CLEVELAND'S JOB CREATION NETWORK

The center of University Circle is the home of three big anchor institutions: University Hospital (foreground), Case Western Reserve University (with its metallic-roofed Frank Gehry-designed management school) and Cleveland Clinic (off camera to the left).

Case Western Reserve University, with a staff of more than 6,000 and an annual budget topping $1 billion, offers huge economic opportunity for local residents.

Efforts to green abandoned lots and create new parklands have help the Greater University Circle neighborhoods stem the tide of urban decay and outmigration in Cleveland.

Volunteers painted a new mural around the Moreland Theater in the Buckeye neighborhood, a project funded by community grants from Neighborhood Connections, a key Greater University Circle Initiative partner. Arts funding has risen significantly under the initiative.

Dancers from the Djapo Cultural Arts Institute, here performing at the Cleveland Art Museum, have been beneficiaries of arts funding through the initiative.

The Fairbax neighborhood has been the site of intensive rehabilitation and new construction as part of the initiative.

Participatory mapping programs have allowed community leaders to have a greater voice in initiative planning.

The mapping exercises have also built cohesion among long-time neighbors in the surrounding communities.

GUCI has offered homeowner incentives to invest in neighborhoods around the University Circle, and commercial districts such as Little Italy have grown more vibrant. GUCI leaders are so far not concerned about effects of gentrification – citing an overall depopulation in inner Cleveland that still hasn’t been reversed.

An employment program trains University Circle neighbors to work in Evergreen Laundry, one of three cooperatives that serve the main anchor institutions.

Trainees learn solar installation techniques in preparation for working at Evergreen Energy Solutions, a local cooperative.

Here, an Evergreen Energy Solutions employee is placing panels on top of the Cleveland Clinic garage. Evergreen has installed panels for all three institutions and also provides building energy use assessments, insulation installment, and other building improvements to reduce energy use.

NewBridge has trained more than 60 local residents to be pharmacy and phlebotomy technicians since 2011, with the majority going on to employment at University Hospital or the Cleveland Clinic.

Public investments in infrastructure, such as new rapid transit stops, have paralleled the initiative’s work.

Neighborhood Connections arts funding recipients gather at a celebration. The Future Economy analysis found that community organizations have gained greater influence over the GUCI network over time.

Neighborhood Connections arts funding recipients gather at a celebration. The Future Economy analysis found that community organizations have gained greater influence over the GUCI network over time.