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Fund for Our Economic Future 2018 Annual Report “The horizon leans forward, offering you space to place new steps of change.” –Maya Angelou

2 Who We Are 4 Fund Facts 5 Members 6 Leadership 7 Staff 8

2018 Highlights 9 The Two Tomorrows 10 Network in Action 12 Job Creation 14 Job Preparation 16 Job Access 18

2016-2018 Recap 20 A snapshot of the outcomes of our 2016-2018 work Table of Contents of Table

Over the Horizon 22 Introduction to 2019-2021 priorities and strategies

3 We Choose Extraordinary

Dear Friends, and acknowledged we were nowhere near our potential. How can we In 2018, the Fund for Our Economic Future put a stake in the ground expect others to choose extraordinary if we do not do so ourselves? with the release of The Two Tomorrows—a candid assessment of how the Northeast economy is doing [Read: we need more growth and Throughout 2018, we came together and deliberated over how we can we are leaving too many people behind], and a call for our community challenge ourselves to reach higher. Our 2019-2021 strategic direction to choose a more extraordinary tomorrow. In the report, we proposed (turn to page 22 to learn more!) uses The Two Tomorrows as a guide; 10 regional priorities to improve job creation, job preparation and job we’ve identified the issues we must champion and the ways we can add access that will lead to Growth & Opportunity. the most value.

The release of The Two Tomorrows came at the right time for our region. We hope as you read through this annual report—our accounting of our Civic leaders in all corners of —from Lorain to the accomplishments in 2018 and over the last three years cumulatively— , from Canton to , from Wooster to Akron— that our earnest commitment to the region and to achieving Growth & are asking tough questions and considering what these priorities mean Opportunity is made clear. We are thrilled to be embarking on an agenda in 2019-2021 that will help us more emphatically walk the talk and deliver on for their communities. There is an increased awareness and energy Won’t you join us?* around the principles of Growth & Opportunity our vision of a more extraordinary tomorrow, together. How can we expect and a growing understanding around the need Ever onward, others to choose for interconnected strategies that advance extraordinary not just job creation, but also job preparation and job access. We have partners in many if we do not do so communities who’ve adopted our vision ourselves? for Northeast Ohio’s future: a continuously Mark Samolczyk Brad Whitehead regenerating economy creating good jobs and CHAIR PRESIDENT rising incomes for everyone. President and CEO, Stark Community Foundation The release of The Two Tomorrows also came at the right time for us, as we wrapped up our fifth three-year strategic phase and began planning *Our ability to achieve a more extraordinary for another three years to bring Growth & Opportunity to Northeast Northeast Ohio relies on the strength of our collaborative. Ohio. The 40+ funders that make up our collaborative spent time Want to know more about how you or your reflecting on what has and has not worked in our 15 years of existence organization can contribute to our decision making and how we can be a resource for shared learning and leadership? Contact Director of Communications Sara McCarthy at 4 [email protected]. Our Growth & Opportunity Frame Fund Facts Founded: Our long-term vision is a Northeast creation, job preparation and job access 2004 Ohio where a robust, growing economy strategies. Evidence demonstrates that Mission: offers good jobs, residents experience people of color experience inequitable Long-term rising incomes, and the ability to access access to economic opportunity. This is The Fund for Our Economic Future vision: opportunity is not defined by race or ZIP a real and growing threat to our region’s is an alliance of funders dedicated to advancing economic growth and A continuously code. In short, a Northeast Ohio that economic competitiveness. Therefore, equitable access to opportunity for the regenerating achieves both Growth & Opportunity. To deliberate attention to race-based people of Northeast Ohio by advancing economy creating do this, we need purposeful, systemic inequities must be embedded in all of a shared regional agenda, empowering good jobs and solutions that prioritize and integrate job these strategies. a leadership network, and marshalling rising incomes Through all strategic funding. for everyone. of these Fund voting members: Through the Fund, members: strategies, • Contribute a minimum of $100,000 over three years • Advance their own there must be • Devote time and missions more efficiently expertise to advancing and effectively deliberate the Fund’s mission • Leverage their resources, • Serve as leaders on issues both human and financial attention to of Growth & Opportunity in • Enhance their knowledge, their local communities skills and networks race-based

• Promote shared understanding and inequities and 2016 adoption of Growth & Opportunity principles • Advance a shared regional economic the barriers to competitiveness agenda 2018 • Shape and support specific initiatives to opportunity objectives: improve job creation, job preparation and job access they create and

exacerbate. 5 An Extraordinary Alliance 2016 - 2018 Voting Members

Abington Foundation Elizabeth Ring Mather and NEOMED (Northeast Ohio Medical University) Akron Community Foundation William Gwinn Mather Fund The Raymond John Wean Foundation Brad and Amy Whitehead ESP Charitable Ventures LLC Reinberger Foundation Briggs Family Funds FirstEnergy Corporation Saint Luke’s Foundation The Bruening Foundation Fred A. Lennon Charitable Trust Sisters of Charity Foundation of Canton Burton D. Morgan Foundation GAR Foundation Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland Case Western Reserve University The George Gund Foundation Stark Community Foundation Cleveland Neighborhood Progress The George W. Codrington Charitable Foundation Third Federal Foundation Community Foundation of Lorain County John Huntington Fund for Education Trumbull 100 Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley Katherine and Lee Chilcote Foundation The Youngstown Foundation COSE/ Partnership Kent H. Smith Charitable Trust Wayne Growth Partnership Cuyahoga Community College Foundation Westfield Insurance Foundation Cuyahoga County Lorain County Community College Foundation Deaconess Foundation McGregor Foundation Contributors and Donors Other funders who supported our work in 2016 - 2018 David Abbott Robert W. Briggs Fund of the Frederick W. and Janet P. Dorn Foundation Akron Community Foundation The Catherine L. & Edward A. Lozick Foundation Hollington Family Fund The Rockefeller Foundation JPMorgan Chase Foundation Meisel Family Foundation Sears-Swetland Family Foundation The Lozick Family Foundation Robert and Sarah Jaquay Thomas and Shirley Waltermire

6 2018 Leadership

An Executive Committee, comprised of elected officers, standing committee chairs, initiative leaders, at-large members, and large funders, oversees the implementation of our strategy and the activities of Fund staff.

Officers Additional Executive Committee Members

MARK SAMOLCZYK DAVID ABBOTT CHRISTINE MAYER

Chair The George Gund Foundation GAR Foundation Stark Community MARCIA BALLINGER SUZANNE RIVERA, PH.D. Foundation Lorain County Community College Case Western Reserve University WILLIAM H. GARY, SR. Vice Chair JANI GROZA WILLIAM R. SEELBACH

Cuyahoga Community Westfield Insurance Foundation The George W. Codrington Charitable Foundation College SHARI HARRELL

KIRSTIN TOTH ANNE GOODMAN Community Foundation of the Vice Chair Mahoning Valley GAR Foundation

DEBORAH D. HOOVER DEBORAH VESY Saint Luke’s Foundation Burton D. Morgan Foundation Deaconess Foundation ROBERT JAQUAY WILLIAM LaPLACE Treasurer The George Gund Foundation Kent H. Smith Charitable Trust

ADAM BRIGGS Secretary

Briggs Family Funds

7 Support & Expertise Fund Staff

Brad Whitehead Bradford Davy Sara McCarthy Carolyn Cleveland PRESIDENT DIRECTOR OF REGIONAL ENGAGEMENT DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER OF OPERATIONS

Bethia Burke Dominic Mathew Janine Spadafore Kaiser Lisa Fuentes VICE PRESIDENT DIRECTOR OF MOBILITY INNOVATION DIRECTOR OF JOB PREPARATION MANAGER OF FINANCE

8 2018 Highlights

9 The Two Tomorrows “Being average is a choice. So is being extraordinary.”

So begins The Two Tomorrows. Released in 2018, this Disparities in economic outcomes are equally stark. Black Northeast seminal report is meant to be a starting point for a Ohioans earn $1,500 less per month, on average, than white Northeast broader community discussion, a call for collective Ohioans and are 8.2 percentage points more likely to be unemployed. action toward a more extraordinary tomorrow. Facing systemic racial exclusion

In it, we provide a candid assessment of Northeast Ohio’s economy, The challenges transcend person- and company-specific attitudes recommend 10 priorities to advance the region, and suggest metrics and actions. Valiant efforts to reduce racial disparities continue to to track inclusive economic growth. (The most recent figures tracking be undercut by long-standing, institutional practices. As part of our Northeast Ohio’s performance on a set of eight key indicators are strategy going forward, we’re calling for the region to recognize that displayed in the scorecard at right.) racial inclusion has to be imprinted within all aspects of our culture and The thread running throughout the report is an explicit acknowledgment business activities, and not just some tangential ambition. that our economic system (among others) is racially exclusive, and that Since its release, The Two Tomorrows has been distributed to thousands this reality is holding back our region’s ability to be competitive and truly of public officials and business, civic and nonprofit leaders, referenced extraordinary. in numerous news articles (including one that called it “required reading” “There is a strong correlation between economies that are inclusive and for every civic leader and public official), and been discussed during economies that are performing well,” said President Brad Whitehead. dozens of presentations and community meetings and events.

Indeed, we are woven into the fabric of a society that does not afford Our message has not fallen on deaf ears. There is a growing consensus equal opportunity to all its residents. Across systems, including criminal in economic development circles that we must reduce and eliminate justice, education and health care, outcomes for black Northeast Ohioans racial disparities in economic outcomes if we are to move our region are significantly worse than outcomes for white Northeast Ohioans. forward. But there is still much hard work ahead.

10 Two Tomorrows Priorities

Job Creation 2019 Growth & Opportunity Scorecard, Northeast Ohio

• Deliver world-class business development services Metric Goal Current Prior Target Gap Progress • Own the future of the production economy • Go big(ger) in the bioscience industry Traded- Outperform peers in Sector traded-sector GMP 1.3% 1.2% 2.6% -1.3pp • Commit to the next new industry cluster(s) A Growth growth rate Behind, but • Encourage and fuel entrepreneurship of all types continuously getting regenerating Outperform peers �a little) Growth in in young firm better Job Preparation economy... -0.1% -0.4% 2.7% -2.8pp Young Firms employment growth • Build skills for well-paying, in-demand rate jobs of today and tomorrow Rising Outpace peer regions • Improve job quality through efforts to 0.6% 1.0% 1.0% -0.4pp Incomes on rise in incomes raise the floor and build pathways to ...with good People employed. jobs and Full 75%+ of working-age advancement 74.0% 70.0% 75% -1.0pp but earning • Reduce barriers to employment rising Employment adults employed relatively low incomes wages Economic 75%+ of families Job Access Download 58% 58% 75% -17.4pp The Two Tomorrows Security earning a living wage • Bring jobs to people at the2tomorrows.org Reduce and eliminate • Better connect people to jobs Employment gap in unemployment 8.2 pp 9.0pp 0.0pp -8.2pp Equity rates by race A bright future Reduce and eliminate Income gap in average Modest $1.5k $1.7k $0 -$1.5k ...for Equity monthly income by improvement, In the name of a better tomorrow, we continue to advance but a long way everyone. race efforts in job creation, job preparation and job access, and to go put resources toward initiatives we believe will make a real Reduce and bring Geographic to zero the number difference and drive more equitable outcomes in Northeast 205.3k 238.0k 0 -205.3k Equity of people living in Ohio. Read more about some of these efforts in the features concentrated poverty that follow. For detailed scorecards for each Metropolitan Statistical Area in our region, plus more information about the data used in this scorecard, visit thefundneo.org/our-research/two-tomorrows

11 The Fund Network in Action

Local strategies with regional impact Ashtabula Lake

Working Locally, Connecting Cleveland Regionally Lorain Geauga Cuyahoga Given that local economic, land Erie use, transportation, education, Lorain Trumbull and workforce policies shape much of our regional economy, it is Akron our belief that a healthy economy starts with local capacity. Huron Portage To achieve transformation, we Medina Summit must bring together local leaders Youngstown in the public sector, private sector, institutions of higher education, and Mahoning community-based organizations to pursue shared priorities that Canton can leverage regional economic Ashland development assets and connect Richland growth with opportunity. Wayne Stark Through the Fund, our members Columbiana serve as agents of change for Growth & Opportunity in their communities. This creates a powerful, influential network of leaders all working toward a more Tuscarawas extraordinary tomorrow. 1212 A few highlights of our network’s Cuyahoga County efforts across the region Our Fund is supporting Workforce Connect, a public-private effort to create sector partnerships in manufacturing, health care and information technology in Cuyahoga County. We are also supporting an innovation assessment of Greater Cleveland (learn more on pages 14-15), and efforts to promote the county’s Opportunity Zones, a new federal designation designed to spur development in economically Lorain County distressed areas.

Under the leadership of Lorain County Community College and the Community Foundation of Lorain County, Fund staff has been supporting an emerging Growth & Opportunity planning effort called Mahoning Valley Extraordinary Communities of Lorain. Civic leaders in the Mahoning Valley are coming together through the support of our Fund, under the convening leadership of local philanthropy, including the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley, the Raymond John Wean Foundation, the Youngstown Summit County Foundation, and the Trumbull 100, to design and facilitate a process to engage key community institutions and leaders to advance Akron’s emerging city-led Growth & Opportunity strategy, Elevate Growth & Opportunity there. Akron, is now in its launch phase. Fund members and staff have been deeply involved on a number of implementation teams. Our Fund is also supporting sector partnerships to improve the talent development system in Summit County through ConxusNEO. Other Stark County promising efforts include a local push to use our mapping of the region’s job hubs as a foundation for future site development. Stark County is taking action (with support from our Fund) on the findings from “Strengthening Stark,” which calls for attention to the Northeast Ohio Quick Facts: core tenets of Growth & Opportunity. • 18 counties • 4 metro areas Akron, Canton, Cleveland, and Youngstown • $233.3 billion annual GRP (Gross Regional Product - 2017) • 4.2 million residents

13 Job Creation Understanding innovation to foster sustainable growth

As Greater Cleveland has lagged behind peer In 2018, this group issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) to engage a cities in overall economic progress, more and more consulting firm to produce a comprehensive innovation assessment that groups are embracing the potential for innovation will set the foundation for important conversations in 2019 and beyond. to transform the regional economy and spur Defining the scope of the assessment sustained, traded-sector growth. Included with the RFP was a mandate to explore the following: Many actors have been working to cultivate an innovation-friendly • A benchmarking study of Greater Cleveland relative to peer regions environment in Northeast Ohio. Indeed, efforts like “Blockland,” • An assessment of the region’s primary resources that “Betaland,” and “Plug and Play” have dominated the headlines in recent can be applied to accelerate innovation initiatives months as leaders push to bring the next big thing to the region. • A snapshot of current innovation initiatives and key players But some key foundations have been missing: a research-backed consensus on the current state of innovation; shared resources, • An inventory of potential innovation acceleration models assets and opportunities; and a clear sense of what has worked in • A racial-socioeconomic inclusion in innovation other communities that shows the most promise for succeeding in analysis that accounts for the ways in which inclusion Northeast Ohio. can be prioritized within innovation efforts • Preliminary recommendations for aligning strategy and action It seems innovation is not yet a shared community priority because there is not so far an agreement on what it means or how it can be The working group selected a consulting firm to undertake this leveraged as a core strength of the region. assessment beginning in late 2018. The goal of this assessment is to provide robust research for the people and organizations working on To address this gap in understanding, the Fund partnered with the Greater innovation to help establish a common point of view, inform decision- Cleveland Partnership, JumpStart and The Cleveland Foundation to making and drive maximum-impact collaboration. The effort’s ability to develop a common framework for stimulating and supporting innovation. reach out across the region is critical to its ultimate success.

14 The innovation assessment will help the region’s innovation leaders better understand and leverage our assets, opportunities and unique economic landscape to drive sustained growth.

Asking the right people potential paths through which the region’s assets—such as its universities, research institutions and access to capital—can The assessment will include information gathered from interviews with best be leveraged to fuel growth in emerging technologies such key leaders in business, civic, philanthropic, academic, and health care as advanced manufacturing or population health. This insight will organizations as well as a thorough review of qualitative data regarding produce recommendations for the region’s assets, opportunities next steps to implement the most and performance compared with promising innovation models. peer cities. It will include input from Next steps 250 companies and organizations If we are going to build momentum of all sizes, as well as more than 400 individuals, including behind innovation, we must In the coming months, the working corporate leaders, public officials be moving in the same direction. group behind the assessment and entrepreneurs. will roll out initial findings and assemble steering committees to “If we are going to build momentum guide next steps. behind innovation, we must be moving in the same direction,” Throughout this process, our Fund said Fund President Brad Whitehead. “This assessment is a critical will continue to advocate for an inclusive innovation ecosystem through step toward realizing a vibrant innovation ecosystem that can support the framework outlined in The Two Tomorrows. the creation and retention of traded-sector jobs and employment in young firms—two key growth metrics included in the Fund’s Growth & Opportunity scorecard.”

This collaboration and the research it produces will reveal the

15 Job Preparation Overcoming the barrier of a criminal record

Job placement and advancement are limited KEY FINDINGS: by available jobs and required skills, but also by Collateral sanctions hold Ohioans and Ohio back real and imposed barriers. One such obstacle is a • Some 850 laws and administrative rules limit criminal background. job opportunities for Ohioans with convictions who have already served their time. State laws and administrative rules called collateral sanctions block or restrict those with a felony conviction from accessing certain kinds • Around 1 in 4 Ohio jobs (1.3 million) is blocked of jobs, essentially serving as a de facto life sentence. Indeed, many or restricted for those with a conviction. collateral sanctions help protect public safety. But many others are • Jobs affected by collateral sanctions pay $4,700 more on broad and allow for unguided discretion in enforcement. Just how big average and are growing at twice the rate of other jobs. of an obstacle and an impediment on the economy these sanctions are • The typical Ohioan out of work after serving time for a has been relatively unknown. Until now. felony conviction lost $36,479 in wages in 2017. Total lost In May 2018, the Fund awarded a grant to study the issue as part of its wages reached an estimated $3.4 billion across the state. emphasis on addressing systemic barriers to employment as outlined • Collateral sanctions prevent Ohioans with in The Two Tomorrows. With the Fund’s support, Policy Matters Ohio convictions from pursuing higher education. and the Ohio Justice & Policy Center undertook this research to better Download a copy of the report, Wasted assets: The cost of excluding understand the impact of collateral sanctions on individuals and the Ohioans with a record from work, at www.policymattersohio.org/ economy at large. The goal in producing this research was to facilitate files/news/collateralsanctions-12-2018.pdf, and learn more about the specific occupations and industries that are most affected. rational, systemic reform that might expand the candidate pool for businesses struggling to find workers while increasing access to job opportunities for Northeast Ohio residents.

16 “Addressing this barrier is not only good civics, but also good business,” wrote Fund President Brad Whitehead and Policy Matters Executive Director Amy Hanauer in a recent Plain Dealer op-ed. “It’s … essential that we let people rejoin our economy when they get out. When we don’t, firms lose earnings potential, the state economy is smaller, and communities are left less safe.”

The research, led by Michael Shields of Policy Matters Ohio and Pamela education, they are far more likely to drop out of college or to never enroll. Thurston of the Ohio Justice & Policy Center, revealed several key issues. A widening employment gap for black residents Collateral sanctions are far-reaching Because black Ohioans are treated more severely at every stage of Both the rules that dictate what work is available to those with felony the criminal justice process than white Ohioans, collateral sanctions convictions and the impact of those rules on the labor force are fall much more heavily on black communities. Nearly one in four black abundant. There are some 850 collateral sanctions in Ohio that limit Ohioans has a felony conviction. The Equal Employment or restrict employment access, cutting off one in four jobs for 1 million Opportunity Commission (EEOC) discourages overreliance on a Ohioans with convictions who have already served their time. These criminal background as a screening tool because of the disparate jobs pay more and are growing at twice the rate of other jobs in the state. treatment of black Americans in the criminal justice system. Lost earning and learning potential Recommendations

Engagement with the criminal justice system almost guarantees The research highlighted a number of reforms and practices that significant lost wages for those with convictions, even after they would preserve public safety while reducing unnecessary barriers have done their time. Total lost wages reached an estimated $3.4 to employment for individuals with convictions, including eliminating billion across the state in 2017. When those with convictions do find collateral sanctions that serve no public safety purpose; simplifying, employment, their earning potential is permanently stunted. Jobs systematizing and increasing access to the Certificate of Qualification available to those with felony convictions on average pay nearly for Employment (CQE), a process by which those with convictions can $5,000 less per year than those not affected by collateral sanctions, apply to the court for exemptions from collateral sanctions; and banning according to the research. the box for all Ohio jobs, allowing employers to consider convictions later in the hiring process using EEOC guidelines. These sanctions also impede the pursuit of higher education; because people with convictions are barred from so many jobs requiring higher

17 Job Access Uniting workforce, employers and infrastructure through job hubs

Long and costly commutes. Workers who don’t NEO, Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency (NOACA) and always show up on time. Poor air quality. Strained Transportation Study, to publish a data-driven job hubs municipal budgets. regional map at jobhubsneo.org. traded-sector job The map identifies 60 hubs and shows both These are the realities for many workers, companies and municipalities, existing jobs and areas of growth. the result of many years of fragmented, unaligned development decisions throughout Northeast Ohio. In the last few decades, industrial, Building and reinforcing a job hub means identifying what is already commercial and residential development has continued its migration there that can be marketed, and what is missing that could be improved. outward without an increase in jobs or population to substantiate the This means analyzing infrastructure, transportation and amenities to regional spread. better align investments in these economically competitive areas. This means jobs are located farther and farther away from where people Leveraging assets in Akron live, which creates a disconnect between people and the economy. The newly minted East Akron Job Hub is one example of how this type A growing acknowledgment of the limitations of the region’s of strategy can bolster economic competitiveness. East Akron is one of development patterns has prompted local business, civic and the most historically significant industrial areas in the U.S., as noted on municipal leaders to organize around building and reinforcing job hubs, that job hub’s online story map. The East Akron Job Hub interactive site a key strategy to improving Northeast Ohio’s trajectory, according to is a useful portal for site selectors and businesses that are interested regional economic development leaders. in expanding or relocating there. It functions as a repository of that job hub’s assets, including its flagship industries, labor force demographics, As part of a broader vision of realizing inclusive economic prosperity, available buildings, transportation characteristics and amenities. our Fund in 2017 worked with transportation planning organizations and business development groups in Northeast Ohio, including Team Recently, global energy company Babcock & Wilcox announced the

18 Job hub (noun) Traded-sector job (noun) \ jäb h b\ \ trād·id sek-t r jäb\ This article was adapted from content created in partnership A specific place of concentrated economic activity in a A job in a sector that produces goods or services that region, defined and identified based on the extent to which are sold outside the local market. These jobs tend to with Crain Content Studio-Cleveland. it includes (1) a high concentration of traded-sector jobs, (2) pay double the wages of local population-serving jobs Full series available at multiple traded-sector employers, (3) alignment with local and have a positive ripple effect on a regional economy’s crainscleveland.com/TwoTomorrows development patterns, and (4) alignment with civic priorities. supply chain. GLOSSARY

relocation of its corporate headquarters (along with roughly 700 jobs) build upon existing strengths while preserving and protecting valuable to the former Goodyear building that serves as a flagship site within the agricultural and environmental assets,” he said. “We look forward to East Akron Job Hub. seeing how the concept unfolds statewide.”

“The newly renovated office space we’ll occupy … provides an Indeed, public officials and transportation, planning and economic exciting, attractive and modern workspace for our employees, with development leaders in have taken up the concept, using modern technological infrastructure, safe parking and many other job hubs to develop an extensive online tool to guide job and public amenities important to our efforts to retain talented employees transit decisions. and attract new workers as well,” said Babcock & Wilcox CEO Kenny Young. Visit jobhubsneo.org to Discussions between Summit County, Team NEO and the Fund to learn more about job hubs designate this job hub began last spring, said Jason Dodson, chief of and to explore the map. staff to County Executive Ilene Shapiro. Now, economic planners are ready to deploy this marketing and investment strategy to 11 other identified job hubs in the Akron area. Broader scalability

Bradford Davy, the Fund’s director of regional engagement, sees much promise in the scalability and use of the job hubs framework.

“There are clear opportunities to align infrastructure and economic development investments and incentives around job hubs that encourage development and redevelopment in ways that use and

19 2016-2018 Outcomes Growth & Opportunity by the numbers

e assess our strategic direction Securing every three years to align our e are 15 years into a very W objectives and activities to best meet Investments deliberate coordinated state and “Wregional effort to invest in the the needs of the region and advance our health care and bioscience space, which in capital raised by mission amid an evolving socioeconomic has global notoriety.” companies working landscape. Our strategic plans set the $7.3 with our job – Aram Nerpouni, president and CEO framework for our awareness building, billion of BioEnterprise, a Fund job creation creation partners research and funding priorities. In this grantee partner way, we build upon the cumulative wisdom Funding Adding of each phase before it, ensuring we are Payroll deliberate, strategic and effective in our Growth & Opportunity pursuit of Growth & Opportunity. in payroll added $1.1 by companies Creating $10,469,333 billion supported by our job Good Jobs raised creation partners by companies Facilitating + receiving support $7,256,401 22,000 from our job Public Discourse awarded through jobs created creation partners grants and references of our Fund 64contracts 100+ and our work in local and national media

20 Illuminating Promoting Advancing What’s Possible Racial Equity Economic Research

major reports on the priorities of who participated in supported + The Two Tomorrows + racial equity trainings 2 dozen 3,100 and published given across supported in part by presentations Northeast Ohio civic leaders our Fund Key Growth & Opportunity Engaging Grantee Partners and Initiatives Online Audiences joining the 1,000 + conversation on Twitter (find us at new followers @thefundneo)

ithout the support, both financially and intellectually, of the Fund “Wfor Our Economic Future, the transformation of the city’s economic policy would not have happened. Its path- Year of Awareness Building breaking research, specifically The Two Tomorrows and job hubs reports, laid the foundation for our new framework around development. Its grants provided the safety net for us to think about a seismic shift in our ways of working rather than simply doubling down on old methods.”

– James Hardy, chief of staff, city of Akron

21 An Extraordinary Tomorrow What lies ahead for the Fund: 2019-2021 Strategic Priorities

The theme of this report, “A Better Tomorrow Defining and developing meaningful Together,” demonstrates how 2018 was shaped economic insights by a core strength of our Fund that lies in our very structure. The first goal of 2019-2021 is to define and maintain a regional Growth & Opportunity agenda, which we will achieve through continued awareness building of the priorities defined in The Two Tomorrows Our collaborative includes some of the most influential philanthropic, and advocating for changed actions; executing research that targets higher education, business, and civic organizations in the region, the most pressing gaps in the advancement of our economy; and with widely varying missions and perspectives. Yet through the Fund, regular reporting of regional and metro-level progress toward success these distinct entities have moved the needle on a number of key measures for Growth & Opportunity. Our Fund serves as the only issues by converging toward a shared vision of Growth & Opportunity. regional philanthropic organization with a holistic view of the economy, Like a rope of many strands, our members strengthen this vision and and as such, we provide an invaluable foundation upon which to facilitate drive transformation through the Fund beyond what any individual or meaningful discourse and action. organization could achieve alone. Our Fund’s work will include attention to advancing systemic racial Throughout our history, this alignment has enabled us to effectively inclusion as a standalone agenda and embedding attention to systemic amplify our research, advocate for and advance a comprehensive racial inclusion within our strategies, processes and governance structure. regional agenda that results in Growth & Opportunity, and support specific initiatives that drive economic prosperity for all through Amplifying our agenda through improved job creation, job preparation and job access. an empowered network In 2019-2021, with this ever-growing body of knowledge and through the unique and collective experiences of our members, we will continue to Our second goal is to empower a leadership network to advance pursue the extraordinary tomorrow that we believe is just over the horizon. the agenda.

22 We will challenge ourselves to use the power of our Fund and our network In job access, our priorities will include efforts to support development to exercise a more vocal perspective with local, regional and state in and attract investment to our region’s Opportunity Zones (a new leaders, and explore partnerships that can deepen and complement federal designation designed to spur development in economically our existing capabilities. distressed areas) that will deliver high social impact and provide opportunities for residents. We will build the capacity of our members to support their local leadership, develop cross-sector partnerships that can advance We will also be supporting the launch of a number of worker mobility Growth & Opportunity, and ensure local partnerships are regionally pilots that have the potential to dramatically increase prospects for connected and supported. economic advancement for Northeast Ohio’s un- and underemployed Furthering the work that works residents and improve the ability for area businesses to fill thousands of open jobs across the region The third goal is to marshal a strategic funding pool to drive innovations in job creation, job preparation and job access. With each strategy the Fund pursues in 2019-2021, we choose extraordinary, and we invite you to join us. Want to know more about Our job creation activities will focus on aligning the region’s innovation how you or your organization can contribute to our decision making strategies (see page 14) and continuing to collaborate with regional and how we can be a resource for shared learning and leadership? economic development organizations. Contact Director of Communications Sara McCarthy stay connected to our work. ([email protected]), and In 2019-2021, a larger share of our resources will be directed toward job preparation and job access efforts. Specifically, our job preparation investments will support the development of sector partnerships and the targeted reduction of barriers that prevent our region’s residents @thefundneo @thefundneo from advancing along a career pathway. /FundforOurEconomicFuture /thefund04

/company/the-fund-for-our-economic-future 23 An Extraordinary Tomorrow is Just Over the Horizon.

Fund for Our Economic Future 4415 Euclid Avenue, Suite 203 Cleveland, OH 44103 216.456.9800 www.thefundneo.org