The Global Cleveland initiative has set the objective of attracting 100,000 talented newcomers to the region from around the world in an effort to counter Cuyahoga County’s steady population loss and reclaim the entrepreneurial energy generated by previous waves of immigrants. On February 7, 2012, Global Cleveland opened an international welcome center in the Huntington Bank building near Public Square with the support of a $150,000 foundation grant.

The welcome center will be both an information resource for people considering the possibility of relocating to Greater Cleveland and the headquarters of Global Cleveland, a concept first advanced by the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and widely embraced by the community’s civic and political leadership as the best means of recruiting the highly skilled employees needed to fuel the growth of the region’s high-tech businesses and industries.