Strategic Alliances Workshop Yields Great Results
As part of the Cleveland Collaborative Training Calendar of Events, LISC
delivered a Strategic Alliances Workshop at the Lorain County Community
College’s Spitzer Conference Center with consultant John Yankey, the Leonard
Mayo professor at Case Western Reserve University. The workshop focused on how
to increase coordination and collaboration among organizations to insure greater
impact, decrease overhead expenses, and share leadership among organizations.
To further these efforts, LISC hosted 11 Practitioner Luncheons for CDC Executive Directors throughout northeast Ohio, including collaborative events in Mahoning/Trumbull, Lorain, Stark, and Summit Counties. Since the training and the luncheons series, we have seen a number of partnerships emerge including:
- Elyria
A project partnership between New Sunrise Properties, Inc., South Elyria Neighborhood Development Corporation (SEND), Rysar Properties, and NRP Group to develop 160+ units for the New Riverbend project which will transform the neighborhood in downtown Elyria along the Black River. - Akron
Collaboration between Nazareth Housing Development Corporation (NHDC), Mustard Seed Development Corporation, and Westside Neighborhood Development Corporation (WENDCO) in Akron, Ohio, will put their development and organizational skills together to concentrate efforts on one portion of Akron’s Westside. NHDC will focus on new construction; WENDCO will focus on rehab; Mustard Seed will focus on homebuyer education and selling the homes. Their grant applications to LISC laid out a three-way partnership endeavor that has recently been embraced by the City of Akron. - Canton
A year-long planning process in the Summit neighborhood of Canton with a broad base of stakeholders has begun to produce results:
o The funding and ongoing recruitment of a Safety Coordinator to work on the Safety issues in Summit (to be hired in February 2005);
o Merger of the Weed and Seed effort and the Summit Safety Initiative with assistance from National LISC Community Safety Initiative (CSI).
o Focused strategy on redeveloping housing in the community.