Energy efficiency is no longer simply an option for tenants seeking office space downtown, says Donald Rerko of ka Architecture Inc., one of Cleveland's leading sustainability-minded architecture firms. Instead, it's often a critical "go/no go" decision-making factor that can make or break a deal.

"Tenants want sustainable buildings, and they'll often take the building off their list if it's not energy-efficient," he says. "It's really at the top of their criteria."

Rerko is Chairman of the Cleveland 2030 District, an effort to make downtown office buildings carbon neutral by the year 2030. The group emerged out of the first Sustainable Cleveland 2019 conference and has aligned itself with Architecture 2030, a national group with similar goals. Rerko says the group has targeted 75 million square feet of downtown office space, and has gained soft commitments from 25 percent of owners to make their buildings green.

"Retrofitting a building saves the owner on utility costs, reduces tenants' overall costs and makes the building more competitive," says Rerko. "There are a lot of different funding programs now, such as performance contracting and government programs, that allow owners to retrofit without any money out of pocket."

Comprehensive building retrofits typically include sealing the envelope to reduce energy consumption as much as possible, examining energy usage to find ways to reduce it, automating systems, and investing in renewable energy sources.

As examples of successful retrofits, Mohr cites Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga Community College and Forest City Enterprises, which has made substantial energy-efficiency improvements to the Tower City complex.

Next steps for the Cleveland 2030 District group include obtaining signed letters from owners representing their commitments and raising funds to hire an Executive Director and Program Manager. The group is also holding a kickoff party on May 10th at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. It will feature keynote speaker Edward Mazria, architect and founder of Architecture 2030.


Source: Donald Rerko
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Every time a young person leaves Northeast Ohio for another part of the country, Greater Cleveland loses 120 percent of their salary in actual economic value, says Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald.

That's why he recently created the Next Generation Council, a group that is intended to stem brain drain by giving young people a voice in helping the county attract and retain young talent in the region.

Recently, FitzGerald selected 15 council members from a diverse pool of 125 applicants between the ages of 20 and 35. The group began meeting last month and is working to develop a strategic plan.

“The Next Generation Council will provide an opportunity for my administration to get input from young professionals on how the county can develop the right conditions to engage the creative class,” said FitzGerald in a news release. “We are lucky to have such a diverse group to begin this important initiative.”

She adds, "My aim is to help identify or establish pathways to boost the engagement of young professionals in the public sector, ensuring our voices are consistently represented at the highest level."

Each member of the council serves two years. The group is part of a broader effort by FitzGerald to make Cuyahoga County "a more inclusive and competitive region."


Source: Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald
Writer: Lee Chilcote

This is the kind of downsizing we can all cheer about. PNC has launched an effort to reduce the amount of waste coming out of its downtown Cleveland office building to "near zero," becoming one of the first downtown buildings to achieve this ambitious goal.

The employee-led effort is reducing the amount of trash going to landfills to 40 percent of the total waste coming out of the building. The remaining 60 percent is being recycled or composted. PNC is not stopping at this laudable goal, and has made a commitment to reduce its waste by 90 percent, hopefully by this summer.

"We wanted PNC's offices to be among the first near-zero buildings in downtown," says Paul Clark, Regional Vice President for PNC Bank. "This is a local application of the sincerity of PNC's commitment to green building."

To achieve its goal, PNC designated an employee "green ambassador" on every floor of its downtown building. The company also removed common area trash cans, replacing them with quart-sized containers at employee desks. A partnership with Brooklyn-based Rosby's Resource Recycling allows PNC to recycle organic materials, which are composted into mulch for gardens.

"The change in my life only took about two minutes, and I also get a little exercise on my way to compost bin," quips Clark. "The other side of change is fabulous."

Benson Gabler, Manager of Corporate Sustainability for PNC, adds that Cleveland's near zero program takes the company's sustainability efforts to a new level that he hopes to widely replicate. "We'd already been looking at waste reduction in all PNC buildings, yet Cleveland has composting on every floor, and that's new. This is something we'd like to roll out at other locations."

Click here to check out a Youtube video about PNC going green in Cleveland.


Source: Paul Clark, Benson Gabler
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Having birthed 25-plus new businesses within the past few years, Ohio City is on a roll. Leaders here hope to continue that progress this year as they launch the second round of the Small Business Development Grant Competition, an initiative that aided at least five new retail businesses in 2011.

The competition, which is being managed by Ohio City Inc. and funded by Charter One Growing Communities, offers grants of $5,000 to $20,000 to retail businesses that open or expand in the Market District along W. 25th or Lorain. Entrepreneurs can use the funds for rent payments of no more than one year, purchase of equipment for business operations or interior build out.

Community leaders are focusing solely on retail ventures this year, having overseen a boom of new restaurants and small boutique shops in 2011.

"The Charter One Growing Communities initiative has catalyzed tremendous growth in the Market District," said Eric Wobser, Director of Ohio City Inc., in a release. "We are very excited to launch year two of the competition."

Applicants can download the RFP from OCI's website and submit it along with a short essay and business plan. They'd better hurry, though -- according to Wobser, there are only five vacant storefronts remaining in the Market District.

Community leaders are also hoping that the Market District's considerable momentum will spill over onto Lorain Ave. Within the past two years, the down-on-its-heels main street that has begun to flicker with new life. OCI has created a community planning effort, Launch Lorain, to chart its future.


Source: Eric Wobser
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The founders of a Cleveland technology startup company have joined together with the Cleveland chapter of Kids Against Hunger to present "Celebrating Sustainability and Entrepreneurship," an event aimed at promoting sustainable social enterprises. All event proceeds will go towards providing nutritious meals to local families in need.

"The Cleveland chapter of Kids Against Hunger was founded by a Case Western Reserve University freshman named Aditya Rengaswamy," says Michael Giammo with Lorktech, a company that was founded by CWRU graduates. Lorktech is developing an electronic shelf label that does not require a battery for use in stores. "We're very excited about sustainability and entrepreneurship, so we said, 'Why not use the energy of our startup company to spark this charity event?'"

The event takes place on Monday, April 2nd at Thwing Ballroom on the CWRU campus. Each ticket costs $40 and purchases 200 meals for kids, Giammo says.

Speakers include Jenita McGowan, Chief of Sustainability for the City of Cleveland; Cathy Belk, Chief Relationship Officer at Jumpstart; Ian Charnas, Operations Manager at think[box]; Stephanie Corbett, Sustainability Manager at CWRU; and representatives of Lorktech and Kids Against Hunger.

"We wanted to create a company-wide culture of social entrepreneurship," says Giammo of Lorktech's decision to spearhead the event. "It's part of our business model."


Source: Michael Giammo
Writer: Lee Chilcote

For years, staff at the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center (CRCC) have watched as rape crisis programs throughout the state have either closed or downsized. The combination of a poor economy and lack of dedicated funding have put many of these programs out of existence -- and left sexual assault victims in less populated counties without services.

A new partnership between the CRCC and the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (OAESV) hopes to change that by serving as a voice for services in Ohio. The two groups recently signed a support and services agreement to work together on building a statewide voice for sexual assault survivors. 

"What we realized in working with our sister organizations across the state is that many counties are unequipped to handle the problem of sexual assault, and it's difficult to organize for more resources without a unified voice," says Megan O'Bryan, Executive Director of the CRCC. "Our goal is to bring rape crisis organizations around the state together to work on policy advocacy."

In addition to sharing information and programming ideas across its statewide network, the OAESV is working to create a pool of statewide funding for rape crisis programs. About half of the states in the U.S. have such dedicated funding, but Ohio does not. The Ohio Rape Crisis Fund bill, or H.B. 48, would increase court costs for both felony and misdemeanor cases involving a sexually oriented offense, and deposit fees into a Rape Crisis Program Trust Fund administered by the Office of the Attorney General.. The group is also working at the federal level to advocate for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).

Since the creation of the OAESV several years ago, the group has received a growing number of calls from sexual assault survivors throughout the state. O'Bryan says that this is a sign that the organization is not only doing important work, but also that more survivors feel comfortable telling their stories.

"The more we talk about this issue, the more people come forward. We need more programs that support survivors and make the environment safer for others."


Source: Megan O'Bryan
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Just as the U.S. Supreme Court this week begins to hear arguments about the constitutionality of the federal Affordable Care Act, several Northeast Ohio foundations have banded together to provide nonpartisan, consumer-friendly information to help citizens navigate this complex new law.

The public education effort takes place as liberal and conservative groups across the country launch a fight not only over the constitutionality of the law, but also over how it's perceived by the general public. While the Obama campaign and other Democratic groups are trying to demonstrate how the law is already improving people's lives, Republican groups, on the other hand, are trying to cast the law as a job-killing, top-down mandate.

For Kim St. John-Stevenson of the Saint Luke's Foundation, ensuring that ordinary citizens have the information they need to navigate this complex law -- which will affect their lives, whether they know it yet or not -- is by far the most important objective.

"There's a huge education gap, and we need to be proactive about plugging that gap," says St. John-Stevenson. "Whether you like the legislation or not, right now it's the law of the land, and it's in everybody's best interests to understand it."

The new website, www.affordablecareactneo.org, was launched by the George Gund Foundation, Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation and Saint Luke's Foundation. Modeled after a similar effort in Cincinnati, it provides information about costs, private insurance, Medicare, mental health coverage, coverage for kids and more.

The website is available in English and Spanish, and there is also a wallet card that can be printed out. The foundations will be working over the coming months to spread the word about the website through their nonprofit partnerships.


Source: Kim St. John-Stevenson
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Small business owners are often the very first to turn the lights on in the morning and the last to leave at night. So when an owner doesn't show up for work until midmorning, that's typically something his or her employees take notice of right away. They may gossip and joke that the boss is out playing hooky.

"They'll look around and wonder where the boss is," says Ginny Hridel, Product Manager of Health Insurance and Wellness Programs with the Council of Smaller Enterprises (COSE). "Taking an hour and a half a week is not something owners are used to."

Yet, dedicating such time to health and wellness is what's expected of participants in Wellness Tracks, a COSE program that's geared towards helping Cleveland's small business owners become healthier. Throughout the 12-week program, owners learn how to integrate nutrition and wellness into their lives. The result, says Hridel, impacts not only the owners' fitness levels but also their companies' bottom line.

"Think about the sustainability of small businesses," she says. "If the owner gets sick, there's a big impact on the business. If they're able to stay healthy, they can focus on the business and be more productive. There are so many wellness programs for big companies, but it's harder to achieve for small businesses."

To that end, COSE set up its program to make it easy and affordable for small business owners to participate. The program requires a manageable chunk of time and is free for anyone covered by COSE's Medical Mutual plan. Owners not covered by that plan can still attend Wellness Tracks for a small fee.

"There are so many individual success stories," says Hridel. "This is not just about pounds lost but about the business owner making a personal transformation."

In the past two years, Wellness Tracks has graduated more than 300 individuals. The next program kicks off April 19th and classes start the week of April 23rd.


Source: Ginny Hridel
Writer: Lee Chilcote

On the heels of St. Patty's Day, which gives cause for merriment whether you're Irish for one day or your entire life, comes Dyngus Day. And Justin Gorski, aka "DJ Kishka," invites you to dig deep to find your ethnic roots and celebrate Cleveland's Polish heritage in style.

"I'm Polish, and I always had pride in that," says Gorski, who created the Polka Happy Hour at the Happy Dog seven years ago. "My grandmother made pierogi and potato pancakes. It's great to be able to celebrate the ethnicity of Cleveland."

Gorski was inspired to create a Dyngus Day celebration in Cleveland after he traveled to Buffalo two years ago to perform. Dyngus Day festivities there attract more than 60,000 people each year. The event is a traditional pagan holiday that began as a celebration of the rites of spring, but was co-opted by a Polish Catholic king many eons ago. Today, it is widely celebrated as the Polish version of Mardi Gras, and always takes place on the Monday after Easter.

Last year's event attracted 1,500 people, and DJ Kishka is hoping for 5,000 at this year's celebration. Bars and restaurants in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood have banded together to promote the event. Organizers are planning an Accordion March along W. 58th Street, the traditional crowning of Ms. Dyngus (kind of a polka-themed talent show), live music and an appearance by Big Chuck.

Gorski says Cleveland's strong Polish community will keep Dyngus Day growing, and it will help attract visitors to the revitalized Gordon Square Arts District.

Dyngus Day will take place on Monday, April 9th. The crowning of Ms. Dyngus will take place at 5 p.m., with the Accordion March immediately following.


Source: Justin Gorski
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Since the financial crowdsourcing website Kickstarter was founded a few years ago by New York entrepreneurs, it has helped to raise millions of dollars for artistic projects, including many in Cleveland.

Just how important is Kickstarter for arts funding? A recent New York Times article reported that the organization expects to raise $150 million in contributions in 2012. By comparison, the National Endowment for the Arts has a budget of $146 million.

Next week, Kickstarter is coming to Cleveland as part of a Midwest tour to showcase how artists can land DIY funding for their creative-minded startups. The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) and the Foundation Center of Cleveland partnered to create the event, which takes place on Thursday, March 29th from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Idea Center's Miller Classroom at 1375 Euclid Avenue.

"Kickstarter is important not only because it helps artists raise funding, but also because it leverages their ability to get the word out," says Susan DePasquale, Program Manager with CPAC. "There aren't many opportunities for artists to be funded directly. Kickstarter also allows givers to feel like entrepreneurs."


Source: Susan DePasquale
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Throughout its 20 year history, Eden Inc., a nonprofit developer of affordable housing, has "flown under the radar," says David Fearn, Manager of Grants Development and Community Relations. If so, then one might say that Eden's recently launched sustainability efforts constitute a coming out party -- one to which all of its neighbors are invited.

Eden has always been a community-minded agency; its housing developments serve low-income and often mentally ill Cleveland residents, providing them with supportive housing and wrap-around services that help them to become more self-sufficient and better integrate with society.

In the past, Eden's low profile was largely due to the fact that affordable housing can be subject to the kind of reactionary NIMBY-ism (Not In My Backyard) that also pushes Cleveland's most vulnerable residents to the margins of society. Neighbors may oppose affordable housing because they are afraid of negative community impacts, yet such fears are typically unfounded, says Fearn.

To bridge the wide gap between Eden's low-income residents and their neighbors, the nonprofit is launching a series of sustainability efforts that have community benefits, says Fearn. Within the next few months, Eden will create a large-scale community garden at its Liberty Building at E. 105th Street and St. Clair Avenue, and a new development along Madison Avenue will probably receive rain cisterns. Eden is also integrating gardening and sustainability into other properties it owns.

"The benefits of these sustainability projects are that they engage the community around us, provide fresh produce and beautify the area," says Fearn. "We plan to source as much labor as possible from the neighborhood or city residents."

Such innovative sustainability efforts dovetail with Eden's existing focus on green building. All of Eden's projects now meet Enterprise Green Communities standards and often incorporate repurposed materials, as well.


Source: David Fearn
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The Foundation Center launched Grant Space to aggregate its most popular content in one easy-to-navigate location and be responsive to its audience. The website features video chats with grant makers and a calendar of trainings. It also allows visitors to quickly interact with Foundation Center staff.

Now the Center has launched Grant Space Mobile, a new version geared towards mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. Foundation Center Cleveland Director Cynthia Bailie says the website, which she developed and is now being used across the country, is one more way the Foundation Center is innovating to serve its customer base. The site is helping grant seekers to become more savvy about using technology to do good in their communities, she says.

"The world has increasingly gone to mobile devices, and we wanted to give our audience what they need in a user-friendly way," says Bailie.

Despite the at-your-fingertips information that is now available online, visits to the Foundation Center Cleveland, which is located in the Hanna Building at PlayhouseSquare, have not declined. Bailie believes that this is because the Center's online presence and physical location actually complement each other.

"We decided to put everything online and offer high-touch in-person services; we've found it has increased our visibility and people still come in," she says.

Making technology more accessible to grant seekers helps them to access funding more easily, identify new sources, strategize ideas and solicit a national and even international audience of grant makers, Bailie says. Recently, the Foundation Center Cleveland hosted a "Good Gone Mobile" networking and information night. The event highlighted two mobile trends, giving and advocacy, and allowed attendees to network with each other and learn from others in the field.

"There's a greater appetite for experimentation with new technologies. We've created a gateway that allows people to quickly tap in and get what they need."


Source: Cynthia Bailie
Writer: Lee Chilcote

When actor Bill Morgan travels into Cleveland schools to create artistic productions that star both hearing and deaf actors, he continues to be amazed by students' reactions and the type of creativity that is often unleashed through nonverbal communication.

Morgan can hear, yet the productions that he creates through SignStage Theatre help to educate hearing individuals on the issues faced by the deaf community. They also bring hearing and deaf students together through entertainment.

"We ask kids to use their physical actions rather than just their voices, and they really start to use their imaginations more," says Morgan. "We have hearing students interacting more with deaf students, whereas normally they're not. That opens kids up to what deaf kids can do, while also empowering deaf students."

SignStage is a program of the Cleveland Hearing and Speech Center (CHSC), a nonprofit originally founded in 1921 to provide lip reading classes for adults who are deaf and hard of hearing. In the past 91 years, the CHSC has grown to serve nearly 8,000 adults and children each year in 14 counties in Northeast Ohio.

Morgan is particularly excited about an upcoming residency through the Ohio Arts Council at a Cincinnati area school. There he will have a chance to create programs at an innovative school that integrates deaf and hearing children using the arts. "Such programs are becoming more acceptable," he says. "I've also found that there is now a better understanding of the needs of the deaf community."

SignStage helps hearing students to overcome prejudice, says Morgan, and to realize deaf people are not handicapped. Deaf people can be found in professions ranging from medicine (including doctors) to manufacturing (they're sometimes hired to work around noisy machines that hearing people can't tolerate).


Source: Bill Morgan
Writer: Lee Chilcote

It's the "Year of Local Food" in Cleveland, say the organizers of Sustainable Cleveland 2019. It's also the year that Congress is set to reauthorize the farm bill, the largest piece of food and farm legislation that determines how food reaches our plate.

These two events may seem disconnected, but they really are not, says Tia Lebherz, an organizer with Food and Water Watch, whose job is to energize the Cleveland Fair Farm Bill Campaign. In fact, the bill plays a big role in whether or not small local farmers, including urban farmers, can survive and thrive.

This Saturday, local urban farmers and advocates of a better, healthier farm bill are linking the two issues together with an event that they're calling "Green Your St. Patty's Day." Food and Water Watch, Green Triangle, City Rising Farm and Blaine Community Garden organizers are rallying locavores to volunteer on a farm in Hough and participate in a day of action urging their Congressional leaders to support a fair farm bill using letters, phone calls, art projects and petitions.

"Every day, more and more power is shifted to Monsanto and other large corporations, undercutting small farmers so they can't compete," says Lebherz. "We want to see sustainably produced, local food, and one way to do that is to support competition provisions ensuring a level playing field for small farmers."

Lebherz says that Saturday's event will show that Cleveland residents are engaged in their local food system and want to see change. Federal reauthorization of the farm bill only comes up every four to five years, she says, making the Year of Local Food a golden opportunity to organize around this issue in Northeast Ohio.

The "Green Your St. Patty's Day" event takes place this Saturday, March 17 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at City Rising Farm, 8814 Blaine Avenue in Cleveland.


Source: Tia Lebherz
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Joseph M. Gallagher School, a diverse K-8 school in the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood on Cleveland's west side, has formed an innovative community partnership in an effort to boost scores on the all-important Ohio Achievement Assessment (OAA) this spring. The international school is currently in Academic Emergency, yet hopes to make a crucial leap forward by improving this year's test results.

The much-needed community support couldn't come at a more critical time, says Gallagher's Principal, Jennifer Rhone. Test scores here have been slowly improving for several years. Last year, the school came heartbreakingly close to moving up a notch, from Academic Emergency to Academic Watch -- it earned a Performance Index score of 69.1 when a minimum score of 70 was needed.

This year, Rhone says staff are striving for an ambitious Performance Index score of 78 so Gallagher can "jump over Academic Watch and land in Academic Improvement. Our goal is to move every child forward academically."

The community partnership was created after Rhone reached out to the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization (DSCDO). The Franklin and West Clinton Block Clubs recently met with staff here to develop plans for volunteering. Activities will likely include tutoring students, monitoring the test taking process and reading test questions aloud to special needs students.

Joseph M. Gallagher is considered one of the most diverse schools in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD). The school has a sizeable population of Hispanic students, but many other nationalities are also represented in the facility. Two weeks ago, in fact, the school received an influx of 25 Nepalese refugee families. Because no one at Gallagher speaks Hindi, staff here are still trying to figure out the best way to engage the children in the learning process.

If Gallagher remains in Academic Emergency due to its test scores, it is possible that the school will have to be reconfigured, resulting in a new Principal and possibly new staff. Rhone says this change would erode the vital progress that students and faculty are making, so she is partnering with the community in an effort to help students and show them that the community cares about them.

So far this year, Gallagher students have read more than 8,000 books. They also read silently for 25 minutes per day, among the highest averages in the district.


Source: Jennifer Rhone
Writer: Lee Chilcote

The Cleveland Colectivo, a grassroots giving circle whose members provide grants to innovative, community-minded ideas, attracted 27 entrepreneurs and a crowd of nearly 100 people to its recent "Pitch for Change" event at Shaker Launchhouse.

Following the spirited two-minute presentations -- which grew more creative as the night wore on -- attendees voted on their favorite projects. The winner, Have You Met Cleveland?, took home the coveted door prize -- over $400 in cash.

Each presentation was met with rousing applause from the enthusiastic crowd, and attendees spent time after the pitches networking and creating new connections.

The next step in the Colectivo's selection process is for its members to interview the top 11 vote-getters. Details will soon be announced on the Colectivo website.

Here is a sampling of the top projects of the night:

Have You Met Cleveland? is a grassroots initiative that will use the tools of appreciative inquiry to engage young people in the community.

Improv-ing Cleveland is a small concert series that would present top musical acts in vacant storefronts in Slavic Village.

The Cleveland Hostel is a soon-to-be-completed contemporary hostel on West 25th Street, just south of Lorain Avenue.

Music in the Park is a project to organize crowd-pleasing concerts in Edgewater Park this summer.

Lakewood Alive Revolving Loan Paint Program aims to create a fund to help low-income Lakewood residents repaint their homes.


Source: Cleveland Colectivo
Writer: Lee Chilcote