Blog #4

On the next day of my Hawken project, I went to an event hosted by First Tee, an organization in Slavic Village aiming to give lower-income kids access to the sport of golf and teach life lessons through the game. The event was made up of many organizations and people and centered around Slavic Village and how to improve the community. Among the speakers was Mrs. Emily Thome, who is the President and Executive Director of the Third Federal Foundation, and three other prominent community leaders. These leaders were Rebecca Maurer, Cleveland City Councilwoman, Ward 12; Shauna Sanders, Executive Director, Slavic Village Development; and Richaun Bunton, Executive Director for University Settlement. They talked about their new approach to the issues in Slavic Village and how now, as new leaders, they will be working together to combat issues as opposed to the old way of working only independently. They split us into four groups that talked about ways to start addressing issues in the community and build trust with the residents. My group talked about events in the community and how they have created a sense of togetherness and pride in SV. A person in my group mentioned how the annual Bunny Hop event around Easter is a big event that brings the community together. Emily (Mrs. Thome) then intelligently pointed out how the residents started events like these, so it is a great idea, but it will probably be something that has to come from the residents as the community evolves. Our next idea was to create a community board of people from many backgrounds living in Slavic Village to work and talk with the organizations. We thought this would be a great way to build trust with not only people eager to work with these organizations but also people who doubted them. It would give the organizations an opportunity to prove how much they care, which is so important. Overall, this was a rich experience that taught me a lot about the complexities of taking on such a big responsibility as improving an entire community. Again, I am so thankful to Mrs. Thome for her guidance and generosity, and I am excited for my last few events in CLE before I head to Boston!

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