CONNECTIONS BUILD COMMUNITY

We believe every child has potential for greatness. Through the work of the Cleveland Foundation-initiated MyCom program, we mitigate inner-city adolescents’ exposure to risk so that we can harness their potential and help develop the leaders of tomorrow.

MyCom – My Commitment, My Community – may be the most ambitious, innovative effort ever in Cuyahoga County to embrace disadvantaged youths, connect them to caring adults, and enrich their lives with out-of-school activities and jobs. It’s a $6-million-per-year partnership among hundreds of organizations to create a safety net for kids. The foundation’s $2.5 million in grants to support MyCom in 2009 leveraged $4.1 million from other funders, including our main partner, Cuyahoga County.

MyCom is more than a program. It is a youngster’s connection to all the programs out there. Some 250 community organizations, government agencies, faith-based groups, and youths came together to plan and launch it in 2008. MyCom’s evolving online and phone-accessible directory connects parents and kids to more than 1,900 activities and options at nonprofits, libraries, government agencies, and schools. Those partners offered more than 130 programs, mostly in the summertime. They include tutoring, career exploration, sports and recreation, and much more. The jobs program found summer work for 3,600 teens. But with more than 11,000 teen applicants, more summer jobs are needed.

Research demonstrates that after-school programs, out-of-school activities, and summertime jobs make a difference. These healthy activities correlate with decreases in drug and alcohol abuse, smoking, delinquency, and other risky behavior. They’re associated with safer neighborhoods, lower school-dropout rates, and better academic performance.

MyCom is designed to empower its participants. Youth advisors have been involved from the start, suggesting child- and teen-friendly activities and evaluating existing offerings. Kids even came up with the MyCom name.

We and our partners have concentrated MyCom’s offerings in eight pilot neighborhoods: Bellaire-Puritas, Central, Cudell-West Park, Mt. Pleasant, St. Clair-Superior, Slavic Village, northern Parma, and southern Shaker Heights. We hope to expand into more neighborhoods.

ACCESSING BEST PRACTICES

Project Access, we like to say, is like an MBA program for small nonprofits, giving them intensive training to run better businesses.

Faith- and community-based organizations have long offered hope and help for our most vulnerable people. Devotion and neighborhood roots give these organizations street credibility that bigger nonprofits often lack. Yet the grassroots operations are typically labors of love, understaffed and underequipped.

Project Access, administered by the foundation, is a consortium of universities and nonprofit organizations committed to helping these groups become more professional, effective, and innovative, so that they may serve more people. Experts evaluate and train organization leaders, help them build peer networks, and maintain coaching and advisory relationships. Groups that successfully complete the program can qualify for small grants for equipment, software, or other needs.

In five years, Project Access has served more than 150 organizations; they, in turn, serve 278,000 people.

Learn more at www.ClevelandFoundation.org/HumanServices