Earl Pike: A legacy of service and community building in Slavic Village

Earl Pike, executive director of University Settlement in Slavic Village, knows that challenges abound in his community.

First acting as a consulting partner to evaluate the 98-year-old nonprofit social services provider’s family services program, then serving as executive director since 2017, Pike has worked continuously and effectively to build University Settlement’s services, resources, and “the community,” as he calls it, that aim to improve the lives of residents who look to the agency for a variety of needs.

Now Pike, who has become a fixture in both the Slavic Village neighborhood and Greater Cleveland, will retire from his post in March.

The University Settlement food pantryThe University Settlement food pantryUniversity Settlement, founded in 1926 as one of Cleveland’s original settlement houses, originally served a neighborhood that was home to the thousands of Eastern European immigrants who moved to Cleveland to work in the nearby mills and factories.

Today, the community is considered one of the poorest neighborhoods in Ohio—with high unemployment, outdated infrastructure, closed storefronts, and unstable housing. But organizations like University Settlement and Slavic Village Development, and neighborhood leaders like Pike are working to restore Slavic Village to its glory.

Many area families rely on University Settlement for hot meals, groceries, health and wellness services, and job and skills training, among other services.

Pike says University Settlement is vital to the well-being of residents throughout Slavic Village.

“The agency serves 12,000 individuals yearly, from youth attending summer camps and after-school programs to seniors who rely on the Settlement for food and nutrition programs and community health outreach,” he says. “The Settlement is on the front lines of addressing food insecurity, safety, and basic human needs.”

Pike has embraced these challenges and set some lofty, yet impactful goals for a staff of 38 and a budget of just over $3 million.

Setting a high bar is natural for Pike, as his past personal and professional experience prepared him for the management challenges of an agency that is the cornerstone of daily life for many of his neighbors.

Early champions

Pike arrived in Cleveland from Minneapolis 30 years ago with his wife, after leading multiple social service and health organizations addressing the AIDS crisis in Minnesota. He recalls being deeply affected by the experience.

“I was seeing friends and so many others die,” he says. “It felt like the affected populace [was] wrapped in death.”

Pike says his time with the AIDS community strengthened his resolve to support those affected by the disease, their families, and therefore, their communities.

Earl PikeEarl PikeIn Cleveland, his work included an executive directorship with the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland and merging four different local AIDS—SAMM (Stopping AIDS is My Mission), the AIDS Housing Council, The Open House, and the AIDS Taskforce—into what became the AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland and more effectively address the health crisis.

Pike then served as a consultant to several area organizations, including University Settlement, where he was first charged with evaluating the agency’s family services program.

He immediately felt at home in Slavic Village. “These are my people,” Pike says. “I’ve grown to love the feeling of creating community.”

Christina Brake, whose family owns Bob & Sheri’s Forty Niner Restaurant on Broadway, near the Settlement, knows how important Pike has been to the community.

“From the first time meeting Earl several years ago, he immediately became like family,” she recalls. “I don’t just mean to me, I mean, everybody I know who knows Earl pretty much adores him. If you ask me why, I would say [it’s] because no matter what the problem is, or situation is, his first response is, ‘How can I help?’

“I don’t know many people that genuinely care, like he does, to this day,” Brake continues. “Not only about a neighborhood or the businesses, but he also generally cares about each and every person he meets.”

Brake says she is awed by his selflessness. “Earl is kind of the hero of our neighborhood,” she proclaims. “He doesn’t discriminate against women, men, gay, lesbian, Black, or white. Earl loves everybody and helps everybody just the same. I honestly think we need more people like him in this world. It would be a better place.”

Building a community

In turn, Pike describes University Settlement’s clients as “genuine,” and he relies on his vision to lay out a future that builds community.

“We’re not building buildings, we are building community,” he says. “[We’re] involving the residents of our neighborhood in the planning of what happens at University Settlement and Slavic Village today, tomorrow, and in the future.”

An example of this community connection includes hosting an Overdose Awareness Day in early October at the corner of East 65th and Fleet Avenue. University Settlement worked with Neighborhood Pets, Community Assessment and Treatment Services (CATS), the Northern Ohio Recovery Association (NORA), and others at the high drug trafficking intersection to educate people, raise awareness, and offer help.

“Along with community partners, our efforts were focused on educating our neighbors, especially supporting them to make changes from the inside, on their terms, within their lifestyle and experiences,” explains Pike. “We’re not judging, we’re offering. We’re here to provide guidance in ways that will be most comfortable and supportive for those who’ve demonstrated an interest in improving their lives.”

New developments

Currently, the bright light shining on University Settlement and the Slavic Village Community is on the $20 Broadway Rising project—first launched in 2020 and now very close to completion.

This signature development includes nearly 100 units of affordable housing, retail space, and the new headquarters for University Settlement.

Broadway Rising in Slavic VillageBroadway Rising in Slavic VillageAdditional fundraising will support final construction and new offerings, such as home repair sessions and safety programs and services, will directly improve the community.

“The whole experience of working on this project and now seeing the building and knowing we are so close to completing all this work, it’s very gratifying,” says Pike.

Adding to this new energy, the current University Settlement space will be handed over to The Centers, which will launch its behavioral health programs and services, and use the offices and main building for an alternative school for youth education and family support services.

“The whole neighborhood will benefit from what we have proposed, funded, and what we have achieved with our partners,” boasts Pike.

More good news is on the horizon for Slavic Village, as Pike and his staff complete the requirements for University Settlement to be recognized as a Trauma Responsive Care agency—one of only 200 such centers across the country.

This accreditation, overseen by The Sanctuary Institute, based in Yonkers, New York, incorporates the Sanctuary Model—a research-informed, trauma-responsive training model that serves human impact agencies, social impact organizations, educators, and communities.

This designation is the highest level for agencies that are providing non-medical support services to the communities they serve.

“Our staff, our agency, will be better equipped not just to be ‘informed’ about trauma, but to also be appropriately responsive to the challenges that our clients and neighbors present to us,” explains Pike. “It’s about asking the question, ‘what happened to you,’ to open dialog and help, together, to find some answers.”

Moving on

Pike says he has lived “a fairly accidental life,” starting with a difficult childhood followed by meeting people through his travels to Asia, Europe, and throughout the United States who have influenced his lifestyle and his view of how to affect positive change in the world.

Earl speaking at The Slavic Village Prevention Plan event with Madelaine MacQueen, PHD last DecemberEarl speaking at The Slavic Village Prevention Plan event with Madelaine MacQueen, PHD last DecemberHe says it all begins with the individuals he comes in contact with.

Pike is an accomplished author, a part-time musician, an award-winning poet, and much more. But his primary focus, on the cusp of leaving University Settlement, is engaging with his community and giving voice to those who want to make positive change.

“All voices are equal, and ‘equity’ means that all voices have power,” Pike says. “I want our work at University Settlement to reflect what our clients, our neighbors, our family here, have told us that can make their lives better. They all, we all, have needs. [We need to ask] what can we do together to make things better—that drives me every day.”

Pike is quick to correct people when they say he is “retiring,” however. Instead, he uses the word “pivoting.”

“I’m not sure what my next project is yet, though I am buying the Bike Shop on Fleet, where I’ll live in the upstairs apartment and engage a local Slavic Village family to run the bike shop downstairs,” he says of his future. “I’m also probably doing some fundraising for a project here in Slavic Village that I support. But the bike shop won’t be my ‘work’ and I’ll still be looking for something project-oriented to take on. Who knows?”