Cleveland Owns

'What should the neighborhood do with $100,000? Slavic Village residents will make that decision.'

'Over the course of the forum, a theme emerged: the contrast between a downtown flush with development and neighborhoods that feel increasingly abandoned by City Hall.'

Coverage from Mark Oprea of Cleveland Scene of Co-op Circle's Municipal Economic Policy Candidate Forum. 'It was city-subsidized grocery stores versus doubling-down on potholes on display in Tremont.'

'In November, [Cleveland Owns] hosted Dolphin Tank, a night of celebration for graduates of its Co-op U incubator initiative. The 14-week program provided participants with a comprehensive introduction to the financial model, historical background and organizational framework of co-ops. "We are one part community organizer and one part business developer,” said Cleveland Owns lead organizer Jonathan Welle. “We’re at the center of that Venn Diagram.”'

By Julie Grant 'When Deborah Lewis moved from Silicon Valley back to her parents’ house in Hough, on the east side of Cleveland, one issue she thought about a lot was climate change: the increase in temperatures, drought, and wildfires. “Fossil fuels will make us fossils,” she said. “We need to step up. We’re bigger than that. We were created for more than that.”'

'Through community ownership, Browns fans would be able to contribute to the team they love and ensure the Browns stay in Cleveland permanently. Fans make the team what it is. It’s always belonged to them. Community ownership just makes it official.'

'Cleveland Owns, incorporated as a 501(c)3 in 2019 and located at 4241 Lorain Ave., supports five cooperatives working in clean energy, food access, digital access, and collective purchasing. They work with grassroots groups to deepen their capacity to organize and develop businesses. “We are an economic democracy. We incubate projects that build democracy in our economic system, mostly by starting cooperatively owned businesses that serve their members. We also focus on solar cooperatives to promote energy democracy,” said Welle.'

'Solar energy is already on the ground in East Cleveland at the Medical Center Company’s (MCCo) solar field. Soon, even more panels could make their way to a nearby roof. “It’s a way to one, put more solar on the on the grid, two, have democratic ownership, and three, get people actually invested and participating in the clean energy economy so that the clean energy economy is not something that only happens to those with access to privilege and wealth,” said Jonathan Welle, lead organizer for Cleveland Owns.'

'Craig Ickler is an energy democracy organizer for Cleveland Owns, which was among the groups organizing the protest.'