Winners to be announced June 8th, 2018 at the 4th annual Vibrant City Awards Lunch
Today, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress announces 19 finalists for its Vibrant City Awards. Winners will be announced on June 8, 2018 at the fourth annual Vibrant City Awards Lunch, hosted by Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and presented by Key Bank.
“The organizations and individuals being honored have displayed tremendous vision, passion and dedication. We’re excited to recognize them for their successful efforts in community development and are pleased to highlight the valued 
initiatives that positively impact the neighborhoods they serve,” says Joel Ratner, President & CEO of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress. “Over 500 city leaders, community partners and stakeholders will join us to celebrate the neighborhood revitalization that is taking place in the city of Cleveland. Efforts from community development corporations, as well as other public and private partners, are instrumental in creating a vibrant city. It is an honor for Neighborhood Progress to host this event, which showcases all of these efforts.”
For these awards, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress received nominations from the community development industry and from various community stakeholders. Jeff Kipp, Director of Neighborhood Marketing for the organization, says “this impressive list of nominations still only tells a fraction of the story behind the neighborhood transformation that is taking place in Cleveland. There are amazing people, companies and organizations performing incredible work in our neighborhoods. We appreciate the opportunity to share these accomplishments with the entire community.”
The 2018 Vibrant City Awards finalists are:
CDC Community Collaboration Award:
Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization – Hire Local
Famicos Foundation – Glenville Arts Campus
Metro West Community Development Office – International Village
CDC Placemaking Award:
Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization – Art + Heart on Colgate
Slavic Village Development – Fleet Avenue Revival
Tremont West Development Corporation – Lincoln Park Gazebo
CDC Economic Opportunity Award:
Burten, Bell, Carr Development – Arbor Park Place
Ohio City Inc. – Spring Jam
Union Miles Development Corporation – Building Futures
CDC Neighborhood Branding & Marketing Award:
Midtown Cleveland Inc – “Town”: Branding & Video
Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation – Summer Smorgasbord
Slavic Village Development – Slavic Village Rediscovered
Urban Developer Award:
Brickhaus Partners
Hemingway Development
Sustainable Communities Associates
Civic Champion Award:
Sister Corita Ambro
Marilyn Burns
Gwen Garth
Philena Seldon
Additionally, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress will present the Morton L. Mandel Leadership in Community Development Award and the Vibrant City Impact Award at the luncheon. Past Mandel Award winners include Daryl Rush (2015), Joe Cimperman (2016) and Judge Raymond Pianka (2017). Cleveland Metroparks received the first-ever Impact Award in 2016 and Cleveland Public Library won it last year.
All of the finalists will be recognized at the Vibrant City Awards Lunch, when civic leaders, community development professionals, local developers, investors, realtors and passionate Clevelanders will gather to celebrate city neighborhoods on Cleveland’s lakefront. This event will be hosted on the boundary of the Glenville and St. Clair Superior neighborhoods, near the Gordon Boat Docks at I-90 and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Local chef Chris Hodgson of Driftwood Catering will be coordinating an authentic Cleveland fish fry for lunch and 2017 Cleveland Chain Reaction winner Claude Booker of Sides To Go BBQ will provide dessert. Kenny Crumpton of Fox 8 will serve as emcee.
The event is open to the public. More information concerning event details, tickets and registration is available at www.ClevelandNP.org/VCAL