City Council.

"If the stakeholders coming to the table decide it makes sense, we’d like to move forward with building a policy that ensures whenever city subsidizes development in any meaninging way, we’re maximizing value to community," says Woodrum.


Source: Amanda Woodrum
Writer: Lee Chilcote
cle-based biotech firms raise $83m in first half of year
According to the Midwest Health Care Venture Investment Report, released by BioEnterprise, Cleveland area biotech firms raised $83 million in venture capital the first half of 2012.

Juventas Therapeutics, developer of a pipeline of regenerative therapies to treat life threatening diseases, secured $22 million alone. Pharmaceutical developer Athersys raised $9 million.

Read the entire report here.
are we there yet?! 10 ways to entertain your kids (while staying sane)
When late summer rolls around, my kids and I are desperate for adventure. From our house in the Heights, that usually means we’re heading down the hill to Cleveland, where over the years we’ve discovered countless family-friendly things to see and do. The options are many and growing, but here is our pick for Top 10.
trinity urban service corps engages young people to make cle a better place
One year ago, six interns from Dallas, Atlanta, Indianapolis, Boston, Baltimore and Jewett, Ohio came to Cleveland to participate in the inaugural year of Trinity Urban Service Corps, a project of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Cleveland.

The goal of the program is to engage young people in nonprofit service work that improves the City of Cleveland. It also seeks to build community among members, stimulate faith development and help young people discern their career paths.

Adam Spencer, who organized the program for Trinity Cathedral, says it has been successful and is expanding to eight interns in its second year. A new crop of service corps members are scheduled to arrive in town next month.

"This program is all about working to make the city a better place," says Spencer, a Northeast Ohio native who loves playing the role of tour guide in his hometown. "The service corps members help to do the work we desperately need done in Cleveland. The program also gets young people interested in the city and its issues, and it shows them all the wonderful stuff that's going on here."

Trinity's service corps members live communally in a house in Detroit Shoreway. The program pays for their housing, transportation and health care and provides a modest stipend and shared allowance for groceries and utilities. Interns are encouraged to use public transportation as a way to navigate the city.

Some of the work sites included Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, West Creek Preservation Committee and Leadership Cleveland. Service corps members performed tasks ranging from community organizing to working with homeless men to organizing the Cleveland Mow Goats project.

The Trinity Urban Service Corps is part of a network of similar urban service corps that are organized by Episcopal congregations across the country.


Source: Adam Spencer
Writer: Lee Chilcote
300-plus young pros donate 1,200 hours of service to area urban gardens
More than 300 volunteers rolled up their shirtsleeves and got their hands dirty during the recent "Summer of Service" event hosted by Business Volunteers Unlimited on Thursday, July 18th. The event engaged young professionals in maintaining urban farms and gardens to support the regional food economy.

Some of the projects included constructing hoop houses and helping to maintain a .4 acre forest garden at Community Greenhouse Partners; working as an "urban farm hand for a day" in Detroit Shoreway by building garden beds and fencing; harvesting blueberries for the Cuyahoga Valley Farmers Market; and building a community garden at the Free Clinic. 

“Forty five of our interns volunteered at Schady Road Farm in Olmsted Township for the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities,” said Lisa Johnson, Corporate Responsibility Manager with Hyland Software, in a news release. “BVU’s ‘Done in a Day’ program is a great example of how our employees get out there and flex their muscles to help our community. They love it.”

“BVU works with employers year-round to engage their employees in meaningful volunteer service,” added Brian Broadbent, BVU’s president and CEO. “Our annual Summer of Service event is specifically targeted as an opportunity for employers to connect their interns and young professionals to community service.”

The tally at the end of a long day of volunteering was quite impressive: A collective 1,200 hours of service valued at more than $26,000, says BVU.


Source: Business Volunteers Unlimited
Writer: Lee Chilcote
dispatch writes about osu, cleveland clinic partnership
"The Cleveland Clinic and Ohio State University agreed yesterday to join forces in fast-tracking the commercialization of health-care technology, signaling a desire to compete less and collaborate more," writes Ben Sutherly for The Columbus Dispatch.

"In addition to health care, cooperation between the two institutions will focus on venture capital, funding and Third Frontier activities," The Dispatch adds.

"Cleveland Clinic Innovations has filed more than 1,600 patents and formed 48 spinoff companies receiving more than $600 million in equity investment, officials said. Cleveland Clinic Innovations and those spinoffs have generated nearly 1,000 jobs. Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State’s College of Medicine have filed 168 patents and have spun off five health-care companies that have secured about $26 million in equity investment. The number of jobs created wasn’t available yesterday."

Read the rest here.
5 cleveland-based mobile app developers on the move
“By 2015, more people will access the web from their smartphone than from their desktops and laptops,” says EXP president Barb Cagely. In Cleveland, numerous app developers are ahead of the curve, dreaming up mobile apps that do everything from enrich your tourism experience to making sure workers in the field have all the resources they need.
venturebeat suggests investing venture capital in ohio
"For investors looking to go off the beaten track to find quality deals, Ohio might be the answer," Mitchell Rosich, partner at Athenian Venture Partners, writes in VentureBeat.

"According to the most recent Ohio Venture Capital Report, venture capital activity in Ohio was up more than 80 percent in 2010, surpassing the national average, which was up only 20 percent."

An increase in pre- and seed-stage investments amounting to $183.8 million is paid to angel groups and state programs.

What makes Ohio so ripe for investment?

1. Untapped investment opportunities: Ohio has significant deal flow in two of the most dynamic market segments — healthcare and information technology.

2. Attractive deals for the right price: Ohio is full of quality investment opportunities that are not typical “club” deals, allowing venture firms to avoid overpaying.

3. Long-term vision: Midwestern investors are more likely to back companies that actually create something tangible – such as a new medical device or electronics products due to the region’s supply chain assets and sophisticated manufacturing workforce.

4. Supporting its entrepreneurs: Ohio has an abundance of resources for entrepreneurs across the state to help them along the way and to get their ideas out. A select few include TechColoumbus, TechGrowth, CincyTech, and JumpStart.

"Investing in Ohio will continue to reap impressive returns over the next 10 years."

Read the rest right here.
rta healthline drives growth in cleveland, says urbanland
"Euclid’s role as an essential link between the central business district downtown and University Circle -- a hub of world-class medical facilities and arts and culture amenities -- rendered the corridor impossible to ignore," writes Jason Hellendrung for UrbanLand.

The resulting $200 million, 6.8-mile Euclid Corridor Transportation Project catalyzed a powerful transformation along the avenue. Since the BRT line opened in 2008, the corridor has attracted $5.8 billion in investment -- $3.3 billion for new construction and $2.5 billion for building rehab, together totaling more than 110 projects. Disproving naysayers and exceeding the expectations of supporters, the project has generated the economic growth that many thought could only be achieved with rail -- and at a fraction of the cost."

"Ridership has increased steadily over the years and now totals about 15,100 people per day. "

Read the rest of the article here.
somo leadership labs aims to bring positive psychology to cleveland
Louis Alloro isn't the first non native to touch down in Northeast Ohio and notice that Cleveland could use a collective mood lift, but he is pioneering a new effort to bring the science of happiness to Northeast Ohio.

The New York City native, who holds a Master's degree in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania (he is one of the first 100 people in the world to hold this degree), discovered Cleveland's mild mood disorder when he visited his best friend here a few years ago. As soon as he set foot in the city, he had "a visceral sense that positive psychology would work really well here," he says.

After attending the Sustainable Cleveland conference in 2009, Alloro formed key partnerships with other Cleveland leaders interested in positive psychology. Soon afterwards, he relocated here and launched SOMO Cleveland, a project of SOMO Leadership Labs, which aims to "find and leverage the Social-Emotional (SOMO) Leaders around town, those who share a vision for a more positive future."

Recently, SoMo Cleveland hosted a screening of the documentary film "Happy." This film presents the argument that happiness stems not from one's material possessions, but from cultivating a sense of community, fostering experiences and personal connections, and giving back to other people. The film delves into the increasingly sophisticated science of happiness to show that income and material possessions account for only a modest amount of one's level of happiness.

The film also suggests that many Americans, who tend to privilege wealth above community building, relationship building and altruism as a means of creating happiness, are misguided. The science of happiness is directly applicable to Cleveland, Alloro says, because training people to seek happiness within themselves will lead to a stronger city focused on "positive self-growth."

Each month, SOMO Cleveland is hosting a series of free learning labs, book club discussions and film discussions, among other events, to engage Clevelanders.

"We want to give people experiences that help them build their own psychological muscle, then measure how they become more effective change agents," says Alloro. "We want to create an energy that promotes a viral sweep of well-being."


Source: Louis Alloro
Writer: Lee Chilcote
cleveland 2.0: viewing our city as a startup
What if we viewed Cleveland as a startup? "The ingredients for a successful startup and a successful city are remarkably similar," argues tech blogger Jon Bischke. You need to build stuff that people want. You need to attract talent. And you need capital to get your fledgling ideas to a point of sustainability.
cleveland clinic, university hospitals score high on us news survey
Once again, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals performed well in the annual Best Hospitals survey published by U.S. News. Both had numerous nationally ranked programs.

The Clinic, however, snagged top honors in three specialties: cardiology and heart surgery, nephrology, and urology. Overall, the Clinic had 12 specialties in the top five nationally.

Meanwhile, University Hospitals had 12 nationally ranked programs.

Read all the ranking here.
peter b. lewis donates $5m to the cleveland institute of art
The Cleveland Institute of Art received a $5 million gift from Peter B. Lewis to support construction of a 91,000-square-foot building as the final component of the College’s campus unification project. Lewis is the chairman of Cleveland-based Progressive Corporation. 
 
“We are thrilled to receive this wonderful gift, not only because it represents a strong endorsement of our vision for a unified campus from this nationally known philanthropist with deep Cleveland roots, but also because it acknowledges the efforts of our University Circle neighbors in developing the Uptown project into a national model of culture and commerce,” explains Grafton J. Nunes, CIA’s president and CEO.
 
The Uptown development is a complex of rental residences, restaurants, and retail anchored at one end by the new MOCA Cleveland and at the other end by the Cleveland Institute of Art.
 
In recognition of this gift, CIA will name the auditorium in the new building The Peter B. Lewis Theater.
 
In addition to the theater, which will be the new home of the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque, the new building will house CIA’s nationally ranked design majors, its acclaimed biomedical art and digital arts programs, art galleries, and administrative offices.

Read the rest of the good news here.
'fatherhood 101' documents dads on journey to becoming better fathers
One third of children in the U.S. live at home without their biological fathers. In turn, these children are five times more likely to live in poverty than children whose dads are fully present in their lives.

A feature length film that is currently being filmed in Northeast Ohio will explore the crucial role that dads play in their children's lives. It is documenting the journey of fathers as they seek to become better dads by attending programs sponsored by the Cuyahoga County Fatherhood Initiative and The Center for Families and Children of Northeast Ohio.

Despite these harsh statistics, some nonprofit leaders say that Cleveland, which has a very high poverty rate, is making progress towards building better fathers.

"Public perception would have you believe that fathers are a vanishing species," says Kimberly St. John-Stevenson, Communciations Officer with the Saint Luke's Foundation, which provided funding to the Center for Families and Children in support of the film. "The Cuyahoga County Fatherhood Initiative is working to dispel that myth through a variety of programs and partners that all focus on building better fathers."

Director Marquette Williams, a Cleveland native who currently lives in Los Angeles, has created a film company called Cinema:216 with a primary focus on film production in Cleveland. "We hope all of the information that we collect through the filming of the documentary will assist in the ultimate goal of bringing more fathers and children together," said Marquette in a news release.


Source: Marquette Williams, Kimberly St. John-Stevenson
Writer: Lee Chilcote
moca cleveland hosts signing off ceremony, prepares for fall opening
The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA) celebrated the completion of the stainless steel cladding being installed on its new home with a signing-off ceremony this week. The date when the glittering, gem-like new building opens its doors to the public is only months away, and that's when the true celebration will begin.

On a recent media tour of the building, the beautifully plotted details of the new museum were evident in raw form. A few of the finer points include the first floor lounge with coffee and free wi-fi that will function as an "urban living room;" the 1,000-square-foot store that will become a destination for visitors and residents alike; and an architectural emphasis on transparency that makes the museum a place where visitors can view the process whereby installations are created. 

Other prominent details include the first floor lecture and performance space, windows offering great views of the Uptown District and a breathtaking fourth floor main gallery space with a vaulted ceiling and uninterrupted floor plan.

MOCA's mission is to present the art and ideas of our time. The museum will open to the public Oct. 8.


Source: MOCA
Writer: Lee Chilcote
minority entrepreneurs experience barriers, succeed on their own terms, and offer advice
Despite support through entrepreneurial assistance programs, area minority business owners say they still experience barriers -- some subtle, others not -- in their goal to contribute to the local business community. Finding success, many explain, is ultimately up to them.
uci, inc and chris ronayne in next american city
In this Next American City feature titled "Welcome to Your New Government," Detroit-based journalist Anna Clark examines the unique and increasingly powerful work being done by community development corporations.
 
This lengthy piece looks at the work of Detroit's Midtown, Inc. and Cleveland's University Circle, Inc. and asks what it means for cities when "local government relies on private organizations to turn around a neighborhood’s fate."
 
"With a remarkable ability to get things done in a city that has been on the brink of state emergency management, Midtown, Inc. has a reputation for being better at performing the role of government than government itself," writes Clark. "But what are the stakes of ceding public sector work to non-profits?"
 
"[University Circle, Inc.'s Chris] Ronayne emphasized that [his] interest in building vibrant neighborhoods is directly linked to [his] interest in cultivating vibrant cities. In Cleveland, University Circle bills itself as 'the neighborhood without borders,' as it works to provide security, transportation and marketing."
 
"As Ronayne sees it, the old world way of thinking is: Local-state-federal. That has slipped away. Now, he says, the thinking is neighborhood-regional-global."
 
Read the rest of the article here.
cwru prof urges vietnamese entrepreneurs to dream
Michael Goldberg, a professor at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University and a managing partner of a venture capital fund that invests in early stage medical device companies, certainly has a bevy of knowledge and experience to share with others. He is currently taking some time off teaching in Cleveland to focus his attention on a different part of the world. 

In this article, published in Vietnam, he urges Vietnamese entrepreneurs to dream and take risks.
 
“I was honored to be awarded a Fulbright fellowship to teach entrepreneurship at the National Economics University (NEU) in Hanoi," states Goldberg in a lengthy feature in VietNamNet Bridge.
 
“I had the opportunity to co-teach a course on entrepreneurship and new venture creation with Mr. Ha Tung, a talented Vietnamese lecturer.”
 
“It was a great experience designing a course alongside a Vietnamese professor as we were able to incorporate points of view and practical experience from the US and Vietnam into the syllabus.”
 
“Although Vietnam is incredibly entrepreneurial, many business people in Vietnam are afraid to fail. Thus, often times Vietnamese entrepreneurs do not take as many risks with their business as their counterparts in other countries.  We also tried and push our Vietnamese students to “dream big” when they think about starting companies.”
 
The feature goes on to discuss in detail the strategies and challenges he faces in his efforts working with these Vietnamese students.   
 
Read the full article here.
going native: local scribe takes rust belt migration expert on a tour through cleveland
Jim Russell, a geographer studying modern migration patterns, writes frequently on the topic of "Rust Belt Chic." The phrase, which refers to the increasing appeal of Rust Belt cities, has been popping up like mad in the national media. Recently, Russell put boots on the ground in C-Town.
cleveland foundation awards $19.9m in grants to area nonprofits
The Cleveland Foundation recently awarded $19.9 million in grants, the second highest amount the foundation has awarded in a single quarter, including $2.25 million to strengthen college readiness and graduation rates among Cleveland students.

“Only 11 percent of Cleveland residents 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or higher,” said Robert Eckardt, executive vice president at the Cleveland Foundation, said in a news release. “Our team created a strategy last year to bolster secondary education success among local students. This quarter’s series of grants is a reflection of that commitment.”

The foundation's grants in this area include $1.01 million to College Now Greater Cleveland, $750,000 to Cuyahoga Community College for the College Success Program and $210,000 to support scholarships for nontraditional students.

The foundation also awarded $2.2 million to support economic development and $1.425 million to support the next phase of the Engaging the Future project, which is an initiative to attract a younger, more diverse audience to the arts.


Source: The Cleveland Foundation
Writer: Lee Chilcote