Cleveland Museum of Natural History anthropologists Emma Finestone and Ebeth Sawchuk spent last summer in Kenya, conducting fieldwork crucial to the study of human evolution—excavating sites spanning 3 million years and studying how herders and farmers moved around the Central Rift Valley over the last 5,000 years.

University Settlement, which has been serving the community for almost a century in Slavic Village, in August began a new era of support and uplifting the community with the opening of 5115, a mixed use development with space for programming, a food pantry, and a host of services, as well as 5115 At The Rising apartments and townhomes.

Cleveland Heights City Council and child services agency Bellefaire JCB are leading efforts to improve police interactions with LGBTQ+ youth. The initiative, supported by the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland and Columbus-based Kaleidoscope Youth Center, focuses on reducing harmful encounters through updated protocols, officer training, and improved youth programs.

Cleveland Heights residents are finally getting a new grocery store with Grocery Outlet moving into the vacant space in the Cedar-Fairmount business district, ending a two-year stretch without a walkable supermarket in the district. 

Lou Primozic, a deacon with the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland, and a background in business, followed his calling and founded I'm In Ministry 12 years ago to serve the area's working poor with a volunteer network of organizations and individuals.

The newly minted arts and culture nonprofit AlmaVision: Cultura y Más, an arts and cultural center focused on Mexican and other underrepresented communities, will open its Hecho en CLE exhibit this weekend at Ingenuity Cleveland. The exhibit tells the stories of Cleveland's Mexican community through photos.

After 38 years at the helm of Cleveland Cinematheque, co-founder and director John Ewing will step down from his post on June 30, with Bilgesu Sisman taking over. Ewing takes a moment to reflect on nearly five decades of uplifting classic, foreign, and independent films at Case Western Reserve University, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and ultimately at the Cleveland Institute of Art. He is spending his final months at Cinematheque showing some his favorite films in his “Unfinished Business/Parting Glances” and "Movie Crazy" series.

MAGNET's first Manufacturing Blueprint Report Card revealed that Northeast Ohio is making strides as an advanced production hub, illustrated by companies like Midway Swiss Turn, Inc and E.C. Kitzel & Sons. But there is still work to do. For instance, while high-tech adoption grew 80% since 2019, only a small number of companies are currently using Industry 4.0 innovations.

Empowerment was top-of-mind for Cleveland Neighborhood Progress when it recently invested $2.013 million into 17 CDCs, with focus on the residents and needs like home repairs, community engagement, and real estate development.

In Cleveland's Lee-Harvard neighborhood, a collaborative effort between the Harvard Community Services Center, residents, local organizations like Classic Cuisine Catering, and Ward 1 officials are beginning to execute Lee-Harvard Community Master Plan to drive revitalization.

Ohio-focused Advanced Manufacturing Fund, a collaborative effort between MAGNET, JumpStart, and a group of private stakeholders, works with a variety of early-stage physical product and manufacturing ventures like—SweatID, Insitu Foods, and Octet Scientific—puts great ideas on the fast-track to success.

In October VividFront founder Andrew Spott promoted three of his employees—all under the age of 31—to leadership positions. The 14-year-old company's future success is now in the hands of these three young guns.