Ward 7 Community Meeting

Start time: 5:30 p.m.

End time: 7:23 p.m.

The Ward 7 community meeting, led by Cleveland City Council Member Stephanie Howse-Jones, opened with a welcome meditation and a review of the community agreement. This agreement emphasized courtesy, respect for opinions, avoiding judgment, staying on topic, practicing active listening, honoring a three-minute speaking limit, and showing care for both elders and children as well as the safety of all residents.  

The gathering was hosted at Masjid Bilal of Cleveland, where a representative welcomed attendees, explained the traditions of greeting, and gave practical information about the facilities. He highlighted weekly Friday prayer services and Sunday presentations and pointed out members of the mosque community who could answer questions about the religion or the building.

Community policing update

Howse-Jones then introduced the Third District Community Partners team, including Officers Adrian Calhoun and Malcom Sutton-Nicholson, along with Third District community relations representative Tiffany McClay. McClay explained her role as a link between the city and residents, particularly in addressing quality-of-life concerns and connecting residents to appropriate resources across Cleveland’s five police districts.

Sutton, who grew up in Ward 7, emphasized his commitment to positive relationship-building between the community and police. He said he can often be found at local spaces like the Fatima Family Center and Thurgood Marshall Recreation Center, engaging with youth through sports and outreach. He stressed being approachable and available for conversations on any topic, and he offered to attend block club meetings or community events.

Calhoun also grew up in Ward 7, near East 82nd Street and Superior Avenue, and described his responsibilities out of the Third District Commander’s office. He discussed the importance of addressing quality-of-life issues such as drug activity, speeding, abandoned vehicles, and neighborhood concerns through a structured system called CPOP (Community and Problem-Oriented Policing). Calhoun explained that a new program now ensures dedicated officers are assigned to follow up on CPOP reports, improving accountability and response times. He commended Howse-Jones for being proactive and dedicated to ensuring residents’ concerns are addressed.

The officers closed by sharing contact information, encouraging residents to reach out by phone or text with concerns. Calhoun in particular voiced his phone number, 216-835-7126, and assured follow-up on all reported issues.

Supporting people and places

Next speakers: Chanel Starks and Walter Morris with LISC Cleveland

Howse-Jones introduced representatives from LISC Cleveland, Chanel Starks and Walter Morris, highlighting their arrival in Cleveland and their goal of bringing resources to support local residents.

Morris, program officer for community development, began by acknowledging the sacred space of Masjid Bilal and thanking the community for its welcome. He explained that LISC is one of the nation’s largest community development organizations, designed to bring national partnerships, funding and talent into local neighborhoods.

He outlined collaborations with organizations such as the NFL Foundation, Verizon, Foot Locker and Rocket Community Fund. Verizon’s Small Business Digital Ready program was emphasized, which offers free training, mentorship, and the chance for small business owners to get a $10,000 grant.

Morris also described LISC’s work with financial opportunity centers in Cleveland, which provide financial coaching, employment support, and income assistance. He addressed the problem of the “benefits cliff” for individuals transitioning off public assistance and stressed the importance of mentoring and coaching to help residents reach stability and long-term success. H

e also spoke about small business development, noting that while LISC has traditionally supported businesses ready for major funding, the organization is increasingly expanding services to help entrepreneurs at the ideation and startup phases. Morris acknowledged the historical traumas of redlining and banking discrimination, underscoring the need for trusted partners who can help Black-owned businesses move beyond survival into true growth.

Starks, senior program officer for housing, expanded on LISC’s housing initiatives. She explained the importance of addressing heirs’ property challenges, where families inherit homes without clear deeds due to the absence of wills or estate planning. These tangled title issues prevent families from accessing home repair resources and often lead to loss of generational wealth. Through partnerships with Case Western Reserve University’s Kramer Law Clinic, LISC Cleveland has been hosting wills clinics and supporting families in untangling property ownership. Since launching this program earlier this year, they have already assisted over 120 families throughout Cleveland and Cuyahoga County and are actively working on multiple title resolution cases.

Starks also outlined LISC’s forthcoming “Renew 2-1-6” home repair program, created with the Cleveland Housing Network. This hybrid loan-grant program aims to help homeowners making up to 80% of the area median income with vital repairs such as roofing, plumbing, foundation work and siding. Unlike traditional banks, the program accepts applicants with credit scores as low as 560 to ensure accessibility. She stressed that applicants must live in the City of Cleveland, occupy the home as their residence, and be current or on a payment plan for property taxes. The initiative aims to preserve housing stock, maintain generational equity, and prevent residents from losing homes to predatory investors.

Starks also noted the upcoming Renew 2-1-6 Housing Resource Fair, scheduled for Sept. 27 at the Midtown Collaboration Center. Howse-Jones will serve as a featured panelist. Partners in this effort include the City of Cleveland, Burton Bell Carr Development, KeyBank and CHN Housing Partners.

How does Cleveland Public Power work?

Next speaker: Ammon Danielson, commissioner, CPP

Howse-Jones introduced Commissioner Ammon Danielson of Cleveland Public Power (CPP), who outlined how CPP operates and addressed reliability concerns.

He noted CPP is a city-owned utility funded by customers rather than taxes and delivers power through a high-voltage transmission circle feeding dozens of neighborhood substations before stepping voltage down to homes and businesses. Danielson said the department is prioritizing multi-year substation rebuilds and system modernization to shrink the footprint of outages and speed up restoration. He reminded residents that car-pole collisions and vegetation are among the top causes of local outages.

He acknowledged service frustrations from recent major outages, including a summer event tied to a substation battery failure during extreme heat, apologized for inconsistent phone support, and said training and technology upgrades are underway. Residents can also check CPP’s live outage map. 

He clarified budget questions by explaining CPP maintains operating cash reserves required for safe, continuous service and debt obligations, not a discretionary “reserve fund” to transfer to the city’s general fund. Roughly $220 million in annual revenue supports operations, capital work and power procurement, with a large share paying generators and transmission fees before CPP maintains and upgrades local distribution.

He also fielded questions about lighting and traffic signals. CPP owns and maintains the city’s streetlights — including ongoing LED conversions under the Safe Smart CLE initiative — though a subset of lights and some traffic signals are electrically fed by the investor-owned utility company serving parts of Cleveland. The city’s signal hardware itself is managed by the Division of Traffic Engineering.

For context on the privately owned utility footprint residents sometimes encounter, Danielson referenced FirstEnergy’s local company (CEI), which provides distribution and transmission outside CPP’s grid.

On street lighting, Danielson said LED work continues and should improve visibility, monitoring and repair times. The city announced the 61,000-fixture conversion as a safety and efficiency push, and CPP maintains an FAQ for the LED program.

He confirmed CPP runs a longstanding paid pipeline for local graduates — the Student-Apprentice/Intern program developed with Cleveland schools — with applications typically collected in spring and on-ramping each fall. Details and eligibility requirements are on CPP’s site. 

During Q&A, residents asked about widespread outages and historic grid-failure events. While citywide, multi-state failures are usually outside CPP’s local control, Northeast Ohio has experienced rare, large-scale disruptions such as the Aug. 14, 2003, blackout that began in the Cleveland-Akron area and cascaded across the region, spreading to Canada and New York. Danielson closed by talking about near-term work orders, including specific streetlight and pole replacements in the ward, the longer-term substation upgrade schedule, and his focus on reinvesting ratepayer dollars into reliability for Ward 7 and the city.

Workforce opportunities

Next Speaker: Terry Echols, Cuyahoga Community College

Howse-Jones invited Terry Echols — an educational consultant with Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C) — to share fast-track workforce opportunities tailored to residents and their families.

Echols, who grew up on East 30th Street, said Ward 7 has a “unique opportunity” and urged neighbors to leverage short-term, stackable credentials rather than feel locked into long, expensive degree paths. He highlighted immediate openings and training pipelines in healthcare, IT, advanced manufacturing, logistics, early childhood work, and utilities, noting Tri-C’s short programs such as state-tested nurse aide, CDL truck driving, software development, patient access, logistics technology, community health worker, welding, fiber-optic technician/installer, and utility technician. Many of these can be completed in roughly six to 22 weeks, positioning graduates for jobs that significantly increase household income. He also emphasized a “two-gen” approach — parents and young adults training at the same time — to lift whole households.

Echols encouraged residents to plug into the broader neighborhood ecosystem of learning and innovation, especially the new MidTown Collaboration Center, describing it as a creative hub that connects students, workforce partners and cultural institutions. For next steps, he pointed to Tri-C’s workforce training catalog and suggested visiting the MidTown Collaboration Center to see how programs and partnerships come together in one place. 

Become a neighborhood steward

Final comments from Ward 7 Council Member Stephanie Howse-Jones 

Howse-Jones closed by urging neighbors to share the Tri-C training info widely — especially with residents experiencing housing instability — since job connections were the top request she heard earlier that day from the Homeless Congress.

She then outlined Ward 7’s new grassroots grant initiative, developed with Neighborhood Connections, which will train local leaders, host Neighbor Nights and Action Clinics, offer small grassroots grants, and uplift resident stories. The first step is recruiting 12 paid neighborhood stewards and paying them $15/hour to do door-to-door outreach and knit together a stronger information network for the ward. Council passed legislation for this pilot in June.

Howse-Jones previewed “Money, Mindset & Mobilization” interest forms tied to two modular-home pilot projects — 10 units in Hough and 10 in St. Clair-Superior. The forms are designed to prepare current residents’ credit, budgeting and lending readiness to buy the new homes rather than see outside buyers benefit; if successful, the pilot could scale to 100 homes the following year and continue over multiple years. 

In the audience Q&A, Myrna Craig, Howse-Jones’ executive assistant, said pricing for the homes will vary with subsidies offered. An initial range is roughly $175,000 to $275,000. Smaller aging-in-place designs around 900 to 1,100 square feet may have lower prices. Early builds will be 1,200 to 1,400 square feet.

Howse-Jones noted work with lenders such as KeyBank and Huntington, along with partners including LISC Cleveland and the Cleveland Restoration Society, to help residents qualify.

Howse-Jones said smaller-home zoning ideas could be pursued legislatively and with development partners in an effort to lower prices. Regarding vacant and abandoned houses, she emphasized most are privately owned by individuals or corporations, so each property requires owner engagement, often via a community development corporation.

She said that $30 million of American Rescue Plan Act home-repair funding has enabled eight to 10 full rehabs in each ward, including eight in Ward 7 at an average cost of about $60,000. For resources to support small or complex rehab deals, she suggested exploring Cleveland Development Advisors.

Questions about the African American Museum were directed to its director, Frances Caldwell, for official updates.

Howse-Jones reviewed redistricting triggered by the 2020 census drop below 375,000 Cleveland residents. Ward 7 will transition into a newly drawn Ward 8 beginning in January 2026, with boundary shifts that also affect funding formulas. She stressed building neighborhood networks now to ensure a stronger, more accurate count before 2030 so the community doesn’t lose schools and essential aid.

Key dates and venues were announced:

• the Hough Greenway ribbon-cutting (behind Thurgood Marshall),
• the next ward meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 14, at Growth Opportunity Partners near 6000 Euclid Ave.,
• a subsequent Nov. 13 meeting at Daniel E. Morgan School,
• Linwood Avenue tree plantings Oct. 10-11 with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy,
• Africa House International’s three-day Harvest Fest Oct. 10-12 on East 81st Street,
• a low-cost cash-only pet wellness clinic on Oct. 8,
• and a Negro Leagues tribute and community festival at Historic League Park, which was held on Saturday, Sept. 20. 

These notes are by Documenter Moneak Jones. Documenter Marvetta Rutherford recorded audio of this meeting.

If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org  with “Correction Request” in the subject line.