2013 June

25 Jun: Miss the Fair Housing Forums? Presentations now available on-line

June Fair Housing Presentations The NEOSCC is currently undertaking a study to evaluate fair housing throughout the 12 Counties of Northeast Ohio.  It is known as a Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice. In mid-June 2013, through a series of Fair Housing Presentations, we reached out to the 12 Counties to present draft data and listen to your thoughts on this important issue. The documents below represent the data and draft findings from the presentations given on each County during June 18 through 20. Please continue to provide your feedback through our Fair Housing Surveys and by reading and reviewing our draft report. Comments will be accepted until July 9th.   Ashtabula County – Slides | Handout Cuyahoga County – Slides | Handout Geauga County – Slides | Handout Lake County – Slides | Handout Lorain County – Slides | Handout Mahoning County – Slides | Handout Medina County – Slides | Handout Portage County – Slides | Handout Stark County – Slides | Handout Summit County – Slides | Handout Trumbull County – Slides | Handout Wayne County – Slides | Handout    

21 Jun: Imagining Your Northeast Ohio!

       Last week NEOSCC launched an online game: Imagine My NEO. Imagine My NEO puts users in the shoes of a policy maker, allowing them to design their own community by ranking priorities, projects, and policies they wish to see in the future of our communities. The game is designed to gather input from residents of Northeast Ohio, and will be used in the next phase of the NEOSCC project of implementing the planned scenarios. NEOSCC will use the data collected to design and plan a more vibrant, resilient, and sustainable Northeast Ohio.         In order to receive feedback from as many residents as possible this summer, NEOSCC is going around to Northeast Ohio events and venues, engaging visitors by answering questions, explaining our goals, and by having everyone play the game on one of our iPads. Please stop by our table at any one of…

21 Jun: Akron and Cleveland What Matters to Metros Forums next week

The Fund for Our Economic Future’s What Matters to Metros™: Foundational Indicators for Economic Competitiveness helps community leaders identify factors that are associated with economic growth in mid-sized U.S. metropolitan areas in a post-recession economy. What Matters to Metros™ can serve civic leaders in metros throughout the United States, but the research bears specific implications for the four largest metropolitan areas in Northeast Ohio: Akron, Canton, Cleveland and Youngstown. This research provides data that civic leaders and the Fund can use to ask more strategic questions about how “growth” can be pursued, and to identify their own distinct approaches to get there. Over the last few weeks, the Fund has hosted forums in Canton and Youngstown. The Fund will be hosting two more community forums next week. You can RSVP by visiting the links below.  Akron June 24, 10a-12n Quaker Square Inn (135 S Broadway St., Akron, OH 44325) Partners:  Akron Community Foundation and…

20 Jun: See what’s being said about our Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice

This week around the Northeast Ohio region, NEOSCC staff are presenting and taking comments on the draft of initials findings from our Regional Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice. Below are some excerpts of what a few local media outlets had to say about the study and the work we are doing. You can click on each article to read the story in full.   “Study: Blacks in Mahoning County receive more predatory loans” by Burton Speakman,The Vindicator “The overall point of the study was to show where issues exist within Northeast Ohio and develop a vision of what this area should be, said Anthony Kobak, project manager for NEO Sustainable Communities Consortium. Then the area needs to develop plans and find funding for programs to help make any necessary changes to make area housing more equitable, he said.” “Reports show minorities denied loans” by WKBN Staff, WKBN Channel…

19 Jun: Help us spread the word about Imagine MyNEO!

As part of Imagine MyNEO, we are launching a engagement challenge: myVibrant5. After you complete Imagine MyNEO you will be given the option to join the myVibrant5 challenge. The challenge will feature a leaderboard indicating those participants that have invite the most friends to play and complete Imagine MyNEO. A dynamic leader board identifying the the top 5 participants will be featured on vibrantneo.org. Check out the presentation below for more information.

18 Jun: Check out your maps from the first round of Workshops!

Map Library Over 70 maps were created at the six workshops by residents and public officials. We have created a the following galleries for you to look at the different maps. Three of the six workshop maps have been posted, the remaining three will be uploaded later today.  We have removed the table numbers from each map.               Akron   Canton Warrensville Heights Warren   Cleveland   Oberlin

14 Jun: “Business as Usual” Workshops: Initial Review and Results Presented to Board

Over a three day period (April 30 – May 2) nearly 600 individuals participated in our Business As Usual Workshops.  The sessions focused on a presentation of the Business As Usual Scenario, instant polling and a mapping exercise to engage attendees in a discussion about how the region should look going forward. You can access a video from our Akron Workshop here. Below you will find some of the results from the first Workshop Series.  We have included an overall summary of the workshop results, a closer look at how different development typologies were utilized during the mapping exercise and a library of all of the maps created by workshop attendees. Summary of Thematic Feedback and Table Notes During the mapping exercise, we encouraged attendees to take notes about ideas and concerns at each table.  This document is a record of the notes taken by volunteer note-takers during the mapping exercise conducted at…

13 Jun: Local Roots

Northeast Ohio has become somewhat of an epicenter of the local foods movement in the United States. From innovative urban agricultural zoning in Youngstown and Cleveland, to recognition of its historic and independent open markets (e.g. West Side Market in Cleveland), to entrepreneurial efforts to integrate local farming and markets in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, to future planning to increase local food growth, retailing, marketing and processing,[1] the region has set an example for other areas of the Midwest and the nation to follow. The case for local food has been made by many organizations, citing how local food means:[2] Better quality: Fresher, picked at the peak of flavor, and it loses fewer nutrients in transport. Better for the environment: Uses fewer fossil fuels in transportation, fewer chemicals for farming and promotes biological diversity. Better for the economy: Invest in local business, and they’ll invest locally, too. And eating…

12 Jun: Have you imagined about Northeast Ohio yet? Imagine MyNEO is now live

  ImagineMyNEO is a fun and entertaining web-based tool designed to put the user in the role of regional planner, making critical policy decisions and weighing priorities for the future of Northeast Ohio and struggling with the tough choices that must be made. You can play today at vibrantneo.org/imagine. Our goal with ImagineMyNEO is to ask residents ‘What would this region look like in the future if you are in charge?’” said Hunter Morrison, NEOSCC’s Executive Director. “Users can share their priorities for the future and make the kinds of policy choices necessary to help create that future, and all in an engaging way.” In ImagineMyNEO, the user is first asked to finish the sentence “I want to live in a Northeast Ohio where…” by rating the relative importance of 15 statements such as “…My community has an urban character” or “…My taxes are low” or “I can get to places…

11 Jun: Transportation as a Civil Rights Issue Forum on Thursday

You are invited to participate in a discussion titled “Transportation as a Civil Rights Issue.” The keynote speaker for the discussion will be Samuel Gresham Jr., former head of the Columbus Urban League and the Ohio Commission on African American Males. Mr. Gresham Jr. is current chair of Common Cause Ohio. The discussion will take place at CSU’s Levin College of Urban Affairs (1717 Euclid Ave.) at 4pm on June 13th. For more information visit Bike Cleveland site.