Kinsman MyCom is a network of partners that puts youth voices at the center of their work. Funded by the Cleveland Foundation, the Kinsman MyCom is made up of sub-committees targeted to improve safety, jobs, health, and access to leadership for youth in the Kinsman neighborhood. If you are interested, as a youth, parent, or community partner, in helping to design the future of Kinsman’s youth, please reach out to Tracie Washington at at [email protected].

Through community partnerships, we bring substantial youth programming to the community. We support youth in the community to improve safety, access jobs, improve their health, prepare for college, and advocate for community leaders. We offer many programs to achieve this mission, including cooking classes, sports programs, recreational groups, and empowerment programs.

BBC works with block clubs and community groups in Buckeye-Shaker, Buckeye-Woodhill, Central, and Kinsman as they identify shared problems and collectively develop solutions. Community residents create programs and activities to beautify neighborhoods, help youth, provide access to healthy foods, and much more.

However, they often use their own limited resources, such as money, land, and space, for implementation. BBC helps them identify funding and other resources to help support their efforts, resulting in over $75,000.00 in cash annually, in addition to other in-kind resources.

By working with BBC, groups can sustain and even expand their programming, and BBC can impact the lives of more Central and Kinsman residents through programming conducted by the groups. These efforts help to build the capacity of community residents and groups to find solutions to common problems.

BBC has served as a fiscal agent for many community groups such as Men & Women of Central, The Moreland’s Group and the Garden Valley Falcons among others.

For more information, contact BBC at (216) 341-1455.

Our resident ambassadors are community leaders that serve as a connection point between residents and BBC. Ambassadors work to collect information and communicate with residents about events, opportunities, and challenges in the community. This program helps us continue to build relationships with residents as well as better understand, plan, and advocate for the needs of the neighborhood.

The VITA (Volunteer Income Tax Assistance) program was created by the IRS to assist families with free income tax preparation. At BBC, we provide this program during the tax season months at no cost and for the benefit of those who need a trusted organization to accurately prepare their confidential information. We believe that the taxpayer should not give most of their refund to paid income preparers when those dollars can be kept within the family.

For four tax seasons, Omelia Thornton and a team of committed volunteers have spearheaded the VITA program at Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc. in the Central and Kinsman neighborhoods. In tax year 2014, the VITA center went from 0 clients to serving 724 clients, bringing $928,000 back into the community and a savings of $90,125 in income tax prep fees. In tax year 2015 again, the VITA center increased from 724 clients to 1,033 clients, returned $1.2 million back into the community, and saved $129,125 in income tax prep fees. In 2016, tax clients increased from 1,033 to 1,484 and returned $2 million back into the community, saving $185,500 in paid tax preparation fees. This fourth year was a record-breaking one. The center served 3,826 clients and received the award, “The Most Returns Prepared.” We also put $2.7 million back into the community, which includes savings of $223,000 in paid income tax preparation fees.

We are recruiting volunteers to provide quality, free income tax preparation to residents and to greet clients. Anyone can sign up to become a volunteer. No experience is necessary; just attend a coalition-led training to become an IRS-certified volunteer income tax preparer. Sign up today by visiting www.refundohio.org or calling Tracie Washington at 216-341-1455 for more information.

We look forward to you volunteering or helping with your income taxes!

Cornucopia Place is a community facility providing nutrition education, cooking demonstrations, an open multi-purpose space available for private events and functions on a rental basis, and a harvest preparation station for use by local market gardeners. Cornucopia Place is located in Bridgeport Place, 7201 Kinsman Road, Suite 103B, directly next door to Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc.

The Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL) initiative, supported by the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland, is a network of partners with a mission to impact health disparities, the rising obesity epidemic, and the lack of healthy food options and safe, fun physical activities in the Central and Kinsman neighborhoods. One mechanism to improve these tipping points is the HEAL Ambassador Program.

A HEAL Ambassador is a resident of the Central or Kinsman neighborhood who believes their neighborhood can be a healthier place. As an ambassador, you will work alongside the HEAL Network institutions to intervene with innovative solutions to the current food and safe space systems plaguing your community.

Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc. is transforming twenty-eight acres of vacant land in a “forgotten” inner-city neighborhood into one of the largest and most innovative urban agriculture districts in the United States. As the facilitator of the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone (UAIZ), BBC’s role is to promote the district, attract resources, plan and prepare for future development, assemble privately owned properties, and act as a unified voice for the entities operating within the zone.

Currently, the Rid-All Green Partnership, Ohio State University, and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District are busy transforming the land in the UAIZ and returning it to productive use.

The Rid-All Green Partnership occupies 1.5 acres on Otter Avenue. In 2012, the group of three entrepreneurs with roots in the Kinsman neighborhood harvested more than 14,000 pounds of produce, including corn, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, celery, collard greens, kale, broccoli, and herbs; raised 350 pounds of tilapia; and cultivated 1,200 cubic yards of compost. Rid-All Green Partnership has hired four full-time employees and has trained over 150 people in urban agriculture techniques. Rid-All Green Partnership’s site is completely built out, and the organization is in the process of expanding into a second 1.5-acre site nearby.

Ohio State University Extension received a $1.1 million grant from the USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program in 2010 to create a six-acre urban farming incubator. Twelve market gardeners each have a quarter-acre plot of land to grow produce that they can sell at farmers markets, to restaurants, or to incorporate into value-added products. More than twenty different varieties of vegetables, fruits, and herbs have been grown at Kinsman Farm. BBC also supports market gardeners from the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone by providing an area in Cornucopia Place where they can clean, store, and prepare the produce they grow for sale.

Through a successful partnership with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone has made significant improvements to sustainability.