How can we use art to improve the quality of life in our post-industrial cities?

The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) launched a multi-year initiative in 2007, called Creative Compass, to help artists gain access to affordable housing and business space and to encourage them to become active contributers to the revitalization of our urban neighborhoods. 

For the past two years, CPAC has hosted the conference From Rust Belt to Artist Belt to “explore how industrial cities are using artist-based community development to change the stories being told about their communities.”  This year’s conference took place on Sept. 17-18, but make sure to attend their upcoming events and join their network.

Watch the following lecture about how artist Lily Yeh used art to improve the quality of life for impoverished neighborhoods around the world:

(Watch Part 2 and Part 3 of this lecture)

“In the most devastat[ed] place – that’s the place most ready for transformation.  I see abandoned lot[s] as endless resources for us to create innovative way[s] to create our new future.” – Lily Yeh

This past weekend, Bioneers Cleveland showed the national plenary speakers of the 2009 Bioneers Conference, in addition to hosting workshops and tours focused around sustainability and Northeast Ohio’s local food system.

Here are some of the national speakers from the conference…

Michael Pollan, author of Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food:

(Watch Part 2 and Part 3 of this lecture)

Annie Leonard, creator of “The Story of Stuff”:

(Watch Part 2 and Part 3 of this lecture)

Jerome Ringo of the Apollo Alliance:

(Watch Part 2 and Part 3 of this lecture)

Want more?  Visit the Bioneers Facebook page to see the other national plenary addresses.

Bioneers Cleveland will hold its third annual Bioneers Conference next weekend on November 5-7 at the Cleveland Convention Center on Thursday, and at CSU’s Maxine Levin College of Urban Affairs on Friday & Saturday.

Bioneers Cleveland is a ‘beaming site’ (meaning it shows the national plenary speakers on screen) for National Bioneers, which is a 20-year-old nonprofit headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico that prides itself on popularizing sustainable solutions for both people and planet.

According to the Bioneers Cleveland website:

This year’s conference will focus on Northeastern Ohio’s Local Food Systems.  The conference will examine creating sustainable, healthy food opportunities, and the interconnections between: water, energy, transportation, education, economics, community development, and culture as well as showcase the impact by production, distribution, nutrition, and financial viability of growing, selling and eating local food. 

For three days Bioneers Cleveland will highlight many of the projects that have made Cleveland second in the nation for its urban food systems by hosting tours, workshops and plenary addresses from the national conference site in California (via DVD) including Michael Pollan, an award-winning journalist and author of Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food.

I learned so much while attending last year’s Bioneers Cleveland Conference, and I highly recommend that you attend, even if you’re not a sustainability nerd like me.

Click here for more information about the conference and to find out more about the plenary speakers and workshops available.

The following video series is an interview by theRealNews.com called “Autoworkers ‘Challenge the Logic of Capitalism’.”  Not only Detroit, but many post-industrial Great Lakes cities  house legions of autoworkers and other industrial laborers currently in need of stable work.

Autoworkers have a unique set of skills that could be extraordinarily useful for building the technology necessary for capturing and transporting renewable energy.  Sustainability nerds, of course, call this the transformation of ’blue collar jobs’ into ‘green collar jobs.’

Read this article about how the company Infinia has employed autoworkers to refurbish Stirling engines for solar dishes.

The Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program wrote a groundbreaking report about the importance of renewing the Great Lakes region, called “The Vital Center: A Federal-State Compact to Renew the Great Lakes Region.”

Below is the presentation given on March 5, 2007, by Bruce Katz (Vice-President of the Brookings Institution) and John Austin (Non-Resident Senior Fellow) to brief House and Senate staff members invited by the Great Lakes Congressional Caucus Leadership, on the federal policy implications emerging from the Great Lakes Economic Initiative, and the Vital Center Report.

The Vital Center: A Federal State Compact to Renew the Great Lakes Region

Sustainability: social, environmental and economic justice.

This video shows an interview with Carl Anthony, Founder of the Earth House Leadership Center in Detroit, talking about the problems of structural racism in our urban centers.  Anthony also talks about how groups in Detroit are working to abate urban sprawl through an inner city land bank initiative similar to Cleveland’s “Reimagining a More Sustainable Cleveland” initiative and a statewide proposal for a transportation bill limiting the construction of new highways into existing farmland.  Cleveland could use a transportation bill like that.

Click “Continue Reading” to view the rest of the interview about community empowerment and using federal Stimulus dollars to re-invest in whole metropolitan regions.

“Communities need to organize for the long term.” – Carl Anthony

Just found this preview for a movie made about Youngstown, Ohio:

Awesome.

Most people who live around Cleveland are tired of hearing about corrupt public officials doing shady deals, having closed-door meetings and dressing in drag.  While it’s fantastic that Mayor Jackson has supported the movement to make Cleveland a model of sustainability, other public officials all around Ohio have yet to get it.

Whether publicly elected officials understand the importance of sustainability for our region or not, one thing is perfectly clear.  We need more collaboration between offices and in order to do that, we need reform of our current government system.

In light of this, I was pleased to receive the following email this morning:

Ohio Commission on Local Government Reform and Collaboration

The Ohio Commission on Local Government Reform and Collaboration will hold a public hearing on Friday, October 30, 2009 at 10:30 a .m . at the Engineer’s Club of Dayton located at 110 E. Monument Avenue, Dayton, Ohio 45402. Parking options around the facility may be found on the Commission’s website at www.ohioreformandcollaboration.org . This is the third of five hearings that will be held throughout Ohio seeking public input.

Testimony and input is requested in three main areas:
1) Recommendations that will encourage and incentivize local governments to collaborate;
2) Identification of local and state tax structure changes which would encourage collaboration or improve service effectiveness; and
3) Identification of current/alternative service delivery models.

If you are in the Southwest Ohio region and are concerned with the issue of local government efficiency we strongly encourage you to attend to ensure that your voice is heard. If you cannot attend this meeting, you might also consider preparing written testimony.

Greater Ohio and its partner the Brooking Institution have identified governance reform as an important issue to be considered as we work to restore prosperity to Ohio.  Governance reform falls within our larger agenda that is charged with increasing Ohio’s economic competitiveness and quality of life by focusing on the four drivers of prosperity in the 21st century economy: innovation; human capital; infrastructure; and quality of place.

Again, we ask you to voice your opinion if you feel, as we at Greater Ohio do, that regional collaboration and efficient governance structures are critical to building a more competitive and prosperous Ohio.

The Local Government Reform Commission is legislatively created and consists of 15 members ranging from local officials to business people. It is charged with researching and writing a report that recommends reform and collaboration measures in order to improve local government operations and service delivery to create cost savings for taxpayers .

For more information about the Commission visit its website at www.ohioreformandcollaboration.org.

As I work with teams of motivated individuals who are attempting to make Cleveland a more sustainable city socially, environmentally, and economically, I am beginning to see the critical role that governments have in the decision-making process for many of these initiatives.

While a project may have the go-ahead from the city, elected officials of the State might not have a system in place, or the knowledge, to support such a project.  Silos and closed doors can kill progressive, forward-thinking projects that could help our region become more globally competitive.

Change is necessary if Cleveland and its surrounding regions hope to become more sustainable.  Leadership is critical, and we have the power to choose our leaders and the system in which they work together.

Got City Game on the News

Got*City Game! is a game show filmed in Cleveland, about Cleveland, by Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) students.  The project, sponsored by Tri-C, Hiram College and LiveCLEVELAND, will film three teams of two people competing to win Cleveland for a year – which includes, according to their website, “a free lease at the Tremont Place Lofts and FREE tickets and coupons for sports, music, theatre, restaurants, nightclubs…everything that makes downtown living amazing.”

The shows will be filmed this month all over the city of Cleveland as the teams compete in ridiculous (and green) challenges.  You can see the finished product in November 2009 with six webisodes (one per week) on www.gotcitygame.tv . With each webisode you can VOTE for your favorite team.  The team with the most combined points and votes will win.

Basically, the idea is to show how awesome Cleveland really is and that it can be a great place for young professionals to live.

Last night I went to the official opening of the Evergreen Cooperatives, which are businesses working together with Greater University Circle communities (Hough, Glenville, Fairfax, Buckeye-Shaker, Little Italy and East Cleveland) and some of Cleveland’s anchor institutions to create green jobs for local residents.

Each year, these major institutions–including CWRU, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals, among many others–purchase billions of dollars worth of goods and services from suppliers that are outside of our region.  Through the Evergreen Cooperatives, these institutions can begin sourcing some of their products and services locally–generating economic development and green jobs where they are desperately needed.

The Evergreen Cooperatives are committed to:

1. Neighborhood-based businesses: Building a network of new local companies that provide superior goods and services to Cleveland’s anchor institutions and other clients.
2. Employee ownership: Evergreen companies are owned by their employees.  Employees are not only paid living wages and benefits, but there is equity amongst co-workers.
3. Local hiring: These companies hire employees from low- and moderate-income neighborhoods of Greater University Circle.
4. Green Business Practices: These businesses strive to be the greenest in their fields, contributing to Cleveland’s commitment to become a model of sustainability.
5. Neighborhood benefit: Each Evergreen company contributes at least 10% of its pretax profits to the Evergreen Cooperative Development Fund, which goes toward the start-up of new Evergreen companies and the creation of more green jobs for our communities.

Evergreen Companies that are currently hiring:

1. Evergreen Cooperative Laundry: The greenest commercial-scale, industrial laundry in Northeast Ohio.
2. Ohio Cooperative Solar: Performs large-scale installations of solar panels on roofs of the city’s biggest nonprofit institutions.  For year-round employment, this cooperative will also perform weatherization for households.
3. Green City Growers Cooperative: A year-round, large-scale food production hydroponic greenhouse on 14 acres in inner-city Cleveland.
4. Greater University Circle Neighborhood Voice: A community information source in print and online, serving the neighborhoods and institutions of Greater University Circle.  With the guidance of a full-time publisher, high school and college students will gain business and journalism training by working at the Neighborhood Voice.

For more information, visit Evergreen Cooperatives.