In a recent article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, posted to the NEO Excellence community, business editor Paul O'Donnell wrote "I really didn't need Forbes magazine to tell me that Cleveland ranks 113th out of 150 metropolitan areas for best places to jump-start a business or career". Based on Forbes' analysis of our assets, O'Donnell observed one would conclude "the region is predominantly populated by reasonably educated engineers who spend discretionary income on the arts or sports, who work at companies that pay well but aren't hiring, and who live in safe neighborhoods filled almost exclusively with native Northeast Ohioans."

Plan to join in the discussions at the Tuesday, June 21, NEO Excellence Roundtable at the City Club of Cleveland as we advance innovative open source pursuits for holistic economic development in Northeast Ohio, including:

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An unexpected gem of an editorial in the Cleveland Plain Dealer observes "more than two-thirds of pre-school students use computers". "Education must evolve along with the rest of society" - "pre-schoolers who use computers at school regularly make greater gains than those without such technology." "The challenge for community leaders is to ensure that the advantages of the digital age reach all young people, including those of modest means." Read on below...

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The 06.10.05 City Club forum featured Eduardo R. Menascé, president of the Enterprise Solutions Group for Verizon Communications, the national communications company formed by the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE. His responsibilities include oversight of all sales, marketing and service delivery for Verizon's largest business and government customers.

The 06.07.05 NEO Excellence Roundtable had a very focused flow, starting with an update from Ed Hauser on Whiskey Island developments, following to next steps for East Cleveland, and concluding with a very enlightening discussion on making NEO the world's most empowering learning community.

The 06.03.05 City Club debate on Social Security reform started on the sidewalks outside the City Club, where many activists opposed to privatization handed out literature and asked passer-by-ers to sign petitions expressing opposition, to be sent to our legislators. Inside the City Club, the audience appears of like sentiment, populating tables sponsored by the AFL-CIO, AARP, and Friends of Sherrod Brown.

Social Security Reform: The
Debate

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The City of Akron has taken the lead in Northeast Ohio to understand Generation Xers in their community, how to appeal to them, and how to transform their economy as a community inclusive of young and old for leadership in the New Economy. Related insight is posted here.

Dialogues on Leadership New Leaders Only - Dr. Edward Hundert
President, Case Western Reserve University

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Eduardo R. Menascé - President, Verizon Enterprise
Solutions Group

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Find out how and why in what will be the first Northeast Ohio Teleworking Summit sponsored by Regional Economic Issues (REI) @ Case, to be held Monday, May 9th from 8 AM to noon at the Metropolitan Campus of Cuyahoga Community College in downtown Cleveland. Directions to the event may be found at:

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The Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) is one of the world's leading schools of design and from April 19-22, from 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM, the public has the opportunity to see the results as students showcase their remarkable work in the Reinberger Galleries and throughout the Industrial Design and Interior Design Departments in the Gund Building, 11141 East Boulevard, Cleveland - see related site here. For a preview, check out the photos below, from the opening reception on the 19th.

Following several months of meetings and discussions, the East Cleveland ECHO - Extending Community Home Online - initiative is making great progress. A strong and diverse team of volunteers has come together to develop for East Cleveland a virtual comunity where there was not one, and we'll begin distributing donated computers to area organizations and residents the week of April 18th, starting with the Helen S. Brown Senior Center and next flowing to students at Shaw High School. Computers will run free open source software, making everything we distribute free for recipients. All related developments, ECHO public meetings (usually Wednesday at 9:30 AM), and other East Cleveland events will be highlighted at the new East Cleveland portal, currently being developed at http://eastcleveland-org.bryght.net - check in often!

The 04.11.05 Ohio Venture Association (OVA) luncheon at the Cleveland Union Club featured City of Cleveland Senior Executive for Technology Development, aka “tech czar�, Michael DeAloia. Michael is responsible for expanding information technology focused business development in Cleveland, and his results to date are impressive, as highlighted below. Preceding Michael’s talk was a “5-Minute Forum� by Anthony Margida, Ph.D., the Battelle Company Formation Advisor to GLITeC, making this a very important, tech-centric innovation immersion event.

The NEO Telework roundtable will expand the open source dialogue on
redefining Northeast Ohio as the world-leader in telecommuting - please
come together at this special Tuesday@REI.

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WIth insightful perspectives from an information technology (IT) professional in India, the article below offers an excellent overview of the origins of Linux, what it is, where it fits in the IT world, trends in use, and implications on workforce demands. This is the perspective from India, and the global perspective, and the trends referenced are global, like Linux has 14 percent of the $50.9 billion market for server operating systems. Business professionals who do not understand these trends and implications risk tragic consequences.

Good news was published in the 04.13.05 Cleveland Plain Dealer about a program called "Computer Learning In My Back Yard" (see below) to provide more computer training to disadvantaged area residents. The article points out that while around 85% of Americans have Internet access at home, less than 50% of Clevelanders are connected. This is an essential program for Northeast Ohio to rebound from the grip of our old economy depression, but a premise of the article - "to transform Cleveland's Luddites into digital literates" - is telling of why we are in this sorry state. "Luddite" is a modern term for " one who opposes technological change", and that is not an accurate description of the common residents of NEO - nothing indicates that they oppose technology. Rather, the area Luddites are those in command and control positions who for too long have failed to grasp the fact that all area residents must have ready access to mainstream information technology to participate in the new economy. Thus, as we begin testing tightly controlled programs in limited areas of Cleveland, "Philadelphia on Monday started free classes for everyone from well-off architects to high school dropouts. That state-supported program wants to help establish basic digital mastery for the entire work force, which will attract businesses into the city, said Carole Smith, executive director of the Mayor's Commission on Technology in Philadelphia." Read on, and realize more must be done, and immediately.

An insightful opinion editorial in the 04.15.05 New York Times declares "Bush Disarms, Unilaterally", claiming over the past few years the US has abandoned the new economy war. The author states what he "can't figure out about the Bush team is why an administration that is so focused on projecting U.S. military strength abroad has taken such little interest in America's economic competitiveness at home - the underlying engine of our strength" - ultimately the question posed is why Americans are allowing ourselves to fall behind the rest of the world in deploying information technology research and access to our masses. The same reasoning can be applied to our homeland economy for Northeast Ohio - why do we allow 100,000s of area residents to stagnate in the old economy, divided apart from the digital economy?

 

NEO Civic leader Sarah Taylor has for many years championed appreciation for
the transformational aspects of the Gehry designed Peter B. Lewis building in
University Circle, and for this Tuesday@REI she assembled a remarkable panel to
explore impacts in this community. It became that building the "PBL" was the
ultimate professional experience of everyone personally involved with the
project, that knowledge was broadly shared by all involved that transformed
their abilities to excel in their professions, that they and the regional
economy thus benefited directly, and that the existence of the PBL is one of the
greatest assets of this region. In conclusion, everyone in the room seemed to
share the believe we as a region have failed to leverage the value of this
asset, and so more should be done to benefit from this industrial innovation
phenomenon.

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How do personal characteristics such as
intelligence, education and wealth contribute to disparate health outcomes?

Linda S. Gottfredson, Ph.D., professor
of education at the University of Delaware, and co-director of the
Delaware-Johns Hopkins Project for the Study of Intelligence and Society, will
discuss this and related issues at the next program in the lecture series,
"Prescriptions for Change: Reducing Health Disparities in Our Community,"
presented by the Roundtable Community Council, a program of the Greater
Cleveland Partnership, and the Center for Health Disparities, a collaboration
between MetroHealth Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University.

The program will be held from 7:30-9:30 a.m., Wed., April 13, at The
City Club of Cleveland, 850 Euclid Avenue. It is sponsored by the St. Luke's and
Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundations. Tickets are $15 for City Club members and
nonmembers.

Register
here.
Dr.
Gottfredson has written extensively on the impact of general intelligence on
personal functioning in different life domains, including in school, on the job
and in health self-care. Among her recent publications is an article in Current Directions in Psychological
Science,
co-written in 2004 with Ian J. Deary of the University of
Edinburgh (Scotland), examining the theory that intelligence (as measured by an
IQ-type test) enhances individuals' care of their own health, because it
represents learning, reasoning and problem-solving skills useful in preventing
chronic disease and accidental injury and in adhering to complex treatment
regimens.

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Northern California has a unique combination of incredible brain power, the world's highest quality, connected places, and innovation networks - and its booming'. It rode through the bubble-burst with little disruption and now ideas, deals and dollars are flowing freely. The sun is shining, the skies are blue and the limits. While this place and reality are far removed from NEO, there are connections to make and lessons to learn - there is knowledge to tranfer. Details to post here.