Vibrant Northeast Ohio (NEOSCC) September Issue

Welcome to the September Issue of Vibrant Northeast Ohio!

Letter from the Hunter Morrison, Executive Director and Jason Segedy, NEOSCC Board Chairman

As you may know over the last few months, NEOSCC launched a new tool to help us better understand the existing conditions of our region. This tool is the NEOSCC Conditions and Trends Platform, located online at cat.neoscc.org. We hope that the Platform will help Northeast Ohio leaders and residents ensure that our region is sustainable, resilient, and vibrant.

The Conditions and Trends Platform is a groundbreaking, comprehensive compilation of research about economic development, the environment, housing and transportation in 12 Northeast Ohio counties: Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Wayne. It helps Northeast Ohioans better understand the region's challenges and research solutions for its future. The Platform is primarily online and will serve two crucial functions:

In the coming months, the Platform will be the foundation of Vibrant NEO 2040, a region-wide visioning and engagement effort by NEOSCC to spur the development of a regional vision and tools that will help Northeast Ohio create a sustainable, resilient and vibrant future.
In the coming years, we envision the Platform as a living, breathing compendium of what we know about our region that has been collaboratively developed by and for Northeast Ohioans.

Over the next two months, we will also be visiting each Northeast Ohio county to discuss these findings with stakeholders from all across the region as a part of NEOSCC's Vibrant Northeast Ohio engagement activities.

We hope you will visit the Platform at cat.neoscc.org - and invite others to do so as well. And we hope that you, and those who look to you as a leader, will view it, review it, comment on it, share it but most of all use it.

Grey to Green Festival

NEOSCC is proud to have participated in Youngstown's Grey to Green Festival for the second year in a row. The Grey to Green Festival recently celebrated its fifth anniversary this year on September 15, 2012 in Wick Park on Youngstown's North Side.

The Grey to Green Festival is organized by a coalition of community organizations and environmental groups.

The festival included a fun-filled day of family activities, exhibits, events and a "green vending zone" where citizens from the region and the city learned about the significant opportunities in the green economy and how to improve their overall quality of life by implementing green practices into daily life.

Find out more about Grey to Green festival!

Lorain County Community College Joins Consortium

The Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium is excited to announce its newest member, Lorain County Community College!

You can learn more about Lorain CCC at lorainccc.edu!

Stark County Board Meeting

NEOSCC recently completed their third visit in the "12 Counties in 12 Months" initiative in Stark County. The day's trip included a bus tour of the downtown Canton region, a presentation and tour at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, lunch and a meeting at the Stark County Metropolitan Centre, and a walking tour of the new arts district by ArtsinStark CEO, Robb Hankins.

Upcoming Cuyahoga County Board Meeting

NEOSCC will be hosting its fourth installment of the "12 Counties in 12 Months" in Cuyahoga County at 1pm on Tuesday, September 25 at the Cleveland State University Levin College of Urban Affairs at 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115.

12 County Zoning Map Completed

The second phase of the 12-county general land use and zoning map project, coordinated by NEOSCC, is now complete. You can preview the map by clicking on the image to the left. This parcel-based zoning map relies on the most current information supplied by each of the 393 jurisdictions in the region. The resulting map is scalable to individual communities and counties and can be disaggregated to show in clear detail the location of specific zoning such as residential, industrial, commercial, and agriculture. Furthermore, the GIS data behind the maps are included (by county) online, and each file contains the local zoning, local land use, NEOSCC zoning and NEOSCC land use codes. Other similar regional planning tools are being developed for the NEOSCC planning process and the entire Northeast Ohio community. Click on the map above to view the full size image!

You can also view the current Land Use map here.

Morrison presents Conditions & Trends to Congresswoman Kaptur & HUD Sustainable Communities Director Shelley Poticha

NEOSCC Executive Director, Hunter Morrison presented on the work of the consortium to 9th District Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur and Shelley Poticha, Director for the Office of Sustainable Communities & Housing at HUD. Morrison discussed the recent accomplishment of the Consortium, including the release of the Conditions and Trends Platform, as well as projects on the horizon. You can view the entire Conditions and Trends Platform online at cat.neoscc.org.

The Conditions and Trends Toolkit:

What It Is and How to Use It

NEOSCC's Conditions and Trends Platform (CAT) is an online tool designed to help Northeast Ohioans understand, talk about and contribute to the future of our region.

To help NEOSCC spread the word about the Platform and encourage Northeast Ohioans to make use of this resource, we've created a CAT Toolkit, which includes items to make it easier to talk about and share the Conditions and Trends Platform with your networks. Click on the image below to visit the Toolkit page!

Toolkit Components

CAT Talking Points

A summary of the information you'll need to talk about the CAT and NEOSCC with colleagues, friends and family.

CAT Executive Summary (PDF)

The CAT Executive Summary provides a short synopsis of the Platform's Themes and key Findings. This PDF can be emailed and/or made available for downloading on your website.

Newsletter Articles and Graphics

Your organization's printed or emailed newsletter can be a great way to spread the word about then CAT Platform, so we have included sample overview articles. We have written these articles in 500-word, 300-word and 100-word lengths to ensure you have something you can use, no matter what space is available in your newsletter. We've provided sample graphics and images to use with these articles. For very small spaces, we have included a headline link.

Sample Email, Facebook and Twitter Messages

You and your organization have substantial networks. We need your help ensuring they know the CAT Platform is a resource they can use and engaging them in NEOSCC's efforts to make Northeast Ohio more sustainable. As part of the CAT Toolkit, we've provided you with sample messages you can use to share the CAT Platform with your networks by email, through Facebook and through Twitter.

Website Badges and Digi-NEO Widget

Your organization's website is an important communications hub for your networks, and that means it's a perfect place to share information about the CAT Platform. The Toolkit provides several ways to share the CAT Platform with your website visitors:

Square and banner-sized HTML icons for your website homepage which link directly to the CAT Platform. Your website administrator can help decide which fits best on your site.
A Digi-NEO widget that features a rotating series of interesting and little-known facts drawn from the CAT Platform. Clicking on the widget takes the user to the page on the CAT Platform that features the Digi-NEO fact displayed by the widget.

Vibrant NEO YouTube Channel

Couldn't make it to our last young professional event? Want to know what's going on at board meetings? Subscribe to our YouTube channel for video updates on what's happening with NEOSCC and Vibrant NEO!

Check out our channel by clicking on the image below!

Sustainable Cleveland 2019

On this coming Thursday and Friday, Sustainable Cleveland 2019 will host the 4th Annual Sustainability Summit at Cleveland Public Auditorium. Sustainable Cleveland 2019 was founded in 2009 by Mayor Frank G. Jackson to build an economic engine to empower a green city on a blue lake. The ten-year initiative creates a framework for Clevelanders from all walks of life to work together to build a thriving and resilient Cleveland region.

Two dynamic speakers will present during the Summit on the topics of Advanced and Renewable Energy and Local Food Systems.

Kathleen A. Merrigan is the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Merrigan has managed the Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food effort to highlight the critical connection between farmers and consumers and support local and regional food systems that increase economic opportunity.

Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and the author of seventeen bestselling books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society, and the environment. Mr. Rifkin will join the Summit via a low-carbon, live video address from Europe for a keynote and question and answer session.

Issue 8

September 2012