The Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium, a major public initiative to help move Northeast Ohio towards a more sustainable, resilient future, will launch a public engagement process in the next few months. Young professionals are among the first constituencies being targeted in this effort to create a sustainability plan for the region.

"We're looking at how we are using land through the lens of sustainability," explains Jeff Anderle, Communications and Engagement Manager for the NEOSCC, which received a $4.25 million grant from the Obama administration's Partnership for Sustainable Communities initiative and launched in January 2011. "We want to make Northeast Ohio more resilient to change, help our governments to be more collaborative and provide the tools for communities to engage in more sustainable planning."

The NEOSCC has five different work study areas: economic development, environment, communities, connections, and quality, connected places. Consortium members include city governments, planning agencies and other public entities throughout the 12-county planning area. According to Anderle, NEOSCC's members are working together because they realize it is in their self-interest to help ensure that the region's resources are used more sustainably.

"We're starting to see collaboration happening in government because resources are getting tight, and moving forward, we believe collaboration will become essential," he says. "People are waking up and coming to the table."

Over the next few months, the NEOSCC will publish an existing conditions report and begin public engagement. "We're partnering with the Civic Commons," says Anderle. "We want to empower people to become a part of the process."


Source: Jeff Anderle
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Freshbag, which offers corporate wellness programs and an online fresh foods-shopping and delivery service, is growing faster than founders Ian Wong and Max Wilberding anticipated. The company is adding to its current six pickup locations and forming new partnerships.
 
Later this month, Freshbag will add 1-2-1 Fitness, on the Case campus, as a new pick up location. Wong says more locations are in the works. Furthermore, the company is expanding its chef repertoire with Scott Groth of the Chubby Cook and his network of chefs. Freshbag hosts events that illustrate how healthy foods can also taste good, and wellness nutrition events that bring dietitians and chefs on site with tips and cooking classes.

Wong is thrilled with how their concept has taken off. "We certainly weren't expecting to grow this rapidly,” he says. “But the way we see it: it takes a long time to reach a critical mass, but once we get there, things start running faster and faster.”

Freshbag is also looking for an operations and logistics specialist to handle acquisitions operations (finding ways to become more efficient), and deliveries.


Source: Ian Wong
Writer: Karin Connelly

Cleveland State University (CSU) recently relocated its Department of Theatre and Dance to the Middough Building at PlayhouseSquare, a critical step in creating a multidisciplinary Arts Campus in the heart of Cleveland's growing theater district.

"The university's master plan is to move the majority of CSU's arts programs into PlayhouseSquare," says Joe Mosbrook, Director of Strategic Communications with CSU. "Our theatre majors will take classes 20 feet from the Allen Theatre. They'll build sets in the building, and then perform in one of the top college venues in the country. We're excited to be a part of one of Cleveland's largest arts centers."

Mosbrook says CSU is the only undergraduate theatre program in the country where students have the opportunity to work alongside a professional theatre company. CSU has formed an ongoing partnership with Cleveland Play House, and its productions are being staged in the new Allen Theatre complex.

CSU now occupies approximately 160,000 square feet on the second and fifth floors of the Middough Building. The refurbished space includes art studios, rehearsal space, photography studios, costume design studios and other facilities. CSU's Fine Arts programs also are now housed in the Middough Building.

In September, CSU plans to open an art gallery in the Cowell and Hubbard building on Euclid Avenue. The gallery will showcase student work, traveling shows, and work by alumni and faculty. The location was chosen to capitalize on PlayhouseSquare's foot traffic while adding to the revitalization of the area.

Over the long term, CSU also plans to move its digital and broadcast media programs, including its student radio station, into the Ideastream building. "There's a symbiotic relationship that occurs when students and professors work together with professionals in their field," says Mosbrook.


Source: Joe Mosbrook
Writer: Lee Chilcote

In this Fresh Water video, Cleveland chefs Jeff Fisher, Dante Boccuzzi and Zack Bruell talk about their culinary style, their restaurants, and their fondness for the farm-to-table movement. With decades of experience between them, they are able to put into context the dramatic progress the Cleveland restaurant scene has made over the past 10 to 15 years.

As more people and businesses settle in downtown Cleveland, the need is greater than ever for safe, beautiful and active public spaces. Who, then, will steward the dialogue around the importance of good design to the quality of life and economic competitiveness of our region? LAND studio will. The recent union of Cleveland Public Art and ParkWorks has given rise to LAND, an organization focused on (L)andscape, (A)rt, (N)eighborhoods, and (D)evelopment.

Shaker Launchhouse co-founder/marketing Dar Caldwell describes the business accelerator as a "thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem." That ecosystem will welcome 10 new inhabitants this coming fall thanks to funding from Ohio's New Entrepreneurs (ONE) Fund.
 
The $200,000 grant will be "a welcome addition here, allowing us to ramp up even more," Caldwell says. Launchhouse already provides dozens of member companies with all sorts of support, from office space to branding to patenting. Not to mention free coffee and wifi.
 
The ONE Fund grant will allow Launchhouse to seek additional tech start-ups from around Ohio, surrounding states and Chicago. Caldwell says the search won't focus on any particular industry; high growth potential is the key. He expects that Launchhouse will make a formal announcement of the search in April, but notes that the center -- at 3558 Lee Road in Shaker Heights -- has received a steady stream of applications since opening last spring.
 
Launchhouse's members are nothing if not diverse. Current portfolio members include freshbag, an online produce-shopping and delivery service founded by a Case Western medical student and some friends; Cell-A-Spot, which developed a system allowing cell phone users to cut their monthly bills by accepting targeted ads; and Railroad Empire, an online game for Facebook.
 
Operated by Ohio's Third Frontier initiative, the ONE Fund is a “mentorship-driven program [that] focuses on the professional development of young entrepreneurs with the necessary ambition to commercialize new technologies.” In addition to Launchhouse, the fund recently awarded grants to similar programs in Cincinnati and Columbus.
 

Source: Dar Caldwell
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

Business leaders who say that the resurgence of manufacturing is helping to lead Northeast Ohio out of the recession will find cause for optimism in Hedalloy Die Corporation. The tool and die maker in Cleveland's Slavic Village neighborhood is currently doubling the size of its 3,500-square-foot production facility to accommodate increased demand.

“We are seeing a shift back to U.S. manufactured products,” said Joe Susa, Hedalloy’s General Manager, in a release. “Customers are paying more attention to quality rather than bottom line prices. American made tools are getting noticed for their higher quality and longer life span. ”

Hedalloy has doubled its sales since 2009 and hired additional employees. Its expansion on E. 49th Street is expected to be complete next month.

In an era of global competition, Hedalloy’s ability to deliver its products in half the time of some of its competitors has also helped to boost sales. The company has clients in the automotive, military, medical, and aerospace industries.

Established in 1947, Hedalloy has been at its Slavic Village location since the early 1950s. The company had considered relocating to the eastern suburbs to expand. Support from Slavic Village Development and Councilwoman Phyllis Cleveland, as well as a zoning permit granted by Cleveland, aided its decision to stay.

Hedalloy is a family-owned company. John Susa, Sr. began working at the company in 1960 and bought the firm in 1991. In addition to his son Joe, Mr. Susa‘s wife Eleanor is the bookkeeper and his son John, Jr. is the Vice President.


Source: Joe Susa
Writer: Lee Chilcote

OnShift Software, a leader in web-based staff scheduling and shift management software for the healthcare industry, closed $3 million in series B financing. The funding will help OnShift meet the rising demand to manage healthcare costs.

OnShift is experiencing fast, significant growth, having achieved a 400 percent increase in annual revenue in 2011. The company’s customer base has surged to more than 600 in the past year. The funding will be used to accelerate OnShift’s sales and marketing strategies and expand its presence in the healthcare industry.

“The healthcare market is under a lot of pressure to get costs under control,” says OnShift CEO Mark Woodka. “Our customers need to manage their labor costs in long-term care and senior living. That collection of customers is primarily doing it manually. This funding will allow us to meet the demand, accelerate our growth and continue to deliver world class, innovative solutions to our healthcare clients.”

With OnShift, providers control labor costs by preventing overtime, managing open shifts, and operating with appropriate staffing levels

OnShift has 36 employees and plans to grow to 55 or 60 this year.

 
Source: Mark Woodka
Writer: Karin Connelly

Tremont West Development Corporation has launched a new Storefront Incubator program that aims to help pop-up shops and startup businesses grow into permanent, bricks-and-mortar retailers, ideally right in the heart of historic Tremont.

Through a competitive process, Tremont West will select a fledgling retailer to occupy the 370-square-foot storefront it owns at 2406 Professor. The retailer will be offered three months of free rent as a sweetener. After the nine month lease term, the startup may renew for an additional three months, yet the goal is to help that business establish a permanent space elsewhere in the neighborhood.

"We've used our storefront successfully for pop-up shops, so this is really for someone of that quality who wants a longer-term run to see if their business is actually viable," says Cory Riordan, Executive Director of Tremont West.

As part of the lease agreement, Tremont West plans to work with the startup to help them grow their business. The nonprofit will links entrepreneurs with available financing, vacant space and other businesses in the community.

The long-term goal is not to compete with existing property owners, but to support new types of businesses, says Riordan. He cites service-oriented businesses as one gap within the neighborhood's retail mix.

Riordan says that supporting small startup retailers is one positive way forward for neighborhoods that are slowly emerging from the recession. "We can help create niche businesses that lead to neighborhood recovery."

Responses to the Storefront Incubator RFP are due by Friday, March 16th.


Source: Cory Riordan
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Thanks to a grant from the Cleveland Foundation, the Cleveland Public Library has plans to open six new learning centers that will serve patrons of all ages. A $162,000 grant from the Cleveland Foundation will help fund the learning centers, which will be established at the Fleet, Fulton, Sterling, Collinwood, Eastman and Langston Hughes library branches.
 
“I’m really excited about the learning centers,” says CPL executive director Felton Thomas. “We looked at two components: The mornings will be available for our youngest children and parents to help learn language, while adults looking for jobs and doing their resumes or getting their GEDs can use the centers in the afternoons.”
 
The centers will also offer homework help, tutoring and college prep classes. The learning center locations were chosen based on community involvement and interest. “We really looked for communities that had high participation in the homework help,” says Thomas.
 
To best meet the technology gap many patrons face, each center will provide new laptop computers for onsite use. CPL will team with key educational partners including Cleveland State University, Cleveland Institute of Music, and The Music Settlement to help provide tutoring and literacy focused programming.  
 
The new centers are modeled after the existing Rice Branch Learning Center, which served nearly 1,200 students in the homework lab in 2011. The new centers will serve over 5,000 children and young people across the city.

 
Source: Felton Thomas
Writer: Karin Connelly

Someday, perhaps, we'll power our ever-growing number of personal electronic devices with something sustainable like biofuels or sunlight. Until then, the nPower PEG (personal energy device) will do nicely. Tremont Electric's clever gadget converts the motion of walking or running into energy, which it stores in a battery until you're ready to recharge your cell phone or iPod.
 
Cool, right? The only problem to date has been getting hold of one.
 
"The last 18 months have been pretty challenging," says vice president Jill LeMieux. The supplier of the custom battery used in the original design proved unable to keep up. At present there are about 2,000 nPower PEG's in use -- and 5,000 on back order. That's an encouraging but precarious situation for a small company.
 
But things should improve in late March; that's when Delta Systems in Streetsboro begins mass-producing nPower PEGs. Would-be owners' reward for waiting will be greater energy efficiency in the new models -- which Tremont Electric founder and CEO Aaron LeMieux attributes to advances in microprocessors -- and a standardized battery that holds twice the charge of the older ones.
 
Delta Systems has been "very supportive," Jill adds, fronting the tooling costs until sales ramp up. She expects to sell at least 1,000 units per month. In the near future they'll only be available through the website, but some retailers already are expressing interest. The product is a natural for stores serving runners, hikers and campers.
 
"What we've seen since the rollout of this product is overwhelming demand for it," says Aaron.
 
The company hears frequently from users who "love" the PEG, including servicemen in Afghanistan, who report that it has worked "flawlessly." And like the deal with Delta, a military order would be another big, energy-generating step forward for the tiny company. The PEG is also a finalist in the Edison Awards, which will be announced April 26. Tremont Electric also continues to work with universities and others on deploying buoys that would convert the motion of waves into large-scale energy production.
 
Notes Aaron, "It's going to get interesting around here, I can say that much."
 
 
Sources: Jill and Aaron LeMieux
Writer: Frank W. Lewis

While the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority has no direct involvement in the sexy new downtown development taking place, the independently run agency's emphasis on vital infrastructure improvements is no less important to the region's bottom line, says president and CEO William Friedman.