There are more stories to be told in any community than even the best-resourced outlets can cover. That is true in spades for an outlet of our sizes, and a fact that we constantly bemoan. But lamentations are most helpful when they lead to action. So today we are launching Quick Hits, which we in the moment conceive of as rapid but hopefully useful first takes on issues and events of the day.
We start with some initial observations of The Cleveland Foundation’s big moment: the official grand opening of its new headquarters building in the heart of the city. The location itself is splendid, on the Healthline at the midpoint between the city’s primary wealth centers: downtown and University Circle. Of equal importance, the site at 6601 Euclid Ave is at the southern edge of Cleveland’s Hough community, an intentional gateway to a long-maligned and under-resourced community.
Relocation of the Foundation’s offices from Playhouse Square’s downtown arts district is a clear reflection of leadership’s intent to become more open and engaged in the community. Figuratively, it is a descent from a mostly un-accessible mountaintop to the plains of the community, holding out the promise of both greater engagement and transparency. Those changes are in no small way symbolized by the fact that come August 1, the Foundation’s top leaders will both be women: Connie Hill-Johnson in her second year as Chair of the Board, and the accession of Lillian Kuri as President and CEO.
Our first experience of the new building reinforces the notion that the Foundation has entered a new and promising era. We didn’t go on the building tour, but what we saw on the first floor was more than enough to overwhelm the senses. Light and openness were everywhere. The doors and walls all seemed translucent, creating a vibe of openness and transparency. There is a feeling that this is the public’s space, quite fitting for the nation’s first community foundation. Even the exterior permits lots of places to see what’s transpiring on the ground floor. And the Foundation’s Neighborhood Connections program, has its own entrance near the building’s northwest corner, usefully convenient to its new Hough neighbors.
We are eager to see how this gorgeous environment shapes and reflects Foundation priorities and actions as it moves deeper into its second century of community impact and policy, and hopefully finding and supporting new and more effective solutions to community challenges both old and new.
And we’ll be interested to see if the first floor and exterior motifs of community engagement and transparency are translated to the upper floors where the work gets done and the decisions get made.
Another player in the civic scene, vastly less wealthy and less than half the Foundation’s age, made news yesterday. The Cleveland Leadership Center announced the new class of selectees for its original and still signature program, Leadership Cleveland. Sixty-four people were announced, including names both familiar and not, from organizations both well-known and below the radar.
The release triggered the usual game of “who got in” [word is you typically need nomination from a program alum]. And there are always surprises like, Cecil Lipscomb [United Black Fund CEO for more than a decade] is just now joining? Ditto for Karamu President + CEO Tony Sias. And there is delight in seeing rising stars like Teleangé Thomas [chief operating and relationship officer at JumpStart], Shakorie Davis [President and CEO, Next Generation Construction], community institutional leaders like Jazmin Long of Birthing Beautiful Communities, Yolanda Armstrong of Friendly Inn Settlement, and Domonic Hopson of Neighborhood Family Practice; and longtime low-profile civic contributors like Dana Capers at Fifth Third Bank, Lisa Farmer Cole with Cleveland Schools, and Ralph Johnson of Breakthrough Schools.
A final entry in today’s quick hits is about a real hitter. Josh Naylor of the Guardians seems to have been on a tear the past month or two, shooting up the list of batting leaders in the American League. He’s been driving in runs at better than one per game [nine RBI in the last two games]. He doesn’t really look like an athlete, but he is. Which is one of the great things about baseball: unlike most sports the game accommodates players of all shapes and sizes. If you have a superior skill — hitting, pitching, fielding, running, throwing — there is a place for you on the diamond and on a roster.
Babe Ruth didn’t look like an athlete, with his massive upper body, stick legs, and baby trot. But he was of course the Sultan of Swat, and before that, a helluva pitcher. And, we think Josh Naylor kinda resembles a Baby Babe in body type. And lately in results.
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