Dana Harary always searched for the tahini she loved when she came from Israel to Cleveland visit her mother. Now living in Northeast Ohio, she and her partners founded SoCo Tahini—with flavors so good, even chef Doug Katz uses it at Zhug.

Many Cleveland neighborhoods—almost 60% according to one estimate—are not in close proximity to a grocery store, effectively stranding people access to fresh and healthy food. The Central neighborhood is no different. What’s being done about it?

Ohio’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and a second bill that restricts access to LGBTQ+ healthcare are looming in the state legislature. 
 

Assembly for the Arts is now accepting applications for 10 to 15 Arts Leadership Residencies, which will start this fall.

Celebrate the Summer Solstice that occurred earlier this week with the YMCA's Sunset Yoga on the Solstice Steps this Thursday evening. 

Northeast Ohio residents’ ability to get to work by public transit has been in the spotlight in recent years, with the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority’s  NextGen route redesign, implemented in June 2021, attempting to improve service frequency and job access. This may help, but what else can be done? 
 

Outdated city zoning codes in many Cleveland communities make new construction virtually impossible on the inner ring suburbs’ smaller vacant lots. But some communities are working toward adapting their codes to accommodate modern-day infill housing to meet a variety of needs.
 

Station Hope, the the free community event that celebrates Cleveland’s social justice heritage and explores today’s struggles for equity, occurs this weekend at St. John's Episcopal Church—Cleveland’s first Underground Railroad site.

Cleveland Masterworks: A now-derelict factory on the shores of Lake Erie once housed one of Cleveland’s most successful businesses. For more than 100 years, Richman Brothers produced quality suits that were a rites of passage for many young men graduating or getting married, while also going above and beyond in caring for its 2,000 employees. 

In the second part of this NEO SoJo series on water affordability, we travel from Philadelphia back to Cleveland to look at the successes and failings of water discount programs meant to help low-income people.
 

Cleveland Masterworks: Robert P. Madison has created his own legacy—from his designs for buildings like Park Place Apartments or Fatima Family Center in Hough, to his work on the Rock Hall and Browns stadium—but he has also accomplished a lot of firsts in his almost 99 years on this planet.

When writer Erin O'Brien heard the Cleveland Metroparks was launching its 2022 Trail Challenge—completing either 10 or 20 Metroparks trails by biking, hiking, paddling, running, skating or walking—she quickly raised her hand to accept. O'Brien is chronicling her trail adventures for FreshWater. Read about her first trail!
  

Care Alliance last month opened its third health center to serve the homeless, the uninsured, and underinsured with their comprehensive medical services. 

Dealing with a mounting utility bill or shut-off notice can be scary. There are programs out there to help, but they can be difficult to navigate.

Brite Winter, the annual arts and music festival. returns to live programming this Saturday with a chance to cure the winter blues and celebrate the event's 13th year of bringing low-cost and accessible events to the city.

For the first time ever, the federal government has created a program to help low-income people with their water/sewer bills. Applications are now being accepted in Cleveland through CHN Partners.

Affordable, high-speed internet service is rolling out this month in Cleveland’s Central neighborhood as part of Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish’s Central Neighborhood Surge plan to expand wireless internet access in the neighborhood.

Cleveland Leadership Center's annual Accelerate civic pitch competition is coming in February, and 25 innovators and entrepreneurs are armed with creative new ideas in six categories to vie for the $5,000 prize.

Cuyahoga County’s vaccination rates range from 90% in wealthier suburban areas to 30% in low-income Cleveland communities. This interactive map breaks it all down.

It's been a long two years since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. While we may be physically and emotionally drained, Cleveland and its residents had some noteworthy accomplishments. This week, we take a look back at 2021 with the FreshWater staff reflecting on the past year and looking forward to events and projects in 2022.