2014 Fall Conference Site Sessions

At the Fall Conference for Community Foundations, all site sessions participants should grab lunch provided in Community Central from 12:30 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. and make their way to Junior Ballroom B for a pre-departure briefing.

Make the most of your learning tour experience by joining us for lunch and a fascinating overview of the urban challenges facing Cleveland during the last half of the 20th Century from one of the area’s most respected authorities on Cleveland history, as well as the response of the philanthropic community to those issues. You will not want to miss this informative presentation which will conclude with an upbeat presentation on Cleveland’s “new” identity!

Speakers: John J. Grabowski, PhD., Professor of History, Case Western Reserve University; Robert E. Eckardt, Dr. PH, Executive Vice President, Cleveland Foundation; Hannah Belsito, Director of Destination Development & Community Affairs, Positively Cleveland

Trolley boarding begins at 1:30 p.m.

Departure is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.

Site sessions are offered at no cost to conference attendees. If you are already registered for the conference and would like to add a site session to your registration, please complete and e-mail or fax back the site session registration form. If you are not yet registered for the conference, you can sign up for a site session during the registration process. We highly encourage you to sign up in advance for the site session of your choosing. Please send your completed registration form to registration@cof.org or fax it to 866-914-8107.

A Changing Landscape: Access, Research and the Future of Health Care

OVERVIEW AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Cleveland, renowned for its cutting-edge health care infrastructure, is not immune from the rapid changes that are affecting every sector of the industry. Unique programs and partnerships are addressing the changing environment from every angle, including early-career training, local workforce support through provider education, unique health access initiatives, and industry-leading research innovations. On this learning tour, we will gain an understanding of Cleveland’s most innovative and iconic public health organizations and programs, guided by program leaders and their philanthropic partners.

As you participate in this learning tour, you will have a chance to:

• Explore unique programs that have developed innovative ways to address health access and research investment, preparing the community for the changing landscape of the health care field.
• Understand the challenges and triumphs involved in addressing needs from the perspective of the providers, the participants, and the funders.
• Connect with thought leaders who are changing the way medical research and education are delivered.
• Discuss the role of public/philanthropic partnerships in maximizing the impact of strategic funding.

LEARNING TOUR AGENDA:

Innovative Solutions to Health Access

MetroHealth Mobile School Clinics & Care Alliance Health Center: Learn about MetroHealth's unique mobile clinic initiative that meets families where they are - at their children’s schools. This innovative project is expanding and its developers want to share their processes with others, to ensure effective solutions find a home in other communities. Also, hear from Care Alliance, an expanding Federally Qualified Health Center, about the challenges of providing health care to underserved populations and the possibilities for change in this new landscape.

Guided Tour of Cleveland's Health Care Infrastructure

The Hospitals and the Clinics: While traveling to the next location, you will receive a guided tour of the 100 years of impact the Cleveland Foundation has had on health care in the region.

Medical Education & the Future of Health Care

The Intersection of Education and Research:As the needs of the future medical workforce change, the Cleveland area is adapting to the challenge. The NEOMED partnership increases the number of economically disadvantaged students from Greater Cleveland that earn a doctor of medicine degree and return after residency to work in medically underserved communities in Northeast Ohio. The Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine is working to educate the next generation of medical researchers through a unique small-group model. The Case Western Reserve University Medical School is expanding its footprint and will integrate training for all medical disciplines under one roof. Additionally, the Joan C. Edwards Foundation is partnering with a Cleveland public school to provide scholarship opportunities to the next generation of doctors. Leaders from these institutions will join us to discuss how the future of healthcare is inspiring innovative approaches to healthcare education.

Speaker(s): Julie Jacono, MetroHealth; Francis Afram-Gyening or Kate Fox Nagel, Care Alliance; Bob Eckardt, TCF; Dr. Jim Young, Cleveland Clinic; Dr. Amy Wilson-Delfosse, Case Western Medical School; Dr. Sonya Harris-Haywood, NEOMED; Brian McDonald, The Joan C. Edwards Charitable Foundation.

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From Vision to Transformation: How the Arts Can Drive Community Change

OVERVIEW AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Three Cleveland cultural organizations have led the transformation of the physical appearance, the economic heart, and the lifeblood vibrancy of their formerly depressed city neighborhoods. A social-justice-focused progressive theater, a contemporary art museum and a major entertainment and theater complex have each been the visionary and the catalyst for the unlikely, but now commonplace,  partnerships and collaborations that are changing the face of Cleveland. Cleveland Public Theatre and the Gordon Square Arts District in a west side inner-city neighborhood, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the multi-anchor institution collaboration in the Uptown neighborhood – home to Cleveland’s cultural, health care and educational anchor institutions, and the historic downtown Playhouse Square theatre district, are changing how people live, work, and play in Cleveland.

As you participate in this learning tour, you will have a chance to:

• See three very different models of urban change and arts-led place-making.
• Learn how the vision, passion, persistence, and selfless commitment of the arts persuaded and brokered partnerships across community sectors to bring together the diversity of partners needed to transform their neighborhoods.
• Understand how foundations have created major initiatives to support these transformations, strengthen the arts institutions that have led and participated in them, and prepared the ground for the changing demographic shifts that are transforming the global footprint of all American cities.

LEARNING TOUR AGENDA:

Working Class and Culture Coexist.

Gordon Square Arts District/Cleveland Public Theatre: One commercial movie house, a passionate City Council member, a progressive Community Development Corporation, risk-taking local restaurant owners and housing developers follow the vision and leadership of an avant-garde nonprofit theater to give new creative life to a depressed inner city neighborhood.

A Cultural District Embraces its Neighborhood.

Uptown Arts and Entertainment District: The Museum for Contemporary Art’s chance to build a new, architecturally iconic home after years of near invisibility, generated the energy needed to bring major anchor institutions to the table around a shared vision of a transformed cultural district. Educational, medical, cultural institutions, regional transit, and developers came together along with area foundations to create the Greater University Circle Initiative --  an unprecedented cross-sector collaboration that has transformed the historic cultural center of the city.

Greater Than the Sum of its Parts.

Playhouse Square/ Hanna Theater: While the remarkable restoration of the Playhouse Square theaters is a story that may already be known to conferees, what is less known is how the cultural organization has developed real estate, brokered collaboration with media organizations, educational institutions, other cultural organizations and downtown businesses to make Playhouse Square one of the most eclectic – and livable neighborhoods in the city.

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Land Use as a Connector and Economic Driver

OVERVIEW AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Like many urban centers and industrial towns, Cleveland has been challenged in recent decades by drastic population declines and a surplus of vacant urban land. The great recession and foreclosure crisis have exacerbated the problem and restricted resources available to address urban blight. In Cleveland, public and private entities have worked together to transform vacant land and promote sustainable economic development. On this tour you will see outcomes of these collaborative efforts and learn about the role philanthropy can play in the effort to creatively re-use land in order to spur economic growth.

As you participate in this learning tour, you will have a chance to:

• Understand how public/private partnerships have leveraged a surplus of vacant industrial land to create economic opportunities and connect communities in Cleveland.
• Discuss, with thought leaders, diverse approaches to re-thinking land use.
• Consider the role community foundations and philanthropic organizations can play in supporting innovative land re-use initiatives.

LEARNING TOUR AGENDA:

Rivergate Park

Rivergate Park is a 2.8 acre parcel of land in the center of Cleveland’s Flats District. In 2010, a collaborative public-private effort transformed this tract of post-industrial land into a public recreational space. The development of the park enhanced the environmental quality of the riverfront site and improved public access to Cleveland’s waterfront resources.

Evergreen Cooperative - Green City Growers

An innovative model for building sustainable community wealth in depressed inner city neighborhoods, Evergreen Cooperatives is a network of worker-owned, community-based green businesses that leverage the substantial buying power of local anchor institutions. The co-op businesses serve local anchor institutions and employ local residents, connecting previously disparate neighbors and anchoring capital in low-income neighborhoods. In Cleveland’s Central neighborhood, city-owned brownfield land was transformed into a 3.25 acre, year-round hydroponic greenhouse for Evergreen’s Green City Growers. Like other Evergreen Cooperative businesses, Green City Growers is worker-owned and provides desirable green-collar jobs to area residents.

MidTown

Public-private partnerships in Cleveland’s MidTown district have transformed industrial brownfields and blighted buildings into valuable commercial space, and have developed one of the leading biomedical, healthcare and technology regions in the nation.

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Philanthropy's Role in Changing the Landscape of Out-of-School Time Programs

OVERVIEW AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES

In 2008, the Cleveland Foundation and its community partners rolled out My Commitment, My Community (“MyCom”), a youth development initiative that serves children from kindergarten through college. MyCom created several best practice components aiming to inspire and prepare Greater Cleveland’s young people to reach their full potential and become good citizens. The Out of School Time (“OST”) component challenges communities across the county to address youth and families’ most pressing need for access to safe, quality OST activities. In addition, a professional development component was created that infuses training, assessment tools and technical assistance to increase youth development competencies in MyCom partner agencies. This unique arrangement between Cuyahoga County, the Cleveland Foundation and Starting Point (an information and referral agency) has created a network throughout the community to address the need for alternate approaches to OST services.

On this learning tour, we will meet innovative providers who incorporate best practices in youth development and build skills of the young people who attend their programs.

As you participate in this learning tour, you will have a chance to:

• Explore different programs that address out of school time in innovative and replicable ways.
• Understand the successes and challenges from the provider, youth, families and funder perspectives.
• Connect with local stake holders to learn about their efforts to share methods and best practices.
• Discuss the role of public/philanthropic partnerships in maximizing outreach to youth and families

LEARNING TOUR AGENDA:

Part I: Rainey Institute Visit

The Role of Funders in Out of School Time: Learn about the unique public-private partnership that supports MyCom OST programming in Cuyahoga County.

Addressing Program Access: The Rainey Institute will showcase its innovative music program, El Sistema, for elementary and middle school youth.   Also learn about best practices in elementary and middle school-age programming, recruitment, retention and family and youth engagement.

Part II: New Bridge: Cleveland Center for Arts and Technology Visit

Addressing Program Quality: Tour this high-tech, high-quality facility which rethinks job training and youth arts programs.  NewBridge provides career training for unemployed, underemployed, and displaced adults and after-school digital arts and ceramics classes for urban high school students.

Addressing Neighborhood Services: Discussion of the role of neighborhood institutions in the MyCom network in mobilizing residents, providers, youth, businesses, government, schools and faith-based organizations to identify types of services needed for youth and families. 

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