COMMUNITY SHARES NEWS

Shares Members Provide Long-Term Solutions (continued from Home)...

...With so many problems afflicting our area on so many fronts, sometimes we may wonder if these issues can be solved or if we are simply bailing out a sinking ship with no rescue in sight.

Luckily, there is an organization working on the front lines to stem the tide of injustice in Cleveland and provide long-term solutions to the problems that matter most. Greater Cleveland Community Shares is a network of 37 non-profit organizations that work to transform the communities in northeast Ohio. Community Shares provides resources to the organizations through workplace giving.

Our member organizations are diverse and innovative. Among the 37 members of Greater Cleveland Community Shares: six work on various aspects of fair housing; seven focus on issues primarily affecting women; six specialize in the needs of affected social groups like people of color, the homeless and those with disabilities; and five are community development corporations that strive to improve living conditions in Cleveland's neighborhoods. Other organizations tackle issues such as health care, the environment, civil rights, artistic expression and domestic violence.

Community Shares offers a unique opportunity to those in greater Cleveland because it approaches the issues affecting our communities as interconnected. Instead of merely working on short-term solutions in isolation from other problems in a neighborhood, the network of Community Shares member organizations provides a unified force to combat many forms of injustice. Members engage communities to work with them to create solutions to problems and strive to implement lasting, meaningful changes in our area.

By supporting Greater Cleveland Community Shares, you are making a statement that the problems affecting our neighborhoods can be overcome if we work together. Community Shares allows you to support a multitude of vital organizations that are on the front lines every day protecting families from domestic violence, making adoption easier, improving access to health care, ending predatory lending, strengthening our neighborhoods and guarding our civil rights.

If we are going to solve the problems that affect northeast Ohioans, we have to look at issues in larger context. I urge you to support Greater Cleveland Community Shares as it works for long-term, comprehensive solutions that will improve our neighborhoods and protect our rights. As individuals struggling separately, we can only achieve so much. By working together in Community Shares' network, there is nothing we cannot accomplish.

Jacquie Talbott
Executive Director
Greater Cleveland Community Shares