Crain's Cleveland Business, June 12, 2023

Akron’s other art museum

Collector and advocate has lovingly assembled a private gallery of over 3,000 pieces

BY DAN SHINGLER

Akron has a great art museum downtown.

But it’s a pretty great private one, hidden away in a single-family home in the area, the location of which is a bit of a secret.

To some, it’s at least as interesting as the bigger, formal museum downtown — or the big museums in many cities, for that matter.

“It is startling,” said Tony Troppe, an Akron developer and arts advocate who has seen it.

It’s a private collection of more than 3,000 pieces of art, mostly from the 20th century, that has been lovingly assembled and curated by Akron art collector and arts advocate Rick Rogers.

Rogers is well-known in local art and civic leadership circles. He’s a trustee and past board president of the Akron Art Museum and a trustee at Akron Children’s Hospital. Rogers also is a trustee of Front International in Cleveland, which so far has staged two regional art exhibitions, and is executive director at Curated Storefront in Akron, which helps landlords keep vacant buildings vibrant with art installations.

But on his own, Rogers is free to collect the art he personally loves, and that’s exactly what he does.

THROUGH THE ROOF

Hotels on 2024 solar eclipse: Do look up!

BY DAN SHINGLER

They say you make hay when the sun shines. But what do you do when the sun goes out?

You rent hotel rooms, of course — or at least that’s what local tourism proponents are hoping will happen next year. You know, when the sun goes out.

If early signs hold true — some big hotels are

already sold out — the April 2024 eclipse could be the biggest event to hit Northeast Ohio since the Republican National Convention came to town in 2016. In fact, for at least the day of the actual event on April 8, there could be more people in town to see the sun go out over e Land than there were in town to see it shine on Donald Trump.

But let’s not drag the poor eclipse into any crowd-estimate controversies.

“It’s not a question of which is bigger — they’re both big for their own reasons,” said Emily Laurer, vice president of communications for the tourism development group Destination Cleveland.

Laurer and her colleagues have been working with local hotels to prepare for the event for some time.

See ECLIPSE on Page 30

Squire Patton Boggs leads Ohio law rms, landing at No. 8, in industry’s latest Diversity Scorecard. PAGE 3

Low wages, poor building quality and lack of supply put thousands at risk of housing insecurity in Northeast Ohio

An aluminum sculpture by Korean artist Seungmo Park is part of the massive collection. CONTRIBUTED

Cavs’ Center Court is not just a team shop; it’s a destination

BY JOE SCALZO

One of the goals of Snarkitecture is to reimagine the familiar, whether that’s using 200 Air Max 1s to build a sneaker chandelier inside the Kith clothing store in Paris or scattering the original “MIAMI ORANGE BOWL” letters throughout the east plaza of the Miami Marlins’ LoanDepot Park or building a two-story “basketball run” inside the Cavs’ new Center Court team shop at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (RMFH).

“It’s about taking something from our day-to-day existence or our childhood and re-creating them to a new e ect, creating a moment of wonder and re ection that’s hopefully memorable,” said Alex Mustonen, the partner and co-founder of Snarkitecture, of the ball run. “Play and sport allow us to do that. Play and sport allow us to connect to the sense of being a child, and the sense of curiosity and wonder that come with that.”

e basketball run was inspired by a child’s marble run toy scaled up to accommodate 15 custom white fullsize basketballs. It takes 46 seconds for each ball to make the whole trip. It is very fun and very memorable and very di erent from what teams typically do when they reimagine their team shop, which is to shift the merchandise around and — if they’re feeling really frisky — change the color of their hangers.

e Cavs are not typical. e Cavs gave the 6,700-square-foot Center Court its own Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts, a 90-second introductory drone video (which zooms through all angles of the shop) and a grand opening with a DJ, food

from Sora and co ee from 27 Co ee Club. e grand opening even debuted a (vegan) nail polish line from Cleveland native Machine Gun Kelly.

“As a brand, we’re always looking to toe the line between pop culture and basketball,” said Christopher Kaiser, the Cavs’ chief marketing o cer. “ is

store is the physical embodiment of this new and innovative retail strategy that we’ve taken over the last couple seasons. … It makes for a di erent experience, one that changes the entire shopping experience.”

When asked if any other NBA teams have done something like this, Kaiser said, “ is is a completely different stratosphere than other teams.”

Much of the Cavs’ approach is designed to appeal to a younger group of fans — speci cally, Generation Z — who are looking for something new and di erent, whether that’s in the look and feel of a retail space or the merchandise itself. But “new” isn’t the same as “polarizing.” Center Court’s apparel racks are still lled with jerseys, T-shirts, hats and hoodies — and it’s a safe bet that consumers will nd something that will satisfy everyone from their 10-year-old kid to their 70-year-old father.

“It doesn’t really alienate anybody; I think it really just extends our brand to a wider fan base,” Kaiser said. “ at younger generation wants to support the Cavs and be Cavs fans, but they don’t necessarily want to wear what I wear on a daily basis, which is a polo shirt or a quarter-zip (pullover). We want to grow that next generation of our fan base.”

While the ball run gets the most attention, Center Court has plenty of other cool design elements, from a reconstructed entrance that allows more natural light into the shop to a new wing devoted to Cleveland Monsters merchandise (which includes a blue resin oor meant to mimic glistening ice). Also in the space: signage inspired by vintage LED scoreboards (the letters are composed of individually illuminated dots), an area designed to resemble a locker room, and a staircase inspired by the tall theatrical curtains

used as backdrops and drapery on stages, a nod to the rich concert and entertainment history of the FieldHouse.

“An arena is a big and complex space, and there are a lot of speci c operational and maintenance requirements,” Mustonen said. “It’s not like designing a boutique store that’s more specialized. So to do something in this (arena) environment that feels really special and unique and remarkable makes me very happy.”

Snarkitecture is the international design practice of the Cavs’ creative director, Cleveland native Daniel Arsham, who oversaw the design process for the team’s three main jerseys from the 2022-23 season, as well as the Metroparks-inspired City Edition jerseys. e company’s name is a combination of the playful and the serious, and it originates from a Lewis Carroll nonsense poem called the “Hunting of the Snark,” which is about an “unlikely crew on an impossible journey,” Mustonen said.

“ ey don’t know what they’re looking for or how to nd it,” he said. “ at’s analogous to what we wanted to do with our creative process. We’re exploring the unknown and looking along the peripheries and edges of architecture.”

Center Court’s design process started two years ago. e Cavs originally wanted to do the bulk of the construction last summer, but they ran into some supply chain issues with some of the higher-end materials, Kaiser said.

“ is (ball run) is one of a kind; it’s the only thing like it that exists in this world,” Kaiser said. “Someone had to gure it out from an engineering standpoint, how it was actually going to work. We came up with the idea before we even gured out if it was possible.”

Consequently, the Cavaliers spent about 85% of the season without their o cial team shop, yet game-day revenue was still up 77% year over year.

at’s partly because there were plenty of other shops inside RMFH selling merchandise, and partly because, well, the team went 31-10 at home and sold out every game. And when Center Court did open late in the season, it performed well aesthetically and functionally, providing a “wow” factor for fans without clogging up the checkout lines, Kaiser said.

“We wanted to get it right,” he said “It was one of those situations where we had a pretty nice team shop, but we wanted to do something special for our fans. We didn’t want to rush the nal product.”

e Cavs also wanted to make it a place fans would visit throughout the year, whether they were watching a Cavs or Monsters game, or just passing by the arena. It’s the same approach they took with their sportsbook, which opened on New Year’s Day.

“In my opinion, the standard retail shop is a bit of an afterthought (to most teams); as long as the jerseys are out and they’re selling them, there’s not too much else to it,” Mustonen said. “What’s powerful about the Cavs is they’re committed to valuing the design experience. ey believe a physical space can do more than just sell a jersey. It can extend the overall experience of being at an arena and being a fan.

“ ey wanted something that is a destination in its own right.”

Joe Scalzo: joe.scalzo@crain.com, (216) 771-5256, @JoeScalzo01

Designed in close collaboration with Snarkitecture, the international design practice of Cavaliers creative director, Daniel Arsham, Center Court is a reimagined twist on the traditional team shop. SEAN DAVIDSON

Redwood Living keeps growing

STAN BULLARD

Redwood Living, the apartment home builder based in Independence, is continuing to add new neighborhoods — its term for its projects — in Northeast Ohio as it adds new markets, such as Nebraska.

Nebraska? Yes, and it is making no little plans for its ninth state for construction and ownership.

Kevin Kwiatkowski, Redwood executive vice president of acquisitions and construction, said in a phone interview that Redwood has several reasons for establishing beachheads in Nebraska.

“ ere is not a lot of competition from national home builders there for land,” Kwiatkowski said, and that helps control land prices and availability.

No other ground-up, build-to-rent operators of house-style, one- oor homes are active in the market, although multiple developers of garden-style apartments are there. Redwood sees tenants for three-story apartment buildings as a di erent target market than its own, he said.

“It’s also a Midwest market. We’ve done well in Midwestern cities,” Kwi-

atkowski said. “ e demographics are similar to Cleveland and Akron. And the topography is similar to other parts of the Midwest.”

Redwood also has its own operating rationale for entering the Nebraska market.

Nebraska is a direct ight from Chicago, where Redwood has established an o ce, and sta at its Chicago o ce can handle projects there.

Kwiatkowski said Redwood sees its Chicago o ce as a core market and hub for additional expansion elsewhere. Redwood has three communities under construction in the Chicago area and three others in the land-development stage.

In Nebraska, Redwood has two sites in Omaha and one in Bellevue. Each of those communities will have 110 or more units. Streets are going in at the Omaha locations, and the rst foundation just went in in Bellevue. Redwood expects to open its rst Nebraska neighborhood later this year.

Closer to home, Redwood last month opened Redwood Brunswick Hills, 4356 Red Ivy Drive, where it has completed the rst of 103 units. e side-by-side single-story units have

Squire Patton Boggs leads Ohio law rms in industry’s latest Diversity Scorecard

JEREMY NOBILE

While the legal services industry continues to reckon with its longstanding diversity problem, Squire Patton Boggs stands out among Ohio-based law rms improving diversity, equity and inclusion within its own ranks.

Cleveland-based Squire — the seventh-largest law rm in Northeast Ohio — placed at No. 8 in e American Lawyer’s 2023 Diversity Scorecard. at’s the rm’s highest ranking yet and a signi cant jump from its rankings at No. 30 last year and No. 43 in 2021.

At No. 94, Cleveland-founded Jones Day is the only other law rm with Ohio headquarters to crack the top 100 in this AmLaw ranking.

e outlet’s Diversity Scorecard provides a detailed look at the percentage of ethnically and racially diverse equity partners, nonequity partners, associates and other full-time equivalent attorneys among the industry’s biggest rms. e corresponding methodology, revamped in 2022, considers a number of factors, including the diversity of rm leadership positions.

For Squire, gains in the Diversity Scorecard follow a number of DEI initiatives put in place in recent years.

A key development was the rm’s launch of its inaugural O ce of DEI around fall 2021 under the leadership of the proli c counselor Fred Nance, who transitioned from the position of global managing partner to global DEI counsel.

e rm also recruited Kathy Bowman-Williams from Houston law rm Baker Botts as its global DEI director in 2022.

“Our diversity makes us a stronger, better law rm,” Nance said. “As I per-

ve assorted designs, although all have two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Monthly rent starts at $1,749.

Brunswick Hills is Redwood’s fth neighborhood in Medina County, long a land-rich, fertile eld for Northeast Ohio homebuilding.

Asked about saturating the market for such units in Medina, Kwiatkowski said Redwood only adds new neighborhoods when local demographics support more building.

“Demand is so strong in the (Brunswick) marketplace that it led us to add another property there,” Kwiatkowski said.

Most Redwood residents come from within a ve-mile radius, he said. e Brunswick Hills community is two miles from its Valley City development and seven from state Route 18 in Medina, where it has another three communities.

Redwood also has in the works a community in Norton that will open later this summer. And it opened a project in Chardon earlier this year.

Even though much of Redwood’s growth is outside Northeast Ohio, it prizes building in its hometown.

“As Redwood continues to expand

our portfolio across the country, there is always something special about welcoming a new neighborhood in our backyard,” said Taylor Haley, director of property operations at Redwood, in the company’s news release announcing the latest Medina County o ering.

“ e growing community of Brunswick Hills o ers an ideal location for Redwood’s single-story apartment homes, which create a comfortable and elevated living experience that stands apart from other rental options,” Haley said.

At this stage, about 20% of Redwood’s new developments are going into Northeast Ohio. e remainder are out of state.

Redwood completed 1,338 units in 2022, Kwiatkowski said, and its portfolio now stands at 15,903 units in

more than 120 developments.

Constructing rental housing on such a scale gives Redwood perspective on building woes and the impact of rising interest rates.

Kwiatkowski said the company sees electric meter banks in short supply and transformers and water meters provided by utility providers as “scarce.” Like other builders, the company has bene ted from more normal lumber costs this past year. It also has yet to see swings in land prices.

On the interest rate side of building housing, rents that Redwood is receiving continue to support building as interest rates have climbed, Kwiatkowski said.

Stan Bullard: sbullard@crain.com, (216) 771-5228, @CrainRltywriter

sonally discovered decades ago, our rm’s culture has long valued as fundamental the precepts underlying DEI.

at’s why, for instance, when we formally set up our O ce of DEI, we were able to place an outgoing global managing partner who happened to be African-American at its lead. at means that there is routine, direct access by the O ce of DEI to the highest levels of rm management. We now have the right structure in place to act comprehensively across the global rm.”

Nance has been an outspoken advocate for diversity at the highest levels in the workplace across all industries. In a 2020 Crain’s analysis showing the woeful lack of diversity in corporate board rooms among Northeast Ohio businesses, Nance called out companies that refused to publicly share information about their demographic and be held accountable.

According to AmLaw, 21.6% of U.S. attorneys in the industry’s largest rms were ethnically diverse, which marks a marginal improvement from 20.2% in 2021.

As for Squire itself: 22.93% of attorneys rmwide are ethnically diverse; 28.66% of equity partners are ethnically diverse; and 25% of executive committee members are ethnically diverse.

“While we recognize more work lies ahead, it is gratifying to see we are making meaningful progress, and we remain as committed as ever to being a leader in this arena,” Nance added.

In Northeast Ohio, among attorneys at nearly 70 law rms surveyed by Crain’s in 2022, 30% were women and 7% were minorities. Additionally, among partners in those rms, 22% were women and 5% were minorities.

Jeremy Nobile: jnobile@crain.com, (216) 771-5362, @JeremyNobile

Redwood Living of Independence is opening a new development of house-style apartment homes in Brunswick Hills. | CONTRIBUTED

Cuyahoga Falls sees chance to grow workforce with in ux of international residents

BY KIM PALMER

As a second-generation business owner, Tom Haag, president of Cuyahoga Falls-based Kyocera SGS Precision Tools, knows the importance of casting a wide net when looking for people to work on the factory oor.

In the 1970s, as part of the fallout of the Vietnam War, Cuyahoga Falls saw an in ux of Hmong refugees from Laos and Cambodia. e company, then known as SGS Tool, hired many of those “newcomers” — a term that encompasses refugees, immigrants, asylum seekers and international students — to help the company ll roughly 300 jobs.

“We hired a number of Laotian and Cambodian associates who are just now retiring from the company,” Haag said. “Now we see their children are coming here, which I think is a testament to their parent’s experience working here.”

Bringing on these new employees and keeping them working there for decades meant successfully dealing with multiple di erent languages, di erent holidays, and Hmong cultural norms and expectations, Haag said. It’s something he plans to do again as a di erent in ux of newcomers relocate into Cuyahoga Falls and Akron’s North Hill community, and as the city is part of a program called Welcoming Workforce to help facilitate transitions.

“Recently we are certainly seeing a new wave of immigration coming into North Akron and Cuyahoga Falls, mostly from Bhutan and Nepal,” Haag said.

According to a survey of local employers conducted on behalf of the Cuyahoga Falls Community Development Department, about 4% of the city’s employed population is made up of international newcomers, though Diana Colavecchio, the city’s community development director, believes a portion of that gure comes from people living in neighboring Akron.

Cuyahoga Falls is one of the few communities in Summit County with population growth as demonstrated by the last census, when the city went from 49,652 residents in 2010 to 51,114 in 2020.

Colavecchio said she had been unaware that a portion of that in-

crease came directly from the relocation of newcomer families until she met Tanya Budler of Rise Together, the founder of a consulting rm focused on workforce and immigration advocacy.

“ is was not on my radar when I took this job (in 2019) and it could have completely fallen through the cracks had we not hired her and brought all this to the forefront,” Colavecchio said.

Some of Cuyahoga Falls’ newest Nepali and Bhutanese residents were resettled through the United Nations Refugee Agency to the city of Akron. Once they realized how affordable the area is, word of mouth through the community meant other family members and acquaintances left their initial resettlement cities to come here, Budler said.

Over time, some families moved from Akron to Cuyahoga Falls, citing better safety and school quality, she added.

Budler came with a plan to help Cuyahoga Falls and the city’s employers be more welcoming to their new residents to help continue to grow the population and remedy talent shortages.

In May, the Cuyahoga Falls City Council passed a resolution dedicating $40,000 to Budler’s Welcoming Workforce program, which aims to develop a plan to address systematic changes needed to attract and retain international newcomers to the community and workforce. e city has hired Budler o cially as a consultant.

Cuyahoga Falls is the rst city in Northeast Ohio to have a Welcoming Workforce Coalition — made up of business leaders (including Haag), elected o cials and nonpro t organizations — that’s helping to create a strategy around the resources needed to attract and retain an international newcomer workforce.

At the end of the year, Cuyahoga Falls will have a strategic plan created by the 20-member coalition that will help the city’s employers nd and support workers while also assisting newcomers in identifying jobs with local industrial, manufacturing and service companies.

According to Haag, it is important to delve into the cultural di erences of the newcomers without making assumptions.

“We found that some of these cultures were so hard working, they didn’t even understand the concept of taking a break or taking a lunch period,” he said. “Of course, we’re obligated by law to make sure people take a 10-minute break over an eight-hour period.”

Along with enforcement of the culture of taking work breaks, the company provides English-as-asecond-language courses for those new to the country. He also has made accommodations for longer leaves of absence when workers want to go back to Asia to visit family and need more than a week’s vacation time. And at social work events, there is always Hmong music and food, Haag said.

e coalition meetings, 14 in all, are part of an e ort to get the right resources to the table for companies, Budler said.

As the consultant of the Welcoming Workforce program, Budler is providing other Cuyahoga Falls employers with a series of external support partners to help with both employment and social services, including World Education Services, an organization that helps with accurate translations for foreign languages.

“It’s a conscious acknowledgment by the Cuyahoga Falls community that there’s a cultural shift that’s going to have to happen, and that the city has to try something di erent, because it has not always been known as being welcoming,” Budler said.

Haag, who is part of the coalition as a bit of an elder statesman, is looking to ll anywhere from 10 to 15 positions. He also is looking out for the community.

“As a kid growing up here, I know it was called Caucasian Falls and I knew it had that reputation, but I have to give the city a lot of credit for changing that over the last few decades,” Haag said. “And for Kyocera, we are not considering this work just to help with a short-term x. I know everybody’s looking for workers, but we have done this well before, and in 20 years from now we are hoping that these workers will recommend that their kids work here. We are thinking long term.”

Kim Palmer: kpalmer@crain.com, (216) 771-5384, @kimfouro ve

Kyocera SGS Precision Tools is getting assistance from the Welcoming Workforce Coalition to hire newly immigrated people. | KYOCERA

MY BENESCH

“Benesch was extremely responsive at a critically important time as we were completing two platform investments. The fact that theyhave both transportation industry knowledge and a strong M&A practice really helps them understand the full set of issues and how they interconnect.”

Clarendon Capital, LLC

Clarendon Capital, LLC

MY TEAM

PETER K. SHELTON

CHRISTOPHER D. HOPKINS

MARC S. BLUBAUGH

DARYLL V. MARSHALL

RYAN J. WILLIAMS

JONATHAN R. TODD

JESSICA N. ANGNEY

GEORGE STOWE

RICHARD A. PLEWACKI

Complex M&A transactions often require different law firms to handle different aspects of the deal—adding even more complexity as well as costs. But for private equity investor Clarendon Capital, Benesch’s deep transactional expertise and nationally renowned Transportation & Logistics Practice eliminate the need for multiple representation. Clarendon also gains access to useful introductions and exposure to potential opportunities through Benesch’s extensive transportation, logistics, private equity, and investment networks. It’s a winning combination of legal and business capabilities that is helping Clarendon and its portfolio companies grow and thrive.

Can we do the same for your business? Learn more about our relationship with Clarendon Capital at beneschlaw.com/myteam

www.beneschlaw.com

MARK FORNASIERO Managing Partner

MICHAEL RAUE Partner

Featured team (left to right)

EDITORIAL

Make no small plans

What makes this time di erent?

It’s a fair question after public o cials and civic leaders last Tuesday, June 6, rolled out a strategic plan, “Reimagining Downtown Cleveland,” that looks for ways to “capture the momentum we had before the pandemic to accelerate our evolution into a model 18-hour, 15-minute neighborhood.” e goal, as Downtown Cleveland Alliance CEO Michael Deemer put it during a news conference, is to transform downtown from a “central business district” to a “central community district.”

Cleveland over the years has had lots of downtown and lakefront plans with lofty ambitions, but limited success with the follow-up. Big plans don’t mean anything if they aren’t backed up with action. is one looks di erent in some key ways, although it’s worth noting, as Crain’s enterprise reporter Michelle Jarboe wrote, that at this point it’s “unclear how much the initiatives will cost — and who will pay for them.”

e plan is admirable, though, in its scope and the recognition of challenges ahead in three key areas: economy, environment and experience.

COVID reset a lot of things about our economy and society, with the nature of a successful city neighborhood chief among them. Look around the country and you’ll see that traditional downtown business districts — canyons of o ce space — are su ering as return-to-work strategies sputter, or settle into “Tuesday through ursday is good” mode. Places in cities that are thriving o er a true mix: some o ces, yes, but small retail, restaurants, housing, live music, parks, bike lanes and enhanced public spaces, all in a safe environment.

e three pillars of the plan touch on all these elements, outlining initiatives that include a retail attraction strategy; the creation of so-called “third places” where employees, residents and remote workers can gather; green space enhancements; water features and other opportunities for kids to play; and making it easier to get around town by foot, bike, scooter, wheelchair and transit.

Key to a vibrant downtown is getting more people to live there. Cleveland’s goal is to have 30,000 downtown residents by 2030, and it’s possible — provided the city is proactive in working with developers (not a traditional strength) to convert o ce space to residential units, or, when appropriate, into more modern workspaces to t current demand.

Activity in downtown Cleveland remains far o pre-pandemic levels. Researchers at the University of Toronto’s School of Cities project analyzed mobile device connectivity data and found that from December 2022 to February 2023, Cleveland generated only 44% of the activity it did during the like period of 2019 and 2020. at put Cleveland at No. 58 of 63 cities measured.

It’s not particularly a knock on Cleveland. Among the cities that were even lower in the Toronto data were Minneapolis, Portland and San Francisco — all metros that have been thought of as dynamic places to work and play.

Will Cleveland be able to turn things around? With this plan, it certainly helps that there’s new leadership at the city and county level committed to change. Now the commitment has to be to action.

Honorable mention

There’s a little bit of truth in the “it’s an honor just to be nominated” line, but the sentiment is a cliché because everyone, when nominated, wants to win.

A di erent cliché — “winning isn’t everything” — is more appropriate in the case of Cleveland chef Brandon Chrostowski, who was nominated for, but didn’t win, a James Beard award last Monday, June 5, in Chicago.

Chrostowski was a nalist in the Outstanding Restaurateur category, but the operation he runs, EDWINS, is more than just an innovative place to eat. It hires and trains formerly incarcerated individuals, promoting culinary skills for them to work at the restaurant, a diner and a butcher shop. It also has a lifeskills center and, most recently, opened EDWINS Family Center, a block away from the restaurant, as a nonpro t facility providing free care to children of formerly incarcerated adults.

After the James Beard ceremony, Chrostowski went to the Danville Corrections Center in Illinois to talk with about 200 inmates.

e James Beard judges saw t to give the award to another nalist. But falling short of the top prize certainly doesn’t diminish the work Chrostowski and the EDWINS team are doing to provide work opportunities and to lift their community. ose e orts are to be admired, regardless of awards.

Executive Editor: Elizabeth McIntyre (emcintyre@crain.com)

Managing Editor: Scott Suttell (ssuttell@crain.com)

Contact Crain’s: 216-522-1383

Read

PERSONAL VIEW

Human tra cking is a community problem

KIRSTI MOUNCEY

Since 2015, the Collaborative to End Human Tra cking has run ads and billboards with the message “It Happens Here, Too.”

Recent local arrests as part of a human tra cking sting — including a former school superintendent — have really awakened people to the notion that human tra cking is not someone else’s problem.

Since news of the arrests became public, we have ltered countless phone calls from people who asked how this could happen right under our noses and how they can be better equipped to identify and respond to it. People think it’s the “creepy guy” in the neighborhood who is a buyer (or “john”) or that kids are snatched at highway rest stops. ose are really myths.

Today, we know that human tra cking is not an isolated issue on the fringes of our understanding of global human rights. Labor and sex tra cking is a community problem. Ohio has one of the largest call volumes to the national human tra cking helpline. It happens in every corner of Cuyahoga County. We all have a role to play in eradicating it. e rst step is to recognize certain vulnerabilities that make individuals more susceptible to being tra cked. Anywhere from 50% to 80% of victims of commercial sexual exploitation, including child sex tra cking, are or were formerly involved with the child welfare system. Addiction, homelessness, poverty, a history of being neglected or abused, or being an LGBTQIA youth all make people more susceptible to being tra cked.

e markets and venues for victimization run the spectrum from familial tra cking to exploitation in online and o ine commercial sex markets, from criminal enterprises to integration into the global supply chains that produce the goods and services impacting our daily lives.

Awareness, education and collaboration are essential, but more needs to be done.

We are grateful for our law enforcement, especially the Northeast Ohio Human Tra cking Taskforce and North Olmsted police, and members of Greater Cleveland’s Coordinated Response to Human Tra cking, who continue to assist the survivors. ere are more than 70 entities in Greater Cleveland’s Coordinated Response including law enforcement, health care institutions, governmental entities and community organizations working together to assist victims and bring cases to justice in Cuyahoga County. ey do valuable work, despite a lack of systems locally and statewide to support them.

A real system to address human tra cking in our county and state does not exist. is is supported by the Report Card on Child & Youth Sex Tra cking, published by Shared Hope International. Ohio has repeatedly received an F.

We lack a uni ed data system on local, state and national levels to understand the prevalence of tra cking. We also lack a system of identi cation and response protocols, a seamless continuum of trauma-responsive care to make it easier for survivors to get the help they need after recovery, tools for victim-centered criminal justice response, and a system for training and prevention.

All of these things are necessary if we want to eradicate human tra cking.

If you, too, were shocked by the local headlines about the recent tra cking arrests, I urge you to do three things:

1. Advocate for policy changes. Engage in advocacy e orts aimed at addressing the root causes of sex tra cking and exploitation. Support policies that prioritize survivor-centered approaches and provide exit strategies for those involved.

See TRAFFICKING, on Page 7

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

Mouncey is president and CEO of the Collaborative to End Human Tra cking.

E-mobility rm LAND raises $7M, plans to scale up production

BY RACHEL ABBEY MCCAFFERTY

It’s a good time to be in the e-mobility space, said LAND CEO Scott Colosimo.

e world’s governments are collectively moving away from fossil fuels, he noted; major manufacturers are on board, too. And, he said, there’s “consumer demand.” e industry is at the edge of another revolution.

“It’s easier to swim with the tide or have tailwind than to y into the wind,” Colosimo said.

LAND in Cleveland makes what it calls its eMoto, a exible, twowheeled electric vehicle branded e District. e District features four settings, from an e-bike setting that reaches 27 miles per hour to the e-motorcycle setting that can reach more than 70 miles per hour, a news release said. In between are settings that allow the vehicle to serve as a moped or a commuter bike, Colosimo said.

Colosimo said LAND can toggle between settings on an electric vehicle, whereas gas-powered vehicles are more reliant on the size and weight of the engine. On e District bike, it’s a software setting that determines how the vehicle can be used that day.

Prices start around $7,000, Colosimo said, and can go up to about $12,000, based on di erent available versions of the bike.

LAND got its start in early 2020. When COVID put everything on hold, the company focused more on R&D, Colosimo said.

Until recently, LAND was assembling bikes in an approximately 1,500-square-foot space, Colosimo said, making about a bike a week at rst and then moving up to two. But in the past year, the startup completely renovated its space at 1265

From Page 6

West 65th St. in Cleveland, giving the company about 35,000 square feet in which to work. e building includes space for research and design, as well as fabricating and assembly. Colosimo bought the building, which he previously used to house his old company, Cleveland CycleWerks, more than a decade ago with a real estate partner. Colosimo has since sold his portion of Cleveland CycleWerks, noting that it was too dicult to go back and forth between gas-powered vehicles and electric ones.

“It’s like working on a steam engine and then working on a computer,” Colosimo said.

e West 65th Street facility could now support LAND making 15,000 bikes a year, Colosimo said. And he expects the demand will be higher, so he thinks the company could contract with local manufacturers or expand further to make even more.

But LAND can’t reach that level of

2. Become educated and raise awareness. Our organization o ers free education, training and technical assistance to challenge societal misconceptions and stigma surrounding survivors of sex tra cking and exploitation.

production without additional capital. Most of Northeast Ohio’s venture funding focuses on software, Colosimo said, which makes raising funds as a startup manufacturer a challenge.

But LAND recently completed a Series A funding round led by Mayeld Heights-based Ancora, a news release noted, and supported by other investors across the country.

“We are very excited to get in the driver’s seat and support a Northeast Ohio company that is accelerating energy independence,” Ancora chairman and CEO Fred DiSanto said in the release.

Colosimo said getting Ancora on board was important, because the company needed an “advocate in the city.”

“Because the people that see what we’re doing and truly understand this mobility, battery platform play, they understand how big this can scale,” Colosimo said.

Colosimo said LAND has seen the most success in family o ce investors. e company has so far raised about $7 million. Colosimo said LAND did all the pre-production work of R&D and engineering with less than $4 million, and it spent about another $1 million getting its facility renovated and tooled up.

Now, LAND is launching a $50 million Series B funding round.

At $7 million, LAND can produce about 30 units a month, Colosimo said. e $50 million would allow LAND to reach its planned production of 15,000 eMotos — or more — a year.

Currently, LAND employs 18. Colosimo said he hopes to eventually employ nearly 100 when production scales up.

Rachel Abbey McCa erty: (216) 7715379, rmcca erty@crain.com

3. Listen to survivors. eir stories of what they’ve endured will break you. eir resilience will inspire you. eir recovery will move you to action.

As one of our Survivor Advisory Council members reected in a poem she wrote about her recovery, “I learned that I was not alone. at loving myself was enough. at safety is possible.”

Safety is possible when we work together to end human tra cking in Cuyahoga County once and for all.

LAND branded their eMoto bike The District. It’s a exible, two-wheeled electric vehicle. LAND PHOTOS

In the past year, the startup completely renovated its work space at 1265 West 65th St.

The modern workplace isn’t what it was a scant ve years ago; evolving technology and a rising demand for work/life balance mean the lines between the home and the of ce are irrevocably blurred. Remote work, although slightly ebbing as many companies return to hybrid schedules, remains a signi cant factor in the professional world. Likewise, a tight labor market continues to pit employers against one another as they compete to hire and keep top-notch talent.

Moreover, the social climate has continued to evolve, with employers placing a greater emphasis on diverse hiring practices, inclusive corporate policies and initiatives that promote equity between colleagues and managers. These DE&I (diversity, equity and inclusion) practices, once thought of as a luxury for forward-thinking companies, are now considered baseline efforts that all companies should strive to make.

According to a study highlighted by Forbes, consumers tend to gravitate toward brands that represent relatable social justice positions. Additionally, the 2021 Workforce Happiness Index indicated that 78% of working professionals want their employers to value DE&I principles.

Resilience, adaptability and collaboration are common traits among the companies honored in this year’s Best Employers in Ohio section. While remote work policies, bene ts packages, DE&I policies and miscellaneous perks vary, the companies featured on the following pages earned their rankings by committing not only to serving their customers and stakeholders, but to placing the needs of their workforce at the forefront.

This is the fth year Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland has published the Best Employers in Ohio list in partnership with Best Companies Group. Best Companies

Group has been conducting this survey since 2006.

Participating employers compensated the Best Companies Group for their submissions, which included a descriptive list of their bene ts and policies, as well as information collected from employee questionnaires. Not all data submitted is included in the rankings.

The top executive and location listed in the following pro les re ect key points listed for Ohio; all voluntary turnover data is for the most recently completed scal year. The following pro les are meant to represent a snapshot of the information provided by the companies.

Custom content coordinator: Conner Howard

Project editor: Chris Lewis

Art director: Kayla Byler

For more information about this report, please contact Conner Howard at conner.howard@crain.com

The Center for Health Affairs & CHAMPS

BMI Federal Credit Union Protiviti

Blue & Co., LLC

Civista Bank

SMALL/MEDIUM EMPLOYER CATEGORY (15-249

1. ON Partners Staf ng Hudson onpartners.com

@ONSearchPartner

Tim Conti, co-president

Employees in the U.S.: 68 Voluntary turnover: 0%

» ON Partners hosts happy hours and weekly of ce lunches.

» Employees can also use an in-of ce ping pong table and golf simulator.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company has a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force/Committee.

» It also offers ongoing diversity training opportunities.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 11 paid holidays and 10 vacation days annually.

» They’re also provided three personal days every year.

2. InfoTrust Consulting Blue Ash www.infotrustllc.com

@InfoTrustLLC

Alex Yastrebenetsky, CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 108 Voluntary turnover: 26%

» InfoTrust pays 100% of employees’ (and their dependents) dental and vision insurance.

» Additionally, employees can receive referral bonuses of up to $20,000.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company recruits future employees at historically black colleges and universities.

» Moreover, it has an Employee Resource Group that’s devoted to celebrating diversity.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» It offers all employees unlimited PTO.

» Employees rarely, if ever, have to work overtime hours.

3. Redmond Waltz Electric Motor Repair and Service Cleveland www.redmondwaltz.com

@RedmondWaltz

Jennifer Ake-Marriott, president and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 17

Voluntary turnover: 0%

» Redmond Waltz offers employees various advancement opportunities.

» Leaders are always available to talk to employees, answer their questions and act upon their suggestions.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company recognizes multicultural holidays and will swap federal holidays for cultural or religious holidays, with regard to employees’ paid holiday time.

» It also supports local multicultural organizations.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive eight paid holidays,

starting on the rst day of their employment.

» Employees also have ve PTO days every year.

4. Chase Properties

Real Estate

Beachwood

www.chaseprop.com

Andrew Kline, Co-CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 32 Voluntary turnover: 6%

» Chase Properties employees enjoy ad-hoc happy hours.

» They also participate in Of ce Olympics every four years (coinciding with the Olympics). While competing to win medals, each team, comprised of employees, represents a country and dresses up in that country’s colors.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company is actively involved with the Employment Collaborative of Cuyahoga County (ECCC).

» It participates in various events to support the ECC nancially and raise awareness, with regard to hiring individuals with disabilities.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The company offers employees nine paid holidays annually.

» If employees prefer, they can work exible hours or a compressed work week.

5. Payne & Tompkins Design Renovations

Home Design and Renovations Chardon

www.payne-tompkins.com

Dave Payne, president

Employees in the U.S.: 37 Voluntary turnover: 15%

» Payne & Tompkins Design Renovations’ employees participate in regular offsite events like go karting and WhirlyBall.

» They also enjoy frequent onsite and offsite meals and happy hours.

REMOTE WORK:

» The company offers employees the opportunity to telecommute.

» Seventy- ve percent of the company’s employees are currently telecommuting — the same percentage that was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have unlimited PTO.

» They also have minimal overtime hours, if any.

6. MarshBerry Consulting Woodmere www.marshberry.com @MarshBerryInc

John Wepler, chairman and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 169 Voluntary turnover: 11%

» MarshBerry fosters a “people rst” culture, which is centered around collaboration, transparency, growth and innovation.

U.S. EMPLOYEES)

ON Partners

PEBO.COM

» Its Culture Committee hosts activities, dedicated to initiatives related to social events, philanthropy and wellness.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» It offers ongoing diversity training.

» Furthermore, it celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The company provides employees 15 PTO days and 11 paid holidays annually.

» Employees can have hybrid schedules, whether they want to work in the of ce or at their homes.

7. HD Davis CPAs Accounting Youngstown

www.hddaviscpas.pro

@HDDavisCPAs

Timothy Petrey, managing partner

Employees in the U.S.: 72 Voluntary turnover: 2%

» HD Davis CPAs provides employees annual $500 “healthy lifestyle” reimbursements for gym memberships, tness trackers and healthy meals.

» During tax season, employees also receive three meals from a healthy meal prep company every week.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» Employees are encouraged to read

diversity/inclusion books.

» The rm also celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have the ability to work anytime and anywhere, as the firm supplies any tools and resources they need.

» Parents are allowed to bring their children to work with them if they prefer, as the entire office is family friendly.

8. The Center for Health Affairs & CHAMPS Healthcare Healthcare Cleveland

www.neohospitals.org

@NEOHospitals

Brian Lane, president and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 47

Voluntary turnover: 18%

» The Center for Health Affairs & CHAMPS Healthcare provides employees wellness programs that promote their physical and mental health.

» It also offers professional training and development, including education reimbursement.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 15 vacation days and ve personal days every year.

» They’re also offered 13 paid holidays annually.

9. Employers Health Healthcare – Insurance/Services Canton www.employershealthco.com @employershealth

Christopher V. Goff, CEO and general counsel

Employees in the U.S.: 57

Voluntary turnover: 2%

» Employers Health pays 100% of employees’ (and their dependents) medical, dental and vision insurance.

» The company also pays for employees’ estate and nancial planning.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company works with local universities to recruit diverse candidates.

» It also has minority internship programs.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» In addition, it offers employees 19 paid holidays annually.

» And it provides employees 20 vacation days every year.

10. Celina Insurance Group Insurance Celina www2.celinainsurance.com @celinainsurance

William Montgomery, chairman, president and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 192

Voluntary turnover: 13%

» Celina Insurance Group offers CPR training, Pilates, walking and hydration challenges, and an onsite tness facility.

» It also has an employee-led scholarship program, as three $2,000 scholarships — with $1,000 renewals during the rst year — are awarded.

REMOTE WORK:

» The company provides telecommuting options to employees.

» Currently, 79% of the company’s employees are telecommuting; 95% telecommuted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The company offers employees eight paid holidays, 10 vacation days and three personal days every year.

» It also provides exible work schedules.

11. ETNA Products, Inc. Manufacturing Chagrin Falls www.etna.com

@ETNAPROINC

Catharine Golden, CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 21

Voluntary turnover: 0%

» ETNA Products provides all employees mid-year and year-end bonuses.

» From June to December 2022, all employees received a $200/month allowance, due to high gas prices.

REMOTE WORK:

» The company offers employees

Marsh McLennan Agency, Midwest

Employers Health Purchasing Corporation

DE&I EFFORTS:

» All employees are included in the rm’s decision making processes, ensuring that their voices are heard.

» It offers each employee transparency, regarding large initiatives, along with the rm’s nancial health.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The rm provides employees the exibility to choose where they’d like to work, via the AGP Anywhere program.

» It also offers employees an unlimited number of personal and vacation days.

15. Marsh McLennan Agency, Midwest Insurance Dayton; Headquartered in Schaumburg, Ill. www.marshmma.com

@MMAMidwest1

Tony Chimino, CEO (based in Schaumburg, Ill.)

Jeff Lightner, president and CEO, MMA Ohio (Based in Dayton)

Employees in the U.S.: 182 Voluntary turnover: 3%

» Marsh McLennan Agency provides employees up to $10,000 a year in tuition reimbursement.

» Every December, it recognizes three employees with the highest honors it bestows: Colleague of the Year, Rock Star and Rising Star. Each winner receives bonuses of up to $5,000 and year-long recognition.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» All employees participate in a 2.5-hour, interactive “Unconscious Bias” workshop; under the motto of “Who You Are is Who We Are,” they celebrate diversity every chance they have.

» Its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council recognizes and celebrates employees’ traditions.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The agency offers employees 20 PTO days and 11 paid holidays annually.

» Employees receive location exibility between each of the agency’s of ces, in addition to regular exible scheduling.

16. Goodville Mutual Insurance Group

Insurance

Napoleon (Great Lakes Branch Of ce); Headquartered in New Holland, Penn. www.goodville.com

David Gautsche, president and CEO (based in New Holland, Penn.)

Employees in the U.S.: 160

Voluntary turnover: 13%

» Goodville Mutual Insurance Group pays 100% of employees’ medical, dental and vision insurance.

» It also has a food or ice cream truck that visits the of ce from time to time.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company has established a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force/Committee.

» Furthermore, it hosts events during the summer, as well as around Christmastime, that increase employees’ camaraderie and inclusion.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The company enables employees to “ ex” their schedules, in order to meet their personal needs.

» It also provides employees with 10 paid

holidays and 10 vacation days every year.

17. Brunswick Companies Insurance Cleveland

www.brunswickcompanies.com @brunswickco

Todd Stein, president and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 69

Voluntary turnover: 3%

» Brunswick Companies pays 100% of employees’ medical insurance.

» In addition, it has a family- and dog-friendly work environment.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» To enable a culture of diversity, the company regularly hosts seminars and workshops.

» And it celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The company provides employees 15 PTO days each year, along with eight paid holidays.

» It also offers employees the option to work exible hours or a compressed work week.

18. Brookes & Henderson Building Co. General Contracting and Construction Management Chagrin Falls brookes-henderson.com

Chris Brookes, owner

Employees in the U.S.: 34

Voluntary turnover: 0%

» Brookes & Henderson Building Co. pays 100% of employees’ medical, dental and vision insurance.

» It also pays 100% of employees’ life insurance.

REMOTE WORK:

» The company allows employees to telecommute.

» While doing so, they can work compressed work weeks, too.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees can work exible hours.

» They also receive six paid holidays, along with 10 vacation days, annually.

19. Talan Products Inc. Metal Stamping; Tooling and Engineered Parts Manufacturing Cleveland www.talanproducts.com @TalanProducts

Steve Peplin, CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 83

Voluntary turnover: 22%

» Talan Products provides employees with individualized development plans.

» It also hosts all-company events for employees and their family members, such as celebration dinners and golf outings.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company celebrates cultural holidays.

» It’s also involved with a manufacturing sector partnership, WorkforceConnect, which has programs that lead students from inner city, predominantly minority schools to consider pursuing manufacturing careers.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 10 paid holidays every year.

» The company provides employees with 13 PTO days annually, too.

BMI Federal Credit Union

Brunswick Companies

Pharmacy Date Management Inc.

989 Marketing

20. Buckeye State

Credit Union

Finance Akron

www.buckeyecu.org

@buckeyecu

Michael Abernathy, CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 73

Voluntary turnover: 11%

» Buckeye State Credit Union has a quarterly recognition program known as Cheers4Peers, enabling the top three recognized employees to choose a gift.

» Employees also participate in trivia together every day.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The credit union offers ongoing diversity training.

» It also celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The credit union provides employees 16 PTO days annually.

» In addition, it offers 11 paid holidays each year.

21. William Vaughan

Company

Accounting

Maumee

www.wvco.com

@wvcocpas

Aaron Swiggum, managing partner

Employees in the U.S.: 106

Voluntary turnover: 12%

» William Vaughan Company offers a wide range of on-the-job, employee training development opportunities.

» The rm also pays 100% of employees’ medical, dental and vision insurance.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» In addition, the rm is committed to fostering a work environment in which diversity is celebrated.

» To do so, it attracts, develops and retains individuals from local, diverse communities.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The rm offers employees 15 PTO days each year.

» Employees also receive nine paid holidays every year.

22. Renner Otto

Legal Cleveland

www.rennerotto.com

Luis Carrion, managing partner

Employees in the U.S.: 44 Voluntary turnover: 9%

» Renner Otto offers employees free yoga sessions every week.

» The law rm also has cornhole, a gym and a locker room.

REMOTE WORK:

» The law rm provides employees the option to telecommute.

» Fourteen percent of its employees currently telecommute; during the COVID-19 pandemic, 100% of its employees telecommuted.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive eight paid holidays and 21 PTO days annually.

» They also have hybrid work schedules.

23. Ron Marhofer Auto Family Automotive Cuyahoga Falls

www.marhofer.com

Ron Marhofer, CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 37

Voluntary turnover: 37%

» Ron Marhofer Auto Family hosts various teambuilding events.

» And it provides each employee with an $8,000 paid trip to a location of their choice as they celebrate their 20th anniversary with the company.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company offers employees regular diversity training opportunities.

» It also celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» In addition, it provides employees with seven paid holidays.

» Employees don’t work overtime very often either.

24. Pharmacy Data Management Inc. (PDMI) and IDMI Pharmacy Claims Processing Solutions Provider Poland pdmi.com

Doug Wittenauer, CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 151

Voluntary turnover: 7%

» PDMI offers various employee events every month, including Coffee and Learn/ Lunch and Learn sessions, in-person, after-work mixers, trivia hours and virtual escape rooms.

» It also hosts an Employee Appreciation Day Breakfast, in which executives cook and host breakfast for all employees.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company’s DE&I initiative includes a focus group series.

» Additionally, its DE&I Council has implemented a oating, year-round holiday, which employees can use for the religious holiday or cultural celebration of their choice.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have exible work schedules.

» They can also work from home or the of ce — whichever they prefer.

25. EverStaff, LLC Staf ng Independence www.everstaff.com @EVERSTAFFIntl

Danny Spitz, CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 32

Voluntary turnover: 10%

» EverStaff offers employees various training and development opportunities to help them grow and advance in their careers.

» In addition, it hosts family picnics, Happy Hours and teambuilding events.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» It values open communication, teamwork and respect, leading to an inclusive work environment.

» It also provides ongoing diversity training opportunities.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The company offers employees exible work schedules.

» It also provides them with 15 PTO days annually.

26. NaviStone, Inc. Marketing Technology

Cincinnati

www.navistone.com

@navi_stone

Larry Kavanagh, CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 48

Voluntary turnover: 15%

» NaviStone hosts happy hours and has tabletop games in its of ce.

» It also allows employees to have pets at work.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company posts its jobs to diversity sites like workplacediversity.com.

» In addition, it posts jobs on careercontessa. com, which caters to professional women.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have unlimited PTO.

» They also have exibility concerning their work schedules and locations.

27. 898 Marketing

Marketing

Can eld

www.898marketing.com

@898marketing

Jeffrey Ryznar, president

Employees in the U.S.: 17

Voluntary turnover: 0%

» 898 Marketing offers employees yoga — via a yoga instructor — once a week.

» It also has “The Porch”, a room dedicated to relaxing and equipped with a vintage Pac Man machine, a futon, guitars, a TV, workout equipment and yoga mats.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The agency celebrates cultural holidays.

» Its open workspace leads to inclusiveness throughout the agency’s of ce.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have hybrid work schedules, as they can work remotely at least twice a week.

» They also receive 12 paid holidays and 10 PTO days annually.

28. NPL Home Medical Sales and Service of Durable Medical Equipment Strongsville

www.nplhomemedical.com

David Haynes, president and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 37 Voluntary turnover: 3%

» NPL Home Medical nancially supports employees who strive to achieve personal wellness-based goals, including quitting smoking, learning to meditate and losing weight.

» And it offers post-secondary scholarships for employees and their family members.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company provides employees with ongoing diversity training opportunities.

» Its core values are focused on diversity and inclusion as well.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive eight paid holidays and 10 vacation days annually.

» They also have exible work hours, along with the ability to work remotely.

29. Apex Dermatology and Skin Surgery Center

Healthcare Provider May eld Heights

www.apexskin.com

@ApexSkin

Jorge Garcia-Zuazaga, CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 180

Voluntary turnover: 25%

» Apex Dermatology and Skin Surgery Center provides discounts on travel, sporting events and movie tickets, among other offerings.

» Bravo, an employee recognition platform, recognizes employees for their hard work in front of the entire organization. They also receive points to buy company swag or items on Amazon.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The healthcare provider offers employees ongoing diversity training.

» It also provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees can use PTO before they’ve accrued it.

» And they receive six paid holidays, along with 14 PTO days, every year.

30. Brennan Industries

Hydraulic Fittings, Accessories and Components Provider

Solon

www.brennaninc.com

@BrennanInd

David M. Carr, president and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 228

Voluntary turnover: 17%

» Brennan Industries has an open door

@BMIFCU

William Allender, president and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 103

Voluntary turnover: 15%

» BMI Federal Credit Union has a wellness program that pays employees incentives if they participate in wellness activities.

» It also has an internal university degree program, which awards associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The credit union offers ongoing diversity training.

» Furthermore, it celebrates various cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The credit union provides minimal overtime, if any, improving work/life balance.

» It also offers exible scheduling to accommodate employees’ personal needs.

33. Gertsburg Licata, Co. LPA Legal Cleveland

www.gertsburglicata.com

@GertsburgLicata

Alex Gertsburg, Esq., managing partner

Employees in the U.S.: 31

Voluntary turnover: 3%

35. Rockport Ready Mix, Inc.

Ready-mix Concrete Manufacturer and Supplier Cleveland

rockportreadymix.com

Ann Nock, president

Employees in the U.S.: 23

Voluntary turnover: 4%

» Rockport Ready Mix pays 100% of employees’ (and their dependents’) medical, dental and vision insurance.

» It also pays for employees’ technical training, along with any knowledge base interest they have — without any restriction to topics.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company practices and encourages diversity, concerning culture, ethnicity and life choices.

» As a result, every employee is treated with dignity and respect.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive six paid holidays and ve vacation days annually.

» Employees rarely work overtime, if ever.

36. Pearne & Gordon LLP

Legal Cleveland

www.pearne.com

Michelle Tochtrop, partner

policy, as employees can meet with the company’s CEO and share ideas with him.

» It is currently investing in new buildings and full remodels for its future workforces.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» Employees receive a oating holiday, enabling them to acquire an additional paid day off to celebrate a holiday that’s important to them.

» The company also celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 15 PTO days annually.

» In addition, the company offers employees eight paid holidays each year.

31. Elk & Elk Co. Ltd. Legal May eld Heights

www.elkandelk.com

@elkandelk

James Kelley III, managing partner

Employees in the U.S.: 71 Voluntary turnover: 13%

» Elk & Elk Co. Ltd. pays for all continuing legal education (CLE), paralegal certi cations and notary commissions.

» Due to its Charitable Matching Program, the law rm also donates however much money each employee provides to their charity of choice — up to $250 per year.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The law rm celebrates cultural holidays.

» As a result of its small size, the law rm claims an inclusive atmosphere.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees can work remotely.

» Furthermore, they rarely work overtime.

32. BMI Federal Credit Union Finance Dublin www.bmifcu.org

» Gertsburg Licata, Co. LPA provides employees with discounted legal services for their friends and family members.

» It also offers teambuilding opportunities like “Hooky Days” and ping pong matches.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The law rm recognizes cultural and religious holidays, such as the Chinese New Year and non-Christian holidays.

» It’s also a member of the Cleveland International Chamber of Commerce.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» In addition, the law rm offers employees 10 PTO days and 10 paid holidays per year.

» And it provides a exible work schedule, as employees can work remotely whenever necessary.

34. CME Federal Credit Union Banking Columbus

www.cmefcu.org

@cmefcu

Brian Warner, president and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 84

Voluntary turnover: 23%

» CME Federal Credit Union employees can receive $100, along with a reduction in bi-weekly premiums if they complete an annual wellness check.

» They can also earn up to $1,450 in Amazon gift cards if they participate in — and complete — health incentives and activities.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» Employees participate in DE&I training.

» In addition, they attend seminars and workshops that enhance the credit union’s diversity.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Credit union employees work minimal overtime hours.

» They also have hybrid work schedules, as they can work remotely.

Employees in the U.S.: 56 Voluntary turnover: 5%

» Pearne & Gordon has a charitable matching gift program.

» Offering an onsite cookie oven, the law rm also provides surprise breakfasts, happy hours and ice cream socials.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» As part of the Midsize Mans eld Rule certi cation, at least 30% of its job candidates are diverse.

» In addition, at least 30% of the attorneys included in pitch meetings are diverse.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have exible, 35-hour work weeks.

» The law rm also has a hybrid work-fromhome program.

37. Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio Nonpro t

Lorain

www.secondharvestfoodbank.org

@SecondHarvestOH

Juliana Chase-More eld, president and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 31 Voluntary turnover: 3%

» Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio has a generous parental leave policy.

» And it offers employees time off for community service activities and volunteer work.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company provides diversity training opportunities regularly.

» It has also established a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force/Committee.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees can work from home if they prefer.

» They also receive 12 paid holidays and 10 vacation days every year.

Apex Dermatology and Skin Surgery Center

Second Harvest Food Bank of North Central Ohio

LARGE EMPLOYER CATEGORY (250 OR MORE U.S. EMPLOYEES)

1. Ryan, LLC

Corporate Tax Advisory Services

Cleveland

www.ryan.com

@RyanTax

G. Brint Ryan, CEO (based in Dallas, Texas)

Jim Payerle, principal, sales and use tax (based in Cleveland)

Employees in the U.S.: 2,476

Voluntary turnover: 13%

» Ryan’s well-being platform, RyanTHRIVE, provides employees tools to thrive in four pillars of well-being: physical, nancial, emotional and career.

» Each of the rm’s teams have monthly entertainment allowances for teambuilding purposes.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» Employees can attend regular diversity seminars and workshops.

» They also celebrate various cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have 22 PTO days annually.

» Furthermore, they receive 15 paid holidays every year.

2. WestPoint Financial Group Financial Services

Cincinnati

www.westpoint nancialgroup.com

@WestPointFinGrp

Gregory McRoberts, managing partner (based in Indianapolis, Ind.)

Michael Sacher, partner (based in Cincinnati)

Employees in the U.S.: 739

Voluntary turnover: 15%

» WestPoint Financial Group celebrates families by sending birthday cards and money to employees’ children, along with baby blankets and onesies to their babies.

» Women of WestPoint — a group of women who meet monthly for growth opportunities

— empowers the rm’s female advisors.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company has established a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force/Committee.

» In addition, it offers employees regular diversity training opportunities.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 10 paid holidays a year.

» They’re also provided 15 PTO days annually.

is a proud recipient of the Crain’s Best Employers in Ohio Award

Our professionals support large employers and their benefits teams in the contracting and delivery of pharmacy benefits. What started as a collaboration of local employers has grown to hundreds of employers across the country delivering benefits to more than one million individuals.

WestPoint Financial Group

Edward Jones

3. Edward Jones Financial Services

Port Clinton

www.edwardjones.com

@edwardjones

Penny Pennington, managing partner (based in St. Louis, Mo.)

Frank Leone, nancial advisor (based in Port Clinton)

Employees in the U.S.: 47,056

Voluntary turnover: 5%

» Edward Jones’ wellness program offers employees one-on-one health coaching.

» Employees can participate in biometric screenings, mindfulness training, and nutrition and weight-management sessions.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company has various racial-equality training and anti-racism personnel policies.

» It also has equitable hiring, training, and promotional practices and policies.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» In addition, the company offers 16 weeks of paid parental leave for primary caregivers and two weeks for secondary caregivers.

» It also provides nine paid holidays and 10 vacation days every year.

4. Oxford Global Resources

Staf ng and Consulting

Beachwood

www.oxfordcorp.com

@oxfordglobal

Rob McGuckin, president and CEO (based in Beverly, Mass.)

Don Monda, VP, local operations (based in Beachwood)

Employees in the U.S.: 875

Voluntary turnover: 3%

» Oxford Global Resources offers various employee wellness programs, initiatives and activities.

» Employees have several career advancement opportunities, too.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company has ongoing DE&I initiatives that provide employees various training and workshop opportunities.

» And it offers employees oating holidays they can use to celebrate holidays associated with their cultures and religions.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 16 PTO days each year.

» Furthermore, they have 10 paid holidays annually.

5. NFP Financial Services Cleveland www.nfp.com @nfp

Doug Hammond, chairman and CEO (based in New York City)

Jim Dustin, managing director (based in Cleveland)

Employees in the U.S.: 6,057

Voluntary turnover: 14%

» NFP reimburses and, at times, hosts employees’ continuing education.

» Employees can also participate in its Emerging Leaders Program, in order to gain managerial and leadership skills.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company’s D&I Donation Matching Program matches employees’ contributions to organizations with racial and social justice initiatives.

» It also celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 16 paid holidays and 18 PTO days each year.

» They can have exible work schedules too, including hybrid and virtual work environments.

6. National Cooperative Bank Banking Hillsboro www.ncb.coop @natlcoopbank

Casey Fannon, CEO and president Casto Management Services, Inc.

Discover

(based in Arlington, Va.)

Chris Goettke, president (based in Hillsboro)

Employees in the U.S.: 336

Voluntary turnover: 20%

» National Cooperative Bank provides employees a career succession platform, via Talent Guard.

» Each Tuesday, the company pays for lunches and activities to promote teambuilding.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company offers ongoing diversity training and development opportunities.

» And it celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 14 paid holidays and 15 vacation days each year.

» They also have three personal days annually.

7. Improving Technology

Columbus

www.improving.com

@improvingOhio

Curtis Hite, CEO (based in Plano, Texas)

Josh Harrison, president (based in Columbus)

Employees in the U.S.: 800

Voluntary turnover: 3%

» Improving hosts an annual employee retreat to Las Vegas.

» In addition, employees can play ping pong and participate in happy hours.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company hosts regular seminars and workshops that focus on diversity.

» It also celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The company offers employees 15 PTO days every year.

» And it provides them with eight paid holidays annually.

8. Marcum LLP

Accounting

May eld Village

www.marcumllp.com

@MarcumLLP Jeffrey Weiner, chairman and CEO (based in New York City)

Danielle Gisondo, regional managing partner (based in May eld Village)

Employees in the U.S.: 3,598

Voluntary turnover: 14%

» Marcum’s wellness program encourages employees to make healthy life choices (physically, emotionally and nancially).

» During the busy season, it also offers chair

massages, along with events like happy hours, putt-putt tournaments and virtual yoga.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The rm is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive culture.

» To do so, its DE&I Steering Committee oversees various activities and initiatives concerning diversity and inclusion.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have exible work schedules.

» The rm is always closed between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, as well as during the Fourth of July week.

9. American Structurepoint Inc.

Engineering Columbus

www.structurepoint.com

@AmericanStrpnt Rick Conner, president (based in Indianapolis, Ind.)

Walid Gemayel, SVP (based in Columbus)

Employees in the U.S.: 572

Voluntary turnover: 8%

» American Structurepoint offers employees expanded onsite exercise facilities, along with a café area in which they can eat and socialize.

» Employees also receive an extra week of pay or a week off from work once they’ve worked for the company for two years.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company offers employees ongoing diversity training opportunities.

» It also has a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force/Committee.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have exible work schedules, in order to support their families and respond to unexpected events.

» They also receive 10 vacation days, eight paid holidays and ve personal days annually.

10. Casto Management Services, Inc.

Real Estate Columbus

www.castoinfo.com

@CASTOinfo

Don Casto III & Frank Benson III, partners

Employees in the U.S.: 310

Voluntary turnover: 14%

» Casto Management Services’ Our Community Impact Committee organizes volunteer opportunities in its local community.

» When the company’s associates uses one of its in-house realtors as they buy or sell

their homes, they can save 3% during closing.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company celebrates cultural holidays.

» It also provides cultural training opportunities regularly.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 18 PTO days and nine paid holidays every year.

» They also have in person, hybrid or remote work options.

11. Peoples Bank

Banking Marietta

www.peoplesbancorp.com

@PeoplesBank

Chuck Sulerzyski, president and CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 1,320

Voluntary turnover: 22%

» Peoples Bank pays for certain preventative prescription drugs that employees need.

» Employees can also receive $200 each month for their existing student loans.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» Employees participate in diversity and inclusion training annually.

» They also celebrate cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have 15 PTO days every year.

» In addition, they receive 11 paid holidays annually.

12. HBK CPAs & Consultants

Accounting

Can eld

www.hbkcpa.com

@hbkcpa

Christopher Allegretti, managing principal and CEO (based in Meadville, Pa.)

Phillip L. Wilson, principal and COO (based in Can eld)

Employees in the U.S.: 590

Voluntary turnover: 29%

» HBK CPAs & Consultants supports various local and national foundations, including the American Cancer Society and Easters Seals.

» The rm has an onsite massage therapist during the busy season.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» In addition, it provides employees with ongoing diversity training opportunities.

» And it celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The rm offers employees unlimited PTO.

» It also provides hybrid and remote work opportunities.

13. OneDigital Insurance, Financial Services and HR Consulting

Cleveland

www.onedigital.com

@WeAreOneDigital

Adam Bruckman, president and CEO (based in Atlanta)

Employees in the U.S.: 3,376

Voluntary turnover: 0%

» OneDigital offers employees discounts on health and spa facilities, along with prescription drugs.

» Employees can also participate in regular onsite yoga sessions.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company offers employees regular diversity training opportunities.

» It also celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 15 paid holidays every year.

» In addition, the company offers them unlimited PTO.

14. Galen College of Nursing

Education

Cincinnati

www.galencollege.edu

@GalenCollege

Mark Vogt, CEO (based in Louisville, Ky.)

Judith Rudokas, dean (based in Cincinnati)

Employees in the U.S.: 1,648

Voluntary turnover: 19%

» Galen College of Nursing offers 50% discounts on tuition to employees, along with their immediate families.

» It holds weekly town hall meetings for all employees to maintain open communication, as the CEO also engages in live Q&As.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The college celebrates cultural holidays.

» And it provides employees regular diversity training opportunities.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees are dismissed from work early on Fridays.

» They also receive 15 PTO days and 12 paid holidays annually.

15.

Nations Lending

Corporation

Home Loans Independence

www.nationslending.com

@nations_lending

Jeremy Sopko, CEO

Employees in the U.S.: 890

Voluntary turnover: N/A

» Nations Lending Corporation provides insurance for employees’ pets.

» It also has a game room, which includes a billiards table, arcade games and TVs.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company celebrates cultural holidays.

» Its Creative Engagement Community enables employees to learn about their colleagues’ diverse backgrounds.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have eight paid holidays every year.

» They also receive 15 PTO days annually.

16. Protiviti Consulting

Cleveland www.protiviti.com

@Protiviti

Joseph Tarantino, president and CEO (based in New York City) Sean Humphries, managing director (based in Cleveland)

Employees: 7,000 (globally)

Voluntary turnover: N/A

» Protiviti employees can receive $1,000 bonuses if they achieve approved professional certi cations.

» The company also has a bonus employee referral program, as payouts start at $5,000 for consultants and increase from there, based on employees’ position levels.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» Every recruiter participates in inclusive recruiting and unconscious bias training programs.

» Additionally, the company uses inclusive language for each of its job descriptions.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have 21 PTO days and 10 paid holidays every year.

» At the same time, they can also have exible work arrangements.

17. Civista Bank Banking Sandusky www.civista.bank

@CIVISTABANK

Dennis Shaffer, CEO and president

Employees in the U.S.: 504 Voluntary turnover: 18%

» Civista Bank organizes multiple activities for employees to volunteer during work time and still receive their usual pay.

» If employees deposit a minimum of $20 to a 911 Savings Account each time they’re paid, the company will match — with a maximum annual deposit of $520 per year.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company has a Diversity and Inclusion Task Force/Committee.

» It also utilizes a service to help identify and recruit employees of various ethnic and cultural backgrounds — by searching multiple job boards that focus on all types of applicants.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 11 paid holidays and 10 vacation days every year.

» They’re also provided six personal days annually.

18. The Kendall Group Distribution Dayton www.kendallgroup.com

@KendallGroup_

John Harman, president (based in Portage, Mich.)

HBK CPAs & Consultants

First Merchants Bank

Nations Lending Corporation

Brad Simmons, general manager, Kendall Electric (based in Dayton)

Employees in the U.S.: 1,562

Voluntary turnover: 7%

» The Kendall Group is 100% employee owned.

» It also pays 100% of employees’ (and their dependents’) medical insurance.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company utilizes various minority groups for recruitment purposes.

» It also recruits employees through women’s groups.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have 15 PTO days annually.

» And they receive eight paid holidays every year.

19. First Merchants Bank

Financial Services

Columbus

www. rstmerchants.com

@ rstmerchants

Mark Hardwick, CEO (based in Muncie, Ind.)

Employees in the U.S.: 2,162

Voluntary turnover: 30%

» First Merchants Bank offers employees access to wellness coaches for their physical well-being.

» For their nancial well-beings, the company also provides employees multiple nancial wellness resources.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company recognizes multi-cultural holidays and cultural heritage months.

» Employees also attend bi-weekly DE&I discussion-based educational sessions and receive DE&I-focused content.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 12 paid holidays a year.

» They rarely have to work overtime hours, if ever.

20. Blue & Co., LLC

Accounting Westerville

www.blueandco.com

Brad Shaw, managing director

Employees in the U.S.: 491 Voluntary turnover: 11%

» Blue & Co. offers a wide variety of technical training and leadership development programs.

» And it pays for employees’ Becker study course upfront if they’re pursuing their CPA licenses, while also reimbursing sitting fees.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» A “people rst” organization, the rm provides an inclusive culture.

» As an example, it celebrates cultural holidays and offers ongoing cultural training opportunities.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» The rm provides eight weeks of parental leave for primary caregivers and two weeks for secondary caregivers.

» It also offers remote, hybrid and onsite job opportunities.

21. AssuredPartners Insurance (Non-healthcare) Cincinnati

www.assuredpartners.com

@AssuredPartners

Corey Freeman, regional president (based in Bowling Green, Ky.)

Matt Mauller, agency president (based in Cincinnati)

Employees in the U.S.: 700 Voluntary turnover: 14%

» AssuredPartners has a free weight loss/ maintenance program, which provides employees access to a personal wellness coach and an online support system.

» It also hosts a wellness “happy hour” once a month, enabling employees to try a new healthy snack and socialize with their co-workers.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company provides regular diversity

training opportunities.

» It also celebrates cultural holidays.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have 37.5-hour work weeks.

» During the summer, they also have half-days every other Friday.

22. CSA Group Standards Development and Testing and Certi cation Laboratory Cleveland

www.csagroup.org

David Weinstein, president and CEO (based in Toronto, Ontario)

Richard Weiser, EVP, global operations (based in Cleveland)

Employees in the U.S.: 361 Voluntary turnover: 6%

» CSA Group provides employees with $300 health and tness reimbursements each year.

» Through its CSA Academy, it also offers employees online learning opportunities.

DE&I EFFORTS:

» The company provides regular seminars and workshops regarding diversity.

» It also offers ongoing diversity training opportunities.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees receive 13 PTO days annually.

» They’re also given 12 paid holidays every year.

23. Advanced Composites, Inc.

Aerospace Composite Structures

Manufacturer Sidney www.advcmp.com

Yasuhiro Niki, president

Employees in the U.S.: 479 Voluntary turnover: 4%

» Advanced Composites offers employees a scholarship program to further their education.

» Additionally, it hosts various companywide events that increase employee camaraderie.

REMOTE WORK:

» The company enables employees to telecommute.

» Currently, 15% of employees telecommute, 10% less than during the COVID-19 pandemic.

WORK/LIFE BALANCE:

» Employees have exible work schedules, in order to support their families and respond to unexpected events.

» They also receive 10 paid holidays and 10 vacation days every year.

THROUGH

Low wages, poor building quality and lack of supply put

THE ROOF

thousands at risk of housing insecurity in Northeast Ohio

|

BY

ADAPTING TO COMMUNITY NEEDS: The City Mission boosts e orts to get more single mothers into stable housing. PAGE 26

MAKING ‘DREAMS COME TRUE’: Habitat for Humanity to embark on ‘catalytic’ plan with help from ARPA funds. PAGE 26

SPONSORS

Sisters, from left, Tina Humphries, Sharena Zayed and Amanda Hicks at Zayed’s Slavic Village home. Their family has faced housing instability in Cleveland all their lives.

PHOTOS

GUS CHAN FOR CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS

Sharena Zayed and her siblings grew up on Cleveland’s East Side in a multi-generational household without a working shower or, at times, hot water.

eir living conditions improved in the late 1990s, when Zayed’s mother obtained a housing choice voucher through a federal program that covers the gap between what a tenant can a ord and what a private landlord requires. Still, home never felt like a permanent address.

“It was always dependent on the temperament or stability of the landlord,” said Zayed, a 38-year-old neighborhood organizer. “And it just got worse and worse as time went on.”

When her mother died in early 2022, Zayed’s sisters lost their home.

After divorces and other disruptions, Tina Humphries and Amanda Hicks were living with their mother, sharing a rundown apartment. But they weren’t covered by her voucher.

ey couldn’t a ord to pay market-rate rent when that subsidy went away.

Like Zayed’s family, thousands of Ohioans are on uneven ground, in precarious living situations shaped by low wages, poor housing quality and a lack of supply. Housing insecurity ripples through the state’s economy, making it tougher for companies to nd and keep employees. It disrupts classrooms when families move. It weighs on the health care system, where doctors treat patients for exposure to lead and mold.

“ ere is a huge, overarching bene t to having stable housing,” said Nicole Cratty, a sta attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland. “ at is very clear. It has better outcomes. Better health and educational outcomes. It saves us money, us being taxpayers, municipalities, cities ... when we don’t have people losing their housing.”

Over the last three years, pandemic-relief initiatives have helped to keep many people in their homes. Now, that federal cash is drying up. Rent-assistance programs, which put money in landlords’ pockets and staved o evictions, are ending. A $280 million statewide aid program for homeowners facing foreclosure or utility shuto s is draining fast.

Families are stretching their budgets to make rent and mortgage payments, cover rising utility bills and maintain aging houses. ere’s a severe shortage of decent homes that Ohioans can a ord. And housing costs have been climbing faster than wages for years.

e biggest burden falls on renters, who spend nearly twice as much of their income on housing as homeowners do. But longtime owners also are oundering as their property tax bills climb, along with the price of food and other necessities.

“I don’t think we’re prepared for what comes next,” said Lynn Rodemann, the housing outreach specialist for Slavic Village Development, a neighborhood nonpro t in Cleveland.

Zayed’s older sister, Humphries, needs dialysis treatments several times a week. At 46, she can no longer work as a nursing assistant because of health problems. In May, af-

Cassandra and Ed Linihan, along with their ve children, have been transient but, thanks to a local pastor, they have found a rent-free residence to live in until they can get back on their feet.

ter months of staying with family, she nally made it o the waiting list for a subsidized apartment in Cleveland.

Hicks, 35, also moved into that income-restricted building. She’s caring for her 1-year-old son and working one day a week at a nearby diner. She and her son’s father hope, someday, to buy a house. But they can’t live together yet. Sharing an apartment would put them at risk of rent increases, beyond what the couple can a ord.

Policymakers are paying more attention to the state’s housing de cits.

So are business groups including the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, which says a scarcity of homes at a range of price points is hampering Ohio’s growth. Members of the legislature, meanwhile, are tussling over Gov. Mike DeWine’s proposal to create a state tax credit for a ordable housing projects.

A few years ago, such broad discussions weren’t taking place. e pandemic helped turn a spotlight on a pernicious, and worsening, problem — one decades in the making.

“City and county and local leaders should talk about housing with the urgency that they talk about anything,” said Scott Skinner, vice president of development and director of public policy for the NRP Group, a national housing developer based in Cleveland. “ is is, if not the top issue, a top-three issue facing our community and our region.”

‘You can’t a ord to live’

In Cuyahoga County, 46.8% of renter households spend more than 30% of their income on housing. at’s the federal de nition of being cost-burdened — paying too much.

Before life fell apart, Ed and Cassandra Linihan were spending well over half of what they made on rent and other housing costs for themselves and their ve children.

Ed, 47, was a pizza chef at a local restaurant. Cassandra, 30, earned the bigger paycheck. A doula and lactation counselor, she provided support to women during and after childbirth.

When the pandemic hit, Cassandra lost most of her income. As health restrictions lifted, she still wasn’t permitted into some hospitals or delivery rooms. Customer demand was slow to bounce back. And the Linihans began to fall behind on rent for their house in Cleveland Heights. ey tried to get rental assistance through local nonpro ts, but they ran into paperwork snafus. Facing eviction, Ed panicked. In late October of 2022, he attempted suicide. He was hospitalized, then transferred to a recovery facility for months.

Bracing for a baili to show up at their door, his family crammed possessions into bags and left home the day after Ed’s suicide attempt. ey stayed with family in Columbus. en with a friend, for as long as they could. By mid-May, though, the Linihans found themselves in a homeless shelter.

“It’s not just the people that you see standing on the street corner that are homeless,” Cassandra said. “It’s people at your children’s schools. … It’s an epidemic.”

Most of Ohio’s most common pro-

MICHELLE JARBOE

“IT’S NOT JUST THE PEOPLE THAT YOU SEE STANDING ON THE STREET CORNER THAT ARE HOMELESS. IT’S PEOPLE AT YOUR CHILDREN’S SCHOOLS. … IT’S AN EPIDEMIC.”

—Cassandra Linihan

Northeast Ohio communities with the heaviest housing-cost burdens

Individuals and families across the region are spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs - the federal de nition of being cost-burdened. The challenge isn’t isolated to major cities or low-income areas.

HOUSING

From Page 23

fessions don’t pay enough to comfortably cover the cost of a two-bedroom apartment. ose jobs include fast-food workers, cashiers and stockers. Several of the state’s fastest-growing industries pay less than $40,000 a year, on average, according to a recent workforce-housing report produced for the Ohio Realtors trade association.

In Cleveland, even federally subsidized housing is out of reach for many residents. e rents are based on calculations tied to median family income for the metropolitan area — a gure nearly three times that of median household income in the city.

“Incomes in our region just are not keeping up with the cost of living,” said Emma Petrie Barcelona, chief operating o cer of EDEN Inc., a nonpro t Cleveland-area housing and services provider.

e gap between incomes and housing costs is not unique to major cities or low-income neighborhoods. In some rural pockets of Northeast Ohio, more than two-thirds of renters spend upwards of 30% of their income on housing, according to U.S. Census data.

In Hudson, a suburb known for high-performing schools and historic architecture, 63% of renters qualify as cost-burdened. In well-heeled Beachwood, that gure is almost 48%.

Home-price growth puts ownership farther out of reach

After years of sharp acceleration, median home prices are climbing at a slower pace. But many families still don’t have the income, the savings or the credit history to purchase a property.

Rising rents make it harder for tenants to nd stability

Apartments in Ohio’s metropolitan areas remain a ordable by national standards, but typical rents have been climbing.

“At any moment, anyone could lose a job and not have the reserves to be able to sustain their family for the next month, or the next two or three months. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Cleveland or whether it’s Pepper Pike,” said Sara Parks Jackson, Cuyahoga County’s director of housing and community development.

e triggering event might be a divorce, a death, a medical emergency or a crash with an uninsured motorist. But there doesn’t have to be a single turning point.

“If you’re paying more than 50% of your income in rent, it’s a shell game. You’re just moving things around,” said Amy Riegel, executive director the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, a nonpro t advocacy group. “So in some cases, you don’t even need that big catastrophic thing to happen. It’s just that time will catch up with you.”

A few years ago, Michelle Sokol was a homeowner, living with her husband and children on Cleveland’s West Side. In May, though, she was renting an apartment without reliable heat or a working oven and cooking the family’s meals in an Instant Pot and a toaster oven.

During the pandemic, her marriage started to collapse. She and her husband sold their house, which needed repairs, for only $100,000 and paid o their mortgage. She ended up in a custody ght with a former boyfriend, all while working at home and raising young children.

In May, Sokol was scouring the rental market for options, in search of a house or apartment with functioning appliances — and a landlord who would accept her tattered credit.

“I didn’t want to start picky and risk being rejected because I don’t have time to waste,” said Sokol, 35. “And I don’t have money to waste on

applications. I don’t have any bankruptcies. I don’t have any evictions. But there are lots of people that do. And I think, where do they live?”

Cassandra Linihan spent months seeking housing in the Columbus area. Landlords didn’t return her calls. Subsidized rentals had yearslong waiting lists. It’s hard enough to nd an apartment, she said, let alone a home for a family of seven with eviction lings on their record.

Last month, though, the family’s network kicked in. Cassandra’s boss and a local pastor helped the Linihans nd a house in She eld Village, where they’ll be able to live rent-free this summer while guring out how to rebuild.

“Pride is something that I think gets in the way of a lot, because it’s tough to say I can’t a ord to live,” Ed Linihan said. “But sometimes, you can’t a ord to live.”

‘There’s just too much property’

Bob Galivan believes that the solution to housing insecurity lies, at least in part, in xing what we’ve got. In Cleveland, which has been shrinking since the 1950s, there are more homes than households. But many of those properties are obsolete, dilapidated or unsafe.

Galivan, a real estate investor and former building contractor who moved to Northeast Ohio from south Florida a few years ago, is appalled by the conditions he sees: Abandoned houses. Poorly renovated properties being passed from investor to investor. Construction that’s taking place without permits or city inspections.

“ ere has to be a way to salvage these houses,” said Galivan, who is renovating a two-family home on the East Side as a rental for low-income families with housing vouchers.

Conditions are particularly bleak in Cleveland, where homebuilding peaked in the 1920s. Most of the houses were built before 1978, when the federal government banned residential use of lead-based paint, which can require encapsulation or abatement.

Quality is a challenge across the state, though, from manufactured housing parks in rural areas to suburbs where elderly homeowners can’t keep up with repairs.

In North Olmsted, a suburb with a median household income of nearly $75,000, o cials received more than 120 applications last year for a home-repair program funded with $405,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act. e program, o ering forgivable or low-interest loans of up to $15,000, might help a few dozen households, said Max Upton, the city’s director of economic and community development. e need is much greater.

“Frankly, we were kind of blown away by the response,” he said, describing applications from residents who were pulling cash out of retirement savings accounts or choosing between paying for cancer medication and a new heating and cooling system.

“Some of the stories, they’re just heartbreaking,” said Upton, who hopes North Olmsted can establish a permanent fund for critical home repairs to windows, roofs, mechanical systems and foundations. “ ese are folks that worked hard, played by the

rules, but they’re kind of too rich to be poor and too poor to be rich. So they are kind of in this permanent state of limbo.”

Not far from Shaker Square, on Cleveland’s East Side, John Burton was forced out of his longtime apartment this year.

After pipes burst, the property manager asked the tenants — many of them low-income, some parents of young children — to leave the modest brick building.

Burton, a disabled veteran who relies on a voucher to pay most of his rent, struggled to nd a new place to live. He submitted several applications, put his belongings into storage and stayed with a friend. After six fraught weeks, he moved into an apartment in April.

“I was one of the lucky ones. Or one of the blessed ones. Because only

God could have did this,” said Burton, who is 67. After 11 years of sobriety, the prospect of becoming homeless lled him with fear of backsliding into addiction.

Less than a mile away, tenants at a cluster of historic apartment buildings along Shaker Boulevard are protesting over poor property conditions and slow-moving repairs. In March, the city of Cleveland, which is trying to put neglectful property owners on notice, took the unusual step of ling a nuisance lawsuit against their landlord in an attempt to compel xes or to bring in a court-appointed receiver to clean things up.

“ ere is a big, big gap between what the city should be doing and what the city can do,” said Gale Jacobsohn, an 89-year-old tenant at one of those properties. “ ey don’t have enough people. ey don’t have

‘All it takes is one thing’

Since early 2019, rents in the Cleveland metropolitan area have climbed by more than 30%, according to Zillow, which tracks changes in pricing for the same apartments over time.

e median sale price for a house here, meanwhile, jumped by 37%. It’s approaching $200,000. at’s cheap by national standards, but unattainable for many local families.

“Housing is an issue pretty much across every part of Ohio right now,” said Steve Stivers, CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, which has identi ed housing as a lobbying priority.

with zoning? How do we deal with local resistance? How do we deal with nancing issues?”

Last year, the NRP Group elded more than 2,200 inquiries about 5115 the Rising, a new mixed-income apartment project in Slavic Village. Before opening, the 88-unit complex received roughly 400 applications. at’s more than four hopeful households for every apartment.

e Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority has a waitlist of 20,000 people for nearly 16,000 housing choice vouchers, which are awarded through a lottery system. ousands more applicants are waiting for an apartment at one of the agency’s public housing complexes.

At the current rate of building, it would take almost half a century to close the state’s a ordable housing gap, according to the Ohio Housing Finance Agency.

In Northeast Ohio, dozens of organizations are trying to chip away at the problem. Local governments are committing federal pandemic-recovery funds to home repair, more longterm rental-assistance programs and construction of new houses. Nonprofit groups are talking about ways to build less expensive properties, such as modular homes, for rent or for sale. Meanwhile, tenants’ advocates are championing programs including Cleveland’s right-to-counsel, which provides attorneys for certain low-income families facing eviction, and initiatives designed to keep tenants in place or to give them access to a broader range of living options. ose are meaningful, but small, success stories. Researchers and service providers say there’s an imbalance in the landscape. ere is still far more support available once people lose their homes than there is when they’re teetering, barely managing to get by.

“ ere’s a lot of this wait, wait, wait, wait. And then right before they hit the ground, let’s swing in,” said Josiah Quarles, director of organizing and advocacy for the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless. “And then all it takes is one thing. One miscommunication. Your phone gets cut o . ere’s some rigidity to some of these systems and programs that just doesn’t t what the exibility of the need really is.”

the tools, the teeth, to enforce these rules. And there’s just too much property. You see it all over Cleveland.”

Zayed and her sisters watched the decay rsthand during their mother’s nal years.

Linda Hicks was 69 when she died last spring, from complications of COVID-19. But her daughters wonder whether unhealthy housing was a contributing factor.

Even with a voucher, Hicks had a di cult time nding a home. Each place she lived was a little rougher than the one before it, her daughters said. Her last apartment was infested with rats and blighted by mold, hazards that her family documented in photos.

“Safe housing is a human right,” Zayed said. “How do you determine who deserves it and who doesn’t?”

e chamber and other business groups are particularly concerned about the erosion of so-called workforce housing, places that hotel employees, store clerks, teachers and health care workers can a ord. ey’re pushing for a new state tax credit for a ordable housing, along with e orts to increase homeownership and homebuilding.

ose proposals are the subject of state budget bartering in Columbus — and part of a bigger discussion about ways to address housing instability through boosting new construction.

“We need more supply,” said Katie Fallon, an Ohio-based principal policy associate at the Urban Institute, a think tank focused on economic and social policies. “We need more supply of missing-middle rental and households for purchase. And this probably means that we need to change the requirements for what it means to build. … How do we deal

Today, Zayed is a homeowner — a dream her mother never achieved. She paid $5,000 for her house, in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood, at a tax-foreclosure auction in 2014.

Like many homes in Cleveland, that house is arguably a liability. It would cost more to x than it’s worth. But buying the property gave Zayed room to breathe, a break from struggling to pay rent as a single mother of three working two low-wage jobs at the Cleveland Clinic.

She hopes to nally renovate her kitchen and bathroom this year. And she’s helping to craft a nascent home-repair grant program in Slavic Village, where she now works for University Settlement, a social services organization focused on one of the poorest stretches of the city.

“A lot of people are just in survival mode,” she said. “ ey’re so stressed out from being unhoused or working a job that doesn’t get them what they need. ey can’t even think.”

Michelle Jarboe: michelle.jarboe@ crain.com, (216) 771-5437, @mjarboe

Landlord Bob Galivan stands on the front porch of a duplex he owns with other investors. Galivan is renovating houses on Cleveland’s East Side for tenants who use federal housing-choice vouchers.

Transitional housing next step for single mothers

LINDA UVEGES

Since 1910, e City Mission has served tens of thousands of Cleveland residents struggling with homelessness and crisis.

While our mission — providing help and hope to all people through the transforming power of God’s love — remains the same, our services have always adapted to the needs of the community.

In 2014, e City Mission began a program dedicated to addressing housing insecurity in Northeast Ohio. rough our graduate-to-homeowner initiative, New Horizons, we have learned about the importance of wraparound services and the continued need for more a ordable housing in Cleveland.

e men, women and children of e City Mission’s campuses (Laura’s Home Women’s Crisis Center and Crossroads Men’s Crisis Center) stay in our facilities for a median length of 9-12 months while participating in our long-term program.

In 2014, we noticed that single mothers in particular were struggling to nd a ordable housing upon graduation from Laura’s Home.

With the support of local churches, philanthropists and community groups, e City Mission created the New Horizons program. Successful graduates of Laura’s Home who are nominated by sta are eligible to participate in New Horizons and, at the end of 18-24 months, receive the titles to their homes, free and clear. To date, we have completed 10 homes, with plans to provide two homes per year in partnership with Habitat for Humanity.

We believe New Horizons has been successful because of our commitment to wraparound services. As part of the longterm program, single mothers at Laura’s Home have access to a variety of services during their stay. Women receive assistance in nding employment, acquiring soft skills, completing educational goals, repairing credit, strengthening nancial literacy, maintaining health care and more. e City Mission has been blessed to work with amazing local partners like Cuyahoga Community College, OhioGuidestone, MetroHealth, Cleveland Metropolitan School District, e Centers for Families and Children, Habitat for Humanity and many others to provide the highest quality care to our residents and their children.

In addition to basic needs and workforce development, women and their children receive weekly case management and participate in a series of classes and opportunities to help them move from crisis to stability. Because of the intentional preparation at Laura’s Home, all 10 of the New Horizons recipients have successfully maintained their homes.

While we are proud of the New Horizons program, we know that providing one to two homes a year is not enough. Because of rising rents and lack of a ordable housing units, and 91% of landlords not accepting Housing Choice Vouchers, single mothers at Laura’s Home continue to struggle to nd housing. Later this year, e City Mission will break ground on 16 units of transitional housing on-site at Laura’s Home for single mothers who graduate from the program. ese three-bedroom, two-bathroom units will provide up to two years of housing at low cost and will give mothers the gift of time as they pursue their own housing or enter the New Horizons program.

As we fundraise for this project, we hope to begin moving single mothers into transitional housing in the fall of 2024. is project will serve as a stepping stone from Laura’s Home to independent, stable housing and will provide a safe, affordable living arrangement for mothers and their families, as well as continued access to the wraparound services offered at Laura’s Home. Children living in transitional housing can also continue attending school just down the street from Laura’s Home, preventing any stress or further adjustment for families.

ere is a continued need for a ordable housing in Cleveland. rough New Horizons and transitional housing at e City Mission, those struggling with homelessness and/or crisis have received the wraparound services needed to move toward a path of stability, including securing appropriate housing. In its 113th year, e City Mission remains dedicated to helping Clevelanders as they continue to navigate housing insecurity.

New ARPA funding and master plan to help Habitat make ‘dreams come true’

JOHN LITTEN

I do not use a word like “catalytic” lightly.

It is a unique adjective to describe a unique moment in the 36-year history of Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity.

I write this op-ed on the heels of Cleveland City Council’s approval of $5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, which can make a lot of dreams come true for local families. ARPA is the New Deal of our generation and a grant like this will allow us to expand our ability to meet one of Greater Cleveland’s most pressing needs — a ordable homeownership opportunities for historically underserved populations.

When we learned a year ago that this grant was available, we devised a “BHAG,” short for “Big Hairy Audacious Goal,” a phrase coined in the book “Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.” Our BHAG was to help 400 households in Greater Cleveland through four key areas, one of which is new to us:

` Build 100 new homes across Greater Cleveland.

` Rehabilitate at least 50 homes, which entails creating a genuinely new space with no major needs for at least 10 years.

` Hold “spruce up” events in the neighborhoods in which we work to assist existing homeowners with minor repairs, landscaping, clean-up and more, touching a minimum of 150 homes.

` Create a new Critical Home Repair Program to do major repairs (roofs, porches, siding, etc) on at least 100 homes.

So how do we get there? Our plan is to leverage this $5 million investment into another $28 million from other funding sources, such as:

` Ohio ARPA funds

` HOME Investment Partnerships Program funds

` Cuyahoga Land Bank funds and land

` Generous foundation support

` Equity payments from our Partner Families

` Proceeds from our three ReStore locations

` Individual donors

` Proceeds from our annual Walk/Run/Mosey fundraiser is diverse set of funding streams, while complex, all comes together to become something greater. And anyone can be part of our BHAG through donations, volunteering or joining us for our Walk/Run/Mosey fundraiser July 8 — visit clehabitatwalk. org to create your team!

One of Cleveland’s greatest needs is a ordable housing, and Habitat for Humanity is uniquely positioned in both ability and track record to meet that need in communities hard hit by everything from redlining to food deserts to foreclosure crises to generational poverty. Our mission calls us to do this work, along with roughly 1,200 a liates nationwide. Greater Cleveland (covering Cuyahoga and Lorain counties) is one of the top 20 a liates in our country and will grow to do more through this gift. We expect to add at least 10 new jobs and grow our volunteer base, as well.

As we grow and expand, I have no doubt that our sta and volunteers will ensure that we will proceed as the same mission-driven organization that we have been for the past 36 years, only larger. Seeing any new home dedicated or watching any new homeowner sign their closing paperwork and getting their keys is a holiday for us, EVERY. TIME.

Lastly, for all the work we put into building and connecting people with homes and mortgages they can a ord, more than 95% of our Partner Families are successful in maintaining those mortgages. e home equity built by all of these families combined totals over $3 million. at is generational wealth built in the face of generational poverty. And we are poised to do more now than ever through this generous gift and the trust we’ve built over many years. With that, here’s to many more holidays in the years to come.

Eviction diversion can create housing stability

COLLEEN COTTER

riving communities are built on residents’ access to stability and opportunity, especially with regard to housing. e justice system’s role in ensuring that stability cannot be overstated.

But Ohio’s lack of uni cation of its court system presents an obstacle to stable housing: In Cuyahoga County alone, there are 13 separate municipal courts that have jurisdiction over the thousands of eviction cases led each year. is means that landlords and tenants navigate up to 13 divergent sets of rules, fees and norms. ese di erences increase complexity and reduce predictability for all parties, hindering those seeking justice: It is bad for landlords’ business, bad for communities and even worse for tenants facing homelessness.

Counties have an innate interest in remedying this problem. Stable home occupancy (whether by ownership or tenancy) generates bene ts that ow through the entire community. Eviction diversion e orts promote stability, enabling both landlords and renters to do business and obtain housing in a coherent regulatory space.

EVICTION DIVERSION EFFORTS PROMOTE STABILITY, ENABLING BOTH LANDLORDS AND RENTERS TO DO BUSINESS AND OBTAIN HOUSING IN A COHERENT REGULATORY SPACE.

Ultimately, eviction diversion is foundational to consistent income and county property tax collection. And eviction diversion lowers health and human services costs faced by the county. But no individual municipality is able to create the uniformity and stability that would allow these bene ts to be fully realized — only the county has the broad reach necessary to do this. Only the county realizes the full return on investment with eviction diversion. How can Cuyahoga County implement changes that would mitigate the e ects of our fragmentary, ununi ed court system? It can be a leader by using the power of the pocketbook to incentivize municipalities to follow that path to a more just system. In

1984, America established the National Minimum Drinking Age Act. Unable to demand that states establish 21 years old as their drinking age, the federal government used this act to reduce non-compliant states’ highway funding by 8% — a life-saving measure that saw a 16% median decline in motor vehicle crashes.

Following that example, Cuyahoga County can take the lead and set aside funds to create grant-based programs to incentivize the 13 municipal courts to participate in an eviction diversion program and create other procedural changes that would increase e ciencies and realization of justice.

In Cuyahoga County, we are fortunate that we are not starting from scratch. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, local housing advocates encouraged Cuyahoga County to explore eviction diversion incentives to mitigate the damage to communities and housing markets caused by the pandemic.

A grant program from Cuyahoga County can incentivize standard outreach and procedural e ciencies across all 13 municipal courts. And, local courts would need this support — as e ective eviction diversion e orts require investment and sta ng.

Outreach e orts ahead of an eviction ling ensure that parties know their rights and responsibilities, helping them understand that options like rent assistance and mediation can bring parties together to nd solutions that don’t involve the expense and detrimental e ects of an eviction ling.

By connecting parties to critical resources within the community — like Legal Aid — outreach can ensure parties explore all potential options for resolution before an eviction is led.

is model of incentives through grants could be used even in cases where evictions are led. For example, the county can encourage via a grant program the implementation of procedural changes that increase e ciencies, reduce the burden on the parties involved and realize justice.

Court processes can increase the number of tenants who are able to obtain representation, which is not guaranteed in most municipalities’ eviction cases (to the detriment of renters and the community). e county can also incentivize courts to separate claims for eviction lings and monetary damages, ensuring courts and parties focus on the most critical issue: eviction and housing stability. is innovative change has already been put in place in the Bedford and Lyndhurst municipal courts.

e county has a vested interest in keeping people housed, but housing stability is often dictated by a court process outside the county’s control. An incentive grant from the county to municipal courts can help unify our courts and create a fair playing eld for all.

Litten is president and CEO of Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity.

Cotter is an attorney and serves as executive director of e Legal Aid Society of Cleveland.

Uveges is CEO of e City Mission in Cleveland.

Lack of a ordable housing puts economy at risk

AMY RIEGEL

Intel, Google and Honda are building huge new operations in Ohio. Unemployment is at a record low, and wages have nally started increasing after years of stagnation. Ohio is on a roll with all the positive economic news we’ve seen in the past year.

I don’t relish being the skunk at this garden party, but Ohio’s recent economic development success is being built on a shaky foundation. A healthy economy requires a healthy workforce; a healthy worker requires a safe, decent, a ordable place to live. Unfortunately, home has been getting further and further out of reach for many workers in our state.

Ohio Workforce Housing Tax Credit would be a game-changer for state

KEVIN J. NOWAK

Today, Ohio is in the midst of a compounding crisis with a severe shortage of a ordable housing for our families and seniors.

In 2020, only three of the 10 most common jobs in Ohio paid the hourly rate necessary for a worker to a ord a modest, two-bedroom apartment. is causes a signi cant rent burden not only among Ohio’s lowest income but also renters such as teachers, public safety o cials and blue-collar workers across the state. Due to this shortage of workforce rental housing, nearly 400,000 households in Ohio have a severe cost burden, spending over half their income on rent.

Nowak is executive director of CHN Housing Partners, a Cleveland-based a ordable housing developer, housing services provider and home lender.

Based on our nearly 42 years of experience developing a ordable housing, we believe the Ohio Workforce Housing Tax Credit, currently in the House version of the state budget, would be a game changer for Cleveland and all of Ohio. We appreciate both House Speaker Jason Stephens and Gov. Mike DeWine recognizing and prioritizing this need and hope they will see this policy priority through our current budget process.

CHN Housing Partners was founded in 1981 by six Cleveland community development groups to address housing abandonment and the lack of quality, a ordable housing in our community. CHN’s role was to pool and share nancial, construction and management expertise to scale housing opportunities, and we have done just that — we have developed more than 7,000 homes and have helped 3,200 families become homeowners.

In 1987, CHN began using the newly created federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, a bipartisan public policy incentive that has driven outcomes through private sector investment and development. e LIHTC program has received bipartisan support from its inception. It was originally proposed by Ronald Reagan as part of the 1986 tax reform, and every president since has supported LIHTC.

Donald Trump left only LIHTC and one other tax credit in his original tax reform package. Joe Biden has advocated for a signi cant increase to LIHTC. e bene t of stable, a ordable housing to each of us, our communities, health and workforce is without a doubt foundational, and we have a supply problem that the private market will not address. LIHTC makes what CHN and other developers of housing do for our communities possible, but today’s severe shortage of housing that is a ordable for families and seniors requires more resources.

Simply, LIHTC is not enough and the Ohio Workforce Housing Tax Credit or House Bill 3 is the answer.

CHN and our partner organizations across the country use the LIHTC program in a number of ways to help our neighbors remain housing stable, break cycles of poverty and improve

quality of life.

One example is our Louise C. Stokes Scholar House, which, in partnership with CSU and Tri-C, eliminates barriers for parents to nish college while providing high quality early childhood education to their children, a two-generational approach to breaking cycles of poverty.

We use LIHTC to develop a ordable housing for seniors in Cleveland Heights, Lakewood and Rocky River, helping them to continue living independently while improving their quality of life and creating signi cant Medicaid cost savings for our state.

We develop family workforce housing in Elyria, Parma and Medina, helping to provide stable housing and a more stable workforce for local businesses.

Finally, we utilize LIHTC for CHN’s agship Lease Purchase Program, a 15-year pathway to homeownership for families earning 60% or less of area median income. (In Cleveland, the area median income is $46,907 for a family of four.) rough this, we’ve helped over 1,600 families become homeowners, and, currently, about 90 families become homeowners through this program every year, helping to further stabilize neighborhoods and empower families and future generations to thrive.

Twenty-two other states have e ectively utilized state housing tax credit programs as a mechanism to develop additional a ordable housing and to fully draw down federal resources that Ohio leaves on the table each year because it does not have a comparable program. is credit will have an immediate, profound economic development impact on Ohio communities years before the state issues the credit. Key elements of HB 3 are:

` Authorizes $500 million tax credits each scal year.

` Issued over 10-year period at $50 million per year.

` Six-year sunset spanning scal year 2023-29.

` Available for 4% and 9% LIHTC transactions.

Workforce housing development is a proven driver of economic development, job creation and tax revenue. According to the Ohio Housing Council, this program is projected to yield approximately 4,325 new units annually, a total of 25,950 new units over six years. In total, new construction, property operations and additional resident spending will create over $24.7 billion in economic activity over the course of construction and 30 years of operations. Combined, construction and operating tax revenues of the program would total nearly $3.9 billion in tax revenue to state, county and local governments. Successful outcomes in other states clearly demonstrate that state credit programs make good policy and business sense. ey address the unique market failures and policy needs of the states that have adopted them.

Here in Ohio, we need more supply to meet the demand, and we cannot and should not rely on federal resources to do so. e power of a permanent address a ords people the chance to change their lives. e Ohio Senate’s version of the bill doesn’t include this state housing tax credit, but I sincerely hope that, when the nal bill is voted on later this month, Ohio adopts this tax credit so CHN and our peers around the state have more resources in our toolbox in order to meet our state’s a ordable housing needs.

Later this week, we will jointly release a report with the National Low Income Housing Coalition showing that the majority of Ohio’s most common jobs don’t pay enough to a ord a basic two-bedroom apartment. ese aren’t just fast-food workers, hotel maids, big box store cashiers and home health aides. ese are the people assembling parts in factories, lling orders at warehouses, shipping freight and answering the phone when you have problems with your new dishwasher.

e gap between low wages and high rents has grown wider in the past few years as housing costs have skyrocketed. Yes, workers have seen their wages rise, but rents have risen even faster. Between 2019 and 2022, hourly wages increased 9% for workers in the bottom 10th percentile, the largest percentage increase of any income group, according to the Economic Policy Institute. But that only equates to an extra $1.04 per hour, far less than the 25% increase in U.S. median rents between January 2021 and June 2022.

Our state leaders are starting to realize that housing a ordability is the Achilles heel of Ohio’s economic development juggernaut. at’s why Gov. Mike DeWine proposed a $100 million plan to incentivize development of a ordable rental housing in his biennial budget, which House Republicans replaced with a $500 million Workforce Housing Tax Credit proposal.

BETWEEN 2019 AND 2022, HOURLY WAGES INCREASED 9% FOR WORKERS IN THE BOTTOM 10TH PERCENTILE, THE LARGEST PERCENTAGE INCREASE OF ANY INCOME GROUP, ACCORDING TO THE ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE.

Apparently, the Ohio Senate didn’t get the memo. In its version of the budget released recently, Senate leaders gutted the housing tax credit proposal, restricted investment in rental housing in Ohio’s Opportunity Zones, Community Reinvestment Areas and Tax Increment Finance Areas, and killed a program that allows rent payments to improve tenants’ credit scores so they can become homeowners.

e Senate even slashed funding by 83% for Healthy Beginnings at Home, an initiative that shows housing assistance can reduce infant deaths for at-risk pregnant women. at cut means Healthy Beginnings won’t be able to expand to Cleveland as planned, and it will shut down research into how this innovative approach can reduce the state’s infant mortality rate and Medicaid spending.

If these Senate provisions remain in the nal budget, which must pass by the end of this month, we can expect Ohio’s economic resurgence will soon start to sputter. When so many jobs pay too little to a ord a secure place to live, families are forced to make impossible decisions about whether to pay the rent, buy food or forgo medicine, transportation or education. A precarious workforce means tired, stressed, unhealthy employees, higher absenteeism, and lower productivity.

Housing is where a job goes to sleep at night. at’s why Ohio’s business community should demand the state Senate address Ohio’s a ordable housing crisis. Let them know that companies need a diversity of workers to thrive and grow, and those workers in turn need a range of a ordable housing options. Restoring the House and governor’s housing plan in the biennial budget will help build a solid foundation for a healthy, productive, reliable, educated workforce that’s able to meet the future demands of our state’s economy.

Riegel is executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.

GETTY IMAGES/ISTOCK

FAMILY-OWNED BUSINESSES CRAIN'S LIST |

Ranked by full-time equivalent employees in Northeast Ohio ResearchbyChuckSoderandLydiaCoutré(researcher@crainscleveland.com)

National expertise. Local talent. Certified Public Accountants and Business Advisors personally invested in the success of your business. maloneynovotny.com

Orlando1872Baker serving breads and rolls to restaurants and grocers

CEO

|Informationisfromthecompanies.Inadditiontobeingmajorityownedbyasinglefamily,tobeeligibleforthislistcompaniesmusthaveatleasttwo family members in management, or they must have been passed down from a previous generation.NOTES: 1. This is a sta ng rm; the vast majority of these employees work on behalf of other companies. Get all 99 rms and more than 415 executives in Excel format. Become a Data Member: CrainsCleveland.com/data

Rogers has named the collection “Hieronymus,” after the famous Dutch painter Hieronymus Bosch, whose images of heaven, hell and the paths to both enthralled, and likely terri ed, his 15th and 16th century viewers.

As its name suggests, Rogers’ collection has its share of dark and disturbing images — a large painting of a beheaded dog comes to mind — but they don’t dominate the collection or the mood of the place. ey share the space with other pieces that are downright whimsical or even what some might consider a bit naughty. Nearly all could be described as “fantastic,” in the most literal sense of the word.

ere’s the life-size and life-like gurine of a woman lying on her stomach, made of aluminum by Korean artist Seungmo Park, or the ceramic piece of connected black and white faces called “To Kiss,” by Russian artist Sergie Isupov. Both are among Rogers’ favorites.

ey share the museum with a giant plush face on one wall, a largerthan-life bust of an African Albino (meant to draw attention to their plight), and a clay relief sculpture about 2-feet across that depicts a British train station and passengers with one giving the viewer a one- ngered American salute. ere are porcelain sculptures as small and delicate as snow akes that were carved by needles; numerous porcelain, clay and ceramic objects that look like alien or prehistoric skeletons; and countless other drawings, paintings, sculptures and smaller items. Even the electric meter on the front of the home has been transformed to art thanks to a piece by Akron artist John Communale that envelops it.

“I don’t think people know what they’re going to see,” Rogers said of the friends, arts supporters and others that have seen the collection. “ ey often say, “I didn’t expect that!’”

ere’s a lot to see and not expect, after all.

While it is not cluttered or disorganized, Rogers’ collection is dense, and that’s true on at least a couple of levels.

Not only does he have more art per square foot than one would nd in nearly any public museum, but many of the pieces themselves are packed with detail. Some of the drawings that line an upstairs hallway, for example, are so packed with subjects and hidden Easter eggs that a viewer can lose track of time looking at just one — and there are dozens in a single hallway.

“ at allowed me to transition into doing art and charitable stu with the city, which I wouldn’t have had the bandwidth for otherwise,” he said.

Rogers put that bandwidth to work, too, along with some newly liquid wealth.

On top of his growing collection, there was the house itself. (Rogers said he needed a place to put his art to preserve his marriage.)

When Rogers found it, it seemed to have not been remodeled since it was built around 1940, he said. His Akron contractor, Steve Levey, an arts advocate and artist himself, went a bit further.

thinking about what to do with the collection and how to either liquidate it or at least shrink it down before leaving it to his children.

“I need to gure out the next step for the collection,” he said, adding that he might end up selling or donating many of the works, someday.

He doesn’t know if he’ll nd he made or lost money on the art, nor does he seem to care. Rogers said he never bought art as an investment to make money, and never chased works from an artist just because they were in vogue with other collectors.

“I just appreciate looking at the art and being surrounded by beauty,” Rogers said. “But some people are just bounty hunters.”

at approach seems to have worked. Hieronymus not only has many amazing and outstanding works, but the entire collection seems to have a certain integrity and continuity.

Rogers gures he’s just a steward for the works while he owns them. Someday, he hopes and believes, others will collect and appreciate them as he has — though maybe not quite as many pieces as Rogers has amassed. People naturally gather things, he reasons, whether it’s clothes, real estate or just money. Why not art?

“I think everyone is a collector,” he said. “We’re just all on a spectrum.”

Dan Shingler: dshingler@crain.com, (216) 771-5290

Rogers said he has been collecting things since he was a small child, beginning with old pennies, then moving on to baseball cards and Civil War memorabilia.

ings got more serious as he got older, ran a software company, and then took over his family’s industrial distribution business. He then could a ord more than pennies and developed an a nity for art. When he sold the distribution business in 2014 though, things picked up. Rogers had more of both money and time to nd and acquire more pieces.

“It was in a really bad state of disrepair,” Levey said, noting that the former owners had smoked inside for decades, to the point he wasn’t sure they’d ever get the nicotine stains and odors out.

But they are long gone today and, after years of working on the home for Rogers, Levey has turned the place into a museum worthy of the art that it now holds.

“I’ve broken 4.5 things,” Levey said. “But I’ve been here 15 years, and I’ve moved a lot of art.”

“You did?!” Rogers interjects upon hearing that.

“You know that. I’ve told you ev-

ery time it happened!” Levey shoots back, before they both laugh like two guys who have been on a long boat ride together and decided they like the beach they’ve reached.

“It happens,” Rogers said. “I’ve broken a few things myself.”

Nonetheless, Levey is cautious. It can be a tedious place to work with valuable and breakable art seemingly everywhere. He points to a porcelain sculpture by Japan’s Yamagishi Daisuke that occupies and blocks a doorway between two rooms. It looks like a fragile spinal column from which spill ribbons of porcelain so thin that it seems a heavy breath might crack them.

“I never thought we’d get that shipped here and out of the crate in one piece,” Levey said. e house is a bit of a work of art itself. Levey painted the central stairway in a rainbow of inch-wide stripes, for one thing. Every few years, he said, he comes back to touch it up.

Outside, the gardens are full of art, mostly in the form of sculptures. A cottage in the backyard, which Rogers also added, has its roof adorned with a mural by the Spanish-Haitian artist Axel Void, whose work also is found on Troppe’s Gothic Building downtown.

Rogers is beginning to slow down though, he said. At 69, he has to start

Akron art collector and advocate Rick Rogers. | TIM FITZWATER/CONTRIBUTED

Rogers has more than 3,000 pieces of art from around the world. | CONTRIBUTED

“I JUST APPRECIATE LOOKING AT THE ART AND BEING SURROUNDED BY BEAUTY.”

—Rick Rogers

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE

To place your listing, visit www.crainscleveland.com/people-on-the-move or, for more information, contact Debora Stein at 917.226.5470 / dstein@crain.com

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Ancora

Ancora is happy to announce that Peter Hyland has been promoted to a Vice President and Equity Trader. Peter joined the rm in 2021 to provide operational support to the trading department. Prior to Ancora, Peter served as an investment banking analyst with KeyBank in Seattle. He also has held various internships with KeyBank in Cleveland, Medical Mutual of Ohio and Carnegie Investment Counsel. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a major in Finance from Ohio University.

Benesch

Evan McLaughlin has joined Benesch as an Associate in the rm’s Real Estate & Environmental Practice Group. He focuses his practice on a wide range of commercial real estate matters, including acquisitions, dispositions, leasing and development.

LEGAL

Benesch

ECLIPSE From Page 1

thousands of visitors,” Laurer said.

Some nationally, such as the GreatAmericanEclipse.com website, are predicting Ohio will get up to 550,000 visitors for the eclipse, Laurer said.

HEALTH CARE

orthobrain®

orthobrain®, maker of SimplyClear™, the aligner solution for dental practices that makes integrating orthodontics easy and pro table, is excited to announce the hiring of Richard Uria as President and Head of Business Development. In his role, Uria will bring his extensive tenure and experience as a leader in channel strategy management to drive orthobrain’s overall business growth.

Hannah Kraus has joined Benesch as an Associate in the rm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group. Hannah has the strong ability to handle complex legal issues, and specializes in employment matters such as employment discrimination, trade secret disputes, and wrongful termination. She is well-versed in matters relating to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and other commercial litigations.

Stanton Williams has joined Benesch as an Associate in the rm’s Litigation Practice Group. Stanton represents clients in complex corporate and commercial litigation matters in state and federal court, as well as in various arbitration forums. He also manages all aspects of commercial litigation.

Lauryn Robinson has joined Benesch as an Associate in the rm’s Litigation Practice Group. Lauryn has experience handling a variety of complex commercial contract and construction disputes. She supports Benesch’s partners by drafting and reviewing documents, conducting legal research, compiling exhibits, preparing for depositions and pre-trial matters, and assisting with trial and post-trial proceedings.

LEGAL Benesch

Caroline Hamilton has joined Benesch as an Associate in the rm’s Litigation Practice Group. Caroline’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation across various industries. She has experience in all phases of litigation, with substantial experience managing discovery and engaging in motion practice. Caroline has rst and second chair experience and has taken and defended depositions.

If you’re outside that path, or line of totality, you will only see a partial eclipse. Still pretty cool — but no total blocking of the sun or coronas for you — and keep those glasses on.

For the 2024 eclipse, that path will be about 120 miles wide, with Cleveland right in the middle and Akron also close to the middle and in the direct line of the total eclipse. We can expect tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people to crowd into that path before and during the eclipse.

at’s what happened in Casper, Wyoming, said Brook Kaufman, who was the CEO of Visit Casper when a total solar eclipse passed over that city in 2017. She’s now CEO of Visit Rapid City in South Dakota, and in recent months, she has spent time talking to her counterparts in places that lie in the path of totality, including at Destination Cleveland, she said.

Be ready, she says, because they’re coming. ey will include folks from nearby who weren’t satis ed to be outside the path of the event, others who are willing to drive quite a distance to see the eclipse and aren’t going to stop until they reach the path of totality, and people willing to y, some from long distances, to see the event.

“ ere are eclipse chasers, and international visitors plan more than a year in advance,” Kaufman said. “We had people from six continents here.”

Lots of people, too.

“It was absolutely the biggest tourism event that Casper, Wyoming, will probably see in my lifetime,” Kaufman said. “I think the state welcomed around 100,000, and in Casper, we saw about 20,000.”

ey won’t necessarily have to come to Cleveland or Akron, but if they want any of the comforts and amenities of a larger city, those are likely to be their two top choices in and around the state. at path of totality referenced above? It doesn’t include Columbus, Cincinnati, Youngstown or even Canton. It also doesn’t include Chicago or Pittsburgh.

at’s likely why some downtown Cleveland hotels are already full for the event. You can’t book a room at the Metropolitan at e Nine, for example, according to the hotel’s website.

e Ritz-Carlton of Cleveland’s site also shows it’s full, but senior marketing manager Cailee Fox said there are some rooms available, but only for stays of two nights or more.

Fox, who worked at the Marriott at Key Center and at the airport for the RNC, said she’s not expecting sales to quite reach the level of the RNC, but said she fully expects her hotel and others to sell out for the event.

Hotels, including the Ritz-Carlton, are o ering special packages for the event. ey include things like special lounge access at the Ritz-Carlton, or access to a rooftop viewing reception at the Metropolitan. And most will have special eclipse-viewing glasses available, as will Destination Cleveland, Laurer said.

Cleveland might not be the hottest spot for tourism, due to its size. But the city and its hotels are likely to be lled, and hotels in Akron are also expecting business from the eclipse, just like they got from the RNC.

Hotels in Casper were de nitely full, Kaufman said, and then some.

“We were at 100% occupancy. ere was public camping,” she said. “Some people just rolled in with a mat and spent the night on Casper Mountain.”

Akron’s already starting to see some demand.

“We’re de nitely starting to see people starting to book for that already,” said Bob Purdy, sales manager for the Blu-tique hotel downtown.

e Hilton Garden Inn at Akron’s East End development is also gearing up for the event, said director of sales Margaret Sinclair.

MANUFACTURING

Reese Pharmaceutical

We are pleased to announce that Kelly Siemer has joined the Reese team as Vice President of Finance. Kelly earned her bachelor’s degree from Cleveland State University. She holds various tax certi cations, Six Sigma Green Belt, and more. Kelly specializes in nance and accounting and is positioned to help the century-old Reese family business continue to grow with her more than 18 years of industry experience. Reese employs more than 60 individuals between their 2 Cleveland facilities.

NONPROFITS

Cleveland Arts Prize

Cleveland Arts Prize (CAP) announces that Ef e A. Tsengas Nunes has been appointed as Interim Executive Director.

Tsengas Nunes, who assumed responsibilities on April 10, 2023, has served on the Board of Trustees since 2017 and brings 30 years of arts administration, marketing, event planning and public relations experience to the role. She received a Master of Business Administration from Kent State University and a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Cleveland State University.

No o ense to Casper or the ne state of Wyoming, but even Kaufman thinks places like Cleveland can do a lot better than that. Casper’s in a beautiful part of a beautiful state with clear skies and all that, but it doesn’t exactly market itself as a great place to have a distribution hub because of its ease of access to millions of people the way Northeast Ohio does.

“It’s fairly remote and isolated,” Kaufman said. “ ere are a lot more people near the centerline (in Northeast Ohio), so you have the opportunity to attract a lot of people.”

Be thankful for that, and for the fact that the last eclipse was only six years ago, she said. When the 2017 eclipse came around, it was the rst time since 1979 that one was visible from the U.S. mainland. Cities like Casper didn’t know what to expect or how to prepare for the crowds that might come.

Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, on the other hand, know what to expect and have had experience preparing for big events, thanks in part to the RNC coming here for its 2016 convention.

“Hopefully, we’ll have hundreds of

Gregg Mervin, president and CEO of the Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau, said his group is working with hotels to formulate plans and also with entities like Summit Metro Parks and Cuyahoga Valley National Park to provide guests with a range of places to visit or from which to watch the event.

“ ere’s a great opportunity here,” Mervin said. “ e actual pathway on April 8 will pass right over Akron and Summit County. ... Hotels are aware and the conversations have been going on at our regional sales meetings that the eclipse is coming up. ey certainly have it on their calendars and are expecting increased bookings.”

Amid all the optimism and planning, though, Kaufman o ers a piece of key advice: Don’t miss the actual event if you can help it. It’s unforgettable, she promises. She’d never seen an eclipse before 2017, and likely wouldn’t have traveled to see it, she said.

is time, though, after seeing it once, Kaufman said she’s already trying to gure out which city to go to see it again in 2024 — and Cleveland is a top contender for her choice.

“I’m telling you,” she said, “it will make everyone who sees it a believer, and that it’s all worth it.”

Dan Shingler: dshingler@crain.com, (216) 771-5290

Robinson

Williams

McLaughlin NEW GIG? Preserve your career change for years to come. Laura Picariello Reprints Sales Manager lpicariello@crain.com (732) 723-0569

LEGAL

“We convened a local organizing committee close to 14 months ago,” she said. “So, we’ve been aware of the eclipse since we were in the partial path of totality for the eclipse of 2017. Our friends at NASA brought (the 2024 eclipse) to our attention six years ago now.”

crainscleveland.com

Publisher and CEO KC Crain

Group publisher Jim Kirk (312) 397-5503 or jkirk@crain.com

Executive editor Elizabeth McIntyre (216) 771-5358 or emcintyre@crain.com

Associate publisher Amy Ann Stoessel (216) 771-5155 or astoessel@crain.com

Director of audience and engagement Elizabeth Couch, (313) 446-0419 or elizabeth.couch@crain.com

Managing editor Scott Suttell (216) 771-5227 or ssuttell@crain.com

Assistant managing editor John Kappes (216) 771-5359 or john.kappes@crain.com

Web editor Damon Sims (216) 771-5279 or dpsims@crain.com

Assistant editor Rachel Abbey McCa erty (216) 771-5379 or rmcca erty@crain.com

Art director Kayla Byler (614) 312-7635 or kayla.byler@crain.com

Cartoonist Rich Williams

REPORTERS

Stan Bullard, senior reporter Real estate/construction (216) 771-5228 or sbullard@crain.com

Lydia Coutré, Health care/nonpro ts (216) 771-5479 or lcoutre@crain.com

Michelle Jarboe, Enterprise reporter (216) 771-5437 or michelle.jarboe@crain.com

Jay Miller Government (216) 771-5362 or jmiller@crain.com

Jeremy Nobile, Finance/legal/beer/cannabis (216) 771-5255 or jnobile@crain.com

Kim Palmer Government (216) 771-5384 or kpalmer@crain.com

Joe Scalzo, Sports business (216) 771-5256 or joe.scalzo@crain.com

Dan Shingler, Energy/steel/auto/Akron (216) 771-5290 or dshingler@crain.com

ADVERTISING

Senior vice president of sales Susan Jacobs (312) 649-5492 or susan.jacobs@crain.com

Events manager Missy Chambless (216) 771-5388 or missy.chambless@crain.com

Sales manager Mara Broderick (917) 612-8414 or mara.broderick@crain.com

Sales and marketing coordinator Shannon Smith (440) 281-6397 or shannon.smith@crain.com

Account executive

Kaylie Moran, Ed Sivillo

People on the Move manager

Debora Stein, (917) 226-5470, dstein@crain.com

Pre-press and digital production Craig L. Mackey

O ce coordinator Karen Friedman

Media services manager Nicole Spell

Billing YahNica Crawford

Credit Thomas Hanovich

CUSTOMER SERVICE

Customer service and subscriptions: (877) 824-9373 or customerservice@crainscleveland.com

Reprints: Laura Picariello (732) 723-0569 or lpicariello@crain.com

Crain’s Cleveland Business is published by Crain Communications Inc.

Chairman Keith E. Crain

Vice chairman Mary Kay Crain

President and CEO KC Crain

Senior executive VP Chris Crain

Chief Financial O cer Robert Recchia

G.D. Crain Jr. Founder (1885-1973)

Mrs. G.D. Crain Jr. Chairman (1911-1996)

Editorial & Business O ces 700 W. St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230 (216) 522-1383

Volume 44, Number 22

Crain’s Cleveland Business (ISSN 0197-2375) is published weekly, except no issue on 1/2, 5/29, 7/10, 9/4 and 11/27, at 700 West St. Clair Ave., Suite 310, Cleveland, OH 44113-1230.

Copyright © 2023 by Crain Communications Inc. Periodicals postage paid at Cleveland, OH, and at additional mailing o ces.

Price per copy: $2.00. Postmaster: