Fairfax
Fairfax - photo Bob Perkoski
The Fairfax neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland is home to a variety of famed Northeast Ohio institutions, not the least of which is Kamaru House, established in 1917 as the first interracial theater and/or arts center. Its “new” neighbor, the Cleveland Clinic, set up shop in 1920. Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp. aids the community through a variety of programs and initiatives. Recently, the organization has helped foster intergenerational housing for grandparents raising their grandchildren.
Neighborhood Connections announced this week that it has approved $382,114 in grants to support 121 projects in Cleveland and East Cleveland. Cuyahoga Arts & Culture will co-fund 27 of the resident-led arts and culture projects. Read about what community groups are doing with the funding to improve our neighborhoods.
The Mandel Foundation's Neighborhood Leadership Development Program (NLDP) has been producing neighborhood leaders since 2006. The younger Community Development Corporation Leadership Program (CDCLP) successfully empowers CDC leaders to create positive change in the communities they represent. Both programs are now looking for the next cohort of community leaders.
GardenWalk Cleveland will feature more than 400 gardens in 11 Cleveland neighborhoods this weekend—showing off the work, creativity, and neighborhood pride of local gardeners.
The Saint Luke's Foundation announced this week that it has granted more the $1.4 million in grants to 11 area organizations that are working toward strengthening Cleveland neighborhoods.
In early April, the City of Cleveland, Enterprise Community Partners, Cuyahoga Land Bank, CHN Housing Partners, Legal Aid Society of Cleveland, and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless united with Rocket Community Fund to unveil the Make It Home Cleveland program. Aiming to address tax foreclosure and improve Black homeownership rates in East Side neighborhoods, the initiative offers renters the chance to become homeowners through financial support and housing stability services.
Billionaire and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott last week awarded Towards Employment $2 million—the largest donation in its history—and also awarded gifts to Birthing Beautiful Communities, LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland, and Fairfax Renaissance Development.
After years of planning and collaborating, the next step in Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation's Innovation Square Neighborhood Plan—Aura at Innovation Square—became a reality this week with a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Business is booming for three local entrepreneurs at the new Meijer Fairfax Market. Read the stories of Desira Sallee of D’s Sweet Treats & More, Andrea Catlin of Catlin Naturals, and Charlotte Peachie Tufts of O Taste & C as they find retail success.
FreshWater managing photographer Bob Perkoski provides a peek into the everyday lives of Clevelanders going about their business in the neighborhoods and on the streets of Cleveland.
Antioch Baptist Church, Cleveland's second-oldest Black church, will kick off its 130th anniversary celebration Saturday by duplicating its historic walk from its old church to its current church. The celebration continues next weekend with a block party.
Terrence Spivey hasn't missed a beat since he stepped down from his position as Karamu House artistic director in 2016. Now he has been invited to stage his latest play about the slave ship, the Clotilda, "An Ocean in My Bones," in Cleveland.
Cleveland Masterworks: The 1930s Tudor Arms building. designed by Frank Meade, has seen a rich history, from its origins as the exclusive Cleveland Club, to a hotel and nightlife hotspot, to the current modern-day hotel.
Too many Clevelanders, especially those living in the city's predominantly Black and underserved neighborhoods, struggle to make ends meet as a result of unemployment and underemployment. Many area organizations are working hard to meet the needs of people. Three Cleveland organizations are taking grassroots, creative approaches to supplying basic resources.
Neighborhood disinvestment and quality housing are two of the top reasons why racism is considered a public health crisis. But residents in some Black Cleveland neighborhoods are investing time and effort to make their neighborhoods safe, bright, and beautiful.
There are many efforts are underway at farms, community gardens, markets, social service organizations, and public agencies to nourish communities like Cleveland—the nation’s poorest big city—where food deserts are common and healthy foods are not the cheapest, most affordable, or most accessible options.
In this second part of our two part series on affordable housing and racism, we look at the efforts the City of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, nonprofits, and neighborhood CDCs are making to improve affordable housing options and how to ensure safe and affordable housing is not discriminatory.
Affordable housing is one of the most critical basic needs of everyone. But Cleveland is lacking in affordable, quality housing, experts say, and the Black population is most impacted. While Cleveland and many neighborhood CDCs are working to improve affordable housing options, the need—especially in Black communities—is still great.
Cleveland Masterworks: Woodland Cemetery in the Central neighborhood is one of the city's earliest examples of the mid-19th Century garden cemeteries—rural landscaped areas that encourage visitors to linger. Woodland Cemetery hosts a large cross-section of Cleveland residents, political leaders, and people involved in about every controversy of the 19th Century.
DigitalC, the local nonprofit that is focused on connecting the unconnected, has expanded its high-speed internet connections in seven different Cleveland neighborhoods—including about 1,000 residents in four CMHA properties.
The Innovation Square project is set to bring a mixed-use, mixed-income district along the Opportunity Corridor on Cleveland’s southeast side. Along with the new Meijer grocery story, neighborhood residents, business owners, and officials see potential for Fairfax to become an emerging, thriving neighborhood.