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When Michael Walton bought a hoop house for his city farm, he envisioned an urban barn-raising of sorts. He put out a call for volunteers, and soon had 30 people who offered to help.

Yet by noon on the big day, only 10 were left. The next day, there were five. Two days later, the group had been wheedled down to three hardy souls. And still the hoop house wasn't completed.

Frustrated, Walton and his coworkers began to ask themselves: Is this really the best product available? And then, rather than wait for an answer, the team set out to design a better model themselves. That's how Tunnel Vision Hoops, a startup manufacturer of retractable all-weather domes for growing crops, was born.

"We thought we'd just build a few each summer, make some pizza money and go on our way," Walton told the audience at a recent entrepreneurial showcase organized by Local Food Cleveland, a group whose mission is to help grow the local food movement in Northeast Ohio. "Yet when we really started looking at the design, that's when we decided to launch our business."

Tunnel Vision's all-weather high tunnels represent an improvement over existing designs, say owners Michael Walton, Carlton Jackson and Todd Alexander. They feature dome-shaped ends that help them to withstand strong winds, systems for collecting rainwater that can be used for irrigating plants, retractable end walls that allow for venting, and entrances on the sides rather than the ends, making it easier to move from one tunnel to another.

Since launching last year, Tunnel Vision has sold structures to Case Western Reserve University's Squire Valleyview Farm and the Cleveland Botanical Garden's Green Corps program. In its first six months, the company did over $80,000 in sales.

The company also has a division called We Dig the City that is intended for backyard gardens. These tunnels start at 10 feet long and are priced at $2,000, including installation.

Tunnel Vision's long-term goal is to aid the local food movement and keep more of our food dollars in Northeast Ohio by making the region a year-round growing center.


Source: Tunnel Vision Hoops
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Food trucks are all the rage -- both here and across the U.S. Despite one of the worst recessions in recent history, these plucky start-ups are thriving, adding jobs, injecting cash into the local economy, and putting smiles on the faces of hungry diners. But rather than encourage the proliferation of these economic development engines, food truck operators say the City of Cleveland is making it nearly impossible for them to succeed.

While Northeast Ohio's retail vacancy rate remains stubbornly high at 12 percent, a Cleveland Heights nonprofit is defying this trend by expanding its art gallery into an empty storefront, adding performance space, classrooms and offices to serve the community.

Heights Arts, which operates a 900-square-foot gallery next to the Cedar Lee Theatre, decided last year to make the leap into an adjacent storefront that formerly housed a Japanese eatery. The group has so far raised more than $60,000 towards its $100,000 fundraising goal. Renovations are expected to be completed this year.

The new 2,400-square-foot storefront will serve as a multipurpose arts space. Heights Arts, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, plans to host more poetry readings, concerts and art openings. The group anticipates that some events will spill out into the adjacent mini-park, a gathering place for visitors in the bustling Cedar-Lee district, aiding the group's mission of bringing art into the community.

Cleveland-based Studio Techne Architects designed the expansion. The George Gund Foundation and the Cyrus Eaton Foundation have provided lead grants for the project.

Since being founded a decade ago, Heights Arts has completed a bevy of art projects, including the Coventry Peace Arch on Coventry, three large-scale murals, and Knitscape, a project to brighten Lee Road and Larchmere Boulevard with crocheted 'sweaters' on parking meters and trees. The group also manages the selection process for the Cleveland Heights Poet Laureate.


Source: Heights Arts
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Neuros Medical, a Greater Cleveland based medical device company, has developed a neuro-stimulator that has proven to eliminate chronic pain in amputees. A feasibility study, the first test on humans, showed the company's high-frequency Electrical Nerve Block™ technology reduced pain to zero in four of the five patients studied.

The device, which looks like a pacemaker attached to a wire, uses a high-frequency signal to stop the pain. "It will literally block that pain signal before it gets to the brain to be received," says Neuros president and CEO Jon Snyder. "Patients have complete numbness with no side effects or issues with addiction."

The technology was developed by Case Western Reserve University biomedical engineering professors Kevin Kilgore and Niloy Bhadra. The study was conducted by Dr. Amol Soin of the Kettering Health Network Innovation Center and the Ohio Pain Clinic in Dayton.

"It's amazing when you look at pain studies, and patients have a pain level of seven and you get down to four," Snyder says of other studies in pain reduction. "We had patients with a seven, eight or nine get down to zero. We had one patient sleep through the night for the first time in years."

The next step is to share the data with strategic partners and venture capital firms while doing long-term studies and further develop the technology. "It really keeps you motivated to keep going to get it to market," says Snyder of the results. "It's really meaningful."


Source: Jon Snyder
Writer: Karin Connelly

Times have changed since the Stanford House, an historic farm in the Cuyahoga Valley, was built in 1830 by George Stanford, one of the first settlers of the Western Reserve. Back then, the nearby Ohio and Erie Canal was the main link to the outside world. Today, the property is situated near highways and two urban centers, yet remains protected by the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, a natural retreat in an urbanized area.

Now the Stanford House has gained renewed life following a $270,000 renovation. The National Park Service has converted it into meeting space, an educational classroom for the Cuyahoga Valley Environmental Education Center and affordable overnight accommodations for hikers and bikers.

The Stanford House was purchased by the park service in 1978, and for thirty years, it served as a hostel that accommodated school groups, boy scout troups and international travelers of all ages. Yet when Stanford Hostel closed in 2008, its future was up in the air.

Soon the Conservancy for Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNPA), a nonprofit advocacy group that works closely with the park service, stepped in to raise funds and complete a renovation. Federal stimulus funding covered $98,000 of these upgrades, with additional funding coming from area foundations and donors.

Because the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail is accessible from the Stanford House, CVNPA anticipates that the accommodations will be in demand from hikers and bikers completing longer, multi-day trips through the park. For the first time, backcountry campsites are also now available in a meadow adjacent to the property.

With a successful project under its belt, CVNPA is now eyeing the prospect of raising funds to renovate the Stanford House barn -- which would make an excellent location, they say, for interpretive programs, 'locavore' farm dinners, and rustic meeting space.


Source: Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The Cuyahoga Arts and Culture (CAC) board recently approved a small grants pilot program for the 2012 funding cycle. The program simplifies the application process for organizations seeking funds up to $5,000.

The CAC's standard Project Support (PS) grant has an upper limit of $50,000 and requires a rigorous application process, including detailed financial and participant data, and a one-to-one cash match for each dollar of CAC funding. This program simplifies the amount of financial data required and allows for 25 percent of the match to be made up in "in kind" professional donations.

"The reason behind creating this program is small community-based non-profits don't have the resources to meet the financial requirements of the larger program," says CAC external affairs director Jonah Weinberg. "This should mean we're able to expand access to these projects throughout Cuyahoga County."

The guidelines for the grants will be available this month. Organizations can begin submitting intent to apply letters June 1. Applications will be reviewed by a public panel, and grants will be awarded at the CAC's November board meeting.

CAC grants are funded by a cigarette tax in Cuyahoga County earmarked for local arts and cultural funding. The CAC has awarded nearly $65 million since the ballot initiative was approved in 2006.


Source: Jonah Weinberg
Writer: Karin Connelly

The Punxsutawney Phil of the retail world, pop-up shops spontaneously appear, attract big crowds, and then vanish as quickly as they came. For retailers and artists without a bona fide storefront, pop-up shops provide a lease-free way to test products and build a following. Landlords love them because they plug vacant storefronts while attracting new feet to the street.

Shannon Okey enjoys sharing what she knows about knitting. But she didn't like being told what to do by traditional publishers. So, after publishing 12 books the traditional way, Okey launched Cooperative Press in 2006 with The Knitgrrl Guide to Professional Knitwear Design, the first-ever business book targeted to the handknit industry.

"I decided to start my own company and take advantage of some of the things that larger publishers were ignoring or underusing, such as digital publications," says Okey. "We now publish in a variety of formats, including print, PDF and e-book reader formats."

Today, Okey runs her business out of the Lake Erie building at Templar Park in Lakewood. She is the only full-time employee, but she hires freelancers for everything from editing to photography to graphic design. Cooperative Press splits profits equally with its authors, and pays a higher percentage on digital publications.

The biggest hurdle Okey has overcome is financing. "Banks are terrified the second they hear the word 'knitting,'" she says. "Never mind that crafts are a billion-dollar-plus industry. Never mind we're totally in the black and doing great numbers. Our bank wouldn't give us a standard loan. Their underwriters offered up a credit card in its place -- not the same thing."

This month she launched a month-long campaign on Kickstarter to raise additional funds. The effort raised $6,500 in the first week of campaigning. It is now nearing $10,000.

"People believe in what we're doing and they want to see us succeed, so they're willing to give us money where traditional sources won't," says Okey. "I'm hoping we'll raise over $20,000 this month, which will allow us a lot more flexibility in terms of where we print and other factors."


Source: Shannon Okey
Writer: Karin Connelly

JumpStart CEO Ray Leach has been named to the board of the National Venture Capital Association. The NVCA serves as the voice of the United States venture capital community and advocates for policies that encourage innovation and reward long-term investment.

While most of the organization's 400 members represent venture capital firms on the East and West coasts, Leach is the only member representing the Midwest. "In order to be successful as a non-profit, we need healthy venture capital nationally," says Leach. "It's a great way to be there, convincing them they have to invest in the Midwest."

Northeast Ohio leads the Midwest in venture capital deal activity, second only to Chicago in the amount of capital raised by companies with $234 million.

Leach is one of six new NVCA members elected to a four-year term. He was nominated by former NVCA board chair David Morgenthaler of Morganthaler Ventures and member Ray Lane with Kleiner Perkins, who thought Leach would be a good advocate for JumpStart's missives.

"I'm excited to play a role in advancing venture capital nationally and to offer my viewpoint from a region that's reinvented itself with the assistance of innovative initiatives like Ohio's state-led Third Frontier," says Leach. "For example, entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio have raised more than $1.1 billion in venture capital in the last five years. By serving on the NVCA's board, I hope to bring greater visibility to our region's activity to increase investments and ultimately job growth."


Source: Ray Leach
Writer: Karin Connelly

West Creek Reservation, a 278-acre Metropark in Parma that originally opened in 2006, will undergo a $12 million makeover to be complete by fall 2012, including sustainable landscaping designed to reduce pollution and test a new national rating system.

Cleveland Metroparks held a groundbreaking March 7th for park improvements, including a new visitor center, picnic shelter and all-purpose trails. The visitor center landscaping will feature a natural storm water treatment system that will help keep rainwater in West Creek, preventing flooding downstream.

The Sustainable Sites Initiative, a new national organization that is creating voluntary design standards for sustainable landscaping, will monitor and test the project. West Creek was selected to participate in the program among 175 sites nationwide.

As part of this effort, the Cleveland Metroparks will measure how much storm water is captured by the visitor center and report that information to the public. The visitor center will feature hands-on educational exhibits about water conservation.

West Creek's new sustainable landscaping system will control how much water enters the stream by acting as a filter. As storm water reaches the center, it will descend into wetlands and enter bio-swales, or plants, landscaping and rocks that function as detention basins. As storm water is gradually released, it will run through stepped pools and wetlands before flowing into the creek.

The new visitor center will be built with environmentally friendly materials, including sustainably harvested lumber and carpeting made from recycled materials. The parking lot will also feature porous pavement, allowing rainwater to flow into the landscaping instead of the sewer.

The landscape improvements at West Creek were designed by Floyd Brown Group and Domokur Architects in Akron and Doty & Miller Architects in Bedford.

The Sustainable Sites Initiative will incorporate feedback from its 175 test projects into a final rating system that it hopes to have in place by 2013. The purpose of the rating system is to develop universal criteria for sustainable landscaping in the U.S.


Source: Cleveland Metroparks
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Last summer, the Skylab 3 Apollo Command Module was moved into its new home at the NASA Glenn Visitor Center at the Great Lakes Science Center. How do you transport and install something like that? Here's how it was done.

A soon-to-launch program from Cleveland's Office of Sustainability will provide energy audits and retrofits that will make older homes more energy-efficient. The program, which is funded in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), is intended to spur the market for green retrofits.

"There's not enough scale or demand yet to support an industry here, but we think there's an opportunity for a public or nonprofit entity to stimulate the marketplace," said Paul Ettorre, regional manager for Key Bank Community Lending and co-chair of the effort, at a forum on energy-efficiency at the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University.

Here's how the Energy $aver Pilot Program would work: Applicants must be residents of Cleveland and owner-occupants of their homes. They would pay $100 for an in-depth energy efficiency audit (the market-rate audit price is in the $250 to $300 range), resulting in a thorough list of measures that would improve the home's energy efficiency.

If a customer agrees to retrofit their homes, they could secure incentives such as reimbursement of the audit fee, a 20-percent credit towards measures that pay for themselves within 10 years, and low-interest financing of the cost of repairs.

Once a customer moves ahead, program staff would help him or her to select an experienced contractor. An average retrofit is estimated to cost about $6,000. The retrofits would focus primarily on items such as insulation, air sealing, HVAC repair and replacement, lighting and hot water tanks. Homeowners who wish to complete a comprehensive rehab will be able to do so using the program.

After the retrofit is done, auditors would return to the home to review the measures and ensure that the job had been completed properly. Organizers expect the Energy $aver Pilot Program to launch this year.


Source: Paul Ettorre
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Making buildings more energy efficient may not sound sexy, but once owners begin to save money on their utility bills, it gets a lot sexier, said Andrew Watterson, Cleveland's Chief of Sustainability, at last week's forum at the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University (CSU).

"Every dollar saved from energy-efficiency measures has an impact not only on the environment but also on your pocketbook," Watterson said at the event, entitled "Sustainable Cleveland 2019: Celebrating Energy-Efficiency in 2011."

The forum was held to highlight efforts that are boosting the energy-efficiency of homes and buildings in Cleveland. Sustainable Cleveland 2019, a citywide effort to build a sustainable economy here by 2019, has chosen the theme of energy efficiency for this year. Sustainable Cleveland 2019 organizers hope that events like the one held last week will educate the public and spur efforts towards energy efficiency.

Nathan Engstrom, CSU's Campus Sustainability Coordinator, highlighted the university's commitment to making the campus more energy-efficient. "In recent years, we've completed an audit of every building on campus, and we're expecting to realize a 40-percent savings on our utility costs over a 10-year period, plus a 14-percent overall return on our investment," Engstrom said.

CSU has begun implementing 93 different energy efficiency measures, Engstrom said, including building automation, energy efficient lighting, and more efficient mechanical systems. "This is a wonderful story that we can tell to our students," added Engstrom. "We're on track to reduce consumption by 47-percent within 10 years, and to reduce emissions by 45-percent."


Source: Nathan Engstrom, Andrew Watterson
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Five years ago, Deby Cowdin was cleaning up after a party. As she picked up the empty wine and liquor bottles on her porch, her friend and partner, Mindy Bohannon, dared her to do something that would change her life. "She said, 'you're a glass artist, figure out something to do with them.'" So Cowdin did exactly that. She founded Blue Bag, a company that transforms bottles into serving plates, cheese boards and other works of art.

Cowdin started the business out of her home, selling her creations first at the North Union Farmers Market at Crocker Park, then at other farmers markets and art shows. The idea took off. "We started out of necessity, as a hobby," she says. "We never really thought it would turn into a manufacturing business."

Blue Bag sales have grown 50 percent each year since 2006. This year sales are up 100 percent. Aside from two additional partners, daughter Brandy Cooney and Jeff Nischwitz, the company has eight employees. Cowdin makes a point of hiring hard-to-place people, including a disabled vet and an employee with mild autism. "We build our company around helping people," Cowdin says.

Everything from the recycling to the distribution is done in house -- these days a studio on W. 14th St. and Berea Road -- and their products are available in more than 300 retail stores nationwide. Everything with the exception of one item is purchased locally.

"We work really hard at keeping everything in Cleveland," Cowdin says. "If we don't support the local economy, who will?"


Source: Deby Cowdin
Writer: Karin Connelly

From the Warehouse District to Tremont, artists have been harbingers of neighborhood comebacks. Now a new program aims to use artist-based development as the centerpiece for one lucky neighborhood's turnaround.

The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) on Monday announced the launch of Artists in Residence, a new program that seeks to create improvements in one city neighborhood by offering incentives for artists who live and work there.

The program is being funded in part through a $250,000 grant from Leveraging Investments in Creativity's Creative Communities Challenge Grant Program, a one-time competitive grant program made possible through the support of the Kresge Foundation.

"Artists play a key role in the strength and vitality of Cleveland neighborhoods," said Tom Schorgl, CPAC President, in a press release. "By leveraging artists' skills and the extraordinary leadership of Cleveland's community development sector, we will work to make Cleveland's neighborhoods even more creative, more sustainable and more equitable."

The two-year, $500,000 pilot program will provide a small loan program for artists buying or rehabbing homes in the target area, a small grant program to support artists' work in carrying out community-based projects, and artist homeownership services such as credit counseling and saving programs.

A panel of arts, community development and planning experts will select the target neighborhood through a competitive process. Community development corporations serving Cleveland neighborhoods can apply through April 25th. CPAC hopes to announce the winning neighborhood by July 1st.

CPAC is a nonprofit arts and culture service organization that works to strengthen Greater Cleveland's arts and culture sector. Some of its programs include the Artist as an Entrepreneur Institute, a business training course addressing the needs of working artists, and From Rust Belt to Artist Belt, a conference series that examines the role of artists in the redevelopment of industrial cities.


Source: Community Partnership for Arts and Culture
Writer: Lee Chilcote