Cleveland Community-Building Initiative

Cleveland Community-Building Initiative
The Cleveland Community-Building Initiative (CCBI) was established in 1993 by the Cleveland Foundation's Commission on Persistent Poverty, a joint effort of the Cleveland Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation's Community Planning and Action Program. The Commission was convened in January 1990, in response to a growing consensus that persistent poverty in neighborhoods around the city had reached alarming proportions and traditional piecemeal ways of addressing the plight of the poor had failed to alter significantly this increasingly grim picture. The Commission set out to create a long term comprehensive plan that would maximize the impact of available resources and create new synergies by integrating promising approaches to address the needs of urban families.
Governance
The Commission issued a plan that gave rise to the Cleveland Community Building Initiative Council (CCBIC) which was charged with creating an implementation strategy. The CCBIC implements the Commission plans and its mission is to reverse the conditions that lead to and maintain poverty through a community-building approach which includes the creation of Village Councils that develops and oversees neighborhood specific plans.
As an independent 501(c)3, CCBI is governed by a 17-member board of trustees--eight members are from the original Commission on Persistent Poverty (discussed in the Historical Information section.) Each Village has a Council and each Council has a seat on the Board. In addition Board members assigned to one of the four villages are expected to participate with the respective Village Council. Village Councils are composed of residents and stakeholders. Village Councils have village chapters which operate as committees and working groups
Focus
CCBI focuses its efforts on residents and stakeholders in four inner-city neighborhoods it calls "urban villages." The following major issues are addressed: health, education, physical revitalization, multi-cultural strengths, integrated services, labor force development, economic development/entrepreneurial training, and neighborhood image enhancement.
An urban village is described as a distinct geographic area whose residents are linked by, and identify with a cluster of local institutions such as schools, churches, neighborhood-based institutions, or commercial centers. The target population is residents and stakeholders in the West, East, Central, and Mt. Pleasant urban villages.
Funding
Currently, the organization's main supporters are: The Cleveland Foundation; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Cuyahoga County. CCBI also receives in-kind support in the form of office and meeting spaces, advertisements in local papers, etc.
Evaluation
The Center for Urban Poverty and Social Change serves as an informational resource to CCBI by providing technical assistance and ongoing evaluation as the initiative develops. The Center's multi-disciplinary evaluation team contributes to the evaluation of CCBI's progress through a number of different activities:
Eliciting Theories of Change from Stakeholder Groups: The evaluation team has been involved in testing an innovative "Theories of Change Approach" (TOC) to evaluation whereby CCBI stakeholders identify their expectations about how change is to be accomplished and measured by specifying the relationship between desired outcomes and the strategies by which those outcomes will be achieved. In collaboration with evaluators, CCBI continues to refine the initiative's preliminary theory of change to incorporate lessons learned, future directions, and new input regarding the sequencing of activities that contribute to early, interim, and longer-term outcomes.
Measuring Outcomes: Multiple methods of data collection have been used to assess CCBI's progress including key informant interviews, resident surveys, self-assessment questionnaires, and a review of secondary data and other agency records. The results of these data collection strategies provide useful feedback on the achievement of outcomes outlined in CCBI's preliminary TOC while contributing knowledge on the development and use of multiple measures and methods of assessment.
(This profile is drawn from Profiles of Comprehensive Community Initiatives, a product of the National Community Building Network Research and Policy Program Development Project, http://www.ncbn.org/directry/profiles/Cleveland.html, and Case Western University's Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change Summary of Current and Recent Projects http://povertycenter.cwru.edu/updates.htm)
For more information, please contact:
Cleveland Community Building Initiative (CCBI)
Ron Register
Executive Director
5000 Euclid Avenue
Suite 200
Cleveland, Ohio 44103
Tel.: 216-361-9800
Fax: 216-361-4429
email: 104520,675@compuserve.com
Links:
The Community Building Resource Directory: http://www.ncbn.org/directry/profiles/Cleveland.html
Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change: http://povertycenter.cwru.edu/updates.htm

Corporations as Partners in Strengthening Urban Communities, Peterson, George E. and Dana R. Sundblad, The Conference Board, 1994
This report examines the experience of corporations as partners in community revitalization efforts. It outlines common lessons and challenges faced by community-corporate partnerships and examines three existing partnership strategies: direct corporate involvement with a community; business partnerships with communities; and corporate involvement through an intermediary organization. Planning and evaluation of community projects are then highlighted through an exploration of The Atlanta Project, the Cleveland Community Building Initiative, the Local Initiative Support Corporation's Community Building Initiative, as well as other urban revitalization efforts.
(Topics: Collaboration, Role of private sector, Atlanta Project, Cleveland Community Building Initiative, Community Building Initiative)
Implementing a Theory of Change Evaluation in the Cleveland Community-Building Initiative: A Case Study, Milligan, Sharon, Claudia Coulton, Peter York, and Ronald Register, 1998
This article reviews the origins and early implementation of the evaluation of the Cleveland Community Building Initiative. The evaluation uses a theory of change approach in which evaluators, program designers, staff, and other stakeholders work together to make explicit the important pathways of change they expect to follow. Further, they specify key steps along those pathways so those steps can be measured. This articles provides a step-by-step description of how a theory of change approach was applied in the Cleveland Community Building Initiative. The article concludes with the authors' reflections on the method and some recommendations for the field.
(Topics: Evaluation, Cleveland Community Building Initiative, Evaluations)
The 1995-1996 Cleveland Community-Building Initiative Baseline Progress Report, Milligan, Sharon, Michelle R. Nario-Redman, Claudia J. Coulton, 1997
The report provides the baseline measurement for four of the Cleveland Community Building Initiative's shorter-term outcomes related to the formation of village councils: the appraisal, analysis and acknowledgement of assets, the formation of agendas; and the development of action projects. Major findings of the report highlight the inclusiveness and leadership capacity of councils, the involvement of community in developing agendas, and the expansion of community asset lists. Recommendations include the need for greater participation and technical assistance to move agendas forward, and the need to clarify the scope and strategic direction of action projects. Ordering Info: Cleveland Community Building Initiative, 5000 Euclid Avenue, Suite 200, Cleveland, Ohio 44103, Tel.: 216-361-9800, Fax: 216-361-4429.
(Topics: Evaluations, Cleveland Community Building Initiative)
The Cleveland Community-Building Initiative: The Report and Recommendations of the Cleveland Foundation Commission on Poverty, Cleveland Foundation Commission on Poverty, 1992
This report sets forth a long-term strategy for addressing persistent poverty in the city of Cleveland through the Cleveland Community Building Initiative. The aim of this citywide initiative is to rebuild communities by strengthening assets--human, economic, and physical--in order to create a community-based opportunity structure residents can use to escape poverty. How Greater Cleveland can actually initiate, design, and implement such a strategy makes up the substance of this report. It traces the nature of the challenge of poverty out of which the Cleveland strategy grows, the principles that guide the process, the components it requires, and the steps needed to implement these strategies. The report recommends that the implementation strategy for the Cleveland Community Building Strategy should be based on the following five principles. It should be: 1) comprehensive and integrated; 2) tailored to individual neighborhoods; 3) initiated by focusing on assets, not deficits; 4) organized to actively involve residents in their design; and 4) tested and evaluated in pilot areas of manageable size.
(Topics: Cleveland Community Building Initiative)

	Cleveland Community-Building Initiative The Cleveland Community-Building Initiative (CCBI) was established in 1993 by the Cleveland Foundation's Commission on Persistent Poverty, a joint effort of the Cleveland Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation's Community Planning and Action Program. The Commission was convened in January 1990, in response to a growing consensus that persistent poverty in neighborhoods around the city had reached alarming proportions and traditional piecemeal ways of addressing the plight of the poor had failed to alter significantly this increasingly grim picture. The Commission set out to create a long term comprehensive plan that would maximize the impact of available resources and create new synergies by integrating promising approaches to address the needs of urban families. Governance The Commission issued a plan that gave rise to the Cleveland Community Building Initiative Council (CCBIC) which was charged with creating an implementation strategy. The CCBIC implements the Commission plans and its mission is to reverse the conditions that lead to and maintain poverty through a community-building approach which includes the creation of Village Councils that develops and oversees neighborhood specific plans. As an independent 501(c)3, CCBI is governed by a 17-member board of trustees--eight members are from the original Commission on Persistent Poverty (discussed in the Historical Information section.) Each Village has a Council and each Council has a seat on the Board. In addition Board members assigned to one of the four villages are expected to participate with the respective Village Council. Village Councils are composed of residents and stakeholders. Village Councils have village chapters which operate as committees and working groups Focus CCBI focuses its efforts on residents and stakeholders in four inner-city neighborhoods it calls "urban villages." The following major issues are addressed: health, education, physical revitalization, multi-cultural strengths, integrated services, labor force development, economic development/entrepreneurial training, and neighborhood image enhancement. An urban village is described as a distinct geographic area whose residents are linked by, and identify with a cluster of local institutions such as schools, churches, neighborhood-based institutions, or commercial centers. The target population is residents and stakeholders in the West, East, Central, and Mt. Pleasant urban villages. Funding Currently, the organization's main supporters are: The Cleveland Foundation; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; and Cuyahoga County. CCBI also receives in-kind support in the form of office and meeting spaces, advertisements in local papers, etc. Evaluation The Center for Urban Poverty and Social Change serves as an informational resource to CCBI by providing technical assistance and ongoing evaluation as the initiative develops. The Center's multi-disciplinary evaluation team contributes to the evaluation of CCBI's progress through a number of different activities: Eliciting Theories of Change from Stakeholder Groups: The evaluation team has been involved in testing an innovative "Theories of Change Approach" (TOC) to evaluation whereby CCBI stakeholders identify their expectations about how change is to be accomplished and measured by specifying the relationship between desired outcomes and the strategies by which those outcomes will be achieved. In collaboration with evaluators, CCBI continues to refine the initiative's preliminary theory of change to incorporate lessons learned, future directions, and new input regarding the sequencing of activities that contribute to early, interim, and longer-term outcomes. Measuring Outcomes: Multiple methods of data collection have been used to assess CCBI's progress including key informant interviews, resident surveys, self-assessment questionnaires, and a review of secondary data and other agency records. The results of these data collection strategies provide useful feedback on the achievement of outcomes outlined in CCBI's preliminary TOC while contributing knowledge on the development and use of multiple measures and methods of assessment. (This profile is drawn from Profiles of Comprehensive Community Initiatives, a product of the National Community Building Network Research and Policy Program Development Project, http://www.ncbn.org/directry/profiles/Cleveland.html, and Case Western University's Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change Summary of Current and Recent Projects http://povertycenter.cwru.edu/updates.htm) For more information, please contact: Cleveland Community Building Initiative (CCBI) Ron Register Executive Director 5000 Euclid Avenue Suite 200 Cleveland, Ohio 44103 Tel.: 216-361-9800 Fax: 216-361-4429 email: 104520,675@compuserve.com Links: The Community Building Resource Directory: http://www.ncbn.org/directry/profiles/Cleveland.html Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change: http://povertycenter.cwru.edu/updates.htm

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	Corporations as Partners in Strengthening Urban Communities, Peterson, George E. and Dana R. Sundblad, The Conference Board, 1994 This report examines the experience of corporations as partners in community revitalization efforts. It outlines common lessons and challenges faced by community-corporate partnerships and examines three existing partnership strategies: direct corporate involvement with a community; business partnerships with communities; and corporate involvement through an intermediary organization. Planning and evaluation of community projects are then highlighted through an exploration of The Atlanta Project, the Cleveland Community Building Initiative, the Local Initiative Support Corporation's Community Building Initiative, as well as other urban revitalization efforts. (Topics: Collaboration, Role of private sector, Atlanta Project, Cleveland Community Building Initiative, Community Building Initiative)
	Implementing a Theory of Change Evaluation in the Cleveland Community-Building Initiative: A Case Study, Milligan, Sharon, Claudia Coulton, Peter York, and Ronald Register, 1998 This article reviews the origins and early implementation of the evaluation of the Cleveland Community Building Initiative. The evaluation uses a theory of change approach in which evaluators, program designers, staff, and other stakeholders work together to make explicit the important pathways of change they expect to follow. Further, they specify key steps along those pathways so those steps can be measured. This articles provides a step-by-step description of how a theory of change approach was applied in the Cleveland Community Building Initiative. The article concludes with the authors' reflections on the method and some recommendations for the field. (Topics: Evaluation, Cleveland Community Building Initiative, Evaluations)
	The 1995-1996 Cleveland Community-Building Initiative Baseline Progress Report, Milligan, Sharon, Michelle R. Nario-Redman, Claudia J. Coulton, 1997 The report provides the baseline measurement for four of the Cleveland Community Building Initiative's shorter-term outcomes related to the formation of village councils: the appraisal, analysis and acknowledgement of assets, the formation of agendas; and the development of action projects. Major findings of the report highlight the inclusiveness and leadership capacity of councils, the involvement of community in developing agendas, and the expansion of community asset lists. Recommendations include the need for greater participation and technical assistance to move agendas forward, and the need to clarify the scope and strategic direction of action projects. Ordering Info: Cleveland Community Building Initiative, 5000 Euclid Avenue, Suite 200, Cleveland, Ohio 44103, Tel.: 216-361-9800, Fax: 216-361-4429. (Topics: Evaluations, Cleveland Community Building Initiative)
	The Cleveland Community-Building Initiative: The Report and Recommendations of the Cleveland Foundation Commission on Poverty, Cleveland Foundation Commission on Poverty, 1992 This report sets forth a long-term strategy for addressing persistent poverty in the city of Cleveland through the Cleveland Community Building Initiative. The aim of this citywide initiative is to rebuild communities by strengthening assets--human, economic, and physical--in order to create a community-based opportunity structure residents can use to escape poverty. How Greater Cleveland can actually initiate, design, and implement such a strategy makes up the substance of this report. It traces the nature of the challenge of poverty out of which the Cleveland strategy grows, the principles that guide the process, the components it requires, and the steps needed to implement these strategies. The report recommends that the implementation strategy for the Cleveland Community Building Strategy should be based on the following five principles. It should be: 1) comprehensive and integrated; 2) tailored to individual neighborhoods; 3) initiated by focusing on assets, not deficits; 4) organized to actively involve residents in their design; and 4) tested and evaluated in pilot areas of manageable size. (Topics: Cleveland Community Building Initiative)