(East Cleveland, Ohio / May 23, 2024) – Cuyahoga County Council’s Community Development Supplemental Grant program has awarded Cuyahoga Land Bank Charities a sizeable award of $50,000 to use for outdoor bench seating in East Cleveland’s up-and-coming Circle East District.
Cuyahoga Land Bank is ecstatic for both the award and support from County Council in the development of Circle East District, which is in Phase One of a five-year, five-phase plan. This plan has been designed to revitalize the 30-acre neighborhood just east of University Circle.
The Greenway, a critical part of this new neighborhood, is scheduled to break ground mid-summer of 2024 and is the direct result of community engagement and intense placemaking activity. Placemaking is a multi-faceted approach to the planning, designing and development of public spaces to create vibrant, inclusive and engaging environments. It involves understanding the unique characteristics and needs of a particular place and using that understanding to shape the physical and social attributes of the space.
Over the last year, through the placemaking process, East Cleveland residents worked tirelessly to help craft a vision for the future of their community that emphasized recreation, socialization, sustainability and inclusion. Residents made innovative suggestions including solar picnic benches, a playground, exercise stations, community garden, a performance space and even a walking and biking path.
“We are grateful to the County Council for providing this important community grant that helps turn the vision of East Cleveland’s residents into reality,” said Dennis Roberts, Cuyahoga Land Bank’s Director of Real Estate Development. “Building a communal greenspace where East Cleveland and Circle East District residents can gather is an important part of our work, and the park benches that this grant pays for is a critical piece of the community development puzzle.”
Beyond the greenway, Phase 1 of this project also includes:
- The renovation of existing homes in the neighborhood through home renovation grants
- The building of 12 new townhomes and 22 new market rate single-family homes
- The installation of new waterlines, sewers and streetscape on Euclid Avenue, Woodlawn Avenue and Penrose Road
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The Cuyahoga Land Bank is a private, non-profit, government-purposed entity formed following passage of Ohio Senate Bill 353 in 2009, which granted county land banks the special community development powers needed to improve neighborhoods. The mission of the Cuyahoga Land Bank is to strategically acquire properties, return them to productive use, reduce blight, increase property values, support community goals and improve the quality of life for county residents. Now in its 15th year, the Cuyahoga Land Bank has several initiatives specifically designed to support the revitalization of Northeast Ohio communities, including Realty Reimagined (a nonprofit real estate brokerage), Land Bank Charities, and the Cleveland Site Readiness Fund (an economic development community land assembly tool).
