This assignment was a part of the Social Justice Internship Program at Loyola University Chicago. This was an asset map of the Ohio City Neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio.

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Ohio City
Asset Map
Institutions Associations
Individuals

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Asset Map of Ohio City Key
1.) Local Institutions
a. Ohio City Incorporated
i. Ohio City Incorporated is an organization that is entirely dedicated to bettering
the Ohio City Neighborhood in every way. They serve as a great source of
information about Ohio City, including but not limited to, local businesses, non-
profits, and associations. They are a well-respected institution in the community
that does a lot of good and has been very involved in the recent upward
progress of Ohio City
b. Riverview Towers
i. Two large apartments run by the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority as a
low-income, senior housing initiative. This senior population is an underutilized
asset to the population. They currently maintain a community garden but also
have valuable life experience and potential employment opportunities.
c. May Dugan Center
i. The May Dugan Center is a social service organization that provides a variety of
services ranging from fulfilling the basic needs of people to helping them
continue their education. May Dugan Center is one of the only social service
organizations that provides services that attempt to “teach the man to fish” and
has helped a large number of Ohio City members, including those who live in
Riverview Towers.
d. Cleveland Public Library- Carnegie West Branch
i. The Carnegie West Branch of the Cleveland Public Library serves Ohio City in
many different ways. It is a gathering place for community members both
socially and to have official meetings, it is a place of knowledge to the vast
amount of schools within Ohio City, and offers a variety of programs meant to
further the education of all community members in both fun and educational
ways.
e. Parents as Teachers National Center
i. Ohio City has a chapter of the international non-profit Parents as Teachers
National Center that’s goal is to provide local parents with services that help
them educate their children in early development and on. With a large number
of students and youth within the community, it is important that organizations
like these exist for the students. This is especially important when
understanding the general geography of the area and its focus on business for
adults.
f. Schools
i. As seen below, Ohio City contains a large amount of schools that serve the
youth of the community as well as those who are commuting members of the
community through St. Ignatius. The schools serve as more than just classroom
time where students learn typical subjects, but often have largely used after-
school programs and community advancement programs. There are often

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partnerships between members of the younger schools with the older schools
as well.
1. Urban Community School
2. St. Ignatius HS
3. Orchard STEM School
4. Paul Laurence Dunbar School
5. Near West Intergenerational School
6. Garret Morgan School of Science
g. Lutheran Hospital
i. Lutheran Hospital is a large employer and service provider to Ohio City. They are
the go to hospital for out-care patient and have extensive services for low-
income members of the community.
h. West Side Market
i. The West Side Market is a major contributor to the Ohio City economic, culture,
and social markets and has been for over 100 years now. The West Side Market
is a historical landmark of Cleveland that leases out counters to food merchants
from around the area. It draws in a large crowd almost every time it is open and
is famous for its quality food for good prices. Since a lot of the merchants who
sell at the market are from Ohio City, as a whole it contributes a lot to the job
market of Ohio City.
i. Exponential Growth of Food Service Businesses
i. Ohio City has seen a large increase in food-service based businesses within the
community, specifically on W 25th
Street. This has a lot to do with the fact that
Ohio City Incorporated has helped build up businesses but also because of an
association of merchants within Ohio City. The businesses below are businesses
that have opened within the last 6 years. This is not exhaustive nor does it touch
on others that have been around for a long time.
1. Townhall Brewery
2. Black Pig
3. Market Garden
4. Bier Market
5. Nano-Brew
6. Phoenix Coffee
7. Tabletop Cafe
2.) Associations
a. West Side Catholic Center
i. The West Side Catholic Center is an association/organization that, similar to the
May Dugan Center, provides social services that range from hot meals to
employment services. The WSCC has been in the neighborhood for a long time
and does a lot with the local schools to get them involved in the community
activism. The Workforce Development Program has been a huge proponent of
advancement for those in need within Ohio City.
b. Arrupe Neighborhood Partnership-St Ignatius HS

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i. The Arrupe House serves as a middleman between the Ohio City community
and the ever-growing St. Ignatius HS Community. The Arrupe partnership does
this by facilitating programs that get students from Ignatius involved within the
community that they go to school in. These programs range from sports
activities for kids in the area to working with adults with developmental
disabilities in the neighborhood. This has served a great deal to the community
because of Ignatius growing geographically. They are famous for building houses
in other areas of Ohio City after they bought out a large amount of houses to
build a field.
c. Block Clubs
i. Block Clubs play a vital role in understanding the differences between areas
within Ohio City. There is obvious cultural differences and demographic
differences in different parts of Ohio City. Block Clubs create communication
and collaboration between residents to better their own parts of the
neighborhoods.
1. South of Lorain Block Club
2. Bridge/Carroll/Jay Block Club
3. Block Club 45-52
4. Fulton/Lorain/Bailey Block/Greenwood/Orchard
5. Randall/Whitman/John/Woodbine Block Club
6. West 47th
Street Block Club
d. Ohio City Merchants Association
i. The purpose of this association is to advocate on the behalf of the for-profit
businesses of Ohio City and to work together to create a better market in
general. This association has been a vocal proponent of keeping the businesses
in Ohio City those of local roots versus large corporations. They played a vital
role in advocating against the bringing in of a McDonalds that would cause a lot
of potential harms.
3.) Individuals
a. Youth
i. Large student population consisting of both residents and commuters.
b. Young Adults
c. Business Entrepreneurs
d. Professionals
e. Community Activism
i. Culture of care for community, space, and advancement
f. Wide range of income-levels
i. Large low-income population vs growing population of high-income population
1. 37% living below the poverty line
g. Diverse Population
i. 50% White, 34% African American, 23% Hispanic, 14% “Other”

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Action Plan: Addressing the Changing Neighborhood
Ohio City is a neighborhood that has been on the up and coming for the past decade. It
has seen a lot of positive change that has led it to be one of the only neighborhoods of
Cleveland with a growing population number1
. With that rising population number and positive
change, the neighborhood has brought in more business entrepreneurs and people of higher
income levels. Blocks North of Lorain Rd. and closer to W 25th
St. have changed exponentially in
that aspect. The interests of the Block Clubs of this area have been very focused on themselves
and utilizing the increase of people with higher socioeconomic status. What has not changed
amidst all of this is the community’s commitment to social services for their community
members.
Assets like the May Dugan Center, the West Side Catholic Center, or the Arrupe
Neighborhood Partnership are not only dedicated to the services of the day to day, but also
assisting members in finding employment. These job development programs have proven to be
a great asset to the neighborhood as they help fight homelessness and unemployment. One
way to further these job development programs as positive impactors on the community is to
partner with the mass amount of growing businesses. An excellent way to do this is through the
Ohio City Merchants Association, Ohio City Incorporated, and the respective block clubs of the
neighborhood. Partnering the job development programs to these institutions and associations
would greatly benefit all members of the community.
The partnering of these comes with many benefits. First, the development programs can
now help place these community members directly into jobs that need to be filled within the
1
Ohio City Incorporated

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businesses of Ohio City. Secondly, the businesses can have a hand in the development
programs to assure that those that are coming out of the programs are properly trained and
will be efficient workers. Those aren’t the only benefits either, local businesses benefit from
having a local member working within them as it strengthens the connections within the
neighborhood. When customers come in, having workers who really know the community can
help with providing great customer service. Also, putting economic development into the
community by the means of hiring members creates a likely closed loop of spending where the
money being paid to employees is going right back into the community through their own
purchasing. The partnering of the employment workshops with local Ohio City businesses not
only creates jobs for members, but therefore inputs economic resources into those same
members who will spend it within the community.
This partnership is not limited to just the idea of placing community members into local
businesses, but also can be used to capitalize on the professionals and business entrepreneurs
that are assets to the community. These men and women can volunteer their time within the
development programs to better the programs through their real-world experience. As
members of the community who look for employees, they can provide information that is both
insightful and useful. If the partnership were to take more of this route rather than placing
members in their own businesses, it still helps the community as a whole. Unemployment can
bring a lot of negatives from lack of economic inputs by the member to potential blight
increases. If the experience of the individuals within the Ohio City Merchants association is
passed onto the members within the programs, they could use that information to find
occupations somewhere else as well.