Funding for CDCs
The City of Cleveland continues to be the largest funder of its neighborhoods’ CDCs. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the City empowered CDCs to move quickly, responding to community members’ visions, tackling many local needs, and driving real estate deals across neighborhoods. But after the Great Recession, the City began reducing the eligible activities in CDC contracts that it reimbursed with its federal Community Development Block Grants (CDBG).
Since 2023, we have advocated to the City for better collaboration and funding for CDCs. In January 2025, Cleveland City Council introduced Ordinance 113-2025, which proposes a new City program to create transparency and accountability with CDCs for their wide range of services to neighborhoods. Learn more about the program’s potential impacts in this Crain’s story.
Neighborhood Platform
In September 2011, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and CDCs from across the city released the Neighborhood Platform, a set of 50 recommendations to guide the work of Council. Over the course of six months, CDCs and CNP developed the recommendations, which encompass changes in housing policy and economic development, investments in neighborhood infrastructure, and modernizing government.
The Neighborhood Platform empowered Mayor Justin M. Bibb and Cleveland City Council, under the leadership of Council President Blaine Griffin (Ward 6), to rigorously challenge the way services are delivered and resources are leveraged across the City. Much more than maintaining the status quo, we asked them to pursue an ambitious vision for Cleveland that transforms our shared trajectory and opportunities. More than 40 of the platform’s 50 recommendations were moved into action by city leaders.
Property Tax Relief
CNP and our partners are advocating for property tax relief measures from the State of Ohio. For example, Senate Bill 244 would give local governments the power to create “residential stability zones” in which eligible homeowners would be protected from dramatic tax increases from property valuations. See our advocacy and hear from affected residents in this story by News 5.