CLEVELAND — During a major gathering in Cleveland on Tuesday, public officials and philanthropic leaders announced millions of dollars in spending on everything from job creation and affordable housing development to installing a major public art project on the Downtown lakefront.
The New York-based Rockefeller Foundation hosted about 400 people from all over the country at the Hotel Cleveland for a daylong program focused on tackling big problems through partnerships. Cleveland is one of three cities the foundation has picked for its “Big Bets for America” events. The foundation held a similar session in Oklahoma City last fall and took its road show to Baltimore in April.
Civic leaders hope the event is the start of a deeper relationship with the Rockefeller Foundation — a philanthropic outfit named for industrialist John D. Rockefeller, who started his first business in Cleveland in 1859. The foundation was created in New York in 1913 and has invested roughly $30 billion globally in science, health, technology and other areas.
Rockefeller is buried at Lake View Cemetery, and a downtown office building — now vacant and set for redevelopment — still bears his name.
RELATED: K&D buys Cleveland's Rockefeller building, with plans for 275 apartments, new parking garage
Now, as the Rockefeller Foundation looks to invest in job growth and help communities navigate big shifts in the economy and technology, Cleveland is hoping to be part of the conversation — and to prove the value of new initiatives dedicated to rebuilding neighborhoods and attracting businesses.
"As we reflect on not only our nation’s 250th birthday but Cleveland’s 230th birthday this year,” Mayor Justin Bibb told the crowd, “I think history will look upon this … as a point in time where Cleveland led America’s comeback, and we led middle America on how to drive long-term economic growth and prosperity.”
But he acknowledged there are plenty of hurdles to overcome.
"Five years ago, we were ranked the second-worst big city in America. Worst city in the country for Black women. Some of the biggest issues around housing affordability and the housing crisis. We were ground zero of the Great Recession in 2008,” he said.
Now, he added, "we are writing the playbook on how to turn around American cities — but do it in a way that is centered on everyday, working-class people.”
Here are some of the things we heard about at Tuesday’s event:
$300 million for worker training across Ohio
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced that JobsOhio, the state’s nonprofit economic development corporation, will spend $300 million over the next decade to help companies train and hire workers — with an initial focus on technicians equipped to operate, maintain and fix equipment and systems for everything from tech companies to manufacturers.
The program will offer incentives to employers who enroll existing employees in training programs or hire students so they can learn on the job. The idea is that JobsOhio will pay for roughly half the cost of an associate degree, technical certificate or apprenticeship program. Businesses will have to apply — and pick up the other half of the tab.
JobsOhio, which gets its funding from profits on state liquor sales, expects to launch the program in July. The nonprofit has been talking to major employers who want to build on existing “earn-and-learn” programs and small companies who don’t know where to start.
"As we move now to high-tech manufacturing, high-tech aerospace, everything … we’re going to need, in the next 10 years, over a quarter of a million new technicians,” said DeWine, who was joined on stage by JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef. “These are gonna be people who make good money, but they’re gonna keep those machines going. If the robot breaks, somebody’s gotta be there. So that’s just one small, small example.”
Nauseef predicted the program could touch up to 50,000 workers over 10 years by helping people gain new skills and get a foothold in high-demand careers. JobsOhio expects to work closely with trade schools and community colleges, as well as businesses.
The incentives will be available for training and hiring in certain industries: Advanced manufacturing, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy and chemicals, financial services, food and agribusiness, health care, logistics and distribution and technology.
"As I look at the future of the state of Ohio, it’s all about people,” DeWine said during a discussion with reporters after the announcement. “And … birth rates are down. We know that. We don’t have as much immigration now. So we just have to make sure, as we always have tried to do, that nobody who comes out of high school doesn’t have some pathway.”
Speaking of jobs …
A Cleveland nonprofit focused on turning blighted properties into employment hubs got a big boost, landing $13 million in grants.
The Site Readiness for Good Jobs Fund has now raised $80 million toward an overall $100 million funding goal. The organization, launched in 2023, is buying up vacant land and dilapidated factories with an eye on bringing jobs back to long-struggling neighborhoods.
On Tuesday, the Cleveland Foundation — the manager of a growing endowment for the site fund — announced a series of wins.
The Wellman family, which has deep ties to one of the buildings the site fund aims to restore, is donating $10 million. To honor that gift, the endowment is being renamed for industrialist Samuel T. Wellman. The KeyBank Foundation is contributing $2 million. And the Rockefeller Foundation put in $1 million.
The Bibb administration and Cleveland City Council created the site fund with $50 million in federal pandemic-recovery money. The Cleveland Foundation later contributed $10 million. Individual donors have also put money behind the effort.
"I think there is nothing more important that we can do as a community than help grow the region,” Lillian Kuri, the Cleveland Foundation’s president and CEO, said during Tuesday’s event. “We can’t help people if we don’t have jobs.”
The site fund’s first major purchase in 2024 was the empty Wellman-Seaver-Morgan plant on the East Side, at 7000 Central Ave. The company produced massive equipment for steel mills and built the Hulett ore unloaders to lift taconite off Lake Erie freighters.
RELATED: Cleveland's new site fund buys large factory on the city's East Side
Now Wellman’s family is investing in the tricky work of land assembly and site clean-up, with the goal of bringing a new wave of industry and innovation to the city.
"(Samuel T. Wellman’s) legacy and desire to leave a lasting impact on Cleveland will become a reality,” Bob and Mary Lou Wellman said in a news release. “He would be very pleased that his vision in 1916 is coming to life through the Cleveland Foundation.”
The site fund is pursuing competitive state historic preservation tax credits to help renovate the Wellman-Seaver-Morgan building. The Ohio Department of Development is scheduled to announce tax credit awards by the end of June.
The old factory sits at the center of a much bigger project called the Midline, where the site fund envisions a 350-acre business district stretching along Norfolk Southern railroad tracks from Euclid Avenue in Midtown to the Opportunity Corridor.
RELATED: Cleveland unveils major industrial revival push on the East Side. They're calling it the Midline.
Site fund leaders hope to announce their first deals with businesses soon.
"I was born and raised in the city of Cleveland,” said attorney Fred Nance, who leads the site fund’s board of directors. “My dad worked in a factory in one of these sites now, put six of us through college and graduate school, working hard. And those opportunities are largely not available in our community today.
"If, by virtue of what we are undertaking with this effort, 25 years from now there is a self-sustaining fund and focus on creating jobs, on making our neighborhoods more livable, I would feel very, very … gratified. Because this is a labor of love.”
About livable neighborhoods …
During Tuesday’s event, Huntington Bank announced a $10 million contribution to an investment fund that’s trying to make it easier for developers to build and renovate mid-priced housing in city neighborhoods that haven’t seen much new construction.
City officials launched the Cleveland Housing Investment Fund last year with LISC, a national nonprofit community development organization. The city committed $18 million in federal pandemic-recovery money to the fund. KeyBank invested $20 million.
RELATED: New Cleveland housing investment fund aims to fill gaps in the market as costs rise
An affiliate of LISC, formally known as the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, is managing the fund. With Huntington’s announcement, the group is more than halfway to its goal of raising $100 million for flexible loans and preferred equity investments in projects.
And quality of life …
In the afternoon, an art collective called MSCHF announced that it will be leaving its mark on the Downtown lakefront, with plans for a major permanent public art installation.
The project is expected to cost “tens of millions of dollars,” said David Gilbert, CEO and president of tourism organization Destination Cleveland. But Clevelanders will have to wait until this summer to get more details – and a glimpse at the proposal.
Gabe Whaley, the group’s founder, is trying to build up the suspense.
"If you Google MSCHF, you’ll see that we’re really good at getting headlines, getting a lot of attention,” he said. “The core tenet of a good MSCHF project is we create real things that we put out into the world that people can then engage with, participate with and come to their own conclusions as they walk away, which will lead to real, genuine discussions.”
Gilbert said Destination Cleveland and representatives from the city and the nonprofit North Coast Waterfront Development Corp. have been in conversations with MSCHF for months. Cleveland was competing with other cities to land the installation, which will be paid for by project participants from across the country.
Whaley said he and some colleagues first visited Cleveland on a gray, cold, snowy day — but still left feeling a sense of possibility. "It’s sort of like this eureka moment, where I feel like we can do something big,” he said.
Other odds and ends …
Stemuli, a Dallas-based gaming and artificial intelligence company, announced a partnership with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to help high school students learn more about AI and entrepreneurship.
Students participating in the district’s internship program will be able to create and run companies using a simulation tool called Founder Tycoon. The idea is that kids can get more comfortable working with AI while making decisions in a game-like environment.
That partnership will start this summer.
Separately, the nonprofit Center for Energy Workforce Development announced that it’s expanding its network to Ohio, with the goal of raising awareness about careers in the energy industry and helping employers fill jobs. The group represents power providers, companies, trade associations and labor unions.
Michelle Jarboe is the business growth and development reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow her on X @MJarboe or email her at Michelle.Jarboe@wews.com.
