Central/Kinsman

Step by 'step:' How PRE4CLE is helping local preschools ramp up kindergarten readiness
In 2016, Collinwood-based A Jubilee Academy carried a two-star Step Up to Quality rating—not high enough to be considered high-quality by the state. Two years later, A Jubilee Academy is the only five-star SUTQ center in the Collinwood area. Students participate in cooking classes, music education, and also study Mandarin twice a week. Children have individual cubbies instead of sharing them. Preschool enrollment has doubled, and a new classroom will open in the fall. So what made the difference? An intense 90-day Accelerated Quality Improvement Model (AQIM) program.
The Vibrant City Awards shines a light on Cleveland's neighborhood changemakers

Last Friday, approximately 600 city leaders and community development professionals gathered on the lakefront to celebrate the fourth annual Vibrant City Awards. Spearheaded by Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and sponsored by KeyBank, the annual awards ceremony recognizes the best in Cleveland’s neighborhood revitalization efforts. Find out who took home awards here.

Legal blindness doesn't stop this self-taught seamstress from making military uniforms
Barbara Moore has been legally blind her entire life, but that didn't stop her from teaching herself to sew. Moore still remembers the day she took the measurements of a comforter in a store, went home with her sewing machine, fabric, a yard stick, and chalk and made her own comforter on the living room floor. For the past 16 years, Moore has put that knowledge to good use as a seamstress at Vocational Guidance Services, sewing buttons and buttonholes on women’s military trousers.
A Clevelander's field guide to hugging a tree this Arbor Day
Anyone who’s heard of the Cleveland Tree Plan knows the city has big things in store when it comes to greening our urban spaces—namely increasing the tree canopy from 19 percent to 30 percent by 2040. Mayor Jackson announced the goal last year on Arbor Day, and efforts continue as we approach Arbor Day 2018. Looking for ways to help Cleveland get from Point A to Point Tree? Here are four ways to help reforest The Forest City.
Inner City Hues set to brighten Buckeye with community-driven public art
This Tuesday, April 17, LAND studio will kick off Inner City Hues, a public art project in Cleveland’s Buckeye-Shaker and Mt. Pleasant neighborhoods designed to unite the community and bring some vibrancy into forgotten parts of the city. The project will pair four established artists with "blank canvases" on existing surfaces, buildings, vacant walls, and abandoned properties—with the goal of enlivening the neighborhood’s commercial district.
Neighborhoods by the numbers: How the new Progress Index is a win for CLE residents
Three years in the making, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress (CNP) is ready to release its Progress Index to the public. Aimed at fostering inclusive Cleveland communities of choice and opportunity, the Index had previously been available to Cleveland’s 31 community development corporations (CDCs), who helped test and fine-tune the tool.