Brewed Fresh Daily

Since September is literacy month, I elected this time to communicate my experience with “Seeds of Literacy” as a volunteer. As a volunteer, I help learners prepare in obtaining their GED. It has been a rewarding experience for me in the 19 months I have been apart of this great organization. Because of my passion for reading and writing, I try to engage my learners to comprehend what they read and offer guidance that reading can be fun. Read anything you want just as long as you read. That is what I try to stress. I also give encouragement to these learners that obtaining their GED is a reachable goal. It will just take a little time.

One particular experience that was memorable, I had a learner who did not understand the poetry section of the GED practice test. I explained to her that deciphering poetry is not as difficult as you may think. I told her, “You know what? Let’s read this aloud; and, we can work together in finding the main message.” As we read the poem together, I could instantly see on her face, that she was beginning to see in the descriptive details what the author was trying to say. The poem was about the bombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, the destruction and pathos of that horrific event. How the mother felt when her daughter decided to go to church that day. By the end of my session with her, I think she understood and liked poetry.

There have been several other instances when learners needed help with simple fraction or story problems. Not my strong suite, but I will always try to offer as much help as possible. Now that fall is upon us, more students have attended the W. 25th location with exuberance. I see the regulars and some new faces all with the same goal in mind, getting that long awaited GED. Every time I leave my tutoring session, I have a great sense of accomplishment that I helped a learner get one step closer to their goal.

If you want additional information in becoming a tutor, visit the web site

http://www.seedsofliteracy.org/home/

via Peter McDermott @ LocalFoodCleveland.org >

Each year SustainLane releases the “most complete report card on urban sustainability in America”, which ranks the 50 largest cities in categories like air quality, green economy, metro congestion etc.

This year Cleveland placed first in two categories: local food/agriculture and water supply.

As I see it, these are arguably the two most important categories in the entire study. Without a sustainable food and water supply, the basic functions of a city cannot be met. As the challenges we face in creating a sustainable regional economy become more pressing, it is essential that we have this basic infrastructure in place to meet the needs of our city. It’s great to see that we’re getting national recognition for all of the hard work being done by leaders in Northeast Ohio.

The report notes “12 farmers’ markets and 225 community gardens reported, serving truckloads of fresh food to its population of over 450,000. A nearly 600 percent increase in total number of farmers’ markets and a sizable increase in community gardens since 2006 explain Cleveland’s ascent in this rankings category.”

In fact, Cleveland has over 20 farmers’ markets but we’ll let that slide.

There’s a new blog in town (or, the region, really): NEohioNEXT.
The blog explores new pathways to prosperity in Northeast Ohio.
First up: Some thoughts on Bill Callahan’s post this weekend.

Bill Callahan has produced an important post and memorandum on the community impacts of any bailout legislation that Congress considers.

Jim Rokakis is fond of pointing out that nobody cared when financial blood was running in the streets of Cleveland, but now that blood is running in Wall Street it’s a national crisis. The deal that stops the bleeding on Wall Street and gives the banks a new start must do the same for the streets of Cleveland, Detroit, Cincinnati and Chicago.

What communities like Cleveland need in the bank bailout bill

Up at the Lowe Foundation for a retreat. One of my colleagues is from Sustainable Business Network Philadelphia.

An interesting insight from our discussions this morning: Older, slower growth industrial regions may have a competitive advantage in implementing new strategies and tools for sustainability. The reason: Sustainability strategies are much more difficult to implement in fast growing regions.

More on the opportunities on slower growth cities from Lev Gonick.

West Michigan Strategic Alliance has become one of the leading regions in the country when it comes to building regional alliances. I’ll be heading up there shortly to start distilling some lessons from what they have learned. The Council on Competitiveness will also be integrating some of the lessons from West Michigan in their work on regional leadership.

Here’s one of their initiatives:

3rd Annual Natural Connections Summit 2008
Locally Green, Regionally Connected

Learn more.

Could NEO do something similar?

Something’s going on in Philadelphia to improve education…Leaders in Cleveland could take a trip…

It’s Our City.

Watch especially Mayor Nutter’s September 11 speech on education here: Children as the most important citizens of Philadelphia.

Philadelphia Compact

Philadelphia Education Fund

An idea for JumpStart, Nortech, Fund for the Future, Advance NEO?

Last week, Missouri launched MoSourceLink, a new web-based resource to connect businesses in that state with the resources they need. Based on a similar platform created for Kansas City, called KC Source Link, the statewide platform delivers a customized report in a variety of different formats to the user.

The success of the strategy comes in the detailed front end questions that the platform uses to narrow down its search. The sophisticated front end ensures that the user gets connected to the right resources.

An example: Finding training help in St. Joe

So, for example, the questions first ask for your ZIP code. Next, you answer several questions about the nature of your business or your plan to go into business. Next, you’re asked to define more precisely the nature of the resources you are trying to find.

Following this approach, I was able to locate human resource training professionals that can help a start up business in St. Joseph, Missouri in less than five minutes.

The program then delivered the report to my desktop in a PDF file. (I could have asked for different formats including a spreadsheet.)

A model to follow

Clearly the complexity of business assistance demands more sophisticated, flexible and adaptive Internet tools to deliver resources to doorstep of businesses. MoSourceLink provides a helpful model to follow.

The Milken Institute has produced its latest list of the best performing cities in the country. You can explore the rankings from this page.

The Kauffman Foundation has released a report that explores important topic of improving student outcomes by reforming teacher compensation. You can download a copy of the report from this page.