COSE is looking for a few good startups. The organization’s second annual business pitch competition will be held on Thursday, October 18 at Pickwick and Frolic. Competition finalists will outline their ideas to a panel of experts, including Jeff Hoffman, founder of Priceline.com.
 
“So many small business owners just starting out with a new idea need more than money and someone to talk to,” says Megan Kim, COSE director of education and programs. “We’re challenging the business owner to think about their business in a new way, think about why their business is so unique.”
 
To get in front of the panelists, entrants must put together an executive summary and a two-minute video pitch. Applicants must be in business less than two years and have less than $250,000 in gross annual revenue.
 
Twenty semi-finalists will be chosen to give a 15-minute presentation and answer questions from the panel. From there, four finalists will be chosen to present at Pickwick and Frolic. The winner will receive $20,000, while second place gets $10,000 and third and fourth places receive $5,000 each.
 
The competition is designed to both encourage and educate small business owners in the area.

“It’s so great to see so many people with the entrepreneurial bug,” says Kim. “People who start their own businesses don’t always know where to go or what questions to ask. This competition gives them someone to talk it through with, it gives them connection and the chance to find their roots.”
 
The deadline to submit the executive summary and video pitch is Tuesday, Sept. 4 by 5 p.m.

 
Source: Megan Kim
Writer: Karin Connelly

An innovative software program developed by the Center for Urban Poverty at Case Western Reserve University is helping Cleveland neighborhood development practitioners reinvent their urban communities in strategic, data-driven ways.

NEO CANDO, a publicly accessible database, provides one-stop-shopping for anyone looking to research property information in their neighborhood. The site allows users to go beyond researching individual properties and look at snapshots of neighborhoods -- including which properties are at risk of foreclosure and which have been condemned. The site also contains social, economic and census data.

"In the past, information was collected from multiple websites, and by the time it was assembled, it was out of date," says Mike Schramm, a Research Associate in the Center on Urban Poverty in the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at CWRU. "We bring data together across domains. Our mission is to democratize data and to create data-driven decisions by both nonprofits and government."

In practice, NEO CANDO is used by foreclosure prevention agencies to research which properties are in danger of going into foreclosure. Armed with this info, grassroots groups can knock on the owner's door and attempt to intervene, thus hopefully preventing another vacant, bank-owned home in the neighborhood.

The information is also used to focus on areas with strategic assets in an effort to better protect them. "You need to know that the house across street from that recently rehabbed home is in foreclosure -- and then do something about it."

Projects like NEO CANDO are helping to facilitate a shift within the community development field towards creating more strategic, placemaking investments.


Source: Mike Schramm
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Justin Coulter, a sculptor, bartender and rock band frontman, was elated when Beachland Ballroom owner Cindy Barber suggested that he craft an original piece in tribute to Harvey Pekar.

When the offer was made, he was outside smoking a cigarette during a 2010 memorial for Pekar at the Beachland. Barber, who had only just learned that her employee is a talented sculptor whose work can be found all over Cleveland, was suddenly inspired by the idea of hiring Coulter.

"I said, are you kidding? That's the biggest honor in the world so far," says Coulter. "Let's do it! Two years later, we raised $38,000, and the biggest donation was about $500. It was all from people who just wanted to see this happen."

The bronze sculpture features a rendition of Pekar walking out of one of his own comic books -- from "2D" to "3D," as Coulter describes it. It also includes a desk where participants will be encouraged to pen their own masterpieces. The piece will be installed at the main branch of the Cleveland Heights-University Heights library, and a public unveiling is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 14th.

Coulter is creating the sculpture in his studio on East 36th Street. First, he made a model out of hard clay, incorporating suggestions from Harvey's widow, Joyce Brabner, along the way. Next, he will create a hollow mold, heat the bronze to more than 1000 degrees, pour it into the mold and then pack it in sand to keep the heat in. Finally, he will chip off the mold to reveal the long-awaited sculpture.

"The library is the perfect spot for him," says Coulter of the location. "So much better than being next to a politician like Elliott Ness at Lakeview cemetery."

Coulter, who is also working with other artists to create a website of Cleveland craftspeople that will help to highlight and connect customers to their work, never met Pekar. "I had to create that experience out of my imagination," he says.

With bronze lasting an average of 10,000 years, the sculpture creates near immortality for the famously cantankerous working-class writer, who has become a symbol of Rust Belt authenticity.

"When the library collapses and everything is covered in dirt, there will still be an awesome sculpture of Harvey."


Source: Justin Coulter
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Mario Schulzke has always been fascinated with the spirit and drive behind entrepreneurs. The Plettenberg, Germany native came to America on his own at age 16, went to college and ended up in advertising in Los Angeles.
 
“I always wanted to be an entrepreneur but I couldn’t because of my work permit,” Schulzke recalls. So in 2009, he launched IdeaMensch, a vehicle to celebrate and learn from entrepreneurs. “I’d always admired entrepreneurs and people who brought their ideas to life. The original idea was to learn more from these people.”
 
This year Schulzke, now 31 and with his green card, decided to take his search on the road. He and a few friends are traveling across the country, inviting local entrepreneurs to share their stories. “People with ideas truly live everywhere,” Schulzke says. “I figured there was no better way to start this than to go on a road trip and try to learn from these people in person.”
 
The group is organizing 50 events in 48 states in 115 days. This past week they were at Quicken Loans Arena. The entrepreneurs featured were Eric Wobser of Ohio City Inc., Joe Pulizzi of Content Marketing World, Laura Bennett of Embrace Pet Insurance, David Levine of Wireless Environment and Deb Papes-Stanzak of Ronwear. Each entrepreneur gave a 15-minute speech about how and why they brought their ideas to life, followed by a brief Q&A.
 
Schulzke’s goal is to get other would-be entrepreneurs to act on their ideas. “The goal is to encourage and inspire people to bring their ideas to life,” he says. “If I could get one person to say ‘I have this idea and I’m going to get started on it,’ I’ll be happy.”

 
Source: Mario Schulzke
Writer: Karin Connelly

When musician educators with Roots of American Music hold workshops in Cleveland public schools, it almost goes without saying that they are entering a place that doesn't have a full-time music teacher. Most cannot afford to hire full-time music staff, so they rely on part-time faculty and visiting artists.

The 14-year-old nonprofit organization educates more than 15,000 students throughout Northeast Ohio each year, teaching social studies, financial literacy and health education through music.

"We do a lot of songwriting about topics that are important to kids," says Kevin Richards, ROAM's Director. "They work with authentic artist-educators who not only can teach but are also bluesmen, Cajun zydeco artists or rappers."

Richards likens ROAM's educational approach to parents who disguise healthy foods to get their kids to eat them. In general, the artists have little trouble convincing kids to participate. "Kids don't realize they're getting an academic message at the same time as they're fooling around with traditional music."

ROAM's curriculum has changed as educational goals have evolved. When Richards created the organization, the focus was on teaching social studies. Today, such staple courses are supplemented with programs about financial literacy and health education (the latter is in partnership with the Cleveland Clinic).

One popular program called "On the Move" teaches students in the Central neighborhood of Cleveland about migration patterns throughout history. Students learn the song "Kansas City" and change the lyrics to fit their family's story.

Roots of American Music will host its 13th annual Benefit for Education on Saturday, October 6th at the Beachland Ballroom. Multi-award-winning Austin singer-songwriter Guy Forsythe is the headliner. The tickets are $125 for VIP access including dinner and preferred seating, or $15 for the concert only.


Source: Kevin Richards
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Thrive Cleveland, a new grassroots "happiness incubator," wants to amaze you. The goal is to provide experiences that are "surprising," "boundary expanding" and "beyond your comfort zone," according to cofounder Scott Simon.

"What we’re doing is creating what you could call a happiness gym," says Simon. "It will be a series of ongoing, curated experiences for Clevelanders. We want to get them to meet other people, be creative and hear from the best and brightest in Cleveland."

The group is composed of 13 Clevelanders who are volunteering their time to create happiness-inducing events aimed at engaging the city's residents.

The first experience, entitled "WTF? (What's That Food?) -- A Local Farm-to-Table Exploration," will take place on Saturday, August 25th from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Participants will meet at Cafe Benice and then travel as a group to the Cuyahoga Valley Countryside Farmers Market, where they'll meet with farmers, taste just-picked produce, and learn how fresh food contributes to happiness and well-being. Afterwards, the group will return to Cafe Benice to participate in a hands-on cooking experience utilyzing the farm-fresh foods. 

According to Simon, the event is part of a national movement towards fostering greater happiness in cities across the country. He cites the Happiness Institute in San Francisco and Life Labs NYC in Brooklyn as two comparable organizations.


Source: Scott Simon
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The St. Ignatius Reaching MAGIS program is designed to help students get on the track for college in Catholic schools.

“We try to identify young boys in sixth through eighth grade who are promising, rising students, and get them involved early,” explains school principal Dan Bradesca.  “These are students from schools throughout the Cleveland area who spend 15 Saturdays in English, test prep and study skills, and computer and graphic arts.”
 
A specific part of the program includes an entrepreneurship demo. For the second year this summer, Nick Pavlak of BABL Media has led eight MAGIS teams in entrepreneurship and technology education. The teams worked with Pavlak in developing companies and ultimately presenting their ideas to a panel of experts at LaunchHouse.
 
“The future of technology lives in mobile technology, and this generation is growing up in the digital world,” says Bradesca. “This program gives kids the basic knowledge of mobile application design and development from an entrepreneurial approach.”
 
The students went from concept to sketching the idea out, to marketing and construction of the business. “They were really doing some intense stuff,” says Bradesca. The culmination was a presentation on July 9 to LaunchHouse entrepreneurs.
 
The top three companies were The Shoe Finder app, which helps users find shoes at a low price; the Emergency App, which lets people know you’re in trouble; and the Achieving app, which helps people attain their personal goals.
 
BABL will work with the students later this year on actually developing the top app ideas.

 
Source: Dan Bradesca
Writer: Karin Connelly

When Earl Pike of the Cleveland Leadership Center helped design the new Civic Engagement Boot Camp, he tapped the popular national trend of half marathon benefits as a wellspring of inspiration.

"People want to be challenged," he says. "We didn't want to do the typical thing of getting a bunch of young people in a room to listen to an old person pontificate. We wanted to ask people to do something really hard and put their hearts and souls into it."

The result? A one-day civic engagement half marathon, if you will. The Boot Camp starts at 6:30 a.m. and runs until 9 p.m.

"At the end, you'll be exhausted and probably smell bad and be a little frayed," says Pike. "But you'll see every major sector of Cleveland and you'll be engaged in a way that changes you, challenges you."

In June, participants held a behind-the-scenes meeting with the editorial board of the Plain Dealer, worked out with an 82-year-old woman, dug in the dirt at Ohio City Farm, went on a bike tour of Cleveland, and honed their improv skills at Cleveland Public Theatre. And that was just part of the day. It concluded with a meeting of area foundation leaders at the Terminal Tower Observation Deck.

The next installment of Boot Camp, titled "Cleveland from dawn to dusk -- like you've never seen it before," will take place Thursday, October 4th. The cost is $500.

"It doesn't really matter what people do: We love seeing people inspired and getting active in whatever domain they choose," says Pike, who says the long-term goal is combining civic engagement with personal growth. "Now we're beginning to look at the coaching that might come after the experience."


Source: Earl Pike
Writer: Lee Chilcote

St. John's Episcopal Church in Ohio City has a rich and illustrious history. Industrialist and U.S. Senator Marcus Hanna married there in the late 19th century, and at one time the church was one of the very last stops on the Underground Railroad. 

More recently, Cleveland-born rappers Bone Thugs-n-Harmony recorded their first album in a part of the parish hall rented out to a recording studio in the '90s.

Unfortunately, the parish dissolved and the church closed several years ago. Yet the Episcopal Diocese of Northeast Ohio recently hired developer Rick Foran to restore the vintage, board-and-batten exterior. Prior to the rehabilitation, the exterior paint was badly peeling and boards were rotting and coming loose.

"It was painted dark brown and the siding was splitting," says Foran of the 8,000-square-foot hall, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because it is considered to be the oldest consecrated building in Cuyahoga County. "We took the siding off, turned it over, primed and painted it and reinstalled it."

The Foran Group also added much-needed insulation (because there wasn't any) as well as sheathing and an energy-efficient vapor barrier. Finally, the developer replaced the rotten batten strips with custom-made cedar wood pieces.

The redevelopment preserves a piece of Ohio City's architectural heritage. Well-to-do families living in mansions on Franklin Boulevard built St. John's, whose foundation is built from pieces of stone from the Cuyahoga River, says Foran. He hopes the area's redevelopment will give the property a second life.

The repair will allow the Episcopal Diocese to begin marketing the church and parish hall to a new occupant. "With the growth of the whole Ohio City area, they believe that they can find another church that would occupy it," says Foran.


Source: Rick Foran
Writer: Lee Chilcote

In 2011, Trevor Shaw was working in sales and marketing for an industrial parts distributor, searching through Google AdWords accounts when his wandering mind struck upon an idea. “I was bored and thinking about the previous weekend and all the fun I had,” Shaw recalls. “So I started thinking.”
 
Shaw’s thinking led to Barkudo, an iPhone app that allows bar managers to input daily drink specials so customers within a five-mile radius can redeem them on their phones.
 
“The bar manager goes to the Barkudo website, logs in to their merchant account and creates deals throughout the week,” explains Shaw. “Users open the app within five miles of that bar and will see the specials.”
 
Barkudo differs from deal sites like Groupon in that users do not prepay for the special, and bar owners do not have to wait for their money. “The bar owners receive their money at the point of sale, up front from the customer,” says Shaw.  “There’s no printout. You just have to be at the location to get the deal.”
 
In just a few weeks -- Barkudo launched at the end of July -- Shaw has commitments from Panini’s on Coventry, The Cedar Lee Pub and Grill, The Fairmount Martini and Wine Bar, and the Blind Pig. More bars are on the way in Ohio City, Tremont and Akron.

“In the next month we expect to be moving quickly as everything starts trickling in and moving week by week," adds Shaw.
 
Right now, Shaw works with a programmer to help him launch. He expects to hire a technical person and sales reps as the business grows.

 
Source: Trevor Shaw
Writer: Karin Connelly

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine researchers have made a groundbreaking discovery that could stop the proliferation of cancer cells in patients without the need for toxic chemotherapy.

The researchers discovered a mutant form of the gene Chk1. When expressed in cancer cells, it halted their proliferation and killed them. The finding that artificially activating Chk1 alone is enough to kill cancer cells is unprecedented.

"We have identified a new direction for cancer therapy... leading us to a reduction in toxicity in cancer therapy, compared with chemotherapy or radiation therapy," said Dr. Youwei Zhang, Assistant Professor with the Department of Pharmacology at the School of Medicine and a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, in a release. "With this discovery, scientists could stop the proliferation of cancer cells, allowing physicians time to fix cells and genetic errors."

If the researchers' strategy pans out, then cancer patients could potentially be treated by activating Chk1 in cancer cells, rather than using chemotherapy.

Future research by Dr. Zhang and his team will focus on approaches to artificially activating Chk1 in cancer cells.


Source: CWRU School of Medicine
Writer: Lee Chilcote

If Bike Cleveland, LAND Studio and business owner Sam McNulty have their way, a used shipping container will be transformed into sleek new bike parking in Ohio City sometime next month.

The Bike Box, which will feature parking for 15 bikes in a locally sourced shipping container fabricated by Rust Belt Welding, started off as a conversation among cycling advocates about converting a single car parking space into multiple bike parking on West 25th.

"To be honest, I thought the City was going to look at me cross-eyed," says Sam McNulty, who is chipping in money for the project. The Bike Box will be placed on Bridge, outside of Nano Brew, his soon-to-open microbrewery. "Surprisingly, they were very excited about it. This makes a statement and says, 'Instead of bicycles and pedestrians being an afterthought, we're flipping the script and creating a space for bicycles.'"

As far as timing goes, McNulty says the organizers still hope to have the Bike Box up in time for events celebrating the West Side Market's 100th birthday. "We're shooting to have it hit the curb in time for the Centennial next month," he says.

McNulty says the Bike Box will replace one unmetered parking space. He hopes to eventually remove another parking space or two and create a "parklet" -- a streetside pocket park with grass, trees and benches -- but he's focused on the Bike Box first. "The park is more controversial and cutting-edge," he says.


Source: Sam McNulty
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Enforcer eCoaching, a personalized wellness coaching service, has secured $250,00 from JumpStart to expand services across the country. A spin-off out of the Cleveland Clinic, Enforcer eCoaching was founded by Cleveland Clinic chief wellness officer Dr. Michael Roizen, television health guru Dr. Mehmet Oz and entrepreneurs Steven Lindseth and Arthur Benjamin.
 
The eCoaching focuses on smoking cessation, weight loss, hypertension control and diabetes control through personalized one-on-one email coaching and behavior modification.

“It’s based on 25 years of health coaching by Dr. Roizen,” says Marty Butler, Enforcer’s president and CEO. “We’re seeing a lot of niche treatment programs in the marketplace for companies looking to reduce their healthcare spending. Employers see a very strong return on investment.”
 
Butler says participants in the smoking cessation program have an 85-percent success rate, while weight loss participants lose an average of two inches to their waist lines.
 
Employers or private individuals can sign up for eCoaching. They select the type of coaching they want, are assigned a coach, and then check in with daily email correspondence. “It’s part automation, part personal coaching,” says Butler. “Every email is reviewed by a personal health coach, and they really build relationships and people become more accountable for their own healthcare.”
 
The convenience of email contributes for Enforcer’s success. “People can email whenever and wherever they want, and read the emails whenever and wherever,” says Butler. “We’re slowly nudging people to success because of the daily email exchange.”
 
In addition to JumpStart’s investment to help Enforcer complete its computer platform, the organization has also provided expertise in hiring sales and IT staff.

 
Source: Marty Butler
Writer: Karin Connelly

George Vlosich has been creating Etch-a-Sketch art since he was 10, but more recently his artistic creations have landed him on Oprah and earned him millions of views from followers on YouTube.

Now the arts entrepreneur, who has also launched a line of Cleveland-centric apparel and painted 40-foot murals of local sports icons inside Positively Cleveland, is opening a gallery on Professor in Tremont.

"Being on Oprah opened up opportunities for me, and now I create artwork for people literally across the world," says Vlosich, founder of GV Art and Design. "I'm trying to do things that take the Etch-a-Sketch and go beyond the red frame. I worked in advertising for the last nine years, but now I'm going full-time."

Vlosich's new storefront gallery is located in the space that formerly housed Asterisk Gallery. The artist is renovating the interior and restored the prominent storefront windows, which had long been covered up by a false, wooden facade painted blue. The gallery is scheduled to officially open sometime in October.

"I want to grow beyond Cleveland," says Vlosich of his future business goals. "I also want to start doing stuff that makes an impact on the community. We already do a lot of charity events, and we're going to get kids involved with artwork."


Source: George Vlosich
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The inaugural Great Lakes Venture Fair will take place at the Cleveland Marriott Downtown October 17-18, on the heels of the National Association of Seed and Venture Funds annual conference. The fair is a collaborative effort  between  JumpStart, Ohio Capital Fund, Ohio Venture Association, TiE Ohio, CincyTech and TechColumbus and will bring together investors and startups from across the Midwest.
 
“It’s a chance for the venture capital community to come together and see some of the most promising startups,” explains Carolyn Pione Micheli, director of communications for CincyTech. “According to a study by the Kauffman Foundation, in 2007 all net news job growth came from companies that are less than five years old.” The event is the successor to the Ohio Capital Fund’s Early Stage Summit, which was held in Columbus for seven years.
 
The GLVF will only accept 18 startup companies in bioscience and IT to pitch their companies to investors. Other activities at the event include presentations on regional investment activity, and conversations about building future growth in startups and investing.
 
“In terms of growing fresh new jobs, small companies are the key, “ says Micheli. “The startup community is really important to our economic future.”
 
Keynote speaker will be Jeff Weedman, vice president of global business development for Proctor & Gamble. The application deadline for companies looking for funding is Aug. 12. Registration to attend is $200 before Sep. 15, $250 after that.

 
Source: Carolyn Pione Micheli
Writer: Karin Connelly

In the best of cases, getting a book published can take one to three years from start to finish. Or, you can do it the way Richey Piiparinen and Anne Trubek did with Rust Belt Chic: The Cleveland Anthology. The pair of Cleveland writers managed to compress the entire Sisyphean process into an implausible three-month timeframe.

Until recently, there was a void in Cleveland's art scene: the lack of a community darkroom, studio and photographic gallery. That will change with the opening of Cleveland Print Room, an educational organization located in the ArtCraft Building.

The organization "aspires to build awareness and foster appreciation for fine art, hand-processed photography," according to its Facebook page. Cleveland Print Room will offer workshops, affordable work space and collaborative exhibition space. Its members are devotees of shooting and printing film manually.

"When my daughter began looking for photography classes to take around 2005, we found that high schools, arts centers and universities and colleges were actively disassembling or downsizing their darkroom facilities," explains Shari Wilkins, founder of Cleveland Print Room. "This is a troubling trend and we lamented the lost possibilities. When one of the local art centers began selling off their art supplies and photography equipment, we were there, buying the photo equipment up. At that time, we were not even really sure why we were doing this."

Yet that prescient moment led to the creation of the Print Room. "After researching the need in the gap in services along with the resurgence of 20th century emulsion-based photography, it was an easy decision," she says.

Members will have full access to the space nearly 24 hours per day, and there will be a darkroom, studio and exhibition space. Wilkins hopes to be open by the fall.

The venue is located at 2550 Superior in a building rife with studios and galleries.


Source: Cleveland Print Room
Writer: Lee Chilcote