A Community of Communities

If I am in Cleveland and ask you where you live, chances are you are going to name a suburb. If you are in Chicago and are asked the same question, you are going to say Cleveland. And if you are at a three-day conference in California and are asked the same question, you are going to answer Ohio.

The point is, we have lived our lives understanding that a suburb, a city, a state are communities on a map with clearly defined borders. Or as the Oxford dictionary defines community, we are “A body of people living in one locale.”

However, there are many communities not in one locale. For example, the health care community, the education community, the safety community, the arts community, the business community, the nonprofit community.

So why care what the word community means? Actually, we should care. Because the communities not defined by locale are as important to us as the communities where we live. They are the communities of our vocations — our bread and butter.

For years Cleveland has been known as a community of “eds” and “meds,” world-class communities of education and medicine. Why haven’t we created more world-class vocational communities?

The answer is that Cleveland has rested on its laurels for 20 years, content in its accomplishments in education and medicine. There is no reason why this would not be a good time to create more world-class communities for vocations, communities that begin with students and educate, train and provide jobs in their chosen vocations.

The success Cleveland has had in building what it has in medicine and education should provide all the confidence we need to know that we can create more than two worldclass vocational communities.

Executive Publisher Lute Harmon Sr.

Executive Editor Terry Troy

Managing Editor Jennifer Bowen Sima

Senior Editor Ann-Marie Vazzano

Managing Art Director Rayanne Medford

Art Directors Tom Abate

Stacy Mallardi-Stajcar

Megan Rosta

Contributing Writers Karen Beis

Joanne Cahill

Rhonda Crowder

Christina Easter

Linda Feagler

Lee Fisher

Zack Miller

Bob Sandrick

Jill Sell

Lynne Thompson

Terry Troy

Contributing Artists Kevin Kopanski

Erik Drost

Associate Publisher Denise Polverine

Vice President, Advertising Paul Klein

Senior Account Sarah Desmond Executives Tiffany Myroniak

Account Executive Julie Bialowas

Operations Manager Corey Galloway

Traffic Coordinator Kristen Brickner

Production Manager Alyson Moutz Cowan

Audience and Events Manager Jennifer Roberts

Chief Financial Officer George Sedlak