Cleveland Neighborhood Progress Announces $2 Million in Grants to Help Keep Cleveland CDCs Afloat

Shaker Square, currently under a massive revitalization process, wouldn’t be what it is without help from its community development corporation. This week, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress announced $2 million in grant money to the city’s 17 CDCs. Credit: Mark Oprea

Earlier this year, Cleveland’s CDCs were staring down a future complicated by possible HUD cuts that would lead to widespread layoffs and closures.

Some $8.5 million that the local nonprofits relied on was in question during the spring.

“The Trump administration’s policies have created chaos across the country and weakened the social safety net,” Mayor Justin Bibb wrote in an email to Cleveland’s CDC directors in April. “And this, not any policy from the city or other organization, has put us in the challenging place we find ourselves in.”

While those fears proved to be unfounded — the bulk of the $8.5 million will arrive from HUD this fall — there is still anxiety about the funding and operations of the 17 CDCs that operate across the city.

On Monday, they got some pretty good news: Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, announced it would be handing out a combined $2 million raised from local foundations to bolster budgets and keep CDCs afloat.

“These dollars are flexible and timely, providing a backup assurance that they won’t have to close their doors,” Jason Powers, CNP’s vice president on CDC advancement, told Scene on Tuesday. “It’s manna from heaven compared to waiting for a check from the government.”

CNP took a progressive approach to spreading this $2 million around town. Nonprofits in the poorest and most marginalized neighborhoods got the most money—NuPoint, in Union-Miles, will get $168,500; Famicos in Glenville, $157,00; Metro West in Clark-Fulton, $142,500. (While Little Italy, already a developer’s playground in recent years, will get a meager $35,000.)

CDCs have to spend those dollars on one of four areas of work—real estate, planning, engagement or marketing. HUD reimbursements, on the other hand, are more regulated when it comes to how CDCs use them, Powers said.

“In Cleveland, CDCs are there 10 years before the restaurant opens and 10 years after the restaurant is open,” Powers said. “They are what cities have as a development arm. Look, Tremont is not what it is without Tremont West. Ohio City not Ohio City without Ohio City Incorporated. Our neighborhoods just aren’t the same.”