Greater University Circle initiative in Cleveland, Ohio

Since 2005, a group of anchor institutions in the university district of Cleveland, Ohio, have been working together to address effects of the city’s economic downturn, with the aim of rebuilding disinvested neighbourhoods and improving the economic opportunities of the people who live there.

The initiative was established by The Cleveland Foundation, and its economic inclusion strategy focuses on attracting more people to live locally and leveraging the purchasing power of the anchor institutions to buy locally and hire locally. It has had a number of successes, including:

• establishing the Evergreen Cooperative Initiative, which supports the creation of worker-owned, green, for-profit businesses providing goods and services to the area’s anchor institutions
• a local procurement programme to funnel more of the district’s $3 billion of purchasing power to local businesses
• establishing a new workforce training centre for adults, with after-school programmes for children; completion of new commercial and residential developments and transportation plans
• funding for several neighbourhood-driven community development projects.

Critical to its success has been the collaborative and transparent approach taken by the leadership group of the anchor institutions and a focus on building and supporting comprehensive community engagement and networking.