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

For years, the trend in Ohio City was for young couples to buy homes, live there a few years, and then flee to the suburbs when they had kids. Thanks to a close-knit group of pioneering parents, that story may soon have a different ending. With hopes for a new public charter school becoming a reality, many young parents see a future that doesn't include a home in suburbia.

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

Inspired by one of Mahatma Ghandi's famous mantras -- "we must become the change we wish to see in the world" -- Open Yoga Gallery, a yoga studio with a mission, will launch this weekend at 4736 Lorain Avenue in Ohio City.

"One of our goals is to get people onto the yoga mat for the first time," says April Arotin, the studio's founder. To that end, Open Yoga offers several classes per week that merely suggest a donation. During the opening weekend, the studio will offer free classes on Saturday from 12-6 p.m., as well as a free workshop for beginners on Sunday.

Open Yoga is a labor of love for Arotin, who lived in San Francisco before she moved back to Cleveland last summer. The studio is located in a storefront that was last used as an antique store -- 10 years ago. Arotin and the friends whom she corralled into helping her spent six months renovating the space.

To cut costs and keep with their green business practices, Arotin reused much of the existing space, cleaning the 1940s tile floor, for instance, rather than replacing it with shiny hardwood planks.

"Ninety percent of the furniture in our space is up-cycled," explains Arotin, meaning that it's been reclaimed from other spaces or purchased from thrift stores and refurbished. In addition, the studio has set an ambitious goal to produce zero waste.

To encourage walking, bicycling and carpooling, Open Yoga offers patrons a chance to win free classes if they choose alternative transportation. The 1,000-square-foot studio also functions as an art gallery, with local artists' work adorning the walls.

Although yoga is not often associated with inner city neighborhoods, Arotin wants to change this. "There's a perception that yoga is only for a specific demographic -- women with a lot of disposable income -- but we want to make it accessible," she says.

After all, yoga is not just about staying healthy and flexible; it's also about unlocking the potential for change. "Yoga helps us move our bodies in a way that we never thought possible," says Arotin, "and that can help us realize our true potential."


Source: April Arotin
Writer: Lee Chilcote

According to BioEnterprise, Cleveland continues to be a leader in the Midwest when it comes to raising money for start-up healthcare companies. Last year, healthcare-related start-ups in Cleveland raised just over $135 million in investments. Cleveland was third in the Midwest in start-up allocations behind Chicago and Minneapolis, according to the Midwest Healthcare Venture Report released by Cleveland's BioEnterprise, which supports the growth of bioscience enterprises.

Cleveland-based start-ups benefited from the generosity of 64 national investors, according to the report. The area is also home to numerous healthcare investment companies, which contributed to local and out-of-region start-ups in 2010. These investors include Bridge Investment Fund, Primus Capital and Riverside, which completed 24 acquisitions in 2010.

Baiju Shah, president and CEO of BioEnterprise, says that the number of companies receiving investments has stayed high even through the recession. While 2010 was somewhat of a difficult year, Shah says that investment activity picked up toward the end of 2010.

Read the full prospectus here.


 

SOURCE: BioEnterprise
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

Steve Arless has nearly four decades of experience in the medical-device industry. As president and CEO of CryoCath, he grew the company to more than 300 employees before arranging its sale for $380 million. Now, he brings his expertise to Cleveland in hopes of doing the same for CardioInsight, which is developing a cardiac arrhythmia ablation therapy.

Some said it would never happen, but the day is finally arriving: A groundbreaking ceremony for the Cleveland Medical Mart and Convention Center takes place this Friday, January 14. Construction has already gotten underway near Lakeside Avenue, though, signifying that the much-anticipated, often-controversial $465 million project will become a reality. Completion of the project is expected to be sometime in 2013.

For many, the building's external progress will be almost as significant as the list of committed exhibitors  inside. According to MMPI, the Chicago-based trade show and property management firm, the first 40-plus companies that have signed letters of intent to lease showroom space will be also be revealed on January 14. According to Dave Johnson, spokesperson for the Medical Mart, 31 conferences and trade shows have also committed to hosting their events in the new convention center.

The Medical Mart is targeting healthcare manufacturers and service providers to show off their wares and services inside the complex. The latest innovations and products are likely to be housed within the facility.  The interiors will feature 235,000 square feet of display space, 60,000 square feet of meeting rooms, 230,000 square feet for exhibitions and a 30,000-square-foot ballroom.


SOURCE: Dave Johnson,
Cleveland Medical Mart and Convention Center
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

Making good on a 2010 goal to build and strengthen its interests in the healthcare industry, The Riverside Company this month announced the acquisition of Physicians Pharmacy Alliance (PPA). The North Carolina-based company specializes in drug dispensing to at-home chronically ill patients. PPA was founded in 2002 and has been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the region by the Triangle Business Journal.

Riverside, a private equity firm with offices in Cleveland, considers itself a generalist when it comes to acquisitions; nevertheless, the company has made strides specializing in the healthcare, education and training industries. Riverside benefits from the knowledge and input of senior advisers in these fields. "We bring them into the fold to complement our investment professionals," says Graham Hearns, Riverside's director of marketing and communications.

Also this month, Riverside announced the add-on acquisition of CareFacts Information Systems, a St. Paul, Minnesota provider of software for home care, hospice and public health organizations. CareFacts will join Riverside's HEALTHCAREfirst, which provides web-based software to home care and hospice agencies.


SOURCE: The Riverside Company
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

The recent announcement of a $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create urban farms along Kinsman Avenue is just one example of the growing power of the green movement in Cleveland's urban neighborhoods.

Another example is the 2009 award of a $75,000 grant from the U.S. EPA to help create Neighborhood Leadership for Environmental Health (NLEH), a partnership between three nonprofits to improve the environmental health of four east side neighborhoods. Organizers launched the program in 2010 and convened a neighborhood summit in October.

"This is a grassroots effort to help people to understand the issues, prioritize the ones that are most important, and develop ways to address them," says Mark McLain, Director of Health and Environmental Initiatives at Neighborhood Leadership Institute (NLI). "It's about taking action to make our communities healthier."

NLEH is a partnership between Environmental Health Watch, the Earthday Coalition and the Neighborhood Leadership Institute. The four targeted neighborhoods are Central, Fairfax, Mount Pleasant and Buckeye-Woodland. Since launching the effort, organizers have brought together a group of residents and stakeholders to brainstorm top environmental issues. Currently the group is winnowing down the list to their most important concerns, as well as specific projects to address them in 2011. Issues include air pollution, energy inefficiency in homes, childhood lead poisoning and asthma.

Once the planning is complete, the nonprofits plan to apply for additional EPA funding to implement projects to improve the environmental health of these communities.

McLain says this project is unique because it uses a grassroots approach and focuses on 'greening' entire neighborhoods. "There is growing awareness in inner-city neighborhoods that issues like health, safety and education relate to the environment," he says.


Writer: Lee Chilcote
Source: Mark McLain, Neighborhood Leadership Institute

When it comes to rainfall, we tend to focus on keeping it off of our heads -- not where it goes after hitting the pavement. Yet storm water runoff is a major issue in Northeast Ohio. With every downpour, millions of gallons of rainwater run off parking lots, streets and sidewalks, carrying pollutants into our streams, rivers and Lake Erie.

A new program launched by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) in December aims to address Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO's) that result in untreated wastewater entering our rivers and Lake Erie. NEORSD is evaluating the potential to control CSO's by helping communities to design streets, sidewalks and other impervious areas in ways that reduce runoff. NEORSD has committed to spending at least $42 million to control a minimum of 44 million gallons per year of CSO through the use of better storm water management or "green infrastructure." commits

"This is about the re-greening of our urban areas and potentially making a positive out of our vacant land problems," says Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, Manager of Watershed Programs with NEORSD.

Take your local commercial district as an example. Landscaping requires water and maintenance. Every time it rains, the water sluices towards the catch basins in the street, ending up in the lake. What if communities designed streets so that rainwater funnels to the plants, providing more sustainable landscaping and reusing the water?

Forty-two million is a razor-thin slice of the $3 billion sewer upgrade, but NEORSD officials are hoping that a few key pilot projects will lead to a big change in how Northeast Ohio communities plan and implement infrastructure projects.


Writer: Lee Chilcote
Source: Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, NEORSD

In a laboratory at Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine, Zhenghe John Wang and a team of researchers developed a panel of new human isogenic cell models, which look much like mutated cancer cells. Through these cell models, researchers can get a handle on how cancer takes shape in the human body.

"We actually created a technology where we can add tags into cancer cells so we can track them," says Wang, assistant professor of genetics at Case's School of Medicine. Not only can this technology help researchers to better understand how cancer cells evolve, it can also provide assistance with cancer treatment programs, Wang says.

Now this process has an even greater chance of affecting cancer treatments, as medical research company Horizon Discovery has obtained exclusive rights to the panel of new human isogenic cell models. This means that the British medical research company will be able to add this technology to its existing models, which are used to predict patient response to current and future drug treatments.

Horizon Discovery has licensed the new cell models for ten years and will pay Case an initial fee, with rights to royalties from future product sales.

"We really wanted to work with someone interested in this technology," Wang says, adding that the agreement with Horizon Discovery will allow for research on a grander scale. Meanwhile, Wang and his team will continue to advance use of human isogenic cell models at Case. "Hopefully, we can make a big impact on cancer research," he says.


SOURCE: Case Western Reserve University
WRITER: Diane DiPiero

That small-fish-in-a-big-pond feeling is likely to crop up now and again for local doctors who choose to work outside of one of the large hospital systems. One of the big problem areas? Managing automated tasks like medical records and insurance reimbursements. Any independent physician in Northeast Ohio who has ever felt alone in this realm will want to check out the newly launched Independent Physician Solutions (IPS) from Sisters of Charity Health System.

IPS offers independent doctors a contiuum of services, including billing management, electronic medical records (EMR) and managed care contracting. The new subsidiary of Sisters of Charity is a physician-led organization that seeks the input of those in the medical community. For example, a committee composed of physicians from Sisters of Charity and independent doctors researched possible EMR solutions, eventually deciding on General Electric's Centricity. This system will help private-practice physicians stay on the cutting edge of technology requirements. IPS will also offer billing and collections services.

What's more, IPS will have an equity model open to physicians who want to invest, according to Orlando L. Alvarez, senior vice president of physician alignment for Sisters of Charity. More than half of the governing board of IPS will be made up of physicians.


SOURCE: Sisters of Charity
WRITER: Diane DiPiero