Long-term Stewardship & Support
Long-term Stewardship & Support
Focus Area:
Identifying where and why land reuse projects have difficulty in the long-term and work on solutions to those issues.
Working Group Process
01
Problem Statement:
There is no consistent system of support that provides education, planning, and resources for green space developers, resulting in high rates of project failure and an increased maintenance responsibility for the City of Cleveland when projects fail.
Goals:
Support the existing effort to create Land Trusts in Cleveland.
Develop a resource center in partnership with a Land Trust—one place to go to.
Clear communication regarding who is the steward of a vacant land project.
Clear understanding that approval from Land Bank to take actions.
Provide multiple outreach channels (in-person, digital, multilingual, non-digital.)
Need to coordinate with an updated policy (economic dev. vs. community dev.)
02
Prototype Proposal:
A web forum to access and archive crowd-sourced information about planning, funding, and operating vacant land reuse projects.
03
Present Prototype to Other Working Groups:
See slides below for a summary of the prototype development process at Stakeholder Summit 3.0 held at Cleveland City Hall.
Long-term Stewardship & Support Working Group members generated a prototype for an online forum and shared the idea with members of other Working Groups.
A first step in creating the prototype involved envisioning the process an individual would take to find the web forum, register for an account, search for relevant topics, and submit new questions.
The group's prototype visualizes desired functions for an online forum where community members could submit questions related to vacant land, then other users could post responses, including verified contributors who have demonstrated expertise on various topics.
Comments shared by Stakeholder Summit attendees in response to the Long-term Stewardship & Support Working Group's draft prototype.
04
Prototype Development:
Updated user process diagram and mockup of an online forum for crowd-sourced information providing support for vacant land reuse projects.
04.5
Results from Focus Group:
Key Insights:
A lack of communication was mentioned as one of the fundamental challenges that needs to be addressed in the land bank disposition process.
Although a web-based tool is not sufficient to meet the communication needs of all residents, it is perceived as a valuable source of information for many.
A web forum would underscore that the City and community are working together to address the problem. Clear communication creates more trust.
05
Review of Prototype Testing Process:
How successful do you feel your prototype was at helping you better understand the problem? What did you learn from the prototype development process?
“I felt the prototyping process was very helpful because it provides a user-friendly platform/location to source information & resources. I learned that it’s important to have a physical, paper companion piece as a way of disseminating the information more broadly & accessibly.”
“It helped us consider the multiple stages of the vacant lot activation process from different perspectives. We recognized the many layered needs of new to established participants and the wealth of information available from many sources.”
What are the most important updates you'd like to see for this prototype before it is launched to the public?
Hosting: where & how & potential funding
Long-term site administrator identified
Determine roles/responsibilities for forum management
Moderation: who & how is this funded
Long term stewardship of the prototype
Ensure support from the City - maybe something more formal
Simplified registration process including (are you registering on behalf of a user)
Registration: defined users and any validation system
Definition/criteria of a "qualified" responder/SME to include community practitioners
Make something paper-based for folks who don't have internet access
Functional and Visual Testing from various devices eg mobiles, laptop, tablet
SWOT Analysis of prototype
Language translator
More content added to prototype
06
Final Prototype:
An updated online forum for crowd-sourced information providing support for vacant land reuse projects.
Members
Co-chairs:
David Wilson, LAND Studio
Anthony Scott, City of Cleveland
Mikal Jeanbaptist, Burten Bell Carr Development
Members
Jakob Hamlescher, Cuyahoga County Soil & Water Conservation District
Angela Sayles, Financial Unity
Veronica Walton, NEO Restoration Alliance
Michael Walton, NEO Restoration Alliance
Erica Henrichsen, Western Reserve Land Conservancy
Jennifer Kipp, City of Cleveland
Jim McKnight, City of Cleveland
Jody Lathwell, Western Reserve Land Conservancy
John Laird, City of Cleveland
Michael Walton
Todd Alexander, City of Cleveland
Toi Porch, City of Cleveland
Zaija Pelligree, The Cleveland Foundation
Laura Bonnell, Chargrin River Watershed Partners
Caroline Tait, Holden Forest & Gardens
Join a Working Group
The Long-term Stewardship and Support Working Group meets monthly at 11:00am on the last Friday of every month. Meetings are primarily held online via Zoom, but may include some in-person sessions.
Join a working group below to receive an invitation to participate in the next meeting.