Our Ongoing Commitments

While this report reflects our work to fight the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 we also reached several milestones in our strategic focus areas of ending homelessness, supporting the ministries of Catholic sisters and strengthening the Central neighborhood. Alongside the global community, we prioritized our rapid response to the pandemic, all the while maintaining the relationships and steadfast commitment to our 25-year mission of breaking the cycle of poverty in Cleveland.

This past year was life-altering for millions of individuals, and we have barely begun to process our collective grief for lost lives and opportunities. Yet, we see a glimmer of hope in the ways collaborative efforts have influenced leaders and organizations to be held accountable for actions that continue to oppress and exclude minority groups. We look back on the progress we made in 2020, in the face of a world-stopping pandemic, as an indicator of positive change to come.

2020 ACHIEVEMENTS OF NOTE:

• Our grantmaking, capacity building and investment in Enterprise Community Partners as a backbone organization and convener ensured on-time completion and lease of the 13th and final Housing

First building, Harper’s Pointe. This development adds 71 units of permanent supportive housing to the portfolio, bringing the total to 781 — creating enough housing to meet the projected need of adults experiencing long-term homelessness in Cuyahoga County.

• A Place 4 Me, a collaborative initiative of organizations including the Sisters of Charity Foundation of

Cleveland, secured a $500,000 investment from

Cuyahoga County for operations of a drop-in center for young people experiencing housing instability.

A core planning team led by young people with lived expertise of homelessness will advocate for and develop the drop-in center with A Place 4 Me.

• SOCF and partners secured funding for the continued planning of a Catholic sister heritage center that will house archive collections and serve as a space to learn about the model and work of sisters and inspire the future of service and ministry.

• The Catholic sisters program area launched an external evaluation to better to better understand the best ways to inspire young adults to carry forward the work and mission of sisters and their ministries.

• Through the coaching of collective-impact experts,

Cleveland Central Promise is implementing a work plan grounded in a collective impact framework to be a strong and effective backbone to support

Central families.

• Along with federal funding through The Reinvestment

Fund, the foundation supported the first phase of a planning process to bring a full-service, residentowned food co-op to Central. Six Central residents are core to the planning efforts.