Northeast Ohio’s Notable Nine

What is better than a “Top Ten” or a “Year in Review” list?  The Notable Nine, of course.  A whiz-bang combination of both, and yet unique in number, the Notable Nine have managed to multiple-handedly change the game in Northeast Ohio.

Without further ado, I present…

The Notable Nine

9.  Sustainable Cleveland 2019 Action and Resources Guide: In the second year of its decade-long endeavor, this mayor-led initiative has published a report on how to move forward.

8.  The Restoring Prosperity Report: A collaborative effort between the Greater Ohio Policy Center and the Brookings Institute, this report offers policy recommendations for improving Ohio’s long-term prosperity.

7.  The Northeast Ohio Green Map: You can add sustainable organizations, initiatives and infrastructure to it too!

6.  Water|Craft Urban-Infill Vol. 3: This book by the Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative’s PopUp City is jam-packed with ideas on regional water issues and new urban design approaches to tackle them.

5.  NEORSD Project Clean Lake:  No one likes Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs), including the US EPA.  CSOs allow untreated sewage to go into our otherwise beautiful watershed and Great Lake.  The NEORSD is now going to do something about it.

4.  Trust for Public Land: Taking the reigns for completing the Towpath Trail and connecting it to Lake Erie, the Trust for Public Land is making it possible to build a greenway through downtown Cleveland.

3.  Flats East Bank Loan Guarantee from HUD: The redevelopment of the Flats East Bank is perhaps not so far off after all.

2.  Reimagining Greater Cleveland: The Cleveland Botanical Garden is using the $167,000 grant they received from the Great Lakes Protection Fund to help transform vacant land in Northeast Ohio into ‘green’ infrastructure.

1.  Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Regional Planning Grant and the Regional Prosperity Initiative: There’s nothing quite like getting federal dollars for sustainable community building in Northeast Ohio!

(Continue reading for Honorable Mentions and Maybe Next Times)

Cleveland’s Green Corp

The Cleveland Botanical Garden started its illustrious Green Corp program back in 1996 to leverage two of Cleveland’s most valuable and underutilized resources: vacant land and teenagers.  By starting and maintaining productive gardens in inner city neighborhoods, the Green Corp program is not only creating green public space that helps to beautify urban areas, but is also employing and empowering inner city kids.

Through the Green Corp program, teenagers learn how to construct and maintain productive gardens (which are basically small urban farms), and then sell the produce that they rear from the earth.  They learn gardening and business skills, in addition to the benefits of hard work, leadership, and teamwork.  They can then take what they learn in the Green Corp back home to their families and friends.

On August 21st, Mayor Jackson visited the Green Corp’s 5th urban garden in Fairfax to celebrate the program’s success and the work of the teenagers that make it all happen.

The speakers in the video include Rob (a Green Corp participant), Mamie Mitchell (Cleveland councilwoman), Mayor Frank Jackson, and Ruth Eppig (president of the Board at the Cleveland Botanical Garden).

To learn more about the Green Corp program in Cleveland, click here.

Rust to Renewal – Pittsburgh’s Green Economy

Pittsburgh is doing some innovative things in terms of attracting the renewable energy sector to fill in the holes left behind by the steel industry (holes that still exist in Cleveland).  Cleveland has ideas to similarly bring wind turbine manufacturing into our old industrial sites, but we could learn from what Pittsburgh has done in its turnaround.

I was excited to find this video on ChelseaGREEN (one of my favorite blogs about sustainability).  The film, which has obvious connections to what I write about here, was produced by the US State Department to demonstrate how Pittsburgh is following Obama’s campaign to build the renewable energy grid while creating new “green” jobs.

Also, watch this video about how Braddock, PA is becoming more sustainable because of key leadership decisions.  Couldn’t help but notice that Braddock’s “GTECH” group is a lot like the Cleveland Botanical Garden’s Green Corp program that pays inner city kids to work and learn in urban gardens.  More on that later.