Industry
Items of Interest
Green City Growers to Build Greenhouse
in the Central
Neighborhood
A vast area of vacant land in the
Central neighborhood will soon become home to an expansive
greenhouse powered by hydroponic technology to be situated at
Ensign Avenue and Kinsman Road. The Green City Growers
Cooperative is an initiative of the Evergeen Cooperatives,
launched by an initial investment from the Cleveland
Foundation. Burten, Bell, Carr Development Corporation,
in collaboration with the City of Cleveland Department of
Economic Development, played a role in assembling 10 acres of
land including 32 privately owned parcels. The $20
million greenhouse, will utilize approximately 5 acres of
growing area and is expected to produce 5 million heads of
lettuce and leafy greens and three thousand pounds of herbs
annually. This produce will then be marketed to grocery
stores and food service companies in Cleveland, as well as
customers within a 150-mile radius. The greenhouse will
employ thirty-five residents from the Greater
University Circle neighborhood, and as a social
enterprise, will allow employees to become owners of the
business and share in the profits of the company. The
groundbreaking ceremony took place last month and will be open
for business in the spring of 2012. To learn more about
Green City Growers go to www.evergreencoop.com/GreenCity/greencity.html
Nutrition Relief in a Food
Desert Residents in a part of
Cleveland's Kinsman neighborhood will soon get some relief
from dollar burgers and quarter candies with the MC2 Food
Access Initiative. Food deserts are communities where
residents have to travel more than a mile to get fresh fruits,
vegetables and meats. Many residents, particularly the
elderly and those without reliable transportation, get their
food from convenience stores that don't sell fresh
produce.
The MC2 Food Access Initiative, the
brainchild of Burten, Bell, Carr Development Corporation, will
be established with a grant from the Department of Health and
Human Services. The aim is to provide access to fresh
fruits, vegetables and nutritious meals and eliminate the food
desert in Kinsman. The initiative will be housed in a
4,183-square foot space next to BBC's headquarters at
Bridgeport Place on Kinsman. It will feature fresh food
stands, a cafe with hot meals and organic foods made from
local products and a community kitchen where local farmers can
clean and store produce and where chefs will hold cooking
demonstrations to show residents how to prepare healthy
meals.
The project will begin in February 2012 and is
expected to serve at least 20,000 in the first year and create
64 jobs for low-income residents in the neighborhood, said Tim
Tramble, Executive Director for BBC.
Member
News
Cleveland Public Art and Parkworks
Merge to Form Land Studio Two
prominent local non-profit organizations, Cleveland Pubic Art
and Parkworks, have announced plans to merge and form LAND
Studio. LAND Studio hopes to foster great public spaces
in Cleveland by leading civic conversations about design and
urban planning.The
mission of the new non-profit organization will be "to create
places and connect people through public art, sustainable
building and design, collaborative planning and dynamic
programming." LAND is actually an acronym that stands
for landscape, arts, neighborhood and development. Among
the projects that the new organization plans to address are
the reuse of vacant land in city neighborhoods, green
infrastructure projects led by the Northeast Ohio Regional
Sewer District (NEORSD) and Flats redevelopment. Another
opportunity is an effort to help create more vibrant spaces on
the Malls downtown. Ann Zoller, current Executive
Director of Parkworks, will be the new Executive Director at
LAND. Their new offices will be located at 1939 West
25th Street in Ohio City. For more information on this
new collaboration click here.
Tremont West Community Organizer
Receives Leadership Award
Congratulations to Scott Rosenstein, Community Organizer for
Tremont West Development Corporation on his "shining star"
award from the LGBT community. On October 11th, in
recognition of LGBT Heritage Day, several members of the
community were presented awards at the Cleveland City Hall
Rotunda in categories that include advocacy, education, social
services and neighborhood leadership. Scott
received the award for Neighborhood
Leadership. He and nine others were honored
because they have made a significant impact to empower,
educate and assist the LGBT community and the City of
Cleveland.
Cleveland's Poorest Neighborhood Gets Top
Award Can the poorest neighborhood in
Cleveland become a model for city development? The
answer is yes. The Ohio CDC Association has recognized
CNDC member, Burten, Bell, Carr Development Corporation (BBC)
with the CDC of the Year Award. BBC is located in the
impoverished Lower Kinsman Neighborhood and was honored for
their power of innovative thinking and impressive community
leadership. Some of their award winning programs
include: Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone, Green City
Growers Greenhouse, MC2 Community Kitchen, Active Neighbors
for Healthy Neighborhoods and many more. For more
information on the Burten, Bell, Carr Development Corporation
visit www.bbcdevelopment.org. CNDC would like to
congratulate BBC Executive Director, Tim Tramble and staff for
achieving this prestigious honor.
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