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Mapping long-term economic success for the people of Cleveland

Image by DJ Johnson
Image by DJ Johnson

Imagine you are on a walk down Euclid avenue, cutting through Cleveland's downtown area:

At first glance, you notice the city's sparkling skyscrapers, 

Image by DJ Johnson
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its state-of-the-art medical and academic facilities,

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and thriving art communities.

Cleveland seems to have it all. Cuyahoga County sits in the top 1% of US counties with the highest GDP.

But the city also sits on one very troubling statistic.

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Only a few blocks down the street, the view paints a very different story. 

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In 2023, Cleveland was ranked second in poverty among big cities in the US.

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With a total of 162,000 vacant properties, Cleveland has enough deserted space to cover three airports.

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You can see these statistics come alive when you move around in the city. For example, these two neighborhoods are less than a 5 minute drive apart.

But where does this disconnect — between the city's wealth of resources and its communities in most need of support — come from? 

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Residents and datasets have pointed to a common culprit: systemic racism.

In spite of an array of disparate solutions, poverty persists in the city’s disenfranchised communities, a testament to the historic legacy of racist policies and practices in the city.

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However, the city has no shortage of good intentions: over 8,000 non-profits, as well as governmental and private institutions, operate across Cuyahoga county to serve its people.

But each organization maintains its own approach and definition of success.

For the city to achieve large-scale, lasting success, we must look beyond bandaid solutions and target systems-level change.

We must reset the table.
 

This website aims to be a first step in rallying Cleveland around an urban agenda. By mapping different organizations and the opportunities they offer, this website should encourage collaboration among the business, philanthropic, governmental, and residential communities.

Each interactive tool reveals a new perspective on the potential for and power of collective action:

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