Cleveland Neighborhood Progress has announced that it will be hosting two CLE City Life tours on Saturday, November 29th and Saturday, December 27th.

"Cleveland Neighborhood Progress is pleased to offer citywide bus tours to introduce (or re-introduce) you to some of the coolest and most unique places to live in Northeast Ohio," the website states. "Join us and see why Tremont and Ohio City receive so much publicity. We’ll  show you why University Circle is considered the most intellectual square mile in the nation. And you’ll understand why demand is so high for Downtown living options. All this and more!"

The cost of the tour is $12. You can register here.

Ask a millennial about the east-west divide and their eyebrows usually rise and knit over their black frame glasses. These days, west side shops are popping up on the east side, while east side institutions are making inroads west.

Young people born in Cleveland in the 90s don't feel a sense of nostalgia for the city's heyday. Instead, they see an increasingly vibrant city as a place of opportunity, provided we stay on our current path.

In this candid, wide-ranging interview, the leader of the Cleveland Foundation discusses its centennial gifts, the Greater University Circle Initiative, the Transformation Plan and more.

Talent attraction/retention nonprofit Engage! Cleveland has officially kicked off a series of Cleveland-friendly social activities and professional development opportunities through its first annual Cleveland Young Professionals Week.

The weeklong succession of cost-free events aimed at the youthful and talented began Monday and will continue through Oct. 11, says Engage! Cleveland executive director Ashley Basile Oeken. Each day will feature a variety of around-the-clock happenings on both the East and West Side, including fitness classes at local studios, speaker-centric "lunch-and-learn" programs, and nightly networking get-togethers. That's 25 events over six days, if you're counting.

"You hear about other cities and how they've engaged young professionals," says Basile Oeken. "We wanted a signature event to put our name on."

Programming is generally aimed at people age 21 to 40, although the nonprofit is inclusive of anyone who considers themselves a YP. Events are filling up, notes Basile Oeken, so if you're interested in a spinning class at Harness Cycle or listening to a talk by PlayhouseSquare president Art Falco, it's best to act fast.

Basile Oeken views Engage! Cleveland's first-ever CLE YP Week as a chance to show off everything the city has to offer, whether to a lifelong resident or someone who moved here a month ago. Attracting and retaining young talent means linking it to influential leaders and local organizations, she believes.

"It's acclimating people to how much is going on in Cleveland," says Basile Oeken. "There's an opportunity to get everyone living in this community to support it collectively."

While programming will end with a closing party at Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, the nonprofit director expects the energy generated by a week's worth of events to resonate throughout the year.

"If you're involved, Cleveland can sell itself," Basile Oeken says. "People are more likely to stay when they're engaged."

Urban Orchid, a floral boutique that opened in Ohio City in 2011, recently celebrated the opening of a second location at 2062 Murray Hill Road in Little Italy. The new shop is located inside an elegant, historic church converted to retail space. With business booming, the owners needed an east side workspace for arrangements and deliveries on the other side of town. Larger arrangements for weddings and other events are still being done in Ohio City.

"We wanted to keep it in the city, but we wanted to be in another neighborhood with a similar feel to Ohio City," says Jeffrey Zelmer, who owns Urban Orchid with Brandon Seitler, a floral designer. "We thought Little Italy was a good opportunity."

Zelmer describes the new space as possessing "amazing" architecture; it offers soaring ceilings, hardwood floors and many other historic features. The owners worked with local contractors John Paul Costello and Alex Loos to custom-build furnishings and work stations using reclaimed materials. "We tried to enhance the architecture of the space, and not mask it off," says Zelmer of the build-out.

The new location boasts a choir loft that allows visitors to get a bird's eye view of the space. Zelmer and Seitler are considering hosting pop-up shops there.

The company already has 75 weddings booked for this year and additional staff has been brought on to keep up with demand. "Brandon’s design capabilities and floral style are exceptional and people really respond to it," says Zelmer. "The word of mouth spead like wildfire. We also carry a really interesting line of locally made merchandise that can’t be found in other places. People are attuned to wanting to shop local, and we are a local business that carries local artists."
 

Tampa Bay successfully hosted the Republicans in 2012, and Denver hosted the Democrats four years before that. Fresh Water decided to reach out to representatives from each city to see if our fair city could glean some best practices on how to pull off a successful -- and inclusive -- convention.

As the 2014 Gay Games play out with eclectic events all over town, it becomes clear how they will leave a lasting positive effect on the host city of Cleveland. Uniting beneath a banner of inclusion, collaboration and unity, participants and sponsors establish a spirit that will endure long after the lights have dimmed and the last athlete has left the track.

Artists are often the first to move into urban neighborhoods, and also the first to move out when rents escalate. Yet in the post-recession landscape, many communities are working with artists to transform blight, engage residents and reimagine their neighborhoods.

There has been a flood of new businesses that tout the city through an assortment of Cleveland-themed apparel and products or by integrating the city name right into the company’s branding. Many point to the recent recession as the dawn of this entrepreneurial movement, which coincided with a newfound pride of place.

There's more than one way to get around Cleveland. As more and more alternative transportation options like Lyft, Uber and pedicabs enter the local market, residents are discovering that it's increasingly becoming easier to leave the wheels at home. Fresh Water took them for a test drive.

Sometimes, even the most adventurous resident can grow a little too comfortable living in the same city after a while. But one can always find something new to discover if we just dig a little deeper. Lucky for us, a number of smartphone apps will help the explorer in all of us get reacquainted with the city we call home.

It's been four and a half years since the first edition of "Moon Handbooks: Cleveland" was published. Considering all that has taken place in Cleveland during that time, author and Fresh Water managing editor Douglas Trattner says that for the second edition, which was released this week, he went back to the starting gate.

Each summer, throngs of people flock to the streets to partake in arts festivals, art walks and marquee arts events. Many are free and no two are exactly alike. With art mediums that include paintings, sculpture, glassware, photography, leather, jewelry and performance art, there’s something for everybody.

If you're considering a move to Cleveland, there might be no better means to examine the broad range of residential options than by hopping aboard a City Life tour hosted by Cleveland Neighborhood Progress. In a few short hours, participants enjoy an immersive dive into a number of Cleveland's most in-demand neighborhoods.
 

On Thursday, May 1, Global Cleveland will officially launch its talent attraction campaign at a major event at the Cleveland Convention Center. The event -- like the organization hosting it -- is focused on increasing the population while strengthening the local economy.