While developing a site for promoting the effects of urban agriculture is a key component of the Walter Collins Veterans Homes at Harvard Avenue east of East East 93rd Street, this $3 million development required a brain-trust made up of participants from the Union Miles Development Corporation (UMDC), Ward Two City Councilperson Kevin L. Bishop, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Cuyahoga County, the State of Ohio, the City of Cleveland, CHN Housing Partners, City Architecture and Rid-All Green Partnership.
The result is a community of 11, two-bedroom, one-bath, 1,000-square-foot single-family homes built to provide affordable housing for male and female veterans in southeast Cleveland, many of whom have unmet housing needs. To qualify, prospective tenants will undergo an intake process through the local Veterans Administration.
Rid-All Green Partnership will engage the veterans through interactive programming onsite, teaching best practices for successful urban agriculture and promote healthy living and providing actionable stability for these veterans.
Transforming Neighborhoods
Keep your eyes open as Mount Pleasant, Union Miles and Lee Harvard neighborhoods undergo major transformations thanks in great part to $15 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act.
By allocating $5 million to the neighborhoods (at press time, exact amounts distributed to each of the three neighborhoods were still to be determined), Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb is earmarking funding for residential home repair and rehabilitation, commercial corridor improvements and public and green space.
Bibb has also engaged Cleveland native and Harvard Divinity School Graduate Marvin Owens as senior strategist tasked with bringing City resources and external funding to these three targeted neighborhoods. Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, Cuyahoga Land Bank and Community Housing Solutions will be working with Owens and Union Miles Development Corporation on program implementation.
Bibb has promised to dedicate funding to Black, underserved neighborhoods earmarked for storefront improvements. Its White Box Program revitalizes occupied as well as vacant buildings to their original/clean state. Its acquisition and stabilization program will encourage potential investors to acquire and repurpose existing properties. And its green space/public ground funds will further establish pocket parks, parking facilities and art projects.
UMDC expansion
A master plan is in development stages. In the Union Miles retail corridor, an initiative set forth by Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, UMDC and Cleveland Neighborhood Progress focuses on areas including East 93rd Street, Kinsman, Union Miles and Mt. Pleasant neighborhoods.
While external changes may be the most noticeable in the Union Miles neighborhood, internally a major expansion is taking place. The Union Miles Development Corp. service area footprint has expanded to include the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood.
The CDC will serve as a catalyst that will align the neighborhoods, creating a larger engaged community that can mean more voices and progress.
With this new change comes a new brand for Union Miles Development Corp. Three neighborhood community sessions were held in the neighborhood with over 200 neighborhood residents’ input to assist in creating a new name for UMDC.
