East, West, North and South -- it's getting easier and easier to score a hot, fresh and delicious meal from a food truck. In just three years' time, the Cleveland food truck scene has zoomed from 0 to 60, with dozens of rigs scattered all over town. Here's a little help finding them.

In the age of digital everything, self-published periodicals are enjoying a bit of a revival. Geared towards those who prefer the tactile sensation of thumbing through an honest-to-goodness magazine, these indie pubs are filling voids left by declining mainstream print.

At times it seems like everybody living in this town was born in this town. After all, who would choose to settle here unless they had deep family roots? We introduce four transplants who moved to Cleveland and never looked back. Not only have they made the most of it; they've made a life of it.

Global Cleveland recently launched its Asian Initiative, a program to attract and retain Asian talent to the region. “Asians are now the fastest growing and most educated population in the U.S.,” says Meran Rogers, Global Cleveland’s director of community affairs, adding that Cleveland has seen a 49-percent increase in Asians between 2000 and 2010.

Those numbers prompted Global Cleveland to reach out to various groups in the Asian community to identify focus areas of the initiative. The group hosted 30 Asian community leaders in March at a launch meeting. “We identified three main strategies for the overall Global Cleveland mission,” says Rogers. “To attract and retain Asian newcomers who will support the growth and talent needs of businesses and industries; assist Asian newcomers and young professionals in establishing roots; and foster an inclusive and welcoming community for Asians.”
 
Rogers points out that while Global Cleveland is spearheading the initiative, it’s really about supporting the goals of an already-strong Asian presence in Cleveland. “It was really important to work with all of the leaders and find out what they want to do and then help them do it,” says Rogers. Global Cleveland is working closely with groups like MotivAsians for Cleveland and Asian Services in Action (Asia, Inc.) to attain these goals.
 
Part of the program includes promoting the job fairs in IT, biomedical research and healthcare, as well as educating employers on the importance of hiring international talent. “Over half the population is foreign-born, so a lot of growth has to do with immigration,” says Rogers. “We’re really promoting the job fairs to the Asian community.”
 
Rogers says they also plan to be involved in plans to better connect AsiaTown. “Cleveland is known for AsiaTown and there are plans for improvement, to find ways to connect the different areas because they are very cut up,” she says. “Retention is dependent on how connected people feel.”

 
Source: Meran Rogers
Writer: Karin Connelly

For some, the term "Rust Belt" conjures unpleasant images of empty factories, foreclosed homes and unhappy people wandering cracked streets, wondering when times will get better. But what's really happening in some of the Midwest's major cities, and how different is it from the way these cities are often depicted?

Jack Storey thinks he has an answer. The impassioned city advocate has created a documentary chronicling what he believes is a more accurate representation of resilient cities working on reinventing themselves.

"Red, White & Blueprints" is an examination of the strides being taken by Cleveland, St. Louis, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo and Youngstown, highlighting the most innovative initiatives, individuals and ideas coming out of these cities.

"It's a positive movie about the Rust Belt, which nobody is really doing," says Storey, 30. "We're showcasing another side of these cities."

Storey, founder of the grassroots community development organization Saving Cities, spent two weeks in the summer of 2011 traveling and taking footage with friend Rick Stockburger. He met steelworkers and autoworkers, entrepreneurs and politicians, all with their own ideas on how to boost their respective homes. Locally, he interviewed figures including Gina Prodan from Unmiserable Cleveland and Katie O'Keefe, better known as "the pink-haired tattoo girl."

Storey, of Collinwood, learned just how tough Midwesterners are. More surprising was how deeply the people he met cared about their city's livelihood. "It was the most educational experience of my life," he says.

"Red, White & Blueprints" debuted this week at Cleveland International Film Festival. (Screens tonight at 6:30 p.m. on stand-by.) Storey hopes the film gives viewers a truer vision of what it means to live in Cleveland and other less heralded parts of the country.
 
 
SOURCE: Jack Storey
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

Some creative, outside-the-box thinking by the city's leading urban design and cycling advocates has led to the creation of four additional "bike boxes," which are to be installed this spring in various Cleveland neighborhoods.

The newest wave of bike boxes are modeled after a successful pilot project at Nano Brew in Ohio City. That installation transformed a steel shipping container into a colorful curbside bike garage for two-wheeled visitors.

By offering secure, covered parking in a bike corral that also functions as dynamic, placemaking public art, the Bridge Avenue bike box does more than simply provide practical parking: It brands the city as a place that prioritizes cycling.

"It's really a center of gravity," says Greg Peckham, Managing Director of LAND Studio, the nonprofit that spearheaded the project with Bike Cleveland. "It's as much about a safe, convenient, protected place to park your bike as it is about making a statement that cycling is an important mode of transportation in the city."

Peckham says that Ohio City's bike box is very well used on days when the West Side Market is open and in the evening when riders coast in for dinner or a drink. With the street's bike racks often at capacity, the bike box was critical, he says.

The new bike boxes will be installed in time for Bike Month in May. The locations are Gordon Square (a barn-red beauty outside Happy Dog), Tremont (two "half loaves," as Peckham calls them, outside South Side and Tremont Tap House), St. Clair Superior (location TBD) and a final, undetermined community.

The bike boxes are being custom-fabricated by Rust Belt Welding, which is an entrepreneurial duo that has made creative bike parking a calling card for their work. Each of the boxes is being designed with neighborhood input -- hence Tremont's half-boxes, which amount to a shipping container split in two.

The project is being supported by Charter One Growing Communities, which has also funded retail attraction efforts in Ohio City, downtown and St. Clair Superior.

Peckham says the new designs accommodate more bikes and use lighter colors. Users can expect more innovations in the future -- LAND Studio is working to secure funding so that green roofs and solar panels can be added to the boxes.

The bike boxes are being maintained through partnerships with neighboring businesses, which agree to maintain, clean and keep secure the facilities.


Source: Greg Peckham
Writer: Lee Chilcote

For those who don't already know, Cleveland is a place where culture, education, creativity and innovation flourishes affordably. At least, that's the message city boosters are trying to sell to mobile young professionals. According to who you ask, that strategy is either working, working slowly, or not working well at all.

During the mid-2000s, local newspapers ran stories with evocative phrases like "quiet crisis" and "brain drain" in lamenting the flight of young, talented minds from Cleveland.

Bob Yanega saw those negative headlines, too, and decided he wanted to do something about it. Yanega, a self-professed "serial entrepreneur" with a background in commercial construction and real estate, is the creator of Choosing Success Programs, a Cleveland-centric advocacy project aimed at area high school students.

The program provides live, in-school presentations showing students how to connect with the opportunities right in their own backyard. The goal is to motivate youth to become passionate, lifelong residents of Northeast Ohio.

"Many kids don't have parents who expose them to what's great here," says Yanega, of Larchmere. "We need to sell Cleveland to young people."

Yanega has been giving Choosing Success talks at local high schools for the last 18 months. Along with providing students with tips on college and career choices, he also mixes in a "sales pitch" about Cleveland, pointing to the city's affordability, increasing job rate and wealth of cultural options.

Choosing Success, under the umbrella of its parent organization The 1990 Project, recently received a boost as one of the winners of The Cleveland Colectivo's fast- pitch presentation event. The program now has a chance to get some much-needed funding from the giving circle, and Yanega believes his brainchild is worth it.

"We're presenting facts about the city," Yanega says. "Keeping the next generation in town is a powerful, broad-based message."

 
SOURCE: Bob Yanega
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

During a recent address at the City Club of Cleveland, Joel Ratner of Neighborhood Progress Inc. touted recent success stories that the nonprofit has invested in, including a new home for The Intergenerational School underway at the Saint Luke's campus.

Ratner believes that even though Cleveland has been hard hit by the foreclosure crisis, the city can stabilize its population and begin to grow again through promoting thoughtful, equitable, synergistic development that helps everyone succeed.

"For a long time, there was a debate over whether it makes sense to invest in people or place," said Ratner. "However, we believe it should be people and place."

Ratner cited Pittsburgh as an example of a city whose population has been right-sized and has even begun to grow again in recent years.

As examples of why community development matters, Ratner presented statistics showing that neighborhoods where NPI invested heavily over the past decade not only fell less steeply in the recession, but are also coming back more quickly than others. He also believes that every Cleveland neighborhood can be successful.

Ratner touted the recently-announced Slavic Village Reclaim Project, which leverages private investment by Safeco Properties and Forest City to help rehab 2,000+ properties on 440 acres, as one example of innovative best practices.

He also cited NPI's partnership with the Key Bank Financial Education Center to help low-income residents build wealth through savings and investment programs. Through a possible merger with Cleveland Neighborhood Development Coalition and LiveCleveland, Ratner hopes to begin serving additional neighborhoods.


Source: Joel Ratner
Writer: Lee Chilcote

Imagine having an online resource with the information needed to custom design your own career path. That’s what the UNCOMN.TV does. This project identifies what employers need in employees, what educators need to be teaching students, and what students need to be doing to snag jobs -- thus helping to turn brain drain into brain gain.

Cuyahoga County residents have picked which two large-scale projects will get funding through the Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC) Creative Culture Grants competition.

* Dancing Wheels received $130,421 for a television documentary that will expand on the dance company's performance of the multi-media ballet, Dumbo. The film will explore issues of bullying and social injustice using the life stories of artists and community figures.

* LAND studio was awarded $150,000 to fund a multi-faceted light installation illuminating public spaces in downtown Cleveland.

Both projects were selected by 6,500 county residents in a public voting process held February 1-20. The winning arts programs, scheduled for completion in 2014, were chosen from a list of six finalists selected by an independent panel of arts and culture experts.

Officials from competition sponsor CAC were pleased by the voter turnout, and believe the winning projects will engage the region in creative ways.

"All six finalists had a different spin on how to connect arts and culture to the community," says CAC executive director Karen Gahl-Mills. "The two winners did a great job of reaching out to the general public."

CAC's pilot voting program revealed just how much creativity exists in the area, Gahl-Mills maintains. "It was delightful to see it come forward in new, exciting ways," she says.

The nonprofit is now assessing the program for possible future iterations. Gahl-Mills is not certain CAC will put on an annual public vote, but she can certainly envision county residents stuffing the ballot boxes for future arts projects.

"It's a great investment of public dollars," she says. "It isn't just the organizations that win; the community wins, too."

 
SOURCE: Karen Gahl-Mills
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

Last week at the 2013 Movers and Shakers Awards, the Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club honored 25 area professionals under the age of 35 who are active in their communities. The event was held at Ariel International Center.
 
The up-and-coming leaders were honored for their work as volunteers or board members in the communities and businesses they are involved in. The keynote speaker was Jonathon Sawyer, chef-owner of Greenhouse Tavern and Noodlecat.
 
Sawyer spoke about moving back to Cleveland and how he and his wife wanted to make a difference in the city. He set out to open Cleveland’s first green certified restaurant, eventually succeeding and opening the Greenhouse Tavern. He spoke about his excitement that Cleveland is becoming recognized for its restaurant scene.
 
Honorees included Ryan Anderson, Chijioke Asomugha, Andrew Bennett, Emily Campbell, Michael Christoff, Rachel Ciomcia, Samantha Schartman-Cycyk, Katie Davis, Dave Diffendal, James Gasparatos, Donté Gibbs, John Hagerty, John Hausman, Julie L. Hill, Dominique LaRochelle, Amanda Leffler, Amanda Maggiotto, Timothy McCue, Kelly McGlumphy, Bryan Schauer, Lori Scott, Brent Shelley, Jeff Sobieraj, Jessica Wallis and Jonathan Wehner.
 
Gautam Pai, president of the 20/30 Club, stressed the importance of honoring young professionals.

“We hear constantly that young professionals are the future,” says Pai. “However, the future is the result of those things we're doing right now, in the present. Movers and Shakers is the Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club's opportunity to showcase those young professionals that are doing just that:  Making positive contributions right now and serving as leading examples for all to follow.”

 
Sources: Gautam Pai
Writer: Karin Connelly

Filing a federal income tax return is far from the most enjoyable activity one can do. It can even be intimidating for people who don't understand the process or know they are eligible for an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit providing free tax preparation and other services to low- and middle-income Cuyahoga County residents, aims to bridge the knowledge gap and help hard-working individuals and families keep more of what they earned. Nationwide last year, the average credit handed out was about $2,200, but the credit can provide as much as $5,900.

"About 20 percent of people eligible for [EITC] don't claim it," says Mark McDermott, Enterprise vice president and Ohio market leader. "We get the word out."

That word is spread in conjunction with the Cuyahoga County Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition and a host of other local partner organizations. This tax season, Enterprise has recruited over 350 IRS-certified volunteers to assist in the effort.

Eligible residents can access the free service by dialing the United Way of Greater Cleveland's 2-1-1 help line. Appointments are scheduled at one of 25 sites located throughout the country. There are also a handful of Saturday free tax-preparation events taking place right up until filing day.

During the past seven years, more than 55,000 participants have received over $77 million in refunds and saved millions of dollars in fees from paid tax preparers, notes program director Kathy Matthews.

"That's about $13 million going back into the local economy," says Matthews.

Tax help isn't Enterprise's only offering. Those who use the service also have access to benefit screenings, debt management and more.

"The tax work is our foundation," says McDermott. "This has proven to be a great program."
 
 
SOURCES: Mark McDermott, Kathy Matthews
WRITER: Douglas J. Guth

Rene Polin founded his design consulting firm, Balance Inc., in Chagrin Falls. Yet as he grew, he felt cut off from creative opportunities in Cleveland. In October, he moved his eight-person, nine-year-old firm to 5,500 square feet of open, custom-built office space in the Tyler Village complex in St. Clair Superior.

"Tyler was the most interesting space we found," he says. "It had great character, an incredibly open floor plan and high ceilings. There was the opportunity to build the space exactly our way as well as to build a physical workshop for prototyping."

"Our offices in Chagrin Falls were a little formal, and we're really pretty informal," he adds. "This space is great because it allows us to run around a little more freely."

Polin has also enjoyed the opportunity to get to know his neighbors at Tyler Village, a place he describes as having the amenities of an industrial park, but "so much cooler." It's also a perk that food trucks regularly show up at chow time.

"The Tyler folks are genuinely interested in bringing forward-thinking companies into the space," he says. "They reach out to companies that are bringing something new. There's a certain vibe and energy you can’t find a lot of other places."

Balance Inc. is one of those forward-thinking companies. Polin, an East Cleveland native, majored in Industrial Design at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Balance works on products like Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners and Ninja kitchen gear.

When the work gets boring -- which we imagine rarely happens -- employees can now find inspiration simply in staring out the window. "We have a straight shot to the north, so we get some pretty incredible sky views. It's a pretty good vista."


Source: Rene Polin
Writer: Lee Chilcote

For a number of years at the tail end of the 20th century, Greater Cleveland's public and private leaders attempted to pull the city up through ambitious marketing campaigns. For awhile it seemed to work. The national media began referring to Cleveland as the "Comeback City" in conjunction with the grand openings of ambitious projects like Tower City Center, Jacobs Field and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
 
But toward the end of the '90s a strange thing happened: The city, for all intents and purposes, stopped marketing itself.
 
Why?
 
"We began to believe our own press," says Rick Batyko, president of the Regional Marketing Alliance of Northeast Ohio, which conducts the Cleveland Plus campaign. And civic officials "moved on to other tasks and defunded marketing."
 
In essence, Northeast Ohio stopped telling its tale with the tale barely begun -- a rather large mistake in retrospect. "The underlying economy wasn't doing that well," Batyko says. "That's something you couldn't see in the skyline shots."
 
During the mid-2000s, the region's narrative thread was picked up by Cleveland Plus campaign. Established in 2005 -- with founding members that included Greater Cleveland Partnership, Positively Cleveland and Team NEO -- the organization champions Northeast Ohio as a culturally rich, yet affordable place to live.
 
Read the rest of the story here.