After three years of fundraising -- and a generous last-minute gift from an anonymous donor -- a bronze statue of Dante Alighieri is now being crafted at Studio Foundry in Cleveland. It will be installed in the Italian Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park in June.

"I view this as a Cleveland project," says Joyce Mariani, Executive Director of the Italian Cultural Gardens Foundation, who championed the project after discovering unfinished plans for the Italian Garden that included the Dante sculpture. "It brings back an urban space, and reflects the greatness of what Italy has given the world. We're all beneficiaries of what the Italians have done."

The statue, which costs $135,000, was designed by Italian sculptor Sandro Bonaiuto, who was originally born in Cleveland. It presents Dante in his 30s, around the time he wrote the Divine Comedy.

In the statue, Dante gazes out from where he sits in a Renaissance chair with the Divine Comedy in one hand and a pen in the other. The base of the statue portrays heaven, hell and purgatory, and a scroll located beside the statue includes the epic poem's most famous canto in Italian and English.

The Dante statue will be dedicated on June 29th, and Mariani will host Opera in the Garden, a free performance, on Sunday, July 29th beginning at 6 pm.


Source: Joyce Mariani
Writer: Lee Chilcote

With cranes in the sky and construction workers swarming everywhere, downtown Cleveland is witnessing an impressive construction boom. Yet beneath the clouds of dust, a not-so-subtle changing of the guard is also taking place, as baby boomers retire and young people step into leadership posts.

The generational handing off of the baton appeared to be in display last week at the annual "State of Downtown" address, an event that is sponsored by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance. The sold out crowd included a diverse, intergenerational group of business and nonprofit leaders.

To further enhance downtown Cleveland's vibrancy, civic and business leaders must engage young people from across different sectors to make it a better, more innovative place, said Lee Fisher, President of CEOs for Cities and a panelist at the City Club forum. "Cross-sector, cross-generational urban leaders are the greatest area of growth in cities, but we don't always walk the walk," he said. "It's not enough to have talent; we must also harness it and connect it."

Jeffrey Finkel, CEO of the International Economic Development Council, bemoaned the lack of corporate leadership in downtown Cleveland, yet said this is unsurprising given today's economy. He cited Eaton leaving downtown for the suburbs as one example. "You need to look at family-owned, growing companies for leadership," he said. "When they hire a Harvard MBA, you've lost."

Joe Marinucci, President of DCA, suggested the need to look beyond corporate leaders to young entrepreneurs. "Look at new businesses such as Nexus Cafe, Hodge's and Cleveland Pickle," he said. "These are homegrown entrepreneurs."


Source: Lee Fisher, Joe Marinucci, Jeffrey Finkel
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Every time a young person leaves Northeast Ohio for another part of the country, Greater Cleveland loses 120 percent of their salary in actual economic value, says Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald.

That's why he recently created the Next Generation Council, a group that is intended to stem brain drain by giving young people a voice in helping the county attract and retain young talent in the region.

Recently, FitzGerald selected 15 council members from a diverse pool of 125 applicants between the ages of 20 and 35. The group began meeting last month and is working to develop a strategic plan.

“The Next Generation Council will provide an opportunity for my administration to get input from young professionals on how the county can develop the right conditions to engage the creative class,” said FitzGerald in a news release. “We are lucky to have such a diverse group to begin this important initiative.”

She adds, "My aim is to help identify or establish pathways to boost the engagement of young professionals in the public sector, ensuring our voices are consistently represented at the highest level."

Each member of the council serves two years. The group is part of a broader effort by FitzGerald to make Cuyahoga County "a more inclusive and competitive region."


Source: Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Global Cleveland’s pilot program, the English and Pathways for Healthcare Professionals, graduated 19 students on Saturday, March 17. The five-month pilot program was designed to help immigrants with their English as well as find jobs that match the skills they developed in their home countries. 

“Everyone was very thankful for the program, each for slightly different reasons” says Global Cleveland president Larry Miller. “They were very grateful for the experience -- it made Cleveland a very special place in their minds.”
 
Students studied English medical terminology, learned about the structure of the U.S. healthcare system, went on a field trip to the Cleveland Clinic, obtained certification in Basic Life Support (BLS) and participated in a college fair and an interviewing and resume writing workshop.
 
“They walked away with the basic skills,” says Miller. The graduates are now working with a career counselor who will help them on job placement.
 
Miller was struck by the students’ determination. “I was really impressed with some of their stories,” he says. “These are people who were involved in medicine and to go to another country, it’s very difficult landing in a new culture and a new country.”
 
A second class is planned for later this year, as well as one in the Akron area. “We think it’s one of the first and best successes,” Miller says of the pilot program. “We look forward to another one.”

 
Source: Larry Miller
Writer: Karin Connelly

It was exciting enough for Ruk and Leela, Butanese refugees who settled in Cleveland a few years ago without knowing a soul, to press their garage opener and watch the door magically lift open. So imagine their surprise and joy when they found a shiny new tricycle also waiting inside for their toddler son.

Thanks to the Cuyahoga Land Bank's Discover Home program, a new partnership with the International Services Center, this immigrant couple will soon become proud homeowners. The Land Bank partnered with the ISC to renovate a three bedroom home on Hopkins Ave. in Lakewood and sign a lease-purchase agreement with this young family.

"We're helping to repopulate the city with immigrants, and they're contributing to the neighborhood, just as my relatives did when they came here from Greece," says Gus Frangos, President of the Land Bank. "We have such a surplus of vacant properties that we need to collaborate with everyone that we can."

The yellow, cottage-like house feels like "some kind" of home, adds Ruk Rai. He now works at ParkOhio and his wife works at Mold Masters. The couple spent 18 years in a refugee camp after they were forced from their country following a violent revolution because of their Nepali ancestry. They eventually won the immigrant "lottery" and became one of 40,000-75,000 refugees who are allowed into the U.S. each year. They resettled in Cleveland because of the ISC.

"The program came out of a need," says Karen Wishner, Executive Director of the ISC. "It was a way to solve two problems -- vacant properties and people in need of housing."

The house, which was previously bank owned, was renovated using a $20,000 grant from Fannie Mae. An additional $20,000 was invested by the ISC, and donations and sweat equity from the new owners covered the rest. The Land Bank and ISC hope to renovate 5-7 more dwellings like this by the end of the year.

The Land Bank is also pioneering additional partnerships, including efforts to work with veterans' groups and disability organizations. "The nonprofits bring the capacity and possibly the funding, and we have the properties," says Frangos.


Source: Gus Frangos, Rook, Karen Wishner
Writer: Lee Chilcote

On the heels of St. Patty's Day, which gives cause for merriment whether you're Irish for one day or your entire life, comes Dyngus Day. And Justin Gorski, aka "DJ Kishka," invites you to dig deep to find your ethnic roots and celebrate Cleveland's Polish heritage in style.

"I'm Polish, and I always had pride in that," says Gorski, who created the Polka Happy Hour at the Happy Dog seven years ago. "My grandmother made pierogi and potato pancakes. It's great to be able to celebrate the ethnicity of Cleveland."

Gorski was inspired to create a Dyngus Day celebration in Cleveland after he traveled to Buffalo two years ago to perform. Dyngus Day festivities there attract more than 60,000 people each year. The event is a traditional pagan holiday that began as a celebration of the rites of spring, but was co-opted by a Polish Catholic king many eons ago. Today, it is widely celebrated as the Polish version of Mardi Gras, and always takes place on the Monday after Easter.

Last year's event attracted 1,500 people, and DJ Kishka is hoping for 5,000 at this year's celebration. Bars and restaurants in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood have banded together to promote the event. Organizers are planning an Accordion March along W. 58th Street, the traditional crowning of Ms. Dyngus (kind of a polka-themed talent show), live music and an appearance by Big Chuck.

Gorski says Cleveland's strong Polish community will keep Dyngus Day growing, and it will help attract visitors to the revitalized Gordon Square Arts District.

Dyngus Day will take place on Monday, April 9th. The crowning of Ms. Dyngus will take place at 5 p.m., with the Accordion March immediately following.


Source: Justin Gorski
Writer: Lee Chilcote

This year’s film festival is up to 318 films from 60 countries, ranging from documentary to feature length drama. But there are three films that will be of particular interest to Clevelanders. All documentaries, the flicks cover post-recession life of Detroit, Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson, and what it means to be black in today’s society.

When actor Bill Morgan travels into Cleveland schools to create artistic productions that star both hearing and deaf actors, he continues to be amazed by students' reactions and the type of creativity that is often unleashed through nonverbal communication.

Morgan can hear, yet the productions that he creates through SignStage Theatre help to educate hearing individuals on the issues faced by the deaf community. They also bring hearing and deaf students together through entertainment.

"We ask kids to use their physical actions rather than just their voices, and they really start to use their imaginations more," says Morgan. "We have hearing students interacting more with deaf students, whereas normally they're not. That opens kids up to what deaf kids can do, while also empowering deaf students."

SignStage is a program of the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center (CHSC), a nonprofit originally founded in 1921 to provide lip reading classes for adults who are deaf and hard of hearing. In the past 91 years, the CHSC has grown to serve nearly 8,000 adults and children each year in 14 counties in Northeast Ohio.

Morgan is particularly excited about an upcoming residency through the Ohio Arts Council at a Cincinnati area school. There he will have a chance to create programs at an innovative school that integrates deaf and hearing children using the arts. "Such programs are becoming more acceptable," he says. "I've also found that there is now a better understanding of the needs of the deaf community."

SignStage helps hearing students to overcome prejudice, says Morgan, and to realize deaf people are not handicapped. Deaf people can be found in professions ranging from medicine (including doctors) to manufacturing (they're sometimes hired to work around noisy machines that hearing people can't tolerate).


Source: Bill Morgan
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Global Cleveland officially opened its Welcome Hub doors in February with the goal of attracting new residents to town over the next 10 years. The center opened on February 7 with a ribbon cutting ceremony at its home on 200 Public Square.
 
"The opening of the Welcome Hub is an important milestone for Global Cleveland. Our objective is to attract 100,000 newcomers in the next 10 years," says Global Cleveland president Larry Miller. "It is important to us that there be a place where we can meet newcomers face-to-face and say 'Welcome, you've come to the right place.' We will use the space to help newcomers find resources that can help them as they look for employment and a place to live in our region."
 
Global Cleveland has seven full-time employees and four part-time consultants. The number of volunteers will fluctuate depending on programming. A partnership has been reached with Cleveland Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) to staff the Welcome Hub during strategic business hours. 
 
Hopes are the Welcome Hub will serve as the gateway to new business and growth in the area.

"Strong and growing companies in the region are drawing talent to the area," says Miller. "We want to work with our employers to help make the region attractive to the candidates they need to hire. Cleveland is becoming very attractive, especially to people who live in large urban areas in the East, such as New York.  As these people start to learn more and visit the area, it is important that we are ready to reach out to them, provide them with information and resources, and help them connect with Cleveland."

 
Source: Larry Miller
Writer: Karin Connelly

Vedette Gavin knows how difficult it can be for any new initiative to take root in an older neighborhood. So, instead of pushing her "Healthy Eating and Active Living" program onto residents of the Buckeye and Shaker Square-Larchmere neighborhoods, she has planted seeds in resident leaders who are growing it from the ground up.

"Place impacts choice and choice impacts health," says Gavin, a Community Health Fellow with the Saint Luke's Foundation, a three-year placement that focuses on community initiatives that support healthy lifestyles. "What I do is help people to wrap their arms around these ideas and make change."

The Healthy Eating and Active Living program is conducted in partnership with the Case Center for Reducing Health Disparities at MetroHealth. Residents, stakeholders and community groups are represented on an Advisory Board.

So far, Gavin has partnered with a local salon and barbershop to introduce "Shop Talk," a series of informal, drop-in conversations about healthy lifestyles; introduced a community gardening program that offers residents simple, low-maintenance ways to grow fresh produce; and organized fun community exercise programs that include line dancing and the ever-popular Zumba.

Gavin, who has a Master's in Public Health and an evident passion for helping to make low-income, urban neighborhoods healthier places to live, says her goal is to ensure that the program lives well beyond her three-year tenure. "We're taking healthy eating and active living and weaving it into the neighborhood."


Source: Vedette Gavin
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Local writer, speaker and entrepreneur Craig James has some big ideas. In fact, he is a regular contributor to NEOtropolis's "What’s the Big Idea" segment on PBS. He and his partner Sue James formed CatalystStrategies, which helps organizations best communicate their message, market and meaning. In this "Letter to Cleveland," James pens an open letter to the city he loves.

There is a surprisingly rich community of accomplished authors living in Cleveland. In fact, if you take a stroll through Cleveland Heights -- and other artsy neighbs -- you might even bump into one of them. Fresh Water recently bumped into three of them: Dan Chaon, Mary Doria Russell and Thrity Umrigar.

Families in Central know well the distinctive whistle blow of Heaventrain, and that it means hope is on its way. They also know to follow its call to help rebuild their east side Cleveland neighborhood through fostering stronger neighbor-to-neighbor relationships, a mission that the nonprofit Lighthouse Inc. has been fulfilling for more than 30 years.

Heaventrain is a full-size bus that Lighthouse has outfitted as a mobile classroom. It serves more than 1,200 kids every Saturday, providing them with character-based education, fun and games, and a free meal.

"Central is not a neighborhood where parents typically feel safe letting their kids just go out and play," explains Lighthouse Executive Director Andy Batten of the community, which is home to several low-income, subsidized housing projects. "We provide an almost carnival-like atmosphere, and then the kids are fed."

In addition to Heaventrain, Lighthouse runs a tutoring program at East Tech High School that builds in-depth relationships with kids to ensure success, manages a youth basketball program to provide kids with positive alternatives to gang involvement, and provides a summer-long nutrition program.

"One of the high school students on our basketball team turned things around and went from a 1.4 grade point average to a 3.8 grade point average," says Batten.

Yet what he is most proud of is how Lighthouse develops its programs. Rather than repeating programs each year, the organization continually evaluates its successes and failures and how it's serving the community. "We work with residents to build programming, and only develop programs if the neighborhood says it's important and neighbors are willing to get involved."

Last year, the charity rater Guidestar rated Lighthouse the second best charity overall in Ohio, and the third best charity in the U.S. for nutrition programs.


Source: Andy Batten
Writer: Lee Chilcote

At the end of last year, Indian-born entrepreneur Radhika Reddy launched Ariel International Center, a one-stop shop for international business development in Northeast Ohio. Located in the former Leff Electric Company building on E. 40th Street, the 100-year-old warehouse with solid brickwork and rough-hewn wooden beams is being refurbished to support this decidedly 21st century venture.

“We offer shared international services for companies that want to locate here and do business globally, and we also help local companies with global potential,” says Reddy, who arrived in Cleveland 21 years ago with little more than a visa and $20 in her pocket, yet has since adopted Northeast Ohio as her home.

The successful businesswoman is one of three women behind Ariel Ventures, an economic development finance firm with $1.5 million in annual sales. Reddy says she wants to grow Cleveland's economy by helping businesses to gain global reach.

“We want to help them with business growth and act as their back office,” she says. “Services that we offer include accounting and finance, international business development, tax advising and export and import documentation.”

Ariel International Center, whose new, four-story home has large windows offering views of downtown and Lake Erie, will also host a fourth floor event space that is geared towards Cleveland’s immigrant community. Once renovations are complete, Reddy also hopes to land an international-themed restaurant that will become a destination spot for the downtown lunch crowd.

“Entrepreneurs like me are always thinking of what’s not there,” she says.

The project received support from the City of Cleveland’s Vacant Properties Initiative as well as a low-interest economic development loan from the city. Reddy says that it is approximately 50 percent self-financed by Ariel’s partners. The 100 percent women-owned firm will move its offices here by February 1st.


Source: Radhika Reddy
Writer: Lee Chilcote

While we pride ourselves here at Fresh Water in having crisp, professional prose, the truth is, without art, a feature is just font on a page. Pictures tell a thousand words, we're told, but the best ones simply leave us speechless. Every masthead and feature image since we launched this pub over a year ago has been shot by Fresh Water shooter Bob Perkoski. Here is a collection of some of his finest work.