Hey Guys

 

I'm a University of Cincinnati student, but I'll be returning to Cleveland for the summer in about 3 weeks.  I'd like to get involved in Cleveland this summer with some volunteering.

 

I really want to get involved in the gentrification, growth, clean-up, beautification and sustainability of Cleveland's many great neighborhoods.

 

I'm considering Habitat for Humanity but that all seems so cliche....

 

I would also really like something that might provide for some good networking opportunities (I'm a business student so networking is something I am ALWAYS looking for!) and that might be something cool to put on a resume.

 

Any thoughts/advice/ideas/contacts are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Habitat does wonderful things.  Not sure why you think it's a cliche. That being said, the local chapter of the Sierra Club might be interesting to you: http://ohio.sierraclub.org/index.html

http://ohio.sierraclub.org/takeaction/index.html

 

Here's a link for our Habitat's activities page:

http://www.clevelandhabitat.org/Volunteer/FeaturedNeeds.php

I saw a "Clean up the River" group last weekend; they were going up/down the Cuyahoga simply picking up trash along the river...I thought it was a great idea - I even went out and helped them for an hour or so!

Try the Cleveland Neighborhood Development Corporation.  They might be able to plug you into activities at the Cleveland's many CDC's.

 

http://www.cndc2.org/

Plain Press, a nonprofit monthly newspaper for Cleveland's West Side neighborhoods, would probably be glad to have you write an article while you're here.  It'll be published both in print form and on the Web. 

 

Here's the website: www.plainpress.org

check out the Cleveland Colectivo.  It's a group of Clevelanders that decided to get together, pool their funds and make change in the city rather than moan about it.  This year they gave out something like $18k or $20k in small grants - all with little overhead and no formal board of directors.  They're always interested in new people. 

 

I was involved with them a couple years ago and even though time and life changes make it difficult for me for now, I  still think it's a cool group :)

 

www.clevelandcolectivo.org