Cuyahoga County Public Library has launched a series of programs to serve Northeast Ohio's literary community, including workshops on fiction writing and classes aimed at teenage authors. The programs fill a vacuum created last year by the demise of The Lit, a nonprofit that was dedicated to Cleveland's literary community for more than 30 years.

"This is something that we've wanted to do for some time." says Robert Rua, Assistant Marketing Director with the Cuyahoga County Public Library. "One of our priorities is to help people reconnect with reading, and many folks who are readers are also writers. We're pleased to be able to serve the literary community in a more meaningful way, and we're looking forward to doing even more."

The Cuyahoga County Public Library also continues to support its robust series of author visits, which Rua says have thrived in an era in which there are fewer book stores. Recent visitors include Isobel Wilkerson and Joe Hill. In the next month, "Hollows" author Kim Harrison and local sports legend Joe Tate will also give readings.

"We have some large venues, and we're able to support author events with marketing," says Rua. "We work with Mac's Backs to do book sales."

In the coming months, Rua says that plans are being made to broaden the Library's offerings for writers, but specific details are not yet available.


Source: Robert Rua
Writer: Lee Chilcote

When asked if she has a dream project she'd like to fund, Cleveland Carbon Fund Fellow Joanne Neuberger rattles off the top of her list. "I'd love to see a project that capitalizes on the 'Year of Local Food' and helps ramp up Cleveland's local food system while reducing our carbon footprint," she says.

These are the kinds of big ideas which organizers of the Fund hope to spur through their grant making, which supports carbon reduction projects with community benefits. The Carbon Fund recently announced that is it seeking applications for projects up to $10,000. The deadline is March 16th.

The Cleveland Carbon Fund was created in 2009 by the City of Cleveland, Green City Blue Lake Institute at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Gund Foundation, Cleveland Foundation and Cleveland Clinic. Its goal, as Neuberger puts it, is to "think globally, green locally." While there are plenty of other carbon funds, ours is the first community-based, open-access fund in the U.S.

The Carbon Fund has supported two past projects whose goal was to install 10,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs in the Slavic Village and Detroit Shoreway neighborhoods of Cleveland (organizers installed nearly 5,000 in the end).

As the Carbon Fund continues to grow, Neuberger says that its leaders will seek additional donations from individuals and businesses. She hopes it will become a popular way to reduce our region's carbon footprint and support local initiatives.


Source: Joanne Neuberger
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Entrepreneurial ventures are often launched out of garages, spare bedrooms and basements. Yet MedWish International, a nonprofit organization that repurposes medical supplies discarded by the healthcare industry for humanitarian aid to developing countries, is probably one of the few that has ever been launched out of a suitcase.

When Cleveland doctor Lee Ponsky visited Nigeria in 1991 and saw the vast level of healthcare need that exists there, he wanted to help in some way. He found a way to do that by carrying suitcases full of medical supplies to Nigeria that would otherwise end up in the landfill. He convinced his friends to do the same.

Ponsky's efforts were the beginning of MedWish International, a nonprofit that now delivers more than 550 tons of medical supplies each year to 97 countries. It operates out of a 40,000-square-foot warehouse that is donated by the Cleveland Clinic. While most of MedWish's supplies are sent in 40-foot shipping containers these days, some are still carried the old-fashioned way -- in suitcases.

"Dr. Ponsky saw the need in Nigeria as well as the waste going into our landfills and thought, 'There must be a way to bridge the gap between our surplus and their scarcity,'" explains Matthew Fieldman, Director of Development for MedWish International. "So he created an organization that is saving the environment in Northeast Ohio as well as helping an international cause."

MedWish was recently selected as one of five organizations competing for $100,000 in the Toshiba Tech Makeover challenge. Vote by clicking here.


Source: Matthew Fieldman
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Major corporations have long conducted sophisticated research to figure out what kind of consumer you are. Now, a new initiative that is being launched by two young city residents aims to find out what kind of Clevelander you are -- and use the results to engage citizens and drive policy change in the region.

By surveying residents' attitudes towards living in Northeast Ohio, as well as our preferences for urban amenities, the creators of the Clevelander Report hope to place useful information in the hands of policymakers shaping our region's future.

"For all of the studies that have been done on our city, very few of them focus on citizens," explains Hallie Bram, a Detroit Shoreway resident who co-founded the Cleveland Report with Eric Kogelschatz. "Our goal is to create the most comprehensive study of Clevelanders that's ever been completed. We want to use that information to bridge the gap between organizations, government and citizens, and help our policymakers to make informed decisions."

The Clevelander Report surveys residents on such topics as whether or not they are natives, boomerangs, expatriates or have relocated from another city; where they currently live; which cultural institutions and businesses they have visited; their level of interest in urban living; and their attitudes towards the city.

Bram says that the survey has been well-received so far, garnering over 500 responses since it launched one week ago. She and Kogelschatz plan to continue the Clevelander Report through the summer, and then compile an Executive Summary that can be provided to residents as well as policy makers.

Bram and Kogelschatz are the founders of TEDxCLE, a popular annual event that features curated talks by some of Northeast Ohio's biggest thinkers. This year's event will take place at the Cleveland Museum of Art on Friday, April 20th.

Take the survey here.


Source: Hallie Bram
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Since its inception in 1915, Cleveland Play House has been focused on nourishing new works of original American theatre. Yet until this season, it was staging the latest contemporary plays in an older, inflexible building that was largely unsuitable for its needs.

Yet thanks to CPH's recent move to the newly rebuilt Allen Theatre complex, the nonprofit finally has a truly inspiring, state-of-the-art home. The complex contains not only the rebuilt, 500-seat Allen Theatre, but also two smaller performing spaces that can be customized to suit CPH's artistic needs.

Now, on top of a hot season that is already drawing big crowds to its impressive, new abode, CPH is debuting the New Ground Theatre Festival. The weeklong celebration of new works, which will take place from May 3-12 and has an even greater emphasis on original theatre, was formerly called FusionFest.

"Our new quarters are fantastic for a festival like this one, so the name just seemed appropriate," says CPH Artistic Director Michael Bloom.

Highlights include a performance of In the Next Room (Or the Vibrator Play); a staging of Every Good Boy Deserves Favor, a Tom Stoppard satire that features a collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra; solo shows by former Daily Show correspondent Lauren Weedman and rapper-evolutionist Baba Brinkman; and a weeklong residency with Quiara Alegria Hudes, a Pulitzer Prize finalist who has also been awarded the 2012 Roe Green Award. The culmination of the New Ground Theatre Festival will feature a public reading of Hudes' new play.

At the center of the entire festival will be CPH's crowd-pleasing, new home, which Bloom says is the perfect place to see new, original theatre. "The fact that these are new spaces demonstrate that we have a strong commitment to new work."


Source: Michael Bloom
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Rock the Catwalk, a new fundraiser being introduced by the Women's Leadership Council in support of United Way of Greater Cleveland, will highlight Cleveland's trendiest local fashion boutiques.

Yet it will also put a face on the real human need that unfortunately exists among formerly homeless, unemployed women in our region. The event will highlight the nonprofit agencies that help these women dress for success while also engaging the female clients themselves as runway models.

"Rock the Catwalk will feature all local boutiques and models, including Sandy Pianalto from the Federal Reserve Bank and Erin Kennedy, the new co-anchor of WKYC's morning show," says Jenna Snyder, Marketing Director for United Way. "It will also feature two clients from Transitional Housing Inc., a United Way member organization that helps women transferring out of homelessness."

Local boutiques which are participating in the first-ever Rock the Catwalk event include Amy's Shoes, Anne van H., Cindy Halle, Dredgers Union, Evie Lou, Girl Next Door, Kilgore Trout, Marta Glazen and Saks Fifth Avenue. The event takes place on Thurs., March 29th at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.

The Women's Leadership Council inspires, educates and engages women to become actively involved in supporting United Way of Greater Cleveland.

Tickets start at $75 and include hors d'ouevres, cocktails and museum access.


Source: Jenna Snyder
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Nearly 60 percent of newly-created jobs require a postsecondary degree, yet only six percent of Cleveland residents hold an associate's degree and just eight percent hold a bachelor's degree.

This stark statistic is one of the driving forces behind the fledgling Higher Education Compact of Greater Cleveland, an unprecedented collaboration among 15 colleges and universities, 25 nonprofit organizations, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and Cuyahoga County. This new effort seeks to boost the number of college graduates in Northeast Ohio.

"Every day, there are 3,000 jobs that the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and Summa Health Center can't fill," explains Lee Friedman, CEO of College Now Greater Cleveland, a member organization of the Compact. "If you can't increase educational attainment, then you can't fill jobs. At some point, if these organizations can't find talent, then they can't grow."

While this lofty goal is hardly unusual or unique, what makes the Compact stand out is its regional approach towards addressing the higher education gap. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson is increasingly touting the benefits of addressing such problems on a regional level. Cuyahoga County has not historically been involved in education, yet Executive Ed Fitzgerald has joined the Compact. Until now, the colleges and universities involved in the Compact also have not worked together to seek a comprehensive solution to the problem.

"It truly takes a village to help students get to school and graduate from school," says Friedman. "Many of the young people we're helping are first generation college students who don't have anyone to help them get on that path. The commitment of these university presidents is truly best in class."

The goal of the Higher Education Compact is to ensure that students are ready for, have access to and graduate from college. To achieve this goal, leaders will create student-focused action plans, educate the community on why college is important, help students become college ready, link them with scholarship and financial aid opportunities and create a College Success Dashboard that measures results.


Source: Higher Education Compact of Greater Cleveland, Lee Friedman
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Last month, staff from the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) played matchmaker. They held meetings throughout the region in an effort to match the 36th annual festival's most compelling, topical titles with nonprofit organizations whose mission and work relate directly to the content of the film.

When the 2012 festival kicks off on March 22, 125 nonprofit partners will join with CIFF to help market the festival and engage the community in discussions and education about the films. According to CIFF Associate Director Patrick Shepherd, it's a community-based strategy that's really paid off over time.

"We try to take our content and push it beyond just the screen, and one of the ways to do that is to partner with the region's nonprofit organizations," he says. "This targeted marketing has really begun to pay dividends over time, and we believe it's been one of the reasons for our annual increases in attendance."

For example, this year CIFF will screen a film called Brooklyn Castle about an inner-city youth chess program in New York City. Progress with Chess, a local nonprofit that promotes chess as a way to help students develop critical thinking skills, is its community partner. Progress with Chess will hold dozens of chess matches in the Tower City Skylight Concourse to coincide with the film. There will also be a FilmForum to discuss the issues presented in the documentary.

"These kinds of community partnerships are rare among film festivals, and we're really being seen as a national model," says Shepherd, who cites the partnerships as a key part of CIFF's "After the Credits Roll" program that seeks to educate, inform and mobilize the community. "We're very fortunate for that."


Source: Patrick Shepherd
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Public Square Group, a nonprofit organization that promotes skateboarding and skate parks as tools for redeveloping urban neighborhoods, engaging youth in positive activities and promoting active lifestyles, is opening an office and indoor skatepark in the MidTown neighborhood of Cleveland.

The new office and skatepark, which has been dubbed "Skate Kitchen," will be located in the historic Cadillac Building at E. 30th and Chester, adjacent to Jakprints. Skate Kitchen will be open 24/7 for higher-level donors, as well as for special events, contests and lessons.

"We wanted to move our offices into Cleveland because so many of our projects and members are in the city," says Vince Frantz, Executive Director of Public Square Group. "For our higher-level donors, instead of a mug or a sticker, they'll get a key to the Skate Kitchen. After the kids are in bed, they can come down and skate for a few hours."

The move will allow the Public Square Group to further expand its portfolio of projects in Northeast Ohio, says Frantz. He estimates that there are 10,000 active skateboarders across the region. The City of Cleveland is already ahead of the curve in embracing skateboarding as a tool for urban development, he says, citing as examples the skateboard parks planned in the Flats and Slavic Village.

Public Square Group also will continue to run the Skate Kitchen Truck, which pops up in various Cleveland neighborhoods offering mobile skate spots and demos.


Source: Vince Frantz
Writer: Lee Chilcote

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

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

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

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

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


Source: Vedette Gavin
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The success of the Cleveland Colectivo over the past seven years has exceeded the wildest dreams of its members, an ambitious group that aims to improve the city's neighborhoods by funding grassroots projects and social entrepreneurs. Formed in 2004 by a group of friends who decided to pool their money and give it away, the Colectivo has now granted over $80,000 to community projects in Greater Cleveland.

This month, the group will host a night of grassroots networking and idea-sharing entitled "Pitch for Change." The event will take place on Thursday, February 23 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at Shaker Launch House. At the forum, participants will be allowed two minutes to pitch their innovative idea or project for creating change in Cleveland. Attendees will vote on the best presentation, and the winner will receive the donations collected at the door as well as an invitation to join Round 2 of Colectivo's grant process.

Some of the previously funded projects include A Piece of Cleveland (an urban deconstruction business), Plenty Underfoot (an arts startup that transforms discarded items into jewelry, centerpieces and other artistic objects), and Prince of Peace Computer Literacy (an effort to provide computer literacy programming to underserved city residents).

For a group that started off with only a few meager checks (and chutzpah), one might say that this tiny grassroots group is making a big impact. Over time, they've witnessed their grant making model spread to other groups, too.

To sign up as a participant in Pitch for Change, visit the Colectivo website.


Source: Cleveland Colectivo
Writer: Lee Chilcote

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

The nonprofit organization LiveCleveland has launched a website which provides urban parents with comprehensive school information for the areas in which they live. Our Neighborhood Schools allows parents to search by community and zip code to determine the best educational opportunities available to them across the spectrum of public, private and parochial schools.

"We wanted to battle head-on the perception that there are a lack of school choices in the City of Cleveland," says Jeff Kipp, Executive Director of LiveCleveland. "Our Neighborhood Schools is a searchable database and resource for parents that highlights high-performing schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District as well as charter school and private school options."

The new website was made possible through a partnership with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) and grant funding from the Cleveland Foundation. LiveCleveland shares with CMSD a marketing and web design staff person who works to increase enrollment in the city's public schools.

"CMSD basically had no marketing strategy previously, and was losing hundreds of kids each year to charter schools who were doing a more proactive job," says Kipp. "Now the district is trying to market its own strong schools to parents."

The website, which attracts about 500 unique visitors per month, is a "win-win" for LiveCleveland, CMSD and the city's neighborhoods and schools, Kipp adds.


Source: Jeff Kipp
Writer : Lee Chilcote

This week, the partners planning the West Side Market's Centennial Celebration unveiled a trio of unprecedented special events that will celebrate its wealth of small businesses, unite food lovers across the region and launch the icon's next 100 years. They include a family-friendly party and ice cream social by Mitchell's Ice Cream on Saturday, June 2, as well as a street festival with food trucks and Parade the Circle puppets on Sunday, October 7.

"The West Side Market is the most important icon in the City of Cleveland," said Ward 3 Councilman Joe Cimperman at a press conference at the Market this past Monday. "This place brings us together as a city."

The West Side Market Centennial events have also spurred a small but important shift within the venerable institution. For the first time in its 100-year history, the market will be open on a Sunday during the October 7 celebration. The nonprofit Ohio City Inc. has been working with the West Side Market for several years to boost its marketing efforts and broaden its already diverse appeal.

"There truly is a new energy in the neighborhood that is complementing the energy that's been here for 100 years," said Eric Wobser, Director of OCI.

No major changes will be made to the market or its offerings this year. Instead, a facilities assessment is being conducted that will guide future decision-making.

As part of the celebration, organizers are also planning a birthday gala on November 2nd that will feature celebrity chefs Jonathon Sawyer and Michael Symon, as well as a dozen or so of their chef friends from across the country.

Charter One Bank, which has made a $200,000 gift, is the presenting sponsor of the celebration. Other goings-on include the International Public Markets Conference from Sept. 21-23 and the fall release of a new book by Laura Taxel and Marilous Suszko, "The West Side Market: 100 Years and Still Cooking."


Source: Ohio City Inc.
Writer: Lee Chilcote

"When it comes to U.S. job growth, startup companies aren't everything. They're the only thing." That's the conclusion of a study released last year by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City, Missouri. The study goes on to argue that the U.S. would be better off investing in assisting entrepreneurs rather than helping established companies, because the former are creating jobs while the latter are merely shedding them.

That kind of thinking is on display daily at Baldwin-Wallace College (BW), which created the Center for Innovation and Growth (CIG) to support student entrepreneurship and innovation. This month, BW announced that it has landed a $1 million grant from the Phillip E. and Carole R. Ratcliffe Fund of Fort Lauderdale, Florida to support student entrepreneurship programs.

The CIG is designed to facilitate collaborations and small group discussions among students, faculty and business collaborators. Each year, approximately 40 students are selected to be CIG student fellows. As a cohort, these students engage with business leaders, learn concepts of innovation and work on hands-on projects. At the end of their fellowship, they also make a team presentation of their project findings to a client company's senior management team.

According to the nonprofit Jumpstart Inc., more than 50 percent of people age 18-24 indicate that they're planning to or have already started a business. Even students who don't start their own companies may end up working for an entrepreneur. That's why Jumpstart and other collaborators have focused on growing the collegiate entrepreneurial ecosystem in Northeast Ohio.


Source: Jumpstart Inc., Baldwin-Wallace College
Writer: Lee Chilcote

On Tuesday, February 7, Global Cleveland opened the doors to its Public Square welcome center. The organization is tasked with attracting and retaining talent to the region from around the globe, with the goal of adding 100,000 people to the region. Fresh Water photographer Bob Perkoski was at the ribbon cutting.

These days, creative pop-up events are a fixture of the modern social scene, adding delightful, ephemeral energy to our streets, neighborhoods and retail districts. Yet even in this spirited era of pop-up dining, pop-up shopping, pop-up book release parties and even pop-up Santa races, the Cleveland Urban Iditarod still is pretty darn unique.

This new, one-of-a-kind event mimics the famous Alaskan Iditarod sled dog race, except that the dogs will be replaced by humans, the snow gear supplanted by wacky costumes, and the sleds are -- wait for it -- food-filled shopping carts.

In addition to the wacky race itself, there will be a talent contest, costume contest and pub crawl. The whole event is actually a food drive for Harvest for Hunger, with participants mushing 40 pounds of non-perishable items.

Here's how it works: Teams have five people and all "sleds" must be pulled a la dog sledding -- four people in front of the cart pulling with ropes and one person behind the cart steering it. Everyone must make it past the finish line.

Helmets are recommended, but stealing shopping carts is not. The YoYoSyndicate, the team of self-proclaimed "creative freaks" behind this "on-demand creative experience," is working on procuring a few reasonably-priced shopping carts.

Event organizer Aaron Erb says that the Cleveland Urban Iditarod and other YoYoSyndicate events offer ways to keep young, creative people in Cleveland. "These are creative events geared towards creative people," he says.

Think you got what it takes? Registering your team is only $45 until Feb. 24th.


Source: Aaron Erb
Writer; Lee Chilcote

The Fowler Center for Sustainable Value at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University has recently introduced a new form of sustainable consulting for small and medium-sized businesses.

In partnership with True Market Solutions, a San Francisco-based company, the Fowler Center introduced its Sustainability Circles initiative in October. The effort aims to help such businesses enhance their performance by fully integrating sustainable business practices into what they do.

The Fowler Center's Sustainability Circles include both peer-based learning and professional advising. The program brings up to nine organizations at a time into a peer learning community for one day a month for six months. Sustainable business practice topics range from the built environment to operational environments.

At the end of the process, Sustainability Circles participants walk away with specific outcomes that are intended to help them transition into more sustainable, effective businesses. Such results include a complete carbon footprint analysis, an initial project and a customized Sustainability Action Plan.

"This is about a whole new lens for business," says Beau Daane, Manager of the Fowler Center. "In a world with rising customer expectations and declining natural resources, businesses have to consider sustainable value or they'll be left in the dust. For us, this is where the scholarship meets the practice."


Source: Beau Daane
Writer: Lee Chilcote