Karin Connelly Rice
Stories by: Karin Connelly Rice
Karin Connelly Rice enjoys telling people's stories, whether it's a promising startup or a life's passion. Over the past 30 years she has reported on local community members and businesses for publications such as Inside Business, Cleveland Magazine, the Rocky River/Lakewood edition of In the Neighborhood, and the Amherst News-Times. At Fresh Water Rice focuses on Clevelanders who are shaping and embracing Cleveland—especially those making positive changes in the city's underserved neighborhoods.
Nearly two years after relocating from its original home in Shaker Heights to a new location in Highland Heights, LaunchHouse is bringing its entrepreneurial coworking community concept to the west side.
The transformation of the Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood continues, thanks to a game-changing $350,000 Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant. The grant's recipient is the Woodhill Homes development, one of the first public housing projects in Cleveland built and managed by the Cleveland Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA).
Two development projects in Cleveland Heights are moving the city forward in its master plan to create growth and strong business districts within the city. The Top of the Hill multi-use project is moving ahead, while the city just began soliciting ideas for a vacant plot of land on Lee Road. Read about both projects here.
Alex Wittenberg loves a good cup of coffee. So much so, he envisions a world where Cleveland’s coffee shop patrons share their love by buying their neighbor—whether it’s a friend, the next guy in line, or even an unknown stranger—a cup of joe. To that end, Wittenberg, along with co-founders Sebastian Thimmig, Adam Fishburn, and Edward Liu, have created CoffeeQ, an online app that allows users to do just that.
Soaring 20 stories into the Cleveland skyline, One University Circle is almost ready for its close-up. In April, the building will welcome its first tenants as the neighborhood’s first high-rise apartment building community in more than 40 years.
The process of producing paintings, ceramics, and other art—as well as making music—isn’t just a creative skill. It’s a life skill. Cuyahoga Arts & Culture recognizes the importance of art and music therapy, supporting about 20 area organizations that offer such programming. FreshWater takes an inside look at their colorful and cathartic work.
For most people, mushrooms bring to mind a pizza topping or another culinary dish (or even an invasive lawn growth). But Chris Maurer, principal architect and founder for redhouse studio in Ohio City, sees mushrooms—or mycelium, the organism that sprouts to fruit mushrooms—and thinks building materials.
For the first time in Cleveland, two local female chefs have been named semifinalists for the James Beard Awards. Chef Karen Small, owner of The Flying Fig, and chef Jill Vedaa, co-owner of Salt, are two of 20 chefs in the Great Lakes division, having made it to the semifinals from 20,000 entries in 21 categories. Read more about how Vedaa and Small attained this culinary honor here.
Banking on the growing coworking trend, the hope is that when the MidTown Tech Hive opens on Thursday, March 1, it will become a cooperative gathering place for great minds to bring innovative ideas with a sense of community and an emphasis on tech education. Read more about what Tech Hive will offer here.
Fourteen years in, the Cleveland Bazaar has evolved from a one-day holiday sale at Derek Hess' studio into Cleveland’s longest-running independent craft show.
The historic 1904 mansion that overlooks University Circle and was home to the College Club of Cleveland for the past 61 years will soon be converted into 10 apartments, with an additional four apartments in the carriage house and 13 townhomes on the 1.8-acre property at 2348 Overlook Road in Cleveland Heights.
About two or three years ago, Cleveland Heights resident Mary Kelsey and some friends began talking about the concept of cohousing—a community of homes that are clustered around shared spaces like a common house and outdoor areas. While there are fewer than 200 cohousing communities across the U.S., Kelsey says there are “quite a few” are in progress, including right here in Northeast Ohio.
The Coventry P.E.A.C.E. Campus and the nonprofit groups working out of the building will remain in the former Coventry School building after Heights Libraries opts to buy the property from the Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District for $1, saving the grounds from possible commercial development.
As president of Berusch Development Partners, Russell Berusch converts college campuses into neighborhoods that are convenient and accessible for the typical college student, such as University Circle’s Uptown neighborhood and Euclid 116 student apartments.
Now Berusch is taking on an historic neighborhood on Hessler Road in University Circle.
Now Berusch is taking on an historic neighborhood on Hessler Road in University Circle.
For the first time, the city and the Greater Cleveland Food Bank have come together in a collaborative effort to get fresh produce to the seniors living in AsiaTown. On the first Wednesday of each month, the Food Bank comes out to Sterling Recreation Center for a Senior Produce Market. Find out when the next distribution is—and how to volunteer—here.
Nearly a dozen nature and science organizations receive support from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, and they provide an integral foundation for exploring the county’s rich variety of resources—from the Great Lakes Science Center on Lake Erie’s coast to suburban nature centers, downtown community gardens, and grassroots nonprofits.
While Matt and Trevor Gile and their father, Chuck, may have gone into the auto repair business three years ago with Cleveland Heights-based Motorcars Collision, the family has dreamt about donuts for at least seven years. Now the trio is realizing their dream with the opening of Daylight Donuts and Coffee (3077 Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights) along with their newly-relocated Motorcars Collision.
When partners Jeff King and Brad Poe open the Kensington Pub in Cleveland Heights this spring, they promise to have something for everyone at the bar that has been known for decades as Tavern Company. See what's in store here.
The vision for Cuyahoga Greenways would connect every community in the county through a network of greenways, trails, parks, transportation routes, and neighborhoods. A joint plan between the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACCA), and the Cleveland Metroparks, the project has entered its second phase with officials asking for public input on the concept and initial plans.