…gs. The Bulkley and Selzer Buildings were central to the envisioned redevelopment of the Playhouse Square superblock. In 1986, the foundation sold property it had acquired as part of an attempt to redevelop the Bulkley complex as an enclosed shopping center. However, the sale to PSF provided the theater district with a much-needed parking lot, which ultimately became a profit center. Finding real estate development to be feasible, PSF went on to…
…is was only the second time the foundation had deployed principal to advance a significant redevelopment project that promised also to provide a good return on investment, but it would not be the last. When the Bulkley complex was sold in 1987, the foundation used the proceeds to create a revolving program-related investment (PRI) fund. PRI monies have since been lent at below-market rates to an array of neighborhood and downtown redevelopment…
…The foundation led a collaborative effort to replicate the Manchester Bidwell program here. Cleveland’s leading medical institutions advised on the design of the adult curricula, resulting in a high rate of employment of the 36 adults who graduated in 2011 and 2012. More than 350 ninth- and 10th-graders selected by 40 high schools from across the county attended free, hands-on classes in ceramics, photography, digital arts, and music recording…
…Cleveland Trust Company, operating an adding machine in the proof department. Two weeks later he was promoted to the tax division of the trust department. And 47 years later he would retire as the bank’s chairman and chief executive officer. Karch had come up the hard way—selling newspapers, scrubbing pharmacy floors, laying pipeline and working as a laborer in a steel mill. After graduating from West High School, he enrolled in St. Lawrence…
…using choices. Community life measures the availability and accessibility of social and safety services. Mobility assesses how easy it is for seniors to get around in their communities. Finally, the initiative gave nonprofit organizations the means to create or expand programming that serves seniors. For example, the Retired Senior Volunteer Program of Cleveland (RSVP) received a grant to enlarge its Experience Corps. The program, which began in…
…e Council and the Federation for Charity and Philanthropy. Most important, the investigation triggered by Belle Sherwin articulated a core challenge that would define the course of philanthropy here and nationally over the next century. “Poverty is a community responsibility,” averred the survey of Cleveland’s fragmented and embryonic welfare system, continuing, “the whole community must realize the extent of destitution, know its causes and…
…that monitored the progress of integration in the inner-ring eastern suburb of Cleveland Heights. When warranted, HCC took remedial action to maintain racial balance and harmony, filing lawsuits against local realtors, for example, that set standards for nondiscriminatory treatment of African-American home buyers. Cleveland also participated in Operation Equality, a Ford Foundation demonstration project to improve minority housing opportunities…
…orge Gund Foundations, and strongly endorsed by Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) CEO Eric Gordon. The plan builds on the success of an initiative launched by the two foundations in 2006 to create a portfolio of excellent schools in Cleveland. Growing to 20 strong, these charter and CMSD schools—granted operational autonomy in exchange for high levels of accountability—have consistently outperformed their traditional counterparts….
…recommended the dredging of an “inner harbor” to create a new recreational asset that would also be a prestigious setting for hotels, offices, retail shops, restaurants and such attractions as a museum and an aquarium. The exciting prospect of opening up public access to the waterfront led (with the foundation’s gentle prodding and provision of operating support) to the establishment of the North Coast Development Corporation, a nonprofit…
…aring in the General Assembly. To chair the study, he looked to civic leaders who could be counted on to do a thorough examination and who would be perceived as having no axes to grind: Steve Minter and David Bergholz, then executive director of the George Gund Foundation. Like all champions of public education, Minter had watched with increasing concern the comings and goings of 14 Cleveland schools superintendents and the dysfunction of the…