Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

City Of Oberlin, Comprehensive Housing Study And Needs Analysis, Kirby Date, Kathryn W. Hexter, Charlie Post, N. Colt Ossoff, Arleesha Wilson

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Center for Community Planning and Development was engaged by the City of Oberlin, Ohio to develop a comprehensive housing needs assessment. A fact-finding study with recommendations, it is intended to support future policy discussion and visioning as part of the City’s planned comprehensive plan process in the coming year. This study was completed with input and guidance from the City and a Housing Study Steering Committee of community stakeholders, a Community Open House, and interviews with residents, workers, business owners, and community leaders. Data analysis demonstrated a need for additional housing for low-income families, starter housing for younger households, …

Greater University Circle Initiative: Year 5 Evaluation Report, Kathryn W. Hexter, Candi Clouse, Kenneth Kalynchuk

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

In 2015, the partners of the Greater University Circle Economic Inclusion Initiative reached an important milestone—5 years of working together to revitalize the seven neighborhoods that comprise Greater University Circle (GUC). This milestone offers an opportunity to take a step back and reflect on why the group first came together as well as their collective accomplishments, challenges, and opportunities. This fifth evaluation report includes a very brief summary of the history of the Initiative before launching into reflections from the participants on the major accomplishments, challenges, and opportunities on the horizon. It concludes with significant outcomes to date. The report …

Neighbors Building Community - A Community Empowerment Initiative Through Community Mapping, Mark J. Salling

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Cleveland State University’s Office of Civic Engagement, through an Engaged Learning Enhancement Grant, funded a pilot demonstration project to evaluate the use of community mapping for assisting with community assessments of neighborhood issues in a west side neighborhood of Cleveland. The project used neighborhood residents to collect and map data on a variety of neighborhood issues, specifically dilapidated buildings, potentially dangerous dogs, pot holes, broken sidewalks, offensive graffiti, trash in vacant lots, dead trees, and more.

The pilot project educated the participants about neighborhood issues, while providing the community with documentation on issues that can be presented to council representatives …

Slavic Village Neighborhood Retail Market Study, Kirby Date

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Slavic Village is a revitalizing urban neighborhood in the southeast area of the City of Cleveland. A historic neighborhood that was once home to 75,000 immigrants of Polish and Slavic descent, it has seen steady decline since the 1960’s, along with other Cleveland neighborhoods, and was especially hard hit during the housing and foreclosure crisis of 2007-2010. However, in the present day, it has many assets and opportunities that make it poised to become one of the vibrant Cleveland neighborhoods of the future.

This study was done as part of a student project to look at the potential to re-invigorate …

Strong Cities, Strong Communities Fellowship Program Final Report 2012-2014, Kathryn Hexter

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The management team of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Fellowship Program — The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), Cleveland State University (CSU), and the Virginia Tech Metropolitan Institute (MI) — is pleased to present this final report on outcomes and impacts of the program. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and The Rockefeller Foundation were our primary champions in conceptualizing and funding this pilot program to build capacity in local government through embedded mid-career professionals. As a pilot initiative, the SC2 Fellowship program has proven that project-based and cohort-oriented urban fellowships can deliver …

Understanding The Location Decisions Of The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority's Housing Choice Voucher Holders: Pilot Study, Kathryn Hexter, W Dennis Keating, Mittie Davis Jones, Brian Mikelbank, Michael Veres, Joyce Huang

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The goal of the Housing Choice Voucher Program is to assist low-income families in renting decent, safe, and affordable housing. Voucher holders are free to select a unit and location that best meets their needs within the guidelines of the program. The Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), which administers the program in Cuyahoga County, was interested in learning more about how housing choice voucher holders decide where they want to live. CMHA was also interested in understanding the barriers that might be preventing voucher holders from moving to areas of greater opportunity and how it could partner with cities to …

Downtown Market Study: City Of Olmsted Falls, Ohio, Kirby Date

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

As the first step in establishing an economic development committee under a new mayoral administration, the City of Olmsted Falls worked with the Center for Community Planning and Development at the Levin College of Urban Affairs, Cleveland State University, to prepare an analysis of market strengths and weaknesses for retail, office, housing and lodging in the City’s historic downtown area. This study was performed by economic development student Kirby Date, who is also a professional planner and coordinator of the Community Planning Program at the Levin College. In addition to the market study, a downtown survey of visitors and residents, …

Retail Market Study: Village Of Middlefield, Ohio, Kirby Date

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The Village of Middlefield engaged the services of the CSU Center for Community Planning and Development to do a study of their retail market.

The Village had two goals:

1) Develop ideas to fill vacancies in Village retail spaces.

2) Make recommendations for strengthening Village retail business.

This study was developed to help the Village meet these goals.

Fundamentally Linked: Neighborhood Revitalization And School Quality In The City Of Cleveland, Angie Schmitt

ETD Archive

This paper examines the effect of poor school quality on neighborhood revitalization efforts in four Cleveland neighborhoods: Ohio City, Detroit Shoreway, Tremont and Downtown. The report employs survey research and real estate data analysis to examine the extent to which failing public schools encourage residents to leave the city for the suburbs, undermining efforts at revitalization. The research was particularly concerned with examining the effect on middle-class residents, or "residents of choice," who chose to live in Cleveland although other options are available to them financially. Original research bore out common assumptions about the impact of poorly performing local schools …

Financial Intermediaries For Community And Economic Development In Ohio: Market Assessment, Ziona Austrian, Brian A. Mikelbank, Afia Yamoah, Charles Post, Candice Clouse, David O. Kasdan

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

This report describes the results of an in-depth market assessment study conducted for the Finance Fund by the Center for Economic Development and the Center for Housing Research and Policy at Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs. The Finance Fund, located in Columbus, Ohio, is a statewide nonprofit financial intermediary. It finds funding and provides resources to support organizations that assist low- and moderate-income families and communities.1 The Finance Fund works primarily within low-income rural and urban communities throughout the state of Ohio by connecting local community development organizations and small businesses with needed funding in the form …