Spectrum this week awarded the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) a $25,000 grant to support workforce development programs—further strengthening a multi-year partnership to improve economic mobility in Cleveland’s underserved neighborhoods.

(l-r) CMHA Commissioner Diane Howard, Ohio State Senator Nickie Antonio, CMHA CEO Jefferey Patterson, Spectrum Director of State Government Affairs Ashley Karlen, and Ohio State Representative Tristan Rader.The funding comes through Spectrum Community Center Assist (SCCA), the company’s philanthropic initiative focused on revitalizing community centers and expanding access to jobs in both urban and rural areas. Spectrum has contributed a total of $157,000 to CMHA over the past four years.

“We work with community centers in underserved rural and urban communities where there is a need for job skills training for the people in those local communities,” says Mike Hogan, spokesperson for Spectrum’s Great Lakes Region.

In 2025 alone, more than 600 job seekers advanced their employment goals through CMHA’s workforce development initiatives at the Spectrum Training & Technology Center at Lakeview Community Center located in CMHA’s Lakeview Terrace in Ohio City.

Hogan says CMHA’s success rate has made it a stand-out example of Spectrum’s SCCA initiative.

Cleveland participants have attended job fairs, gone to targeted skills workshops and received personalized digital support—helping connect job seekers directly to employers. Since the partnership began in 2022, more than 2,000 residents have received job training through the program.

“At each location, Spectrum invests in the community center’s job training efforts with cash grants and in-kind contributions, improves physical classroom spaces, sponsors rebuilding events with volunteers to repair and enhance the physical buildings, and provides new equipment, including laptops and furniture,” Hogan says, adding that additional benefits are often provided at individual centers.

“When we dedicated Lakeview’s Spectrum Training & Technology Center, we provided Chromebooks, a Smartboard, and its advanced 1-gigabit-per-second internet service,” he says.

Spectrum employee volunteers help landscape the outside of the Lakeview Terrace Community Center as part of its Spectrum Community Center Assist program launched with Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority in 2022.By the end of 2025, Spectrum Community Center Assist had revitalized more than 60 community centers nationwide, serving nearly 60,000 people through training and outreach efforts.

“There is usually one navigator at each center that teaches the jobs training program,” Hogan says. “It really depends on the community center, staffing, schedules, etcetera.”

The initiative is part of a broader effort across Northeast Ohio in which Spectrum partners with multiple organizations to support community-based programs.

“We work throughout the Cleveland Metropolitan area through our various philanthropic programs—including Spectrum Community Center Assist, Spectrum Digital Education, and Spectrum Employee Community Grant programs,” explains Hogan.

“Since 2017, we’ve provided grants to more than 40 different organizations in Northeast Ohio.”

Hogan says employment remains a central focus of Spectrum’s community investments and says job training plays a large role in strengthening Cleveland neighborhoods and expanding opportunities. He notes one individual success story that reflects the program’s long-term impact.

“We had a past participant of the program who became a navigator at Lakeview Terrace,” Hogan recalls. “It was nice to see a past participant using her skills to help others in the community.”