Since Veronica Walton created an urban farm on Ansel Road several years ago, she's been asked countless times about her lush, bountiful plots: "I'm looking for a job," some would say. "Can I work here?"

When asked such questions, Walton, who is the Director of the nonprofit NEO Restoration Alliance, would extol the virtues of urban farming. She explained the difference between community gardens and urban farmers, who sell their crops to customers via local farmers markets. Yet until recently, she's been unable to point to a truly local example where small-scale farmers could sell their harvest.

That's about to change. This summer, Gateway105 Farmers Market will launch at the intersection of East 105th and Ashbury streets. The market will provide the Glenville, Hough and University Circle neighborhoods with fresh, locally grown food. It will also feature work by local artists, complementary family activities, musical performances and free health screenings from local institutions.

Organizers of the market, which kicks off on Friday, July 1st and runs every Friday through October, hope to reach local residents and University Circle employees who shop for groceries before heading home from work.

The farmers market was organized by NEO Restoration Alliance and the Famicos Foundation, a nonprofit community development organization that serves the Glenville and Hough neighborhoods and develops affordable and market-rate housing.

"This is about building a community of individuals that learn to develop entrepreneurial skills, while providing a service to the community at the same time," says Walton.


Source: Veronica Walton
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Old Brooklyn has long been considered a hidden gem by its residents. Minutes from downtown and within walking distance of the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, the neighborhood boasts quiet, tree-lined streets and a bevy of independent shops and friendly taverns.

Yet neighborhood advocates are hoping it won't be a well-kept secret much longer. That's why they've organized Pop Up Pearl, a one day block party that will fill the empty storefronts on Pearl Avenue with shops, entertainment and food vendors, and invited their neighbors to join in the festivities.

The event, which is modeled after the Better Block project in Dallas, Texas, is intended to act as a living charrette that allows visitors, residents and property owners to imagine a more vibrant future for Old Brooklyn's downtown. They're also hoping to attract investment after the party is over.

Pop Up Pearl, which was spearheaded by the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation (OBCDC), takes place on Pearl Road between Wildlife Way and State Road this Saturday, May 21st from noon until dusk. It will include a "complete streets" demonstration, adding temporary bike lanes along Pearl Road. Entertainment from Progressive Arts Alliance and other groups also is planned.

Pop Up Pearl will also feature a youth arts studio with zoo-themed artwork from local nonprofit ArtHouse, artwork fashioned from recycled materials from Nicole McGee of Plenty Underfoot, and a shop filled with 100 percent locally made goods from Crafty Goodness in Lakewood.

The Better Block project began when a grassroots group transformed a city street in Oak Cliff, Texas into an inclusive, pedestrian- and bike-friendly street. Better Blocks projects "increase the perception of safety in an area, stimulate economic activity in vacant or blighted corridors and help to implement 'Complete Streets' projects," according to the group's website.


Source: Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Pedal for Prizes is a two-wheeled treasure hunt through Cleveland's Old Brooklyn neighborhood that will offer participants a chance to win more than $2,000 worth of prizes simply by visiting neighborhood businesses. The event takes place this Saturday, May 21st at Loew Park.

Here's how it will work: Upon check-in, bicyclists receive a map of 20 destinations and points of interest in Old Brooklyn. While exploring the neighborhood, riders make pit-stops at local landmarks like Michael's Bakery, Gentile's Imported Italian Foods, and Jack Frost Donuts, collecting raffle tickets at each one. They'll return to Loew Park in the afternoon to enter the tickets into a Chinese-style raffle.

Prizes include two new Trek 7000 hybrid bikes, a one-year membership to the downtown branch of the Cleveland YMCA, a $100 Honey Hut Ice Cream gift basket, a $50 gift certificate to Steelyard Commons, and gift certificates to area restaurants.

Organizers say Pedal for Prizes will not only promote Old Brooklyn as a bike-friendly neighborhood that is chock-full of charming local businesses, but also encourage participants to come back for a closer look.

"It gives neighborhood merchants a unique opportunity to bring hundreds of new people from throughout the region into their shops," says Old Brooklyn resident and event organizer Jeffrey Sugalski. "We hope that they'll return and become patrons in the future."

Pedal for Prizes is supported by Neighborhood Connections, a program of the Cleveland Foundation that provides small grants to grassroots community projects.

Loew Park is located at 3121 Oak Park Avenue in Cleveland. The free event begins at 12 pm.


Source: Jeffrey Sugalski
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Sharie Renee finds the beauty in what most people would deem garbage. As founder and CEO of Cosmic Bobbins in the St. Clair-Superior District, she takes old paper materials -- such as magazines or brochures -- and transforms them into fashionable accessories.

Cosmic Bobbins puts an emphasis on social awareness. As the granddaughter and great-granddaughter of funeral directors, Renee would contemplate on the meaning of life and the importance of giving back.

"When you're always watching the end of life, you think about what it's all about," she says. "We're all here for a period of time and what comes is an ideology on what business is all about and the social good of making the world a better place."

That ideology is the focus of Cosmic Bobbins. The company revolves around recycling -- or upcycling -- while also supporting and employing charitable organizations both locally and internationally.

Renee works with United Cerebral Palsy in Cleveland, employing up to 38 people in a sheltered work environment, and works with Youth Opportunities Unlimited, teaching sewing skills. Internationally, Renee works with a village outside of Mexico City, employing residents for her weaving and folding needs. "We're giving back to the world one magazine at a time," says Renee.

Most of her clients are businesses that also look out for the environment. She has created pencil holders from old annual reports for University Circle Inc., handbags out of old newsletters for the Cleveland Botanical Garden, and scissors cases for Paul Mitchell from old brochures.


Source: Sharie Renee
Writer: Karin Connelly

At a ceremonial groundbreaking last week, Neighborhood Progress (NPI) and Pennrose Properties celebrated a $15.1 million project to renovate the former St. Luke's Hospital into 72 units of affordable senior housing. The event highlighted the project's sustainability features, the rich history of Saint Luke's and a grassroots effort to involve youth in beautifying the building.

Ohio Housing Finance Agency Director Doug Garver told the audience that the Saint Luke's project was selected to receive competitive Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) because of its unmatched site amenities. The renovation will be energy-efficient, and the site is adjacent to a school, a library, a public transit station, a walking path, shopping and parks. "It's truly green in every sense," he said.

Denise San Antonio Zeman, President and CEO of the Saint Luke's Foundation, highlighted the rich history of Saint Luke's Hospital. Cleveland General Hospital, as it was known then, was originally located at 274 Woodland Avenue. "Public health nurses rode around on bicycles to make their rounds," she said. "Today, we'd call that green."

Throughout its long history, Saint Luke's Hospital remained committed to the needs of the community and the poor, Zeman added. "Now it's time to change the hospital's focus to meet the contemporary needs of the community," she said.

The developers also highlighted artists Angelica Pozo and Anna Arnold, who recruited Harvey Rice Elementary School students to create artistic boards that will cover up windows in the portion of the building awaiting future redevelopment. "This was a way to involve the local community while also beautifying the building," said Joel Ratner, President of NPI.


Sources: Doug Garver, Denise Zeman, Joel Ratner
Writer: Lee Chilcote

When the Moreland Theatre was built in 1927, the Buckeye neighborhood was home to the largest concentration of Hungarians outside Hungary. There were also six Hungarian newspapers in the area, and nearly every shop owner on Buckeye Road spoke Hungarian (and often English, too).

In the past 40 years, Buckeye has struggled as businesses and residents fled to the suburbs. The recent foreclosure crisis also hit the area hard, leaving boarded-up homes and vacant lots in its wake.

Yet today, this multicultural community just south of Shaker Square is showing signs of renewal in the new Harvey-Rice Elementary School, the popular Soul of Buckeye jazz festival, and the long-planned redevelopment of the former Saint Luke's Hospital building into low-income senior housing.

Still, the Moreland Theatre, a 1,300-seat Vaudeville theater that features an orchestra pit and flyloft, remains empty. It's not the only one -- the North Collinwood and Cudell neighborhoods also feature historic theaters. Most of them haven't been as lucky as the recently restored Capitol Theatre in Cleveland's Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, which is now home to a three-screen indie movie house.

You don't have to wait for the Moreland Theatre to reopen, however, to check out this architectural gem. The Buckeye Area Development Corporation (BADC) is hosting the Buckeye Antique Furnishings Sale on Saturday, April 30th from 1-5 p.m. Bargain hunters, antique hounds and the merely curious can sift through theater seats, church pews and organs, a film projector, catering and kitchen equipment and art deco architectural details. A smorgasbord of items will be on sale, with prices starting at $1.

"This is the first time that we've opened the theater to the public -- it's part of our efforts to engage the community in creating a vision for the Buckeye Cultural Center," says Deepa Vedavyas, BADC's Associate Director for Development. "People can stop by and pick up a piece of history, and all of the funds raised will go towards the restoration of the building."

BADC purchased the Moreland Theatre in 2007 with plans to convert it into a mixed-use arts complex, including a multi-purpose theater for concerts, plays, special events, affordable apartments for artists, and four new storefronts. Total renovation costs are estimated at $6.1 million. BADC was recently awarded a $100,000 grant from the Ohio Facilities Commission, and has also applied for a historic designation for the building. The nonprofit is launching a fundraising campaign for the redevelopment effort.


Source: Deepa Vedavyas
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The Punxsutawney Phil of the retail world, pop-up shops spontaneously appear, attract big crowds, and then vanish as quickly as they came. For retailers and artists without a bona fide storefront, pop-up shops provide a lease-free way to test products and build a following. Landlords love them because they plug vacant storefronts while attracting new feet to the street.

"Urban agriculture" is no longer an oxymoron in Cleveland. The city is a nationwide leader in urban farming, boasting one of the largest urban farms in America. There's more to local food than flavor. By shifting one quarter of Northeast Ohio's food-buying needs from out-of-state sources to local food producers we can pour $4.2 billion into the regional economy.

The Neighborhood Connections program provides small financial gifts to community organizations focused on enhancing neighborhoods and engaging residents. Recipients must connect residents in meaningful ways through grass roots projects. Though the grants are small -- from $500 to $5,000 -- they can make a huge difference in the destiny of a neighborhood and its citizens.

These days, it seems that everyone is singing Pittsburgh's praises. Our Rust Belt neighbor to the east recently scored a Google corporate office. And last year, perennial Cleveland-basher Forbes Magazine named Pittsburgh the country's most livable city. Ouch. Clearly Pittsburgh is doing something right. Simply put: That city is light years ahead of Cleveland when it comes to bike-friendliness -- and bike-friendly cities are more attractive to young professionals, the creative-class folks who hold the keys to economic prosperity.
 

A proposed $7.5 million indoor cycling track in Slavic Village would be the only such facility of its kind east of the Rockies. The nonprofit organization Fast Track Cycling says the velodrome would attract thousands of cycling enthusiasts while helping to transform Cleveland into a greener, healthier city. Slavic Village supporters say, Bring it on.

Homeowners were taking out equity loans with alarming abandon just a few years ago, yet now many are reluctant to invest money in their homes. "With housing values falling, demand for home repair loans has also fallen," says Larry Slenczka, Vice President of Community Development for Dollar Bank.

Yet Dollar Bank continues to finance home rehabs through a partnership with Cleveland Action to Support Housing (CASH), a nonprofit whose mission is to revitalize Cleveland neighborhoods through home repair lending.

"CASH has been successful in identifying projects driven by investors," says Slenczka. "Their transactions tend to be very solid loans that have a very low default rate." CASH offers investors and owner-occupants a reduced interest rate. Currently, that interest rate is 2.6%.

Even as the average homeowner sits on the sidelines, some rehabbers are jumping in and finding deals. And the glut of vacant properties in Cleveland has presented an opportunity for savvy investors; while foreclosure rates nationwide reached their lowest level in four years last month, Cleveland still has a backlog of empty homes.

Yet while it seems anyone with a credit card can snap up a cheap foreclosure -- plumbing optional, of course -- that's just the beginning of the process. Getting a loan is no simple feat. Struggling with unsold inventories, many banks are cautious about lending to investors, while others aren't lending at all.

That's where CASH comes in. The nonprofit's partnerships with Dollar Bank and other lenders help owners get financing. In addition to offering a reduced rate, CASH helps owners to pick a contractor, develop a list of repairs, and inspect the work.

"Everybody wins," says Slenczka. "The neighborhood benefits from reinvestment, the benefits from private investment, and the bank benefits from a healthy market return."


Source: Larry Slenczka
Writer: Lee Chilcote

When TV crews descended on Slavic Village three years ago, the neighborhood was dubbed the "epicenter" of the foreclosure crisis. While that infamy was brief -- the crisis soon expanded to other parts of the country, with California, Florida and Nevada among the hardest hit -- the damage it left behind was real.

However, this resilient neighborhood is now becoming known for its innovative response to foreclosures. Through its Neighbors Invest in Broadway program, Slavic Village has been acquiring vacant, bank-owned homes and selling them to qualified rehabbers.

"After the housing market collapsed, we began to look at how we could rebuild our neighborhood," explains Marie Kittredge, Executive Director of Slavic Village Development (SVD), the nonprofit community group that serves the neighborhood.

Since launching the program, SVD has acquired 28 homes and sold 17. Eight of these homes were sold to owner-occupants. "When we launched the program, we were selling most of the homes to investors," says Kittredge. "But recently we've had more owner-occupants."

Purchasers, who must demonstrate the financial ability to bring the properties up to code, obtain the homes for $5,000. Such bank-owned properties are often stripped of plumbing and need major repairs. Due to the investment required to repair them, and because supply outstrips demand, they often hold little value. Lenders have been willing to donate the properties to SVD or the city of Cleveland.

After acquiring the property, SVD issues a Request for Proposals. It then selects the most qualified proposal, giving preference to owner-occupants. After selling the home, SVD follows up to ensure the work is completed according to the specifications.

"We want to make sure the home is decent, but it doesn't need a new Jacuzzi or kitchen," explains Kittredge. "We'll work with the owner throughout the process."


Source: Marie Kittredge
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Justin Husher graduated with an MBA from Cleveland State University in May of 2008 -- just in time for the collapse of the financial markets.

Instead of wringing his hands, Husher considered his bleak job prospects as a sign. "I never wanted to be a banker," he told the audience at last week's forum on vacant land reuse at Cleveland State University's Levin College of Urban Affairs. His college major had been botany, and he'd always dreamed of tending the soil.

That's when Husher learned about Reimagining Cleveland, a small grants program that was launched to support the creative reuse of vacant land in the city.

Husher applied to the program, which is managed by Neighborhood Progress (NPI) and funded by the Surdna Foundation and the City of Cleveland. After he was awarded a $7,500 grant, Husher worked with Cleveland's land bank program and Bellaire Puritas Community Development Corp. to cobble together a half-acre of land on W. 130th. Pretty soon, Old Husher's Farm was born.

Husher, who sells his produce at the Gordon Square farmers market and other venues, has a passion for local food. "I like to grow vegetables with storylines, such as heirloom tomatoes," he said. "It's important to learn where our food comes from."

At last week's forum, the young farmer also offered recommendations for improving the business climate for urban agriculture. Husher's wish list includes longer-term leases with property owners and an initiative to help farmers purchase land at affordable prices. He'd also like to see a cooperative stand for urban farmers to sell locally grown food at the West Side Market.

Since Reimagining Cleveland launched in 2008, the program has funded 56 projects to creatively reutilize vacant land in Cleveland. According to the Reimagining Cleveland website, there are an estimated 3,300 acres of vacant land in the city of Cleveland.


Source: Justin Husher, Reimagining Cleveland
Writer: Lee Chilcote