Downtown

new life for a grand old dame: terminal tower steps into the 21st century
Once among the tallest buildings in the world, the Terminal Tower remains the signature landmark of the Cleveland skyline. Following a massive top-to-bottom, inside-out renovation in 2005, the iconic structure is welcoming a host of new commercial tenants, including start-ups looking for co-working space. 
downtown cleveland alliance launches crowdfunding campaign for new flats dog park
An economic development professor at the Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University once told our class that he knew downtown Cleveland was coming back when he saw the occasional pile of dog waste on the sidewalk. Yes, owners should pick up after their pooches, but the mere presence of pets downtown is a good indicator that the neighborhood is walkable and safe.

But now, downtown Cleveland is really going to the dogs. The neighborhood has become so vibrant and liveable in the past few years that there are now more people and pets than ever. With more than 12,500 residents, apartment occupancy rates at 98 percent and more than 1,000 registered dogs, the area is in need of a dog park.

That's why Downtown Cleveland Alliance is launching a crowdfunding campaign to create a new dog park at Settlers Landing in the Flats. The campaign aims to raise $10,000, which DCA will match dollar for dollar. The park is slated to open this fall.

According to a release from DCA, the park will be located in an "open area adjacent to the RTA rapid station on the eastern bank of the Cuyahoga River. Equipped with pea gravel, fencing, a gated entrance, and benches for their human friends, dogs will have the ability to socialize and play right in the city they call home."

The crowdfunding campaign, which runs for four weeks on the Cleveland-based Tackk site, will offer rewards such as retractable leashes and t-shirts. It will be open for four weeks. Sponsors at the $500 level will be recognized with plaques along the fence of the dog park. Various contests throughout the campaign will be announced on DCA's Facebook page, so look out for some cool prizes.
 
gay games fostering diversity, garnering good will for cleveland
In a Washington Post item titled “The Gay Games are underway and they’re winning Instagram and Twitter,” Kiratiana Freelon reports on the events currently taking place in Cleveland and Akron and how they are filling social media feeds with positive imagery.
 
“There’s only one place in the world right now where you will find cheerleaders, track and field athletes, chorus singers and singer Boy George in the same place. That’s the Gay Games in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio,” Freelon writes.

“For the host cities, it’s an opportunity to bring gay communities closer to straight communities, since Akron and Cleveland are not traditionally hailed as gay-friendly cities.”

Tom Nobbe, one of the Games lead organizers, is quoted in the article saying, “The Games are about diversity, about changing hearts and minds.”

“Over the next four days more than 8,500 people will compete in 33 sports, including the traditional ones like track and field, volleyball and wrestling. The competitors will also compete in cultural events like chorus and cheer.”

Read the rest and check out the social media pics here.
 
gay games + aha! light up downtown landscape
Last weekend, downtown Cleveland literally was glowing. Thanks to the coinciding of a handful of marquee events like the Gay Games Opening Ceremonies and AHA! festival of lights and art, downtown was percolating with energy. Fresh Water photographer Bob Perkoski was there to record all the colorful action.
who went where? a roundup of recently filled positions
Amy Martin was named principal of marketing for JumpStart Inc., where she will be responsible for managing all marketing and communication efforts for the nonprofit venture development organization. Previously, Martin was vice president of marketing for the Centers for Families and Children.
 
Hilary Sparks-Roberts has been appointed executive director of Social Venture Partners (SVP), the philanthropic venture fund that supports and strengthens local nonprofits. Hilary moves into the position after three years at SVP Cleveland, first as director of partner engagement, and then as deputy director.
 
Sparks-Roberts is a graduate of Kenyon College and CWRU Law School. She served as briefer to Governor Richard Celeste, and later as a mediator in the Cleveland Prosecutor’s Office, a Judicial Law Clerk to former Juvenile Court Judge Peter Sikora, and freelance writer and editor for arts and educational organizations. Prior to joining SVP Cleveland in 2011, Sparks-Roberts taught AP and honors English for 10 years at Lake Ridge Academy where she helped found and advise an extensive Mock Trial program.
 
SVP program assistant Caroline Linden was promoted to manager of programs and operations. Former executive director Linda Springer will remain a partner with SVP.

MidTown Cleveland announced that Jeff Epstein has been named the Health-Tech Corridor’s first director. As director, Epstein will be responsible for the development, coordination and implementation of the business and marketing strategy for the organization. He will work with public, nonprofit and private sector partners to spur new development, attract businesses, create new jobs and tax base, and develop economic stability for the area and the surrounding residential neighborhoods.  Previously, Epstein was vice president of development for the Coral Company.

Have a new hire to share? Email Karin with the details and we’ll spread the word!
while sports are fun, gay games will leave a positive legacy long after closing ceremony
As the 2014 Gay Games play out with eclectic events all over town, it becomes clear how they will leave a lasting positive effect on the host city of Cleveland. Uniting beneath a banner of inclusion, collaboration and unity, participants and sponsors establish a spirit that will endure long after the lights have dimmed and the last athlete has left the track.
'prodigal son' and award-winning director comes home to find revitalized cleveland
Antwone Fisher began life in Cleveland as a Ward of the State, raised in foster care until the ripe-old age of 18. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and ended up in Los Angeles.

Twenty four years later, he returned to Cleveland to film “Finding Fish,” the story of his life along with director Denzel Washington, cast and crew. 

“My hometown welcomed me back with all the ceremony of a much-loved native son. Each day of filming brought out bigger and bigger crowds,” he writes.

“Clearly, the city was moving into the future, readying for a big comeback. This was evident when I arrived at the city's theater district that's now revitalized with businesses, restaurants, shops and boutiques. The old buildings that I remember have been sandblasted, steamed clean and remodeled as apartments and condominiums for downtown living.”

“LeBron will only add to this revival,” he notes.

“The truth is Cleveland belongs to all of us who have ever had roots there. I know that every city has its issues, but this great American city has given the world so much from the Industrial Revolution to this brand new age and it's still ‘the best location in the nation.’”
 
Read the rest right here.
who's hiring in cle: city year, cleveland transformation alliance, cmsd...
Welcome to the latest edition of Who’s Hiring in Cleveland?
 
There are plenty of good jobs to be had here in Cleveland. This is the latest installment in regular series of posts in which we feature companies that are hiring, what those employers are looking for, and how to apply.
 
City Year Cleveland, an education-focused nonprofit organization that partners with public schools and teachers to help keep students in school and on track to succeed, is hiring a donor relations manager. This position grows resources by developing strategies to increase annual revenue from individual investors. To apply, include cover letter, resume and references.
 
The Cleveland Transformation Alliance, a nonprofit organization with the mission of ensuring every child in Cleveland attends an excellent school and that every neighborhood has quality options, has two open positions: school choice advocate and school choice project manager. For details on these positions, click here. Send applications to Matt Orehek, project manager.
 
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) is transforming urban education. CMSD has teaching, administration, and other opportunities available. See the full list of openings and apply here
 
Have hiring news you’d like to share? Email Karin at Fresh Water Cleveland and send us this information or career links!
local guide co. offers gay games visitors 'tours for every taste'
Since launching Discover My Cleveland in November 2012, owner Lynde Vespoli has seen tourism in the city grow substantially. “There are exciting changes in Cleveland and the tourism business,” says Vespoli. “We’re getting more multi-day events -- groups coming for four-, five-, six-day events. Our company has seen significant growth in the past year as the number of tourists to the Cleveland area has increased.”

Business has increased so much that Vespoli recently hired two additional tour guides and predicts that she’ll again increase staff in the coming year.
 
Last summer, the destination management company hosted tours for the Senior Games. Next week, Discover My Cleveland will host unique tours for the Gay Games 9 as the exclusive tour and activates provider for the marquee event.
 
Tours are designed for every taste. The Beer and Bourbon tour includes a pub dinner and libations at places such as Cleveland WhiskeyMarket Garden Brewery and Indigo Imp Brewery. The Out on the Town tour, billed as “an open bar on the open seas,” features a dinner cruise on the Nautica Queen and an after party at Bounce Nightclub, Cleveland’s largest LGBT club. Vespoli also has more traditional city tours planned.

All of the events are open to the public. “The tours are open to everybody and I really hope the people of Cleveland come and join us,” she says. “These people are coming from all over the world. When they are here they want to experience everything, not just participate in the athletics, but experience all the wonderful things we have here. In addition to coming here as athletes, they’re coming here for the activities, events, tours and fun.”
 
what's working: agencies boost prospects of cleveland's rising number of latino entrepreneurs
Northeast Ohio has a number of resources available for an expanding Latino populace searching for work and business opportunities. These services, say their providers, can keep immigrant brainpower in the area while acting as a talent magnet for the Latino and Spanish-speaking diaspora. 
fresh water/burning river photo contest slideshow
In collaboration with the Burning River Foundation, Fresh Water sponsored a photo contest in honor of the 45th Anniversary of the last burning of the Cuyahoga River. In anticipation of this weekend's Burning River Fest, we asked to see your best water-themed photos. Here are the top entries.
art meets science at osteosymbionics, maker of custom craniofacial implant products
For those who have suffered a traumatic injury to the skull and face -- be it from an accident, cancer or deformity -- OsteoSymbionics leads the way in facial reconstruction. The Cleveland-based manufacturer of custom craniofacial implants serves surgeons at hospitals across the United States. OsteoSymbionics’ products provide both skull rebuilding and is cosmetically attractive.
 
Founded in 2006by Cynthia Brogan, OsteoSymbionics is known for using a special plastic in its craniofacial implants that doesn’t break and exactly fits the patient's face or skull. “We’re a well-respected player in the marketplace,” says CEO Dorothy Baunach. “The type of plastic we use is a market niche and it’s done really well in its ability to be shaped to the skull opening without crumbling or breaking.”
 
Today, OsteoSymbionics has a line of products that range from a clear implant that allows surgeons to see brain function during placement, to hard and soft tissue implants. Housed in the Incubator at MAGNET, the company employs six full-time and two part-time employees who have backgrounds that range from medical artists and sculptors to biomedical engineers and materials scientists.
 
Many of the artists on staff are graduates of Cleveland Institute of Art’s biomedical program. “They’re really our secret weapon,” says Baunach. “The fit and forming is more of an art than a science. Because of the talent of the students at CIA, they can do things that are pretty complex.”
 
Baunach plans to double sales by the end of the year and add sales reps across the country. “It’s really about growing sales and the company,” she says. “Sales are built on surgeons’ preferences.”
 
who went where? a roundup of recently filled positions
Jennifer Schwartz Wright has been named department chair of the art therapy undergraduate program at Ursuline College, her alma mater. A board certified art therapist and educator, Schwartz Wright previously worked in various positions at the Art Therapy Studio, most recently as executive director.

For the past 10 years Schwartz Wright has taught as an adjunct in Ursuline’s graduate art therapy and counseling program, where she was asked to develop core courses for an undergraduate art therapy major.
“It’s been so fulfilling to be able to teach these classes that I imagined,” says Schwartz Wright. “It’s most gratifying to help prepare future practitioners for their work helping people face the greatest of life challenges through art making. The sad truth is that our world indeed needs many more art therapists.”

Anna Beyerle has joined Beaumont School as the public relations and marketing manager. Previously, Beyerle was senior communications specialist with the Downtown Cleveland Alliance.

John Kandare has joined Zounds Hearing of Greater Cleveland as an audiologist. Kandare will be responsible for providing free hearing evaluations, custom fitting hearing aids, and providing client education, follow-up and service at various Zounds locations. “I'm really excited to add John to our already top-notch team,” says Zounds owner Glenn Harbold.

Denise Griggs has been named vice president of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation. Griggs joined the foundation in 2007 as chief financial officer and was elected secretary and assistant treasurer in 2010. Griggs is a certified public accountant and has assisted a wide variety of nonprofit organizations with financial-statement audits, tax compliance work, consulting engagements including internal-control implementation, board governance, and benefit plans.

Have a new hire to share? Email Karin with the details and we’ll spread the word!
parks 2.0: focus now shifting from developments to green space in between
As urban neighborhoods become more vibrant, planners are turning their attention to creating world-class public spaces to complement the latest flurry of development. Three new or improved parks have just been unveiled this year: Scranton Flats, the marina at North Coast Harbor and Rivergate.
cle's first shipping container-based eatery to debut at north coast harbor
Remember the skate park built for the Dew Games held at North Coast Harbor in 2008? Well, it's been dismantled, but the concrete slab remains, surrounded by a metal-flame fence. Very soon the space will be home to the city's first shipping container-based restaurant, Blazing Bistro, which is scheduled to open in late July, adding to the amenities on downtown's lakefront.

"We've recognized for a while that one of the missing amenities on the lakefront is a gathering place for people while they're at the Rock Hall etc.," says Michael Deemer, Vice President of Business Development and Legal Services at Downtown Cleveland Alliance. "We worked with the city and with Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries to build off the success of Cleveland's food truck renaissance."

Blazing Bistro will take up residence in a recycled shipping container repurposed by Cleveland Customer Trucks. Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries (LMM), which operates the successful Manna food truck and employs formerly incarcerated and homeless individuals, was awarded the contract after responding to an RFP from the city.

The days and hours of operation are not set in stone, but likely will be lunch Wednesday through Sunday with some evening hours added as well. The shipping container idea grew out of the Small Box Initiative, a program of the Historic Warehouse District Development Corporation to develop retail in parking lots on West 9th Street.

As the new lakefront development takes off, Blazing Bistro can be picked up and moved to other locations, either in the harbor or other parts of downtown.

Blazing Bistro also will be open during various events taking place at North Coast Harbor, including the new Anchors and Ales event, held August 22-23 and September 13-14 in conjunction with Cleveland Browns home games.

Deemer says the seasonal restaurant is a win-win-win for the city, residents and visitors. "It's not enough to have a park on the lakefront; we have to actively drive people there with events and amenities," he says. "We've seen food truck owners open up brick and mortar stores with great success. This is a new wrinkle."
 
who's hiring in cle: urbancode, dwellworks, y.o.u.
Welcome to the latest edition of Who’s Hiring in Cleveland?
 
There are plenty of good jobs to be found here in Cleveland. This is the latest installment in regular series of posts in which we feature companies that are hiring, what those employers are looking for, and how to apply.
 
IBM UrbanCode, a DevOps software product line, needs a software developer to work on its market-leading DevOps product line. Work on coding new features, bug fixes, integrations with other software development lifecycle tools, and help develop new products. Define, test, research and review code. For more information and to apply, click here.
 
Dwellworks, a support service provider for the relocation industry, has six open positions in a variety of disciplines, including a manager of property management to oversee the day-to-day services of portfolio properties. This job requires frequent interaction with homeowners and tenants. To apply for this position, click here. To see all of Dwellworks’ job openings, click here.
 
Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U), a nonprofit youth workforce development organization, is hiring a development and marketing administrator who will assist in all aspects of Y.O.U.'s development process; assist and manage all aspects of Y.O.U.'s marketing efforts; and coordinate organizational events. Send resume and cover letter here.
 
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) is transforming urban education. CMSD has teaching, administration, and other opportunities available. See the full list of openings and apply here
 
Have hiring news you’d like to share? Email Karin at Fresh Water Cleveland and send us this information or career links!
long before lebron's return, cleveland on the upswing
In an Los Angeles Times article titled “Cleveland has been on the rebound even before LeBron James news,” writer Alana Semuels details our town’s renaissance, explaining that the city has been hard at work getting back on the map long before the recent media attention as a result of LeBron, Manziel, and the GOP convention.
 
“The GOP and LeBron are going to grease the skids on a process that's already started," Richey Piiparinen, a senior research associate at the Center for Population Dynamics at Cleveland State University, is quoted in the piece. "People are realizing it's not your grandpa's Rust Belt anymore."
 
Semuels writes, “Changes are already evident in the city, where new construction is booming. Hammers and drills sound at all hours on the Flats East Bank, a onetime hip area that fell into disarray a decade ago and is experiencing a renaissance. Downtown, a new convention center just opened, and developers are rushing to build hotels and luxury condos to keep up with demand. Ohio's first casino opened downtown in 2012. And restaurateurs are following in the steps of Cleveland native and James Beard Award winner Michael Symon, opening bistros where you can get entrees such as frog legs and rabbit pie with Parmesan and prosciutto crust.”
 
Semuels goes on to explain how the changes occurring in Cleveland are attracting young people that had previously fled to larger, trendier cities.
 
“But as those cities became more crowded with transplants, costs began rising and many people were priced out. Now, he said, there's a push-back against the Brooklynization of these big cities, and people are moving home. And not just to Cleveland -- to Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Buffalo, N.Y., as well.”
 
Read the rest of the article here.