Since its launch in 2000, the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission has brought to Cleveland over 85 sporting events with an estimated economic impact of more than $300 million. Those events include the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Senior PGA Championship, NCAA Women's Final Four, and the Gravity Games. This summer, the Commission's flagship event, the Continental Cup, will bring in 4,000 young athletes from 25 countries for four days of competition.

Joyce Mariani created "Opera in the Garden," a free outdoor concert that takes place each summer in Rockefeller Park's Italian Cultural Garden, to celebrate Italian immigrants' contributions to the city of Cleveland and enliven the 80-year-old public space.

Although Mariani sets up 200 chairs in the idyllic garden, you might want to bring one from home; last year, over 800 people showed up.

"People find something universal in the Italian cultural experience," says Mariani, Executive Director of the Italian Cultural Gardens Foundation. "And this is an outdoor museum to Italian culture in Cleveland."

Mariani has launched an ambitious effort to expand the garden according to original, unfinished plans. Now that she has raised more than $465,000 towards the $750,000 fund-raising goal, work has begun on a large statue of Dante and a dedication is planned for the fall. Future plans call for filling an empty quadrant of the garden with a small pantheon, as well.

"It just goes to show that if you believe in something, people will tap into your dream," Mariani says.

The Italian Cultural Garden was founded in 1930 by Italian-American businessman Philip Garbo. Its prominent features include a column from the Roman Forum and a bust of Virgil that was sent by the Italian government. Garbo's company, the Italian Fresco and Decorating Company, designed and painted decorative art and frescoes in residences, churches and over 100 theaters, including the Ohio Theatre. The design of the upper garden is taken from the Villa Medici in Rome.

This year's Opera in the Garden will take place on Sunday, July 31st at 6 p.m. in the Italian Cultural Garden (990 East Boulevard).

Source: Joyce Mariani
Writer: Lee Chilcote

When the Moreland Theatre was built in 1927, the Buckeye neighborhood was home to the largest concentration of Hungarians outside Hungary. There were also six Hungarian newspapers in the area, and nearly every shop owner on Buckeye Road spoke Hungarian (and often English, too).

In the past 40 years, Buckeye has struggled as businesses and residents fled to the suburbs. The recent foreclosure crisis also hit the area hard, leaving boarded-up homes and vacant lots in its wake.

Yet today, this multicultural community just south of Shaker Square is showing signs of renewal in the new Harvey-Rice Elementary School, the popular Soul of Buckeye jazz festival, and the long-planned redevelopment of the former Saint Luke's Hospital building into low-income senior housing.

Still, the Moreland Theatre, a 1,300-seat Vaudeville theater that features an orchestra pit and flyloft, remains empty. It's not the only one -- the North Collinwood and Cudell neighborhoods also feature historic theaters. Most of them haven't been as lucky as the recently restored Capitol Theatre in Cleveland's Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, which is now home to a three-screen indie movie house.

You don't have to wait for the Moreland Theatre to reopen, however, to check out this architectural gem. The Buckeye Area Development Corporation (BADC) is hosting the Buckeye Antique Furnishings Sale on Saturday, April 30th from 1-5 p.m. Bargain hunters, antique hounds and the merely curious can sift through theater seats, church pews and organs, a film projector, catering and kitchen equipment and art deco architectural details. A smorgasbord of items will be on sale, with prices starting at $1.

"This is the first time that we've opened the theater to the public -- it's part of our efforts to engage the community in creating a vision for the Buckeye Cultural Center," says Deepa Vedavyas, BADC's Associate Director for Development. "People can stop by and pick up a piece of history, and all of the funds raised will go towards the restoration of the building."

BADC purchased the Moreland Theatre in 2007 with plans to convert it into a mixed-use arts complex, including a multi-purpose theater for concerts, plays, special events, affordable apartments for artists, and four new storefronts. Total renovation costs are estimated at $6.1 million. BADC was recently awarded a $100,000 grant from the Ohio Facilities Commission, and has also applied for a historic designation for the building. The nonprofit is launching a fundraising campaign for the redevelopment effort.


Source: Deepa Vedavyas
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Cleveland is an entrepreneurial hotspot right now, and big business in Cleveland wants to make sure local women-owned outfits have equal footing. Springboard Enterprises has joined forces with Ohio-based powerhouses KeyBank, Thompson Hine, and Meaden & Moore to provide women with the keys to building big businesses.

Build it Big is a business development program for women-owned businesses on the fast track to growth. "It's about educating business owners on how to find equity investors and financing," says Maria Coyne, executive vice president of business banking for Key. "It's really about targeting for growth and the desire to grow rapidly."

Applications are being taken through May 23. The number of applicants accepted into the program depends on how many apply, but all applicants will get at least some input. To qualify, companies must have a woman in a key management position with a significant ownership stake; demonstrate a qualified and profitable market opportunity, a track record of milestone achievement and a credible core management team or an ability to attract one.

Companies selected to participate will meet one-on-one with the Build It Big partners to chart effective strategies for growing their businesses, including choosing the right capital, getting the fiscal house in order, and important legal issues such as product licensing, royalties and protecting the company's intellectual property.

The program can only mean good things for Cleveland's entrepreneurial spirit. "We think it's great for Cleveland because we like to grow our own," says Coyne. "We have an entrepreneurial history. Build it Big improves sustainability and growth for all our businesses. And we want to have a shared interest in their success."

Source: Maria Coyne
Writer: Karin Connelly

State Farm Insurance is looking for bi-lingual agents with an entrepreneurial spirit. So the agency is holding a job fair at Asian Town Center, located in Cleveland's Asiatown neighborhood, on May 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m..

"State Farm has really got a push on the multi-cultural market," says Kevin Perry, senior State Farm field executive in the company's Beachwood office. "As a growing company we noticed we didn't have a lot of agents across diverse backgrounds."

Perry says Cleveland offers just the diversity State Farm is looking for. "We thought we'd go out and see what we can find and just go from there," he says. The company sponsored an event at Asia Town Center in January and "it went really well," so it seemed like the right location for a second one.

Ideally, State Farm would like to have an agent in Cleveland's Asiatown neighborhood. "With its location, we'd like to have an agent in there just to have a presence," Perry says. But the company is looking for agents who speak any language in addition to English.

"The right potential agent, with good credit, will be funded by State Farm for startup costs. Agents will receive an $18,000 signing bonus, an additional $12,000 after the first year, a $25,000 line of credit, and a credit card with a $5,000 limit.

"If you enjoy working with people, helping people, educating people, and you're interested in being an entrepreneur you should come in," says Perry. "We're looking for folks who want to be anchored in the community and looking to grow the market."


Source: Kevin Perry
Writer: Karen Connelly

On April 25th, Cleveland Public Library (CPL) will celebrate the opening of the Sports Research Center, where visitors can explore favorite moments in local sports history, learn more about the history of black baseball, and meet sports icons from past and present.

The Center lets sports junkies travel back in time to the Indians' glory days. And given the Tribe's current first-place perch in the AL Central, perhaps this isn't just idle daydreaming.

The opening reception for the new facility and its inaugural exhibit, "Pride and Passion: The African American Baseball Experience," will be held on April 25th at 3:30 p.m. on the main library's 5th floor.

"Pride and Passion" tells the story of the African-American baseball players who formed the Negro Leagues after being barred from Major League Baseball in the 1890s. Some of baseball's greatest players, including Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron, played for the Negro Leagues in the early 20th century.

Negro League player Ernest Nimmons, who played alongside Hank Aaron for the Indianapolis Clowns in 1952, will be on hand to talk about his experiences at the event. Nimmons now lives in Elyria.

"Pride and Passion" is organized by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum and the American Library Association Public Programs Office. It was made possible by a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Additional highlights of the center's research materials include correspondence from Jackie Robinson, oral history interviews with 100+ baseball players, baseball fiction, boxing history and the Plain Dealer Historical Archive, an online sports news database.

The April 25th event is a partnership between CPL and the Cleveland Indians. The team's Vice President of Public Relations, Bob DiBiasio, and retired Indians player and 1980 American League Rookie of the Year, Joe Charboneau, will answer questions and sign autographs.

If you happen to miss the opening reception you won't have to "wait 'til next year." The Sports Research Center will be free and open to the public year round.


Source: Cleveland Public Library
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The Neighborhood Connections program provides small financial gifts to community organizations focused on enhancing neighborhoods and engaging residents. Recipients must connect residents in meaningful ways through grass roots projects. Though the grants are small -- from $500 to $5,000 -- they can make a huge difference in the destiny of a neighborhood and its citizens.

Greater Clevelanders are fortunate to live near an abundant source of fresh water. Lake Erie and the Great Lakes contain one-fifth of the world's fresh water supply. Many places in the world are not so lucky -- in fact, more people die each year from contaminated water than from all forms of violence and war combined.

This month, a group of environmental artists are taking over a vacant space at Tower City Center to create an art display on the importance of water. The exhibit, which will be displayed during the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF), from March 24 to April 3, is being organized as part of World Water Day events for Sustainable Cleveland 2019, an effort to create a green economy in Cleveland by 2019.

The sculpture, which will be crafted from decorated two-liter bottles, will educate Clevelanders about the importance of water conservation, and will also raise funds for a water well that will serve an elementary school in rural Uganda. The school, St. Charles Elementary School, is a sister school to Carl and Louis Stokes Central Academy, a K-8 public school in Cleveland.

For the project, 150 students at Stokes Academy will carry their own two-liter bottle of water with them on a bus from their school to Tower City on World Water Day, which takes place Tuesday, March 22nd. It's a gesture of solidarity with their pen pals in Uganda, who each fill their own bottles and carry them to school on a daily basis. The artists will also travel to the school to educate students on the importance of water.

Lead artist Nicole McGee and other project leaders will also work with Stokes students to help them decorate the two-liter bottles to represent the meaning of water in their lives.


Source: Nicole McGee
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Michele Iacobelli Buckholtz has treasured memories of going to lunch with her dad in Little Italy. He grew up here when it was an Italian neighborhood with markets on nearly every corner. She soaked up the old neighborhood during these childhood visits.

Today, Buckholtz is recreating the tradition of the small Italian market -- with a contemporary twist. She recently renovated an historic storefront at Murray Hill Road and Paul Avenue in Little Italy. It reopened as the Murray Hill Market, which is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner and carries fresh produce and groceries.

Patrons of the Murray Hill Market can expect something new with each visit. The specials change daily, based on fresh ingredients and the chef's whim. Some favorites appear consistently, however. Buckholtz offers meatball subs every Thursday, relying upon her mother's recipe of course.

Little Italy has changed since Buckholtz's father grew up here -- there are fewer Italian families now, more students and empty nesters. The small, corner markets have all but disappeared. Yet with the growth of University Circle and sharp condos sprouting up in Little Italy, demand exists for a contemporary market, Buckholtz says. She considers it part of her mission to provide fresh, healthy foods to area residents and employees, an amenity she says is lacking at other neighborhood stores.

The Murray Hill Market is also spicing up the food offerings in Little Italy. Although Italians are no longer the predominant ethnic group here, the restaurants along Mayfield and Murray Hill Roads still offer mostly Italian fare. While Buckholtz specializes in Italian foods, she also offers an array of other ethnic foods, including Jewish and French pastries, Middle Eastern dishes, and Puerto Rican rice and beans.


Source: Murray Hill Market
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Malik Moore is excited about the $2 billion worth of development that is planned or underway in the Flats and adjacent neighborhoods. At the same time, however, as the area is redeveloped as a hub for entertainment, housing, offices, industry and recreation, he wants to ensure that residents' voices are being heard.

"As this neighborhood grows, we want the residents to grow with it," said Moore, Executive Director of the Downtown Cleveland YMCA, at last week's forum on mapping out the future of the Flats. Over 350 people attended the event.

The YMCA has formed a partnership with the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA). Starting in March, the nonprofit will offer several new initiatives to residents of Lakeview Terrace, a public housing project in the Flats, including the REACH program, an effort to address health disparities among low-income and minority groups. A college readiness program will also be offered to Cleveland Municipal School District students.

"Lakeview Terrace is located in the shadow of Ohio City, an area that has seen redevelopment," said Moore in a recent interview. "As we look at ways to redevelop the Flats, we need to build bridges between communities."

Moore says that the Y's programs will help to lessen the physical and social isolation experienced by Lakeview Terrace residents. "Through broadening the social network these youth have available to them, we can reduce the likelihood of high-risk behaviors," he said.

Although the proliferation of new condos and townhouses in the Flats make clear that demand for housing exists here, more than one speaker cited the area's crumbling infrastructure and lack of neighborhood amenities as quality of life barriers.

While competing interests between industry, entertainment, recreation and housing have long stymied the Flats' redevelopment, speakers at the forum challenged the audience to work together to revitalize one of Cleveland's oldest neighborhoods.


Source: Malik Moore
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Dr. Cathy Whitehouse founded The Intergeneration School (TIS), a charter school on Cleveland's east side, as a place that values children as independent learners.

"TIS takes a lifespan, developmental approach to education," she says. "We're all on a learning journey, and we should honor the uniqueness in each learner."

TIS just celebrated its 10-year anniversary. In that time, it has become one of the highest-performing schools in Cleveland, consistently earning "Excellent" marks from the State of Ohio.

This year, Whitehouse and her staff will attempt to replicate TIS's success when they open a charter school on Cleveland's near west side. The Near West Intergenerational School (NWIS), a tuition-free, public school, is slated to open in August.

The seeds for NWIS were planted when the Ohio City Babysitting Co-op, a group of parents seeking to create a new school in their community, contacted Whitehouse. "They said to me, 'We don't want to move, but we don't know where our kids will go to school. Can you help us?'" says Whitehouse. "TIS was a good match for them."

Before it opens, NWIS must sign a sponsorship agreement, find a location and enroll enough kids. Yet Whitehouse says she is "delighted" that NWIS has gotten this far. "Among the many things that we can do to transform Cleveland, making sure that every family has access to free, high-quality education is one of them," she says.

TIS has received a planning grant from the State of Ohio, and is applying for a second grant to help pay for start-up costs. Whitehouse has asked the Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD) to sponsor NWIS, and hopes to lease a CMSD building.

"When TIS started, they wouldn't even talk to us," says Whitehouse. "There's been a wonderful change. They saw what we were doing and said, 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'"

TIS is a member of the Breakthrough Schools, a coalition of top-performing, urban charter schools that recently won a $2 million grant from the Charter School Growth Fund, a national foundation that supports innovative charter schools.

In addition to NWIS, Citizens Academy plans to open a 6th-8th grade middle school this fall. Two more Breakthrough charter schools are slated to open in 2012.


Source: Cathy Whitehouse
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Many young professionals living in the city eventually become parents, trading in their preoccupation with trendy bars for a newfound obsession with play dates, baby gates and high-quality schools.

Yet in any urban area, finding a good school can be tricky. Like the Clash song, a refrain echoes in their heads: "Should I stay or should I go?"

A new study says that for many Cleveland residents, quality public schools could make the difference between choosing to stay and moving to the suburbs.

Recently, a team of researchers at Cleveland State University's Levin College of Urban Affairs surveyed 271 residents of Ohio City, Tremont, Detroit Shoreway and downtown regarding their opinions of the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD).

Of those surveyed, 51 percent said they were either parents of young children or were planning to have kids in the future. Sixty five percent of this group said they were eventually planning to move out of Cleveland or "weren't sure" of their plans. An "excellent" or "effective" public school in their neighborhood could influence them to stay, they said.

"Retaining and growing the local property tax base, which feeds the public school system, will depend on the ability of these neighborhoods to attract and maintain middle-class residents," says Angie Schmitt, who recently earned a Master's degree in Urban Planning from CSU's Levin College and is one of the study's authors.

She adds, "Failing schools encourage residential turnover within this population, creating a cycle of concentrated poverty that further handicaps urban schools."

The study outlines reform efforts taking place in Cleveland, including the creation of the Near West Intergenerational School, a new charter school that aims to launch this year.


Source: Angie Schmitt
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Soon celebrating 100 years, the West Side Market continues to offer a bountiful spread of foods, from pierogi to empanadas, and to attract thousands of shoppers each week. The public market is an emblem of Cleveland's rich ethnic heritage and present-day diversity.

The recent opening of Alaturka, a Turkish restaurant at 1917 West 25^th Street, is further cementing the area's reputation as a hub for international cuisine.

To the delight of Ohio City residents,Yashar Yildirim, the owner of the popular Anatolia Café in Cleveland Heights, has marched across town and opened shop near the West Side Market. Anatolia originally opened in a South Euclid strip center before moving in 2008 to Lee Road.

"I knew there was potential for a Turkish restaurant here because I had customers from the West Side traveling to Cleveland Heights to visit Anatolia Café," says Yildirim.

Yildirim chose Ohio City's Market District because of the area's reputation for ethnic cuisine, the revitalization taking place, and its proximity to downtown and highways. "The people here are diverse and open-minded," he says.

Yildirim himself has something of an American immigrant success story. Born and raised in Istanbul, he moved to New York City in 1996 to attend college. He migrated to Columbus and then to Cleveland after his friends told him Northeast Ohio lacked a decent Turkish restaurant. "I like it here because it's affordable, but there's a sense of big city," he says.

Of Turkish cuisine, Yildirim says, "Turkey is in the Middle East, but it's very close to Europe, so the region is a mixture of ethnicities. So our food is a well-balanced combination of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean styles."

Although he stops short of offering a money-back guarantee, Yildirim says that if you eat off Alaturka's health-conscious menu, you can cancel your gym membership. "We have a lot of vegetarian options, and all of the food is freshly made," he says.


Source: Yashar Yildirim
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Skinny houses wedged onto small lots. Church steeples dotting the skyline. Factories and blue-collar taverns. Eastern-European accents heard on the street.

These phrases might call to mind multi-ethnic Cleveland neighborhoods like Tremont, St. Clair-Superior, Collinwood and Slavic Village, but Lakewood?

Ah, but you don't know Birdtown. Lakewood's only "company town" was carved out in the 1890s for employees of the National Carbon Company (now GrafTech). Located off Madison Avenue -- just west of Lakewood's border -- it was named for streets like Robin, Lark and Plover.

Yet in recent years, Lakewood's only historic district has begun looking ragged -- plagued by foreclosed homes, shabby retail, worn-out streets, and a lingering perception the area is unsafe. Two years ago, city planners and residents launched an effort to improve the area, citing its natural assets as a dense, walkable neighborhood just a stone's throw from parks, shopping and highways.

Now the planning effort is bearing fruit. Lakewood will complete the Madison East Birdtown Strategic Plan this month, and is applying for funding to implement improvements, including neighborhood identity signs, street lighting, pedestrian and bicycle safety enhancements, public art and park improvements.

The plan -- which builds upon investments like the new Harrison Elementary School and artist lofts in the Lake Erie Screw Factory building -- coalesced in 2010 when Lakewood was awarded a $62,500 planning grant from the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA). The city hired Dimit Architects of Lakewood to complete the plan.

"We'd like to resurface Madison Avenue in 2012 or 2013, and that project will include other streetscape enhancements such as decorative signal poles similar to those installed on Detroit Avenue," says Dru Siley, Assistant Planning Director for the city of Lakewood.

With Dimit applying the final touches to the plan, there's no word yet on whether one creative idea that emerged from the planning will be carried out -- putting birdhouses on streetcorners to function as public art, signage, and yes, feeding stations for actual birds.


Source: Dru Siley
Writer: Lee Chilcote