Community development corporations serve Collinwood

Collinwood originally was a village within Euclid Township, but it was annexed by the City of Cleveland in 1910. The neighborhood was built so manufacturing and railroad workers could walk home. Now, there are 17,000 people living in North Collinwood with 220 businesses, 195 of which are locally owned.

So, where does a community development corporation (CDC) come into the picture, and what role does it play? A CDC is a not-for-profit organization that promotes and supports community development through community programs, housing and real estate development, and small business support.

Collinwood is lucky enough to have two CDCs serving the neighborhood: Northeast Shores Development Corporation in North Collinwood and Collinwood-Nottingham Development Corporation serving South Collinwood.

Northeast Shores Development Corporation serves North Collinwood, the primarily residential area between East 140^rd Street to the west, East 185^th Street to the northeast, Lake Erie to the north, the Collinwood Railroad Yards and tracks to the south. A few facts about North Collinwood:

• In the Waterloo Arts District, there was a 45-percent vacancy a few years ago with only four vacancies now due in large part to the Welcome to Collinwood initiative.
• There’s a new effort to attract makers to East 185^th through the Made in Collinwood initiative being unveiled in 2016 (stay tuned for further information). The CDC currently is interviewing 44 makers in the area and will do a public presentation of the interview report results in the first quarter.
• There are 20-25 makers currently on East 185^th Street, including a salsa producer, a soap maker, a vintner, an audio engineering production company, a hat maker, a dressmaker, an awards and trophies company, a newspaper publisher, and a digital designer.
• A new video and music production facility is being built in the former LaSalle Theater with a scheduled early 2016 groundbreaking.
• The CDC has a desire to connect makers with manufacturing facilities who can manufacture or package the items being created by the makers or for job opportunities for skilled production people.
• Northeast Shores is funded through taxes, real estate transactions and philanthropy.

Collinwood-Nottingham Development Corporation serves South Collinwood, the primarily industrial area between East 134^th Street on the west, Euclid Creek to the east, the Collinwood Railroad Yards and tracks to the north, and Woodworth Avenue to the southwest and Roseland Avenue to the Southeast.