Is there a new mindset at Case Western Reserve University that will bring more of its resources into the community? It appears some at Case are trying to reach out and be a better neighbor to East Cleveland.

East Cleveland’s new leadership is responding by considering vacant land as an opportunity to improve access to fresh, local foods. City council will vote on a resolution of support for Case’s Growing Green Initiative tonight. The initiative hopes to provide the city specific recommendations for supporting greater access to vacant land for urban agriculture. So far, nine community and school gardens with the support of staff from Ohio State University Extension and Cuyahoga County Board of Health have been set up.

Also, the Social Justice Alliance Institute at Case’s Mandel School for Applied Social Sciences is hosting the East Cleveland Debut Collaborative Research Project. Regionally Speaking, a WRUW FM-91.1 program has the following podcasts on new East Cleveland happenings:

• Join the conversation with the leaders of the Social Justice Alliance Institute University professors Rhonda Williams, Marilyn Mobley and Mark Chupp to learn about the goals and plans for implementation.
• Meet Janice Eatman-Williams, director of the University Center for Civic Engagement and Learning and CWRU students Jason Luong, Kayla Wheeler and Melissa Johnson, who under her leadership engage and interact with young residents in the neighborhoods adjacent to the University.
• Learn about a place called Snickerfritz located in the East Cleveland neighborhood in the Creative Arts Complex and meet its founder Edward Parker and his associate Nancy Nolan-Jones who is responsible for the Snickerfritz Community Time Capsule, an Art and Community History Initiative.
• Discover MC2 STEM an innovative high school and educational model with a footprint in the Cleveland Metropolitan School district located in East Cleveland. Meet Sonya ryor-Jones, Executive director of the Metropolitan Cleveland Consortium for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Jeff McClellan, Principal of MC2 Stem School, Grandmother Cheryl Scott and her two granddaughters Troi and Taylor Scott who attend the school.
• Join David Harris, a recent graduate of Case Western Reserve University with a Master of Science in Social Administration from the Mandel School of Applied Sciences and founder of the Living Through Legacies Project, a distinctive oral history program. With him is Harry Winfield an involved and passionate elder resident of Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood and graduate student Danielle Price who interviewed him for an oral history that resulted in the creation of a book containing that history along with photographs provided by Harry Winfield.
• Visit the East Cleveland Public Library and hear from Greg Reese, Library Director, Ernestine L. Hawkins, Deputy Director and Dianne Wilmore, Youth Services Supervisor about this remarkable facility and the extraordinary achievements in addressing and meeting the needs of the community.
• YouTube presentations by Mark Chupp, Project Director for the East Cleveland Collaborative Project and Regionally Speaking at Research Showcase where Case Western Reserve University’s Chalana Gilliham and Melissa Johnson offer historical perspectives as East Cleveland residents.

All Regionally Speaking programs are available as podcasts where you are invited to join the conversation posting questions and comments. The programs are produced at Case Western Reserve University and broadcast on its affiliated radio station WRUW-FM 91.1 Monday at 1:30 p.m.