| Community Shares YP
News |
YPs: Shares'
NEW Group for
Young Leaders
|
| Join Our List
|
| | |
| Shares Welcomes New
Executive Director |
|
 Community
Shares' Board of Directors has announced that
Cynthia Ries began serving
as its new executive director on January 15.
A Cleveland native and currently a North
Collinwood resident, Cynthia most recently
served as Director of Development at Beaumont
School in Cleveland Heights. With a graduate
degree in public administration from New York
University, she has extensive experience in
development, communication, and administration at
nonprofit organizations.
During her tenure in New York, Cynthia
worked at a variety of nonprofits, including The
New York Women's Foundation, New York Foundation
for the Arts, Children's Museum of Manhattan,
Theater Development Fund, and American Composers
Orchestra. She also serves as adjunct faculty
at New York University and New School University
teaching others about nonprofit management.
Cynthia said, "At a time when more
Clevelanders are worried about their homes being
foreclosed upon or whether they can obtain
healthcare, the mission of Community Shares is
more important than ever. I believe Shares is
uniquely positioned to be a leader in the fight to
end injustice and help create stronger
neighborhoods." Welcome aboard,
Cynthia! |
| Cynthia Wants to Meet
You! |
|
Join us for a Festive
Celebration
to weclome Cynthia
Ries,
our new Executive
Director
Reception/Open House
Thursday, February
19, 2009
5:00-7:00
pm
Community
Shares
3631
Perkins Avenue, 3rd Floor
Free
Parking
RSVP:
216-361-9920
|
|
Member
Highlights |
|
|
Community Shares Member
Organizations
are
harnessing the power of participation to create
positive change in your neighborhoods, city,
and
region. |
| Most Valuable State or
Regional Group |
|
Policy Matters Ohio
Community Shares
congratulates Policy
Matters Ohio (PMO), recently named "Most
Valuable State or Regional Group" in The
Nation magazine. Other recipients of The
Nation's 2008 MVP (Most Valuable
Progressives) awards included Congresswoman
Marcy Kaptur, Senator Bernie Sanders, and media
personality Rachel Maddow.
The magazine said
that PMO " ...pushes the envelope on
debates about tax policy and the funding of
essential education and safety-net programs.
Intellectually rigorous, yet always accessible in
its approach, this group has produced more than
160 reports that have given Ohio's progressive
activists and legislators the tools they need to
challenge corporate spin and pressure tactics.
PMO's founding executive director, Amy
Hanauer, is great at making the link
between the initiatives of national groups with
which she works...and local and legislative
policymakers in Ohio." As an example of
what PMO does, check out the group's great
report: Limiting
Loopholes: A dozen tax breaks Ohio can do
without. |
| One of Cleveland's "Most
Interesting People" |
|
Cleveland Public Theatre
(CPT)
Shares salutes Raymond
Bobgan, CPT's
Executive Artistic Director, for appearing on
Cleveland Magazine's list of "Most
Interesting People/2009." Raymond writes,
directs, and produces plays and guides CPT in
staging experiemental Ohio premieres from new,
often local, playwrights.
In his profile, Raymond highlights the
CPT/Y-Haven Theatre Project in which formerly
homeless men write and perform original
plays. He says that his work with homeless
men in transition has had an incredible effect on
his sense of compassion and justice.
One of Community Shares' most interesting
people, Raymond serves on our Membership
Committee, has hosted our annual meetings at CPT,
and has spoken on behalf of Shares during our
workplace campaign. Congratulations,
Raymond! |
| Assisting Veterans with
PTSD |
|
NAMI Greater
Cleveland
NAMI
(National Alliance on Mental Illness) Greater
Cleveland recognizes the increasing need to
assist those living with Post Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD), most particularly veterans
returning from tours of duty in Iraq and
Afghanistan. In collaboration with the Louis
Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, NAMI Greater
Cleveland's " In Our
Own Voice" presentation to veterans and their
family members fostered tremendous interaction and
dialogue. Additionally, a Veteran's
Resource Center on the NAMI website
provides a wide array of information about
PTSD, accessing VA benefits, and public
policy work on behalf of
veterans.
National advocacy efforts on
behalf of those living with PTSD include
NAMI Montana's influence on the implementation of
the Montana National Guard's new mental health
screening program for returning soldiers. NAMI
Montana's executive director, Matt
Kuntz, was invited to celebrate the
inauguration in Washington, D.C. in
recognition of his "extraordinary
contributions" to America.
NAMI Greater Cleveland offers a wide variety
of support
groups and structured courses with information about
mental illness and coping strategies at no cost to
family members and consumer participants. For
additional information, call
216-875-7776. |
| Shares
Group Continues Statewide
Expansion |
|
|
ESOP Starting
last April with the opening of its first satellite
office in the Mahoning Valley, ESOP
began its rapid expansion across Ohio to keep pace
with the ongoing foreclosure epidemic that
continues to grow throughout the state. ESOP
ended 2008 without slowing pace by opening three
new statewide offices in Mansfield, Medina, and
Toledo. ESOP has targeted Ohio regions hardest hit
by foreclosures in an effort to reach homeowners
in those areas and provide them with face-to-face
counseling services. As 2008 closed, ESOP had
eight full-service, statewide offices operating to
complement and support the Cuyahoga County main
office.
In late 2008, ESOP
also expanded its presence and outreach efforts in
northeast Ohio from its Cleveland headquarters as
it began seeing homeowners in Ashtabula County and
in Cleveland City neighborhood locations.
Cleveland also anticipates opening new
full-service locations in western and eastern
Cuyahoga County in 2009.
Quintupling
staff and opening eight statewide offices and
neighborhood locales has made ESOP the #1
foreclosure prevention agency in the state.
By the end of 2008, ESOP had helped save more than
3,000 Ohio family homes and expects to more than
double that number in
2009. |
| Building Started on Green
Cottages |
|
Cuyahoga Community Land Trust
(CCLT)
Construction
has started on the first of five Green Cottages
developed by the Cuyahoga
Community Land Trust for low- and
moderate-income households. The Green
Cottages, with their superior energy
efficiency and indoor air quality, will have
Energy Star labels and meet the U.S. Green
Building Council's LEED for Homes
standards.
The first home is
pre-sold, and applications are being taken for
additional homes. Click
here for more information about qualifying for
one of the homes and a schedule of orientation
sessions.
CCLT is part of the growing
national support for "shared equity homeownership"
-- ownership structures that retain public
subsidies in houses while launching lower income
buyers into successful homeownership. Around
the country, these programs have succeeded in the
midst of a rapid housing meltdown.
Nationally, community land trusts have foreclosure
rates 30 times lower than market rate
homes. | |
| |
