Terrence Spivey hasn't missed a beat since he stepped down from his position as Karamu House artistic director in 2016. Now he has been invited to stage his latest play about the slave ship, the Clotilda, "An Ocean in My Bones," in Cleveland.

The Village of Healing Center opened its doors in Euclid last year to combat the health inequities Black women experience and the high infant mortality rates in Cuyahoga County. A $1 million St. Luke's Foundation grant will help the organization expand its services and coverage area.

EDWINS founder Brandon Chostowski is offering $250 in credit to use in his restaurants and shops to anyone who turns in a gun in an effort to reduce gun violence in Cleveland.

Northeast Ohio arts and culture organizations are fostering a love for growing food, working in the garden, and teaching others. Cuyahoga Arts & Culture is helping with its 2023 project support grants.

EDWINS Leadership Restaurant and Institute founder Brandon Chrostowski may have been passed over for the James Beard Award for outstanding restauranteur, but he still sees the nomination as a "huge win" for his mission. And he had a blast in Chicago.

Cleveland City Council passed an ordinance on Monday to provide $5 million in ARPA funds to Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity. The funds will be used to build and rehabilitate homes in underserved neighborhoods under Habitat's five-year strategic plan.

The ongoing Woodhill Homes development project in the Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood—a six-phase, six-year $250 million development project by Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), the City of Cleveland, and Boston-based The Community Builders (TCB)—just received a boost through a $10 million HUD Choice Neighborhoods Supplemental Funding Grant.

More than 3,700 acres of vacant land in the City of Cleveland can present environmental and health issues. Members of a panel discussion hosted by Global Shapers Cleveland hub share solutions for using the city's vacant land in ways that promote healthy neighborhoods.

Habitat for Humanity, trade union members and organizations, and city officials celebrated the completion of a Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood home to a working mother of six.

In August, Cleveland's City Planning Commission approved a new master plan designed by Burten, Bell, Carr Development to lift the Buckeye neighborhood from the swamp of disinvestment, structural racism, and population loss it has dwelled within for years.

Neighborhood disinvestment and quality housing are two of the top reasons why racism is considered a public health crisis. But residents in some Black Cleveland neighborhoods are investing time and effort to make their neighborhoods safe, bright, and beautiful.

There are many efforts are underway at farms, community gardens, markets, social service organizations, and public agencies to nourish communities like Cleveland—the nation’s poorest big city—where food deserts are common and healthy foods are not the cheapest, most affordable, or most accessible options. 

Affordable housing is one of the most critical basic needs of everyone. But Cleveland is lacking in affordable, quality housing, experts say, and the Black population is most impacted. While Cleveland and many neighborhood CDCs are working to improve affordable housing options, the need—especially in Black communities—is still great.

FreshWater managing photographer Bob Perkoski provides a peek into the everyday lives of Clevelanders going about their business in the neighborhoods and on the streets of Cleveland.

The Innovation Square project is set to bring a mixed-use, mixed-income district along the Opportunity Corridor on Cleveland’s southeast side. Along with the new Meijer grocery story, neighborhood residents, business owners, and officials see potential for Fairfax to become an emerging, thriving neighborhood.

CMHA, Cleveland, The Community Builders, and Marous Brothers Construction have officially started construction on Woodhill Station West—the first phase of the new Woodhill Homes, a six-phase, six-year $250 million development project that is part of the Buckeye-Woodhill Transformation Plan.

While small businesses in Cleveland are still recovering from COVID-19, nonprofit SCORE Cleveland is teaming up with area Community Development Corporations to offer the resources and tools that can help these businesses recover.

Artist and entrepreneur Jada Renee has fond memories of her grandparents’ home on Forest Avenue in the Buckeye neighborhood. Today she has embarked on an ioby crowdfunding campaign to transform the property into INDI Art House — a place dedicated to youth workforce development programming, mental health, and the arts. 

EDWINS founder Brandon Chrostowski recently returned from Poland, near the Ukrainian border, working with World Central Kitchen to feed hundreds of refugees. He shared his emotional experience with FreshWater's Evan Gallagher.