The Cleveland BVU: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence has partnered with Quicken Loans Arena in a program to encourage volunteerism. Participants who volunteer four or more hours through the BVU’s inaugural Community MVPs program can get buy-one-get-one tickets to an upcoming Cavs, Lake Erie Monsters, Canton Chargers or a Disney Princess show at the Q.
 
Additionally, those who log the most volunteer hours in any one of five specified time periods will win two ... Read more >

The Burton D. Morgan Foundation in Hudson and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation have committed $3.2 million to train area young entrepreneurs through Blackstone LaunchPad, a venture coach program developed at the University of Miami, Florida in 2008.
 
Students, faculty and alumni at Baldwin-Wallace College, CWRU, Kent State and Lorain County Community College will have the chance to participate in the program, which takes applicants from idea to full-fledged busin... Read more >

Judy Wright knows that there is strength in numbers. That’s the idea behind the Cleveland Colectivo, which has been getting together and raising money for good causes around town for the past seven years.
 
“We are a giving circle, which means we are a group of people who pool our money and then give it out collectively,” explains Wright. The Colectivo was founded by Wright and a group of friends working in the non-profit sector who wanted to make a ... Read more >

Anne Kelly used to travel four days a week for her job. Then about a year and a half ago she was traveling less and she found she had a lot more free time on her hands. She wanted to take that free time and do something that made a difference. “I felt I had the energy to do more for people,” she recalls. “A friend convinced me to join the Rotary Club.”
 
Then Kelly heard about the Lost Boys of Sudan, the Friends of the Sudanese Lost Boys of Cle... Read more >

LaRick Calhoun has been an entrepreneur since he was 11 years old, when he started cutting hair for people in his neighborhood. His mother was a hair stylist and for $5, Calhoun would create his own styles.

“That’s where it all began,” he says. Then, years later as a real estate loan officer, Calhoun realized he could teach others the skills they need to be successful in business and created 2Excel Group.
 
“I noticed that at 100 perce... Read more >

Impact Armor Technologies, a manufacturer of ceramic components used in military and law enforcement armor, listened to their customers and developed a bullet-proof clipboard. The clipboard provides protection from multiple gunshots and point-blank range.
 
“Basically, our company was in the business of producing custom armor,” says Matt Raplenovich, Impact Armor’s director of operations. “We try to be very involved with our end-users. Instead ... Read more >

Kendall Embrescia’s greeting cards get to the point of the sentiment -- but usually not in the traditional way. As chief creative officer and “head skootcher” at Squirt & Skootch, Embrescia produces cards that are edgy, funny, off-the-wall and well received.
 
The idea for Squirt & Skootch was originally conceived in 2009 by Embrescia and a friend who wanted to start a business that united their love of writing, creativity and travel. The pec... Read more >

Global Cleveland, a regional economic development organization, has launched a pilot program: English and Pathways for Healthcare Professionals. The six-month program, launched in October, is designed to help immigrants with their English and find jobs that match the skills they developed in their native countries.
 
“The objective is to find immigrants jobs in healthcare who were healthcare professionals in their home countries but haven’t been able to fi... Read more >

JumpStart introduced IdeaCrossing to the entrepreneurial community in 2007 as a tool for developing and growing a new business. More than 6,000 users nationwide -- 2,000 in Ohio -- use the free online tool to find funding, talk with investors and hash out their ideas. Now IdeaCrossing has launched Workspaces, an online collaborative meeting place.
 
Workspaces gives entrepreneurs a virtual meeting place to collaborate with their advisors and stakeholders "without... Read more >

Jared Rube has a love for both photography and technology. As a third year photography student at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rube got his feet wet in the entrepreneurial world as an intern at Shaker LaunchHouse before creating True Frame Media, which provides video content creators with the ability to standardize work-flow and produce films through online pre and post production processes.
 
Out of True Frame Media came CinaMaker, a cloud-based collaborative e... Read more >

It’s hard enough in today’s economy to find a good job. It’s even harder if you can’t read. Nearly half the adult population in Cuyahoga County has literacy levels that are below the state minimum requirements and 270,000 people in the county have no training beyond a high school diploma or GED.
 
The Literacy Cooperative of Greater Cleveland just released the first of three briefs, “The Economic Case for Literacy,” which points out... Read more >

As part of the JobsOhio initiative, Team NEO has asked regional organizations to submit their ideas for job creation and economic development. As one of six JobsOhio regional offices, Team NEO received $4.1 million from the Third Frontier Commission to fund the office and support economic development programs.
 
“The purpose of the money is to improve the economic development system in Ohio,” says Team NEO CEO Tom Waltermire. “We have been spending q... Read more >

Dave Fleischer loves to draw. As a self-described “lifelong animator,” the creative director and president of Tiny Giant Studio has dreams of growing into a full-service animation production studio. And he’s using his passion to attract local talent to his company by hosting a speed-drawing class at Shaker LaunchHouse.
 
The class, held on Thursday nights, is designed to help potential animators hone their skills. Actors from the CWRU theater departm... Read more >

NorTech is accepting nominations for its 11th annual innovation awards, which highlight breakthrough technologies and innovations in Northeast Ohio.

“The innovation awards recognize those businesses and individuals and leaders who have created jobs and attracted capital to the region,” says NorTech president and CEO Rebecca Bagley. “The bottom line is recognizing companies that have had a positive economic impact.”
 
NorTech has held t... Read more >

Steve Orlando wants to make cell phones free for all. He plans to do that through advertising. The CEO of Cell-A-Spot started the company in 2009 with the idea of selling ad space for cell phone apps and the concept has been growing ever since.
 
“We essentially are implementing advertisements in mobile phones,” Orlando says. “It started with a couple of ideas, but when we got our first customer we created our first app.”
 
Cell-a-... Read more >

Lisa Dunn is socially conscious with an artistic flair. As owner of Revive boutique in Cleveland Heights and Lyndhurst’s Legacy Village, Dunn showcases the works of artisans from around the world, all while making sure they earn a fair wage for their work.
 
The two stores carry eco-fashions for children, women and men, as well as products for the home. The handcrafted pieces hail from more than 30 countries and are made of various sustainable materials, such as... Read more >

Anyone who has ever been in college knows the benefit of using a classmate’s notes to catch up on what’s going on in class or to study for a test. Dave Petruziello and Mike Matousek have created a way to share those notes -- and make some money at the same time.
 
FlashNotes came out of a class project Matousek was working on for business class while at Kent State University in 2009. The company is a virtual marketplace where students can buy and sell stud... Read more >

Dan Young is an avid cyclist. But he’s also quite busy running his software and technology business. One day, while stuck in the office and dreaming about how he’d rather be riding, Young came up with an idea: What if there was a way to pedal at his desk?

“I was just kind of thinking one day, ‘I can’t stand sitting here; I want to get out and ride,’” recalls Young. And with that, the seed was planted for Kickstand Furniture.
&... Read more >

In an effort to inspire area students to think about clean energy, this year's Clean Energy Challenge will be open to local college students. NorTech is heading up Ohio’s participation in the business plan contest, sponsored by Clean Energy Trust in Chicago.
 
“The point of the challenge is to institute more technology transfer out of the universities,” explains Dave Karpinski, NorTech vice president. “It’s a business plan competition... Read more >

Tremont Electric is developing a new energy source with its recently patented nPower Wave Energy Converter (WEC). The four-year-old Cleveland company made a huge splash with its nPower PEG, a pint-size power plant that allows people to charge their hand-held devices while walking, running or biking. Their new product uses the waves of Lake Erie -- and ultimately larger bodies of water -- to generate commercial-scale electricity.
 
“We put it in something like a ... Read more >