Home for Social Innovation in CLE

Cleveland Co-Labs is a 501c3 organization whose mission is to nurture residents, community leaders, social entrepreneurs and empowered individuals to create new solutions for our city, our regions and the world. We develop programming featuring local, regional and global leaders who provide insights, connections and unique perspectives to help us move impactful work forward. Together we're growing a community of social change makers in Cleveland. By funding our project, you can help develop this community as well as ensure that we have a physical home to give space for new ideas to thrive.

Over the next 9 months, Cleveland Co-Labs will be working with community partners to grow the community of changemakers through monthly social events, international entrepreneur speaking series, professional services in-house and a monthly series on individual well being to support those trying to use business and their passions to make a difference. We will empower attendees with these services to show how others are making a change, learn about the future of various industries, allow new connections to develop and gain access to services that would otherwise be inaccessible due to price, geography or awareness.  Our Learning Labs are a series of professional services we offer from communications and storytelling strategy consulting to legal services that can lower the barrier of entry for those with ideas for impactful business and work to achieve their goals. 

See More: https://www.clecolabs.org/

Step 1-> Hold Social Impact Socials Jan-June 2018

Step 2-> Hold monthly International Entrepreneur Series Feb-June 2018

Step 3-> Deploy Legal, Marketing/Storytelling, Design, and Crowdfunding Labs by end of March 2018

Step 4-> Create Ecosystem Map for community access by May 2018 (In Process, expected End of Feb 18')

Step 5 -> Host Social Impact Fair September 2018

Step 6 -> Secure Funding for 2 Year arrangement in MidTown Space

Cleveland Ohio is in the midst of a renaissance, recently appearing in numerous lists as a must visit locations of the country and even on a global scale. For all the recent acclaim received, the city we love faces a litany of challenges that beg for new thinking and better solutions. Sure we have great restaurants, but we top the charts in racial disparity. New homes and large construction projects are underway, but Cleveland is also ranked 2nd in highest poverty rates of the countries big cities. We do our best to promote the good, and yet we are in greater need for innovative thinking, that doesn't attract visitors, but rather creates a better home for its residents. 

Cleveland Co-Labs has a goal to provide quality programming, maintain its location and space in MidTown to aid in the development of a community of changemakers working to use business and new ideas to make is to help inspire greater change for the communities of Cleveland. Our goal is to develop businesses and individuals who are working how to create sustainable change through new ideas. We aim to develop awareness of social entrepreneurship, social enterprise and increase the access for the local community to turn challenges into business solutions. We believe that by giving our community space and home to access to new, creative and collaborative experiences we can help foster a Cleveland that benefits all its residents. Having a central space to do this is and to maintain it will be essential to sustaining our work and the work of the change making community.

Over the past year, we have facilitated workshops, giving access and a home base for learning, growing and enacting new ideas. Over the next 9 months, the Co-Labs will be growing a shift in thinking about how business can operate, how they can serve populations better and how those who need economic opportunity most can translate challenges into learning and opportunity.