Stories
Scott Colosimo had a dream to produce a stripped-down '60s-inspired motorcycle that looks like a million bucks but costs less than $5,000. Guess what? He pulled it off, launching a growing company called Cleveland CycleWerks.
The Civic Commons is a modern-day marriage of online technology, citizen journalism, and civic collaboration. The mission? To inform, engage and lead local residents to action on any number of weighty topics. Our guides: Dan Moulthrop and Noelle Celeste.
npr and new york times say happy dog/cle orchestra mash-up is music to their ears
The avant-garde mash-up of two radically different Cleveland legends -- the Happy Dog Saloon and the Cleveland Orchestra -- has been garnering big props, both locally and nationally.
In addition to a widely aired shout-out on NPR's Weekend Edition, the Happy Dog's recent classical music experiments, where chamber music pros take to the very small stage, caught the attention of the New York Times.
In an article titled, "The Key Was B Flat; the Beer Wasn't," the Old Gray Lady praises the Cleveland Orchestra's unconventional method of winning new fans.
"Anyone popping in for a quick beer at the Happy Dog bar in Cleveland on Wednesday night and expecting the usual fare -- polka, country or indie rock -- would have been surprised," the reporter writes.
Read the liner notes here.
To listen to David C. Barnett's NPR piece, click here.
In addition to a widely aired shout-out on NPR's Weekend Edition, the Happy Dog's recent classical music experiments, where chamber music pros take to the very small stage, caught the attention of the New York Times.
In an article titled, "The Key Was B Flat; the Beer Wasn't," the Old Gray Lady praises the Cleveland Orchestra's unconventional method of winning new fans.
"Anyone popping in for a quick beer at the Happy Dog bar in Cleveland on Wednesday night and expecting the usual fare -- polka, country or indie rock -- would have been surprised," the reporter writes.
Read the liner notes here.
To listen to David C. Barnett's NPR piece, click here.
recent college grads-turned-entrepreneurs make a 'CnXn' with student athletes
Brian Verne and Mike Eppich graduated from Oberlin and Rollins colleges,
respectively, in 2009, and found themselves without job prospects. The
two Shaker Heights High School alum decided to take matters into their
own hands: They founded CnXn (short for Connection), an apparel company that seeks to unite people through athletics.
This year, CnXn has produced athletic wear for Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights and Cleveland Central Catholic high schools, as well as youth football and cheerleading teams.
"The branding strategy involves using an area code logo, beginning with 216, to create a shared element for individuals who reside in the same city or geographic region," explains Verne, who was a starter on the Oberlin baseball team. (Eppich was a pitcher at Rollins.)
The idea comes from a trend of professional athletes to display their area code somewhere on their equipment or body. (Professional football player Reggie Bush can often be seen with the numbers 619 written into his eye black.)
Verne and Eppich have made giving back a major part of the CnXn business plan. "We take 15 percent of the profit from each sale and donate it back to student-athletes who reside in the area code that is on the apparel," Verne says. "The consumer will constantly be reminded that his purchase can have a positive impact on a young student athlete in his hometown."
Right now, Verne and Eppich are actively looking for additional seed money to produce all of the performance wear in the CnXn collection.
Source: Brian Verne
Writer: Diane DiPiero
This year, CnXn has produced athletic wear for Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights and Cleveland Central Catholic high schools, as well as youth football and cheerleading teams.
"The branding strategy involves using an area code logo, beginning with 216, to create a shared element for individuals who reside in the same city or geographic region," explains Verne, who was a starter on the Oberlin baseball team. (Eppich was a pitcher at Rollins.)
The idea comes from a trend of professional athletes to display their area code somewhere on their equipment or body. (Professional football player Reggie Bush can often be seen with the numbers 619 written into his eye black.)
Verne and Eppich have made giving back a major part of the CnXn business plan. "We take 15 percent of the profit from each sale and donate it back to student-athletes who reside in the area code that is on the apparel," Verne says. "The consumer will constantly be reminded that his purchase can have a positive impact on a young student athlete in his hometown."
Right now, Verne and Eppich are actively looking for additional seed money to produce all of the performance wear in the CnXn collection.
Source: Brian Verne
Writer: Diane DiPiero
Last summer, planners in the Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown areas
spent two intense months assembling a consortium of 21 public- and
private-sector entities and applying for a new type of grant available
from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Now the real
work begins.
Last week HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan visited the Cleveland-based offices of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) to announce that the consortium had been awarded $4.25 million dollars available through the Sustainable Communities Initiative. The initiative is part of the Obama administration's Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which seeks to coordinate the efforts of HUD, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation in helping cities rebuild. The Northeast Ohio Consortium for a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development, as the 21-member group is called, was one of 45 chosen for a grant.
The money will allow the consortium to set up and oversee a private nonprofit that will explore ways in which the 12 counties — and nearly 500 municipalities — of the Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown regions can work together, according to Sara Maier, senior planner for NOACA. The three-year study "will give us a tool box of what we can do as a region moving forward," Maier explains. Issues like housing, sustainability, transportation and economic competitiveness, she adds, "don't stop at county lines."
As for the longterm goal, the application stated it thusly: "We envision a "Green City on a Blue Lake.' Over the last decade many factors have converged to make now the optimal time for the 12 counties, four [metropolitan planning organizations] and more than 480 governments in Northeast Ohio to unite for the purpose of planning for sustainable development. It is over the last decade that we have come to accept the reality that our economy is truly regional."
Participants hailing from Cleveland include officials from NOACA, Cuyahoga County, the City of Cleveland, Cleveland State University's Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority and the Fund for Our Economic Future (which organized the application effort).
Consortium members have also pledged more than $2 million in matching grants, exceeding the HUD requirement.
Source: NOACA
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
Last week HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan visited the Cleveland-based offices of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) to announce that the consortium had been awarded $4.25 million dollars available through the Sustainable Communities Initiative. The initiative is part of the Obama administration's Partnership for Sustainable Communities, which seeks to coordinate the efforts of HUD, the EPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation in helping cities rebuild. The Northeast Ohio Consortium for a Regional Plan for Sustainable Development, as the 21-member group is called, was one of 45 chosen for a grant.
The money will allow the consortium to set up and oversee a private nonprofit that will explore ways in which the 12 counties — and nearly 500 municipalities — of the Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown regions can work together, according to Sara Maier, senior planner for NOACA. The three-year study "will give us a tool box of what we can do as a region moving forward," Maier explains. Issues like housing, sustainability, transportation and economic competitiveness, she adds, "don't stop at county lines."
As for the longterm goal, the application stated it thusly: "We envision a "Green City on a Blue Lake.' Over the last decade many factors have converged to make now the optimal time for the 12 counties, four [metropolitan planning organizations] and more than 480 governments in Northeast Ohio to unite for the purpose of planning for sustainable development. It is over the last decade that we have come to accept the reality that our economy is truly regional."
Participants hailing from Cleveland include officials from NOACA, Cuyahoga County, the City of Cleveland, Cleveland State University's Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs, the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority and the Fund for Our Economic Future (which organized the application effort).
Consortium members have also pledged more than $2 million in matching grants, exceeding the HUD requirement.
Source: NOACA
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
cleveland offers a road map for other struggling cities, says MSN
Cleveland's progressive stance on urban farming continues to draw positive national attention, proving that even this crisis boasts a silver lining.
In her article titled "Faded glory: Suffering cities take aim at urban blight," MSN Real Estate reporter Melinda Fulmer shines a bright light on Cleveland's attempt to reinvent its future be reimagining its vacant property.
Of the ground-breaking Ohio City Farm she writes: "In years past, this industrial city probably wouldn't have embraced such a back-to-basics business as beets and beans. But after decades of heavy job and population losses -- and a particularly rough ride in the foreclosure crisis -- this six-acre urban farm on a former public housing tract has become symbolic of the many imaginative ways a shrinking city can reinvent itself when heavy industry leaves."
The article quotes OCNW executive director Eric Wobser as saying, "I think urban farms like this one will reposition the way people think about Cleveland. The local food movement has really caught on fire here."
Fulmer credits Cleveland as the first large shrinking city to adopt a master plan that acknowledges its reduced footprint and attempts to redesign a more vibrant and sustainable future around it.
And what's more, that progressive and sustainable policy, including the city's recent ordinance allowing chicks and bees, is precisely the type of efforts that attract new residents. She quotes Neighborhood Progress' Bobbi Reichtell in the following paragraph.
"This encouragement of a greener future — through 56 urban-farming and green-space grants on city-owned vacant property — is catching the eye of younger eco-friendly entrepreneurs, who have big dreams for more sustainable livelihoods in the city. The city has been very progressive. They recognize the scale of the challenge they face."
Dig into the entire story here.
In her article titled "Faded glory: Suffering cities take aim at urban blight," MSN Real Estate reporter Melinda Fulmer shines a bright light on Cleveland's attempt to reinvent its future be reimagining its vacant property.
Of the ground-breaking Ohio City Farm she writes: "In years past, this industrial city probably wouldn't have embraced such a back-to-basics business as beets and beans. But after decades of heavy job and population losses -- and a particularly rough ride in the foreclosure crisis -- this six-acre urban farm on a former public housing tract has become symbolic of the many imaginative ways a shrinking city can reinvent itself when heavy industry leaves."
The article quotes OCNW executive director Eric Wobser as saying, "I think urban farms like this one will reposition the way people think about Cleveland. The local food movement has really caught on fire here."
Fulmer credits Cleveland as the first large shrinking city to adopt a master plan that acknowledges its reduced footprint and attempts to redesign a more vibrant and sustainable future around it.
And what's more, that progressive and sustainable policy, including the city's recent ordinance allowing chicks and bees, is precisely the type of efforts that attract new residents. She quotes Neighborhood Progress' Bobbi Reichtell in the following paragraph.
"This encouragement of a greener future — through 56 urban-farming and green-space grants on city-owned vacant property — is catching the eye of younger eco-friendly entrepreneurs, who have big dreams for more sustainable livelihoods in the city. The city has been very progressive. They recognize the scale of the challenge they face."
Dig into the entire story here.
'flee to the cleve' deemed an award-winning campaign
Turns out that Positively Cleveland's popular "Flee to the Cleve" Twitter posts are more than good-natured bits of information -- they are award-winning nuggets.
Positively Cleveland, the Convention and Visitors Bureau office for our fair city, recently snagged three RUBY Awards from the Ohio Travel Association. Shorthand for Recognizing Uncommon Brilliance in the Travel and Tourism Industry, the RUBYs recognize outstanding advertising, marketing and public relations efforts.
This year's competition took place during the Ohio Conference on Tourism, with nearly 130 entries submitted by 40 businesses and organizations.
Positively Cleveland won three RUBY Awards for its work in the categories of Website Design, Electronic Media, and Social Networking Campaign.
Check out the complete list of winners here.
Positively Cleveland, the Convention and Visitors Bureau office for our fair city, recently snagged three RUBY Awards from the Ohio Travel Association. Shorthand for Recognizing Uncommon Brilliance in the Travel and Tourism Industry, the RUBYs recognize outstanding advertising, marketing and public relations efforts.
This year's competition took place during the Ohio Conference on Tourism, with nearly 130 entries submitted by 40 businesses and organizations.
Positively Cleveland won three RUBY Awards for its work in the categories of Website Design, Electronic Media, and Social Networking Campaign.
Check out the complete list of winners here.
wall street journal critic says 'bravo' to great lakes theater festival
It was Oscar Wilde who penned the phrase, "There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."
Only a fool would protest that that very phrase is the raison d'être behind this very section. So it's fitting that this item from the Wall Street Journal deals with the Great Lakes Theater Festival's repertory production of Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" and Shakespeare's "Othello."
Written by WSJ drama critic Terry Teachout, the review glowingly covers recent productions of the plays at Cleveland's Hanna Theatre in PlayhouseSquare.
"Cleveland's Great Lakes Theater Festival is mounting handsome stagings of both plays in collaboration with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, where the two productions originated this summer, and as I watched them in close succession earlier this week, I was struck by how smoothly they fit together."
Of the Shakespeare production, Teachout wrote, "This is a blood-and-thunder "Othello" that roars down the track at several hundred miles an hour, and though it's short on poetry, it lacks nothing in the way of thrills and chills."
In addition to singling out set designer Nayna Ramey, the critic goes on to wax poetic about the theater itself.
"Built in 1921, the Hanna Theatre was taken over two years ago by the Great Lakes Theater Festival. The original 1,421-seat proscenium-arch house has now been turned into a fully up-to-date 548-seat thrust-stage theater whose performing space and public areas flow together seamlessly, thus encouraging audience members to show up early and use the theater as a meeting place. (They do, too.) Rarely have I seen a happier marriage of old and new."
Read the rest of the playbill here.
Only a fool would protest that that very phrase is the raison d'être behind this very section. So it's fitting that this item from the Wall Street Journal deals with the Great Lakes Theater Festival's repertory production of Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" and Shakespeare's "Othello."
Written by WSJ drama critic Terry Teachout, the review glowingly covers recent productions of the plays at Cleveland's Hanna Theatre in PlayhouseSquare.
"Cleveland's Great Lakes Theater Festival is mounting handsome stagings of both plays in collaboration with the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, where the two productions originated this summer, and as I watched them in close succession earlier this week, I was struck by how smoothly they fit together."
Of the Shakespeare production, Teachout wrote, "This is a blood-and-thunder "Othello" that roars down the track at several hundred miles an hour, and though it's short on poetry, it lacks nothing in the way of thrills and chills."
In addition to singling out set designer Nayna Ramey, the critic goes on to wax poetic about the theater itself.
"Built in 1921, the Hanna Theatre was taken over two years ago by the Great Lakes Theater Festival. The original 1,421-seat proscenium-arch house has now been turned into a fully up-to-date 548-seat thrust-stage theater whose performing space and public areas flow together seamlessly, thus encouraging audience members to show up early and use the theater as a meeting place. (They do, too.) Rarely have I seen a happier marriage of old and new."
Read the rest of the playbill here.
JumpStart invests $250K in its 50th company
Cleveland's JumpStart Ventures just reached an important milestone: The early-stage venture company recently invested in its 50th company.
That move consisted of a $250,000 investment commitment in Endotronix, Inc., which is developing a wireless monitoring technology for patients with congestive heart failure. Endotronix's "Anytime, Anywhere" wireless sensing platform technology will allow physicians to remotely monitor a patient's health status and deliver the appropriate medications, thus reducing the likelihood of hospitalizations related to congestive heart failure.
According to Dr. Harry Rowland, co-founder of Endotronix, this innovation "has the potential to not only improve patient care, but also reduce the cost of treating heart failure."
Six years into its existence, JumpStart works to add companies, jobs and residents to Northeast Ohio by offering cash and guidance to promising ventures. While just a number, the big 5-0 is a testament to the number of quality ideas and passion in this region. Many of those ideas will develop into high-growth companies that will prove to be a significant part of this region's economic environment.
But, promise staffers, 50 is just the beginning.
That move consisted of a $250,000 investment commitment in Endotronix, Inc., which is developing a wireless monitoring technology for patients with congestive heart failure. Endotronix's "Anytime, Anywhere" wireless sensing platform technology will allow physicians to remotely monitor a patient's health status and deliver the appropriate medications, thus reducing the likelihood of hospitalizations related to congestive heart failure.
According to Dr. Harry Rowland, co-founder of Endotronix, this innovation "has the potential to not only improve patient care, but also reduce the cost of treating heart failure."
Six years into its existence, JumpStart works to add companies, jobs and residents to Northeast Ohio by offering cash and guidance to promising ventures. While just a number, the big 5-0 is a testament to the number of quality ideas and passion in this region. Many of those ideas will develop into high-growth companies that will prove to be a significant part of this region's economic environment.
But, promise staffers, 50 is just the beginning.
Danielle DeBoe does not object to the descriptor "retail pioneer," but
notes that her business decisions are guided less by simple dollars and
cents than by a desire to help Cleveland realize its potential. That's
why she's preparing to relocate her jewelry/art/accessories/lifestyle
shop Room Service
from West 65th and Detroit, in the popular Gordon Square Arts District,
to the up-and-coming Ohio City Market District, around West 25th and
Lorain.
"I'm motivated by a challenge," says DeBoe, an Ohio City resident who set up shop in Gordon Square "before anyone knew what it was."
"It isn't just the retail end that drives me," she adds. "I like feeling that I'm helping to move along progress in Cleveland in general."
Few approach that effort as imaginatively as DeBoe does. Her side projects include the Made in the 216 shopping event and Dinner with Strangers, which is like networking only cooler.
Her relocation is part of an ongoing development push led by Ohio City Near West CDC and private developer MRN Ltd. The goal is to build on and expand the growth that's occurred on West 25th north of Lorain Avenue.
"Businesses are meant to serve the community in some way," DeBoe says. "If Room Service can help encourage people to cross over Lorain and shop, I'm willing to give it a go.
Source: Danielle DeBoe
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
"I'm motivated by a challenge," says DeBoe, an Ohio City resident who set up shop in Gordon Square "before anyone knew what it was."
"It isn't just the retail end that drives me," she adds. "I like feeling that I'm helping to move along progress in Cleveland in general."
Few approach that effort as imaginatively as DeBoe does. Her side projects include the Made in the 216 shopping event and Dinner with Strangers, which is like networking only cooler.
Her relocation is part of an ongoing development push led by Ohio City Near West CDC and private developer MRN Ltd. The goal is to build on and expand the growth that's occurred on West 25th north of Lorain Avenue.
"Businesses are meant to serve the community in some way," DeBoe says. "If Room Service can help encourage people to cross over Lorain and shop, I'm willing to give it a go.
Source: Danielle DeBoe
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
growing 20-person marketing firm insivia to relocate to 5K-sq-ft facility in the flats
The Cleveland marketing solutions firm Insivia
has solved its most recent challenge: how to accommodate record growth
and provide optimum space for creativity and interaction. The result:
Insivia's new 5,000-square-foot office on Center Street in The Flats.
The rambling, open interiors and plethora of natural light sold the firm
on the move from its previous location downtown.
"The ability to be in an exciting and creative space like this provides more value to our clients," says Andy Halko, CEO of Insivia. "We have more room to collaborate, create and envision."
Founded in 2002, Insivia's clients include Cleveland Clinic, Positively Cleveland and Rohrer Corporation. Insivia has experienced steady financial growth and has added several new positions in recent months to bring its total employees to around 20.
Insivia's new location in The Flats will accommodate planned future growth.
Source: Andy Halko
Writer: Diane DiPiero
"The ability to be in an exciting and creative space like this provides more value to our clients," says Andy Halko, CEO of Insivia. "We have more room to collaborate, create and envision."
Founded in 2002, Insivia's clients include Cleveland Clinic, Positively Cleveland and Rohrer Corporation. Insivia has experienced steady financial growth and has added several new positions in recent months to bring its total employees to around 20.
Insivia's new location in The Flats will accommodate planned future growth.
Source: Andy Halko
Writer: Diane DiPiero
"Restoring Properties, Rebuilding Communities," a new report from the Center for Community Progress, cites a Cleveland-based grassroots program as an example for other cities also struggling with widespread property vacancy.
The report, released at the start of last week's national Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference in Cleveland, outlines the longstanding problem, exacerbated in recent years by foreclosures and the recession: Across the country, from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt, homeowner, rental, commercial and industrial vacancy rates are at their highest levels in decades, and still rising. In some places years of progress is coming undone.
But the report also examines some promising approaches, including Cleveland's "neighborhood stabilization team." Representatives from Neighborhood Progress Inc., Case Western Reserve University and ESOP (Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People) meet regularly with counterparts from 14 community development corporations to share information and coordinate plans.
Neighborhood Progress brings 20 years of experience in community investment and land reuse. ESOP's foreclosure prevention assistance program has become a national model. Case's Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development maintains the NEO CANDO data base, which stores a wide range of data on neighborhoods throughout Northeast Ohio. Combined they provide an invaluable array of resources for the CDCs on the front lines.
"The effort is a comprehensive approach," the report explains, "aimed at both ends of the stabilization challenge – preventing abandonment … and converting abandoned properties for productive use."
"Many cities now recognize that they will not return to their one-time peak populations, nor to their history as manufacturing centers," the report states. "This admission has fundamentally changed how they think about themselves and their future; it has unleashed … a host of creative initiatives that challenge the traditional ideas of city planning and open the door to a new way of thinking about these cities."
Source: Center for Community Progress
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
The report, released at the start of last week's national Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference in Cleveland, outlines the longstanding problem, exacerbated in recent years by foreclosures and the recession: Across the country, from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt, homeowner, rental, commercial and industrial vacancy rates are at their highest levels in decades, and still rising. In some places years of progress is coming undone.
But the report also examines some promising approaches, including Cleveland's "neighborhood stabilization team." Representatives from Neighborhood Progress Inc., Case Western Reserve University and ESOP (Empowering and Strengthening Ohio's People) meet regularly with counterparts from 14 community development corporations to share information and coordinate plans.
Neighborhood Progress brings 20 years of experience in community investment and land reuse. ESOP's foreclosure prevention assistance program has become a national model. Case's Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development maintains the NEO CANDO data base, which stores a wide range of data on neighborhoods throughout Northeast Ohio. Combined they provide an invaluable array of resources for the CDCs on the front lines.
"The effort is a comprehensive approach," the report explains, "aimed at both ends of the stabilization challenge – preventing abandonment … and converting abandoned properties for productive use."
"Many cities now recognize that they will not return to their one-time peak populations, nor to their history as manufacturing centers," the report states. "This admission has fundamentally changed how they think about themselves and their future; it has unleashed … a host of creative initiatives that challenge the traditional ideas of city planning and open the door to a new way of thinking about these cities."
Source: Center for Community Progress
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
intergenerational school again named 'ohio school of promise', grows employee and student base
The Intergenerational School
(TIS) is doing its best to keep its promise of offering academic
excellence in Cleveland. For the fourth year in a row, the private, free
K-8 school has been named an Ohio School of Promise by the Ohio
Department of Education for excellence in reading and math.
"Identifying schools in this way reinforces the fact that all children can learn when given the opportunity in a quality educational setting," says Brooke King, executive director of TIS.
TIS began in 1998 with a three-person staff in a two-room facility. These days, the school occupies a 20,000-square-foot building on the campus of Fairhill Partners, a nonprofit organization focused on successful aging, located in the Buckeye-Larchmere neighborhood of Cleveland. As of this fall, TIS had 29 employees and more than 200 students.
Each classroom at TIS is composed of 16 students of multiple ages. Mentors and community partners work with the students to provide a multigenerational environment.
In addition to the Ohio School of Promise designation, TIS has received a number of awards from organizations dedicated to the elderly. For example, TIS was the recipient of the National MindAlert Award from the American Society on Aging for its mental fitness programs for older adults.
Source: Brooke King
Writer: Diane DiPiero
"Identifying schools in this way reinforces the fact that all children can learn when given the opportunity in a quality educational setting," says Brooke King, executive director of TIS.
TIS began in 1998 with a three-person staff in a two-room facility. These days, the school occupies a 20,000-square-foot building on the campus of Fairhill Partners, a nonprofit organization focused on successful aging, located in the Buckeye-Larchmere neighborhood of Cleveland. As of this fall, TIS had 29 employees and more than 200 students.
Each classroom at TIS is composed of 16 students of multiple ages. Mentors and community partners work with the students to provide a multigenerational environment.
In addition to the Ohio School of Promise designation, TIS has received a number of awards from organizations dedicated to the elderly. For example, TIS was the recipient of the National MindAlert Award from the American Society on Aging for its mental fitness programs for older adults.
Source: Brooke King
Writer: Diane DiPiero
City governments often get a bad rap. Cleveland's government is
especially vulnerable to dismissal, what with that lingering "mistake
on the lake" thing. But some informed government watchers — at Harvard,
no less — like what they see, at least in terms of the city's
willingness to cooperate with communities in building a better future.
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, recently recognized the Strategic Investment Initiative (SSI) — a partnership between the non-profit Neighborhood Progress Inc. and the City of Cleveland — as a "Bright Idea." The newly created Bright Ideas program "is designed to recognize and share creative government initiatives around the country with interested public sector, nonprofit, and academic communities."
"My understanding is that this [honor] is fairly unusual," says Walter Wright, Neighborhood Progress's senior program officer. SSI involves the city, but grew out of Neighborhood Progress's work with community development corporations. Today it includes the CDCs in Buckeye, Detroit Shoreway, Ohio City, Slavic Village and five other communities. Neighborhood Progress describes SSI as "a market-driven approach that incorporates a deeper investment in neighborhood planning, a concentration of resources on larger-scale project investments and the introduction of more comprehensive strategies to improving quality of life through green spaces, public art, and neighborhood stabilization strategies."
The Bright Idea designation is "basically an honorific," Wright says. But he welcomes the opportunity to discuss the SSI model with like-minded folks from around the country who will learn of it thanks to the nod from Harvard.
Source: Neighborhood Progress Inc.
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
The Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, recently recognized the Strategic Investment Initiative (SSI) — a partnership between the non-profit Neighborhood Progress Inc. and the City of Cleveland — as a "Bright Idea." The newly created Bright Ideas program "is designed to recognize and share creative government initiatives around the country with interested public sector, nonprofit, and academic communities."
"My understanding is that this [honor] is fairly unusual," says Walter Wright, Neighborhood Progress's senior program officer. SSI involves the city, but grew out of Neighborhood Progress's work with community development corporations. Today it includes the CDCs in Buckeye, Detroit Shoreway, Ohio City, Slavic Village and five other communities. Neighborhood Progress describes SSI as "a market-driven approach that incorporates a deeper investment in neighborhood planning, a concentration of resources on larger-scale project investments and the introduction of more comprehensive strategies to improving quality of life through green spaces, public art, and neighborhood stabilization strategies."
The Bright Idea designation is "basically an honorific," Wright says. But he welcomes the opportunity to discuss the SSI model with like-minded folks from around the country who will learn of it thanks to the nod from Harvard.
Source: Neighborhood Progress Inc.
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
new york times touts upcoming CMA exhibit
Discussing a season of rarely travelled Vatican artifacts on tour throughout the nation, arts reporter Eve M. Kahn writes in the New York Times about an upcoming stop at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Here is an excerpt: "On Sunday [October 17] 'Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe' opens at the Cleveland Museum of Art, with a half-dozen Vatican loans. Displayed are marble sarcophagi and tomb fragments from the fourth century, a boxed collection of Holy Land souvenir rocks assembled around 500, and a ninth-century lidded silver vessel made to hold St. Sebastian's skull."
The exhibition, on view in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall until January 17, 2011, will provide American audiences with an unparalleled opportunity to see 135 extraordinary works of late antique, Byzantine, and Western medieval art, including precious metalwork objects, paintings, sculptures, and illuminated manuscripts, drawn from public and private collections as well as church treasuries across the United States and Europe. Several of these spectacular works have never been seen outside their home countries.
The Times quotes Holger A. Klein, a curator of the Cleveland show, as saying that the Vatican officials "were surprisingly open to the idea" of lending. "They are not sending the actual relics" of saints' bodies, he added. "They are not sending bones."
Unearth the whole story here.
Here is an excerpt: "On Sunday [October 17] 'Treasures of Heaven: Saints, Relics and Devotion in Medieval Europe' opens at the Cleveland Museum of Art, with a half-dozen Vatican loans. Displayed are marble sarcophagi and tomb fragments from the fourth century, a boxed collection of Holy Land souvenir rocks assembled around 500, and a ninth-century lidded silver vessel made to hold St. Sebastian's skull."
The exhibition, on view in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Exhibition Hall until January 17, 2011, will provide American audiences with an unparalleled opportunity to see 135 extraordinary works of late antique, Byzantine, and Western medieval art, including precious metalwork objects, paintings, sculptures, and illuminated manuscripts, drawn from public and private collections as well as church treasuries across the United States and Europe. Several of these spectacular works have never been seen outside their home countries.
The Times quotes Holger A. Klein, a curator of the Cleveland show, as saying that the Vatican officials "were surprisingly open to the idea" of lending. "They are not sending the actual relics" of saints' bodies, he added. "They are not sending bones."
Unearth the whole story here.
cleveland’s overdrive has 20th consecutive quarter of profitability; announces major investment
OverDrive distributes
one of the world's largest catalogs of e-books, audiobooks and
multimedia, with more than 500,000 premium copyrighted titles. Founded
in 1986, OverDrive has built a reputation for hosted solutions of
digital media, and has gained partnerships with major publishers like
Random House, HarperCollins, Penguin, Hachette and McGraw-Hill.
The Cleveland-based company is poised for even more dramatic growth thanks to a major investment from Insight Venture Partners of New York City. Subject to regulatory approval, the investment will provide additional resources and capital to expand OverDrive's presence in the United States and abroad.
Larry Handen, managing director of Insight Venture Partners, noted that its investment announcement coincided with OverDrive's 20th consecutive quarter of profitability.
"Insight values OverDrive's partnerships with leading libraries, educators, publishers and authors," says OverDrive founder and CEO, Steve Potash. OverDrive currently reaches out to 11,000 retailers, libraries, schools and other digital channels around the globe.
The Cleveland-based company is poised for even more dramatic growth thanks to a major investment from Insight Venture Partners of New York City. Subject to regulatory approval, the investment will provide additional resources and capital to expand OverDrive's presence in the United States and abroad.
Larry Handen, managing director of Insight Venture Partners, noted that its investment announcement coincided with OverDrive's 20th consecutive quarter of profitability.
"Insight values OverDrive's partnerships with leading libraries, educators, publishers and authors," says OverDrive founder and CEO, Steve Potash. OverDrive currently reaches out to 11,000 retailers, libraries, schools and other digital channels around the globe.
Domokur Architects, based in Akron since 1979, has expanded into Cleveland via a merger with Tremont-based Michael Augoustidis.
"We like the neighborhood," says Linsey Domokur, who handles business development, "and we like having a Cleveland presence." The new office, at Starkweather and Professor, will house three new hires, including a specialist in the healthcare industry.
The firm's healthcare portfolio includes the Geneva Medical Center addition at University Hospitals, Akron City Hospital's Palliative Care Pavillion and Chardon Surgery Center. The firm has also designed several buildings for the J.M. Smucker Company in Orrville , the Cleveland Metroparks' Canal Way Visitors' Center and the Conneaut Public Library.
Domokur also opened a Chicago office in September.
Source: Domokur
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
"We like the neighborhood," says Linsey Domokur, who handles business development, "and we like having a Cleveland presence." The new office, at Starkweather and Professor, will house three new hires, including a specialist in the healthcare industry.
The firm's healthcare portfolio includes the Geneva Medical Center addition at University Hospitals, Akron City Hospital's Palliative Care Pavillion and Chardon Surgery Center. The firm has also designed several buildings for the J.M. Smucker Company in Orrville , the Cleveland Metroparks' Canal Way Visitors' Center and the Conneaut Public Library.
Domokur also opened a Chicago office in September.
Source: Domokur
Writer: Frank W. Lewis
cleveland-based rsb spine boasts whopping 229% year-over-year growth
Earlier this month, Cleveland-based RSB Spine announced a 229-percent increase for the third quarter of 2010 versus the third quarter of a year earlier. The medical device company also recently completed a $1.5 million private offering to grow its operations in the United States.
RSB Spine's InterPlate C-Ti has become the first inter-body fusion device to be cleared as an anterior cervical plate. The device is implanted during spinal fusion surgery, holding the vertebrae together while increasing stability. The clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) means that the C-Ti can function either as an inter-body device or as a cervical plate.
"[The InterPlate C-Ti] has the advantages of both without the drawbacks of either, so this indication is appropriate," says RSB Spine CEO John A. Redmond.
The InterPlate C-Ti is made of titanium and is used in conjunction with grafting material to fuse two vertebral bodies. When the FDA reclassified inter-body fusion devices in 2007, the C-Ti from RSB Spine was the first device to receive clearance under the new guidelines. With this new clearance, the C-Ti shows its versatility in the treatment of degenerative disc disease.
RSB Spine has more than 150 independent distributors in the United States.
Source: John A. Redmond
Writer: Diane DiPiero
RSB Spine's InterPlate C-Ti has become the first inter-body fusion device to be cleared as an anterior cervical plate. The device is implanted during spinal fusion surgery, holding the vertebrae together while increasing stability. The clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) means that the C-Ti can function either as an inter-body device or as a cervical plate.
"[The InterPlate C-Ti] has the advantages of both without the drawbacks of either, so this indication is appropriate," says RSB Spine CEO John A. Redmond.
The InterPlate C-Ti is made of titanium and is used in conjunction with grafting material to fuse two vertebral bodies. When the FDA reclassified inter-body fusion devices in 2007, the C-Ti from RSB Spine was the first device to receive clearance under the new guidelines. With this new clearance, the C-Ti shows its versatility in the treatment of degenerative disc disease.
RSB Spine has more than 150 independent distributors in the United States.
Source: John A. Redmond
Writer: Diane DiPiero
cavaliers move forward, with help from cleveland architecture firm and graphic design company
We can all be witnesses to the Cleveland Cavaliers' newest acquisition: a state-of-the-art team shop inside Quicken Loans Arena. Unveiled during the team's first preseason basketball game, the two-story shop is one of the largest in the NBA.
Cleveland's Herschman Architects designed the shop to be bright, modern and approachable. From the two-story glass facade to rows of neatly arranged merchandise inside, the shop is helping propel the team toward a new beginning.
Studio Graphique, a branding and way-finding firm located in Shaker Square, designed the signage and graphics package, which includes a miniature replica of the scoreboard above center court.
"We are proud of the results of this beautiful retail environment," says Rachel Downey, founder and principal of Studio Graphique.
Len Komoroski, president of the Cavaliers described the new team shop as a "world class shopping experience."
The new team shop is the latest in a line of amenities that have been added under the direction of Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.
"Whether it's the Team Shop, The Q, Cleveland Clinic Courts, or any arena on or off the court or ice, it is our commitment to deliver the ultimate experience for our fans that is second to none," Gilbert said in a prepared statement.
SOURCE: Studio Graphique
WRITER: Diane DiPiero
Cleveland's Herschman Architects designed the shop to be bright, modern and approachable. From the two-story glass facade to rows of neatly arranged merchandise inside, the shop is helping propel the team toward a new beginning.
Studio Graphique, a branding and way-finding firm located in Shaker Square, designed the signage and graphics package, which includes a miniature replica of the scoreboard above center court.
"We are proud of the results of this beautiful retail environment," says Rachel Downey, founder and principal of Studio Graphique.
Len Komoroski, president of the Cavaliers described the new team shop as a "world class shopping experience."
The new team shop is the latest in a line of amenities that have been added under the direction of Cavs owner Dan Gilbert.
"Whether it's the Team Shop, The Q, Cleveland Clinic Courts, or any arena on or off the court or ice, it is our commitment to deliver the ultimate experience for our fans that is second to none," Gilbert said in a prepared statement.
SOURCE: Studio Graphique
WRITER: Diane DiPiero
architecture critic steven litt debuts guide to urban design at CPA release party
Designed by local graphic design studio Rini Uva Lee, and published in partnership with the Cleveland Public Library and Cleveland Public Art, Plain Dealer writer Steven Litt's "Designing a Better Cleveland" is a pocket-sized guide to urban design and how public spaces are created in the city.
"Designing a Better Cleveland" is an outgrowth of a program called Civic Design & Inspired Infrastructure, which was held last year at the Cleveland Public Library through the annual series Spectrum: The Lockwood Thompson Dialogues.
"With so many major civic investments that have the potential to reshape the city's landscape taking place over the next several years, we believe that a book like this provides an easy to read, but still thought-provoking tool for Clevelanders who want to be engaged in these public processes," explains says Greg Peckham, executive director of Cleveland Public Art. "Designing a Better Cleveland is for everyone -- from neighborhood residents and elected officials to corporate leaders, design professionals and civic institutions."
A book release party will take place on Thursday, October 14, at 5:30 pm at Cleveland Public Art, located at 1951 West 26th Street.
"Designing a Better Cleveland" is an outgrowth of a program called Civic Design & Inspired Infrastructure, which was held last year at the Cleveland Public Library through the annual series Spectrum: The Lockwood Thompson Dialogues.
"With so many major civic investments that have the potential to reshape the city's landscape taking place over the next several years, we believe that a book like this provides an easy to read, but still thought-provoking tool for Clevelanders who want to be engaged in these public processes," explains says Greg Peckham, executive director of Cleveland Public Art. "Designing a Better Cleveland is for everyone -- from neighborhood residents and elected officials to corporate leaders, design professionals and civic institutions."
A book release party will take place on Thursday, October 14, at 5:30 pm at Cleveland Public Art, located at 1951 West 26th Street.