Since the financial crowdsourcing website Kickstarter was founded a few years ago by New York entrepreneurs, it has helped to raise millions of dollars for artistic projects, including many in Cleveland.

Just how important is Kickstarter for arts funding? A recent New York Times article reported that the organization expects to raise $150 million in contributions in 2012. By comparison, the National Endowment for the Arts has a budget of $146 million.

Next week, Kickstarter is coming to Cleveland as part of a Midwest tour to showcase how artists can land DIY funding for their creative-minded startups. The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) and the Foundation Center of Cleveland partnered to create the event, which takes place on Thursday, March 29th from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Idea Center's Miller Classroom at 1375 Euclid Avenue.

"Kickstarter is important not only because it helps artists raise funding, but also because it leverages their ability to get the word out," says Susan DePasquale, Program Manager with CPAC. "There aren't many opportunities for artists to be funded directly. Kickstarter also allows givers to feel like entrepreneurs."


Source: Susan DePasquale
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

It's the "Year of Local Food" in Cleveland, say the organizers of Sustainable Cleveland 2019. It's also the year that Congress is set to reauthorize the farm bill, the largest piece of food and farm legislation that determines how food reaches our plate.

These two events may seem disconnected, but they really are not, says Tia Lebherz, an organizer with Food and Water Watch, whose job is to energize the Cleveland Fair Farm Bill Campaign. In fact, the bill plays a big role in whether or not small local farmers, including urban farmers, can survive and thrive.

This Saturday, local urban farmers and advocates of a better, healthier farm bill are linking the two issues together with an event that they're calling "Green Your St. Patty's Day." Food and Water Watch, Green Triangle, City Rising Farm and Blaine Community Garden organizers are rallying locavores to volunteer on a farm in Hough and participate in a day of action urging their Congressional leaders to support a fair farm bill using letters, phone calls, art projects and petitions.

"Every day, more and more power is shifted to Monsanto and other large corporations, undercutting small farmers so they can't compete," says Lebherz. "We want to see sustainably produced, local food, and one way to do that is to support competition provisions ensuring a level playing field for small farmers."

Lebherz says that Saturday's event will show that Cleveland residents are engaged in their local food system and want to see change. Federal reauthorization of the farm bill only comes up every four to five years, she says, making the Year of Local Food a golden opportunity to organize around this issue in Northeast Ohio.

The "Green Your St. Patty's Day" event takes place this Saturday, March 17 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at City Rising Farm, 8814 Blaine Avenue in Cleveland.


Source: Tia Lebherz
Writer: Lee Chilcote

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

The Foundation Center launched Grant Space to aggregate its most popular content in one easy-to-navigate location and be responsive to its audience. The website features video chats with grant makers and a calendar of trainings. It also allows visitors to quickly interact with Foundation Center staff.

Now the Center has launched Grant Space Mobile, a new version geared towards mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. Foundation Center Cleveland Director Cynthia Bailie says the website, which she developed and is now being used across the country, is one more way the Foundation Center is innovating to serve its customer base. The site is helping grant seekers to become more savvy about using technology to do good in their communities, she says.

"The world has increasingly gone to mobile devices, and we wanted to give our audience what they need in a user-friendly way," says Bailie.

Despite the at-your-fingertips information that is now available online, visits to the Foundation Center Cleveland, which is located in the Hanna Building at PlayhouseSquare, have not declined. Bailie believes that this is because the Center's online presence and physical location actually complement each other.

"We decided to put everything online and offer high-touch in-person services; we've found it has increased our visibility and people still come in," she says.

Making technology more accessible to grant seekers helps them to access funding more easily, identify new sources, strategize ideas and solicit a national and even international audience of grant makers, Bailie says. Recently, the Foundation Center Cleveland hosted a "Good Gone Mobile" networking and information night. The event highlighted two mobile trends, giving and advocacy, and allowed attendees to network with each other and learn from others in the field.

"There's a greater appetite for experimentation with new technologies. We've created a gateway that allows people to quickly tap in and get what they need."


Source: Cynthia Bailie
Writer: Lee Chilcote

MedWish International, a Cleveland company that recycles medical supplies and equipment discarded by local hospitals, medical device companies and individuals by redistributing them to developing nations in desperate need of such items, won the $100,000 technology upgrade grand prize in Toshiba’s Helping the Helpers Technology Makeover.

MedWish beat out 150 U.S. non-profit charities by submitting a two-minute video to Toshiba for Good Facebook page, explaining how they would benefit from a technology makeover. Finalists and the winner were decided by a nationwide vote of Facebook users who watched the videos.

“All of the Helping the Helpers contest finalists were worthy organizations that we felt were deserving of the technology makeover,” says Bill Melo, vice president of marketing, services and solutions, Toshiba America Business Solutions. “MedWish’s video excelled at meeting the criteria we established for the contest, but it was our 10,000-plus fans on Facebook who ultimately decided on MedWish as the grand prize winner.”
 
MedWish will receive Toshiba products and services that include new color multifunction copiers, desktop computers, laptops, televisions, camcorders, telephone systems and energy-saving LED light bulbs. Also included is the Encompass fleet optimization program -- an analysis that will help uncover hidden cost savings throughout the workplace.
 
“Honestly, this prize will allow MedWish to focus more on our work of saving lives and conserving our environment, and less on unjamming printers and dealing with ancient computers,” says Matthew Fieldman, MedWish director of development. “Even the little details can make a big difference; like now we can show our orientation video, which is seen by over 2,000 volunteers annually, on an HD television instead of a TV from the 1980s.”

MedWish recruited its network of the 5,300 people on its email list, including over 3,500 past volunteers, to vote for them and ultimately win the contest.


Source: Matthew Feldman, Bill Melo
Writer: Karin Connelly

Throughout its 20 year history, Eden Inc., a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, has "flown under the radar," says David Fearn, Manager of Grants Development and Community Relations. If so, then one might say that Eden's recently launched sustainability efforts constitute a coming out party -- one to which all of its neighbors are invited.

Eden has always been a community-minded agency; its housing developments serve low-income and often mentally ill Cleveland residents, providing them with supportive housing and wrap-around services that help them to become more self-sufficient and better integrate with society.

In the past, Eden's low profile was largely due to the fact that affordable housing can be subject to the kind of reactionary NIMBY-ism (Not In My Backyard) that also pushes Cleveland's most vulnerable residents to the margins of society. Neighbors may oppose affordable housing because they are afraid of negative community impacts, yet such fears are typically unfounded, says Fearn.

To bridge the wide gap between Eden's low-income residents and their neighbors, the nonprofit is launching a series of sustainability efforts that have community benefits, says Fearn. Within the next few months, Eden will create a large-scale community garden at its Liberty Building at E. 105th Street and St. Clair Avenue, and a new development along Madison Avenue will probably receive rain cisterns. Eden is also integrating gardening and sustainability into other properties it owns.

"The benefits of these sustainability projects are that they engage the community around us, provide fresh produce and beautify the area," says Fearn. "We plan to source as much labor as possible from the neighborhood or city residents."

Such innovative sustainability efforts dovetail with Eden's existing focus on green building. All of Eden's projects now meet Enterprise Green Communities standards and often incorporate repurposed materials, as well.


Source: David Fearn
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA), a civic education and engagement program, named 17 new city advocates for 2012. “It’s a chance to know the Downtown Cleveland Alliance and get the inside scoop on what’s going on downtown,” explains Laura Kushnick, DCA’s director of development and community relations.
 
The advocates serve a two-year term. They have access to DCA staff and community leaders to learn what it takes to facilitate civic change in the city. The advocates are encouraged to bring their own ideas to the table. Past projects have included happy hours and social events, building playgrounds and dog parks, and updating the city’s Wikipedia pages.
 
“There are a whole range of things people do,” says Kushnick. “We try to encourage people to be ambitious, but think about what they can do in small groups. We really view the program as an opportunity to learn what it takes to get things done.”
 
This is the fourth class in the program. Applicants come from all walks of life. “We cast as wide a net as we can” says Kushnick. “We put the word out through young professional groups. We try to assemble a strong group of people with a wide array of interests and professional backgrounds. Most of the advocates either work or live downtown.”
 
The 17 members were selected by a committee of DCA staff and board members who reviewed the written applications and interviewed a group of 30 finalists. They join 11 current advocates who are in their second year.

 
Source: Laura Kushnick
Writer: Karin Connelly

Urban Community School's science lab made a move into the 21st century last week thanks to a $22,000 grant from Cargill Incorporated that provided 12 MacBook computers and a Promethean ActivBoard. The equipment provides interactive learning skills to help prepare the school’s fifth through eighth graders for when they move on to area high schools.
 
“It’s technology that many kids are exposed to,” says Sr. Maureen Doyle, director of Urban Community School. “Our kids are thoroughly engaged in science activities using this ActivBoard. These are tools the kids know how to use, and will need to know how to use in high school.”
 
Cargill made the donation after touring the school last year, which focuses on a Montessori model of individualized teaching for low-income students. “Cargill is a great neighbor to many people, and a great organization that does outreach,” says Doyle. “They are concerned about the environment and they are also concerned about education.”
 
Ninety-two percent of Urban Community School graduates go on to graduate from high school, and 60 percent continue on to college.
 
So far the students have embraced the new technology. “They all love it,” Doyle says. “The kids are very favorable to it. It’s a great learning opportunity for them. They are engaged, and that’s key.”
 

Source: Maureen Doyle
Writer: Karin Connelly

The Cleveland Colectivo, a grassroots giving circle whose members provide grants to innovative, community-minded ideas, attracted 27 entrepreneurs and a crowd of nearly 100 people to its recent "Pitch for Change" event at Shaker Launchhouse.

Following the spirited two-minute presentations -- which grew more creative as the night wore on -- attendees voted on their favorite projects. The winner, Have You Met Cleveland?, took home the coveted door prize -- over $400 in cash.

Each presentation was met with rousing applause from the enthusiastic crowd, and attendees spent time after the pitches networking and creating new connections.

The next step in the Colectivo's selection process is for its members to interview the top 11 vote-getters. Details will soon be announced on the Colectivo website.

Here is a sampling of the top projects of the night:

Have You Met Cleveland? is a grassroots initiative that will use the tools of appreciative inquiry to engage young people in the community.

Improv-ing Cleveland is a small concert series that would present top musical acts in vacant storefronts in Slavic Village.

The Cleveland Hostel is a soon-to-be-completed contemporary hostel on West 25th Street, just south of Lorain Avenue.

Music in the Park is a project to organize crowd-pleasing concerts in Edgewater Park this summer.

Lakewood Alive Revolving Loan Paint Program aims to create a fund to help low-income Lakewood residents repaint their homes.


Source: Cleveland Colectivo
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Ohio City Inc. was named the inaugural winner of the Enterprise Community Innovation Awards, held on Tuesday, March 6 at CSU’s Levin College of Urban Affairs. The event, hosted by Enterprise Community Partners, which helps find affordable housing options, was sponsored through KeyBank. It was designed to recognize organizations creating new and lasting community development solutions in Greater Cleveland.
 
Ohio City received a $25,000 grant to support its Market District Initiative, which promotes the growth of smaller businesses throughout the West Side Market neighborhood. The initiative targets investment in local artisan businesses and leverages the local food movement through the re-development of vacant land.
 
Four finalists were chosen by a panel of judges from 11 submissions. The other three finalists were the city of South Euclid for its green neighborhoods initiative, CWRU’s Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development’s neighborhood stabilization web application developed to help with the foreclosure crisis, and Western Reserve Revitalization Management Corporation’s Kinsman neighborhood revitalization plan.
 
"There was pretty clear agreement that these were the four best programs based on criteria for innovation, leadership and impact on the community," says Mark McDermott, Ohio director of Enterprise. "We were excited to see that there was a diversity of organizations around the issues."
 
The four finalists are good examples of work that can be duplicated in similar neighborhoods. “We were glad to find projects we could hold up to the community at large and say, ‘here are solutions to some of the most challenging problems and they can be replicated in the community,” says McDermott.

 
Source: Mark McDermott
Writer: Karin Connelly

Joseph M. Gallagher School, a diverse K-8 school in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood on Cleveland's west side, has formed an innovative community partnership in an effort to boost scores on the all-important Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA) this spring. The international school is currently in Academic Emergency, yet hopes to make a crucial leap forward by improving this year's test results.

The much-needed community support couldn't come at a more critical time, says Gallagher's Principal, Jennifer Rhone. Test scores here have been slowly improving for several years. Last year, the school came heartbreakingly close to moving up a notch, from Academic Emergency to Academic Watch -- it earned a Performance Index score of 69.1 when a minimum score of 70 was needed.

This year, Rhone says staff are striving for an ambitious Performance Index score of 78 so Gallagher can "jump over Academic Watch and land in Academic Improvement. Our goal is to move every child forward academically."

The community partnership was created after Rhone reached out to the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization (DSCDO). The Franklin and West Clinton Block Clubs recently met with staff here to develop plans for volunteering. Activities will likely include tutoring students, monitoring the test taking process and reading test questions aloud to special needs students.

Joseph M. Gallagher is considered one of the most diverse schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD). The school has a sizeable population of Hispanic students, but many other nationalities are also represented in the facility. Two weeks ago, in fact, the school received an influx of 25 Nepalese refugee families. Because no one at Gallagher speaks Hindi, staff here are still trying to figure out the best way to engage the children in the learning process.

If Gallagher remains in Academic Emergency due to its test scores, it is possible that the school will have to be reconfigured, resulting in a new Principal and possibly new staff. Rhone says this change would erode the vital progress that students and faculty are making, so she is partnering with the community in an effort to help students and show them that the community cares about them.

So far this year, Gallagher students have read more than 8,000 books. They also read silently for 25 minutes per day, among the highest averages in the district.


Source: Jennifer Rhone
Writer: Lee Chilcote

As more people and businesses settle in downtown Cleveland, the need is greater than ever for safe, beautiful and active public spaces. Who, then, will steward the dialogue around the importance of good design to the quality of life and economic competitiveness of our region? LAND studio will. The recent union of Cleveland Public Art and ParkWorks has given rise to LAND, an organization focused on (L)andscape, (A)rt, (N)eighborhoods, and (D)evelopment.

Shaker Launchhouse co-founder/marketing Dar Caldwell describes the business accelerator as a "thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem." That ecosystem will welcome 10 new inhabitants this coming fall thanks to funding from Ohio's New Entrepreneurs (ONE) Fund.
 
The $200,000 grant will be "a welcome addition here, allowing us to ramp up even more," Caldwell says. Launchhouse already provides dozens of member companies with all sorts of support, from office space to branding to patenting. Not to mention free coffee and wifi.
 
The ONE Fund grant will allow Launchhouse to seek additional tech start-ups from around Ohio, surrounding states and Chicago. Caldwell says the search won't focus on any particular industry; high growth potential is the key. He expects that Launchhouse will make a formal announcement of the search in April, but notes that the center -- at 3558 Lee Road in Shaker Heights -- has received a steady stream of applications since opening last spring.
 
Launchhouse's members are nothing if not diverse. Current portfolio members include freshbag, an online produce-shopping and delivery service founded by a Case Western medical student and some friends; Cell-A-Spot, which developed a system allowing cell phone users to cut their monthly bills by accepting targeted ads; and Railroad Empire, an online game for Facebook.
 
Operated by Ohio's Third Frontier initiative, the ONE Fund is a “mentorship-driven program [that] focuses on the professional development of young entrepreneurs with the necessary ambition to commercialize new technologies.” In addition to Launchhouse, the fund recently awarded grants to similar programs in Cincinnati and Columbus.
 

Source: Dar Caldwell
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Tremont West Development Corporation has launched a new Storefront Incubator program that aims to help pop-up shops and startup businesses grow into permanent, bricks-and-mortar retailers, ideally right in the heart of historic Tremont.

Through a competitive process, Tremont West will select a fledgling retailer to occupy the 370-square-foot storefront it owns at 2406 Professor. The retailer will be offered three months of free rent as a sweetener. After the nine month lease term, the startup may renew for an additional three months, yet the goal is to help that business establish a permanent space elsewhere in the neighborhood.

"We've used our storefront successfully for pop-up shops, so this is really for someone of that quality who wants a longer-term run to see if their business is actually viable," says Cory Riordan, Executive Director of Tremont West.

As part of the lease agreement, Tremont West plans to work with the startup to help them grow their business. The nonprofit will links entrepreneurs with available financing, vacant space and other businesses in the community.

The long-term goal is not to compete with existing property owners, but to support new types of businesses, says Riordan. He cites service-oriented businesses as one gap within the neighborhood's retail mix.

Riordan says that supporting small startup retailers is one positive way forward for neighborhoods that are slowly emerging from the recession. "We can help create niche businesses that lead to neighborhood recovery."

Responses to the Storefront Incubator RFP are due by Friday, March 16th.


Source: Cory Riordan
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Thanks to a grant from the Cleveland Foundation, the Cleveland Public Library has plans to open six new learning centers that will serve patrons of all ages. A $162,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation will help fund the learning centers, which will be established at the Fleet, Fulton, Sterling, Collinwood, Eastman and Langston Hughes library branches.
 
“I’m really excited about the learning centers,” says CPL executive director Felton Thomas. “We looked at two components: The mornings will be available for our youngest children and parents to help learn language, while adults looking for jobs and doing their resumes or getting their GEDs can use the centers in the afternoons.”
 
The centers will also offer homework help, tutoring and college prep classes. The learning center locations were chosen based on community involvement and interest. “We really looked for communities that had high participation in the homework help,” says Thomas.
 
To best meet the technology gap many patrons face, each center will provide new laptop computers for onsite use. CPL will team with key educational partners including Cleveland State University, Cleveland Institute of Music, and The Music Settlement to help provide tutoring and literacy focused programming.  
 
The new centers are modeled after the existing Rice Branch Learning Center, which served nearly 1,200 students in the homework lab in 2011. The new centers will serve over 5,000 children and young people across the city.

 
Source: Felton Thomas
Writer: Karin Connelly