Leaders Unite Behind Urban Agenda to Alleviate Income, Poverty and Wealth Disparities in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County
Photo Credits – Greater Cleveland Partnership
Photo Credits – Greater Cleveland Partnership
PolicyBridge has served Cleveland and Northeast Ohio for twenty years as a public policy think and action tank. The Urban Agenda Collective Impact Project was launched, in part, as a response to Cleveland gaining the unwanted distinction of being the one of the nation’s poorest big cities. The city has consistently remained among the nation’s poorest since PolicyBridge was created in 2024, despite various efforts among local entities and organizations to turn the tide. In late 2021, our report titled “Resetting the Table,” advocated a new, unified approach to the area’s protracted challenges. In February 2023, an engaged group of leaders representing public, private, philanthropic and non-profit organizations began meeting regularly to talk, build connection and plan. A commitment to an Urban Agenda focusing on economic mobility emerged from those meetings. The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing event sets an intent among the assembled Community Partners to pursue a collective impact approach consisting of co-designed strategies, coordinated activities and continuous improvement measured by a community dashboard.
These leaders of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are united behind a bold vision for systems-level change to bring about a more just and economically robust community for all citizens. This is an extraordinary coming together behind a shared Urban Agenda focused on improving economic mobility. Specifically, the Urban Agenda has identified three pivotal goals:
1) Reduce the poverty rate in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.
2) Increase median incomes for Black and Hispanic/Latino households to be on par with White households.
3) Close the Black/Hispanic/White wealth gap.
On Jan. 31 at the Greater Cleveland Partnership offices, 1240 Huron Road East, a ceremonial signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) setting forth their commitment to working collaboratively toward Three economic mobility goals and a series of interim benchmarks. Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb; County Executive Chris Ronayne; Lillian Kuri, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Foundation, and GCP President and CEO Baiju Shah offered brief remarks during the signing ceremony. Leaders or representatives of Cleveland Council, Cuyahoga County Council, the George Gund Foundation, United Way of Greater Cleveland, the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland State University and Case Western Reserve University demonstrated their support for the Urban Agenda project by taking part in the signing event.
What is an Urban Agenda?
An Urban Agenda is not a report or policy brief, or a new program or initiative. An Urban Agenda calls for coordinated and integrated planning, collective action, and accountability. An Urban Agenda advances the economic and social inclusion of Black and Brown people; builds a vital, sustainable, healthy, and engaged community for all; addresses conditions that have resulted in disinvestment in communities of color; mitigates policies and practices that foster structural racism and ineffective systems; and serves as a blueprint that clarifies community priorities, codifies joint approaches for action, and unifies like-minded leaders from various backgrounds and disciplines to ensure successful implementation.
Why An Urban Agenda
PolicyBridge was conceived to address issues negatively affecting life in Cleveland’s distressed neighborhoods, especially the African American community. In our 20 years of research and advocacy, we have seen a significant number of quality programs and initiatives to address a wide range of specific issues. Yet even our most successful endeavors have not moved the needle in improving the overall quality of life and access to economic opportunities in Cleveland’s low-wealth neighborhoods. Cleveland is a city that consistently ranks among the poorest in the nation and is also singled out for undesirable realities ranging from Black infant mortality to the digital divide. How can this be? We are a city of many diligent and innovative community leaders and activists, an engaged business community, and admirable philanthropic institutions and resources. However, to truly make a dent in such broad-based needs, we must unify our many individual efforts behind a single plan.
Photo Credits – Greater Cleveland Partnership
Why implement the Urban Agenda now?
The last few years have brought significant transformations in institutional leadership across various sectors, including government, philanthropy, social services, and business advocacy. This indicates a unique opportunity for innovative thinking and bold ideas. The Urban Agenda seeks to capitalize on this moment to create impactful change for the residents, businesses, and communities of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.
What makes the Urban Agenda unique from other initiatives?
- The Urban Agenda is about systemic, not programmatic, change.
- The Urban Agenda recognizes that significant change will take decades
- The partner model of The Urban Agenda is unique.
- The Urban Agenda adopts a collective impact approach to systemic change.
What is the Goal of the Urban Agenda?
Specifically, the Urban Agenda will aim to narrow and eventually eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in economic well-being in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County. The three shared primary goals are:
- improving median incomes for Black and Hispanic/Latino households,
- reducing poverty rates and
- closing the wealth gap between Black and Hispanic households and their White counterparts.
What happens if we don’t change our approach to the challenges we face?
In 2004, Cleveland gained the unwanted title of the nation’s poorest big city. Despite various efforts over recent decades to improve, the city has largely remained among the nation’s poorest. Data suggest that the city and county have failed to keep pace with the state and nation overall in terms of measures of economic well-being, such as income, house values, education, and wealth. This relative decline has profound implications for the region. If we don’t change and look for new ways to address our challenges, we can only assume that we will continue to fall behind and lose economic vitality.