The Cleveland Council on World Affairs partnered with the U.S. Department of State to host a group of four professional Fellows from India, Pakistan, and Nepal through the program “Professional Fellows Program for Governance and Society.” While in Cleveland, the cohort was embedded within various nonprofit organizations and government entities as professional fellows eager to engage in cultural exchange, learn from their hosts, and provide a value-add to their organization or agency. Kent State's CUDC was selected to host Saurav Dhakal, Founder of StoryCycle.com, a Nepal-based social venture. Saurav came to gain insights from the CUDC's Making Our Own Space (MOOS) youth program. Following their stay in Cleveland, the group returned home to complete a “follow-on project” related to their fellowship.The CUDC was honored to work closely with Saurav Dhakal during his stay. This is his Cleveland story...When I landed in Cleveland during the 1st week of May 2018, the weather really surprised me. I had borrowed one warm coat thinking that it would be very cold but I had to buy a new umbrella due to the rain. The city is located on the southern shore of Lake Erie and the wind determines what the weather will be like in the city. I enjoyed my three weeks’ stay in Cleveland—walkable and cycle friendly.
Sunset from Cleveland's North Coast Harbor.I run a social venture, StoryCycle, in Nepal where I tell stories and map the stories of people, places, and products. I travel to promote different parts of the country. I also organize StoryCamps where we train young people on “how to collect stories and promote them on the internet”. 
Tree canopy provides a shaded path along Prospect Avenue from the hotel to the CUDC offices in downtown Cleveland.StoryCycle collaborated with Google in late 2014 and organised Everest Story Camp to conduct a mapping project in the Everest region using 360 degree imagery.While we were traveling to show the Google Maps Project to locals in April 2015, there was a big earthquake and we couldn't move ahead. It took me six days to get back to my family. Everyone suffered due to the earthquake and I suffered, too.After a few months, StoryCycle started a new campaign, “Build Your Own Place,” to support the rebuilding process. It served users with an online platform to understand, train, and participate in the rebuilding process at the earthquake affected areas.It provided the people from the earthquake affected areas a place to put their stories along with the communities’ dreams. Besides, it helped the supporters to pick and support the projects they were interested in. The platform enabled people to meet their prospective investors.
Screenshot of the "Build Your Own Place" page on the www.storycycle.com website.After the earthquake, we had political changes. We ratified a new constitution and a new federal structure. Now all national, provincial, and local level elections have been completed and we have a central government: 7 provincial and 753 local units (Municipality and Rural Municipality). It means we have 753 new cities but we don't have appropriate youth friendly infrastructure and services. So, based on the learning of “Build Your Own Place” we are working on a new campaign/idea “Our Dream City”. The campaign aims to focus on empowering local youth and community institutions to take active part in designing and making their places vibrant by using technology. The campaign focuses on nurturing /attracting and retaining talent, expanding economic opportunities, and creating a robust culture of civic engagement.
Saurav teaches MOOS students at La Villa Hispana how to document environmental features with photographs and GPS coordinates.This working idea led me to Cleveland, Ohio, USA as a part of the Legislative Fellows Program via World Learning and Cleveland Council on World Affairs. I was placed at Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, where I followed one of their interesting programs, Making Our Own Space (MOOS), which "empowers youth with the skills to creatively transform their neighborhood public spaces. Through hands-on outdoor workshops, students design and construct environments and playscapes that are appealing and usable to their community."
Discussing photographs during the Making Our Own Space workshop in Cleveland's La Villa Hispana.I had the chance to participate in a few workshops and work with youth participants of MOOS in Shaker Heights and La Villa Hispana. I liked the idea that young minds are designing and building projects that are really interesting. And the good part of this program is there are stories of youth—they produce a podcast about their life and city—Making Our Own Stories.I also got a chance to revisit my idea and action plan. I am going to develop a crowdsourcing platform to collect stories, data, and map points from different cities. And facilitate/collaborate with different partners to design sustainable, livable, and smart place/cities by organizing Map Up Camps, Dream Camps, Story Camps, and Build Camps. This four series of camps is a mix of learning from MOOS. I have tried to customize it to our context and need.I realize the ideas and thoughts of young people are the same everywhere. They love dreaming and imagination. Youth are dynamic and full of new ideas. We just need to give them space to explore and expand it.Cleveland also gave me more ideas on locally grown food, drinks, and dreams.If you would like to know more about my work, visit our website.Saurav DhakalFounder, StoryCycle
Adventures in the Inner-ring
Cleveland’s first-ring suburbs are at a turning point. Many of these communities sprang to life after World War II, in response to growing demand, increased prosperity, and rising birth rates. Life in the suburbs offered privacy, mobility, and choice. On the downside, suburban development also contributed to white flight and segregated housing patterns.The mid-20th century was a time of rapid growth and development in the first-ring suburbs. But now, housing demand has moved inward to Downtown Cleveland and some of the city’s vibrant residential neighborhoods. At the same time, housing demand also continues to move outward, to larger houses in growing suburbs at the edges of the region. First-ring suburbs are literally caught in the middle.The aging housing stock in Cleveland’s inner suburbs doesn’t appeal to home buyers as it once did. Housing values in these communities declined during and after the foreclosure crisis, and median housing sales prices have yet to recover their peak pre-foreclosure value.In 2017, Western Reserve Land Conservancy’s Thriving Communities Program completed a property inventory of five of Cleveland’s first-ring suburbs: Euclid, Garfield Heights, Maple Heights, South Euclid, and Warrensville Heights. Every building and parcel in these five communities was evaluated and graded, from A (for excellent) to F (for unsafe or distressed). The CUDC worked with the Land Conservancy to communicate the outcomes of this work and to help provide context for the survey. The results are compiled in Communities at the Crossroads: A Survey of Five First-Ring Suburbs.
The inventory revealed good news—visible blight has been largely eliminated in the suburbs through rehabilitation efforts and demolition. But some concerns remain. The number of vacant houses in first-ring suburbs is increasing. Unlike in some city neighborhoods, where vacant housing often deteriorates and becomes unsafe and unsightly, vacant housing in the suburbs is mostly well-maintained. But long-term vacancies reflect weakness in the real estate market and the potential for future disinvestment and distress.Owner-occupancy in first-ring suburbs is also declining, while the percentage of rental units in some suburban neighborhoods is on the rise. Renters can make suburban neighborhoods more diverse and dynamic. And renters may eventually become homeowners in communities where they feel comfortable and welcome. But a rapid transition from owner-occupancy to tenant-occupancy can have a destabilizing effect on a neighborhood, especially if landlords do not maintain properties to established community standards.
The Survey of Five First-Ring Suburbs provides provides a valuable platform for conversations about the future of first-ring suburbs. The key question is, how can older suburban housing and neighborhoods attract new interest, while continuing to meet the needs of long-time residents who are aging in place?First-ring suburbs have a big advantage when it comes to affordability. In the inner-ring, housing tends to be sturdy, well-maintained, and reasonably priced. However, bank financing for mortgages and home improvements can be surprisingly hard to come by. Banks are often hesitant to finance smaller mortgages and to lend rehab dollars to homeowners with modest incomes. But access to capital is needed for rehab, upgrades, and adaptations to make houses safer and more comfortable for existing residents, Bank financing is also important for mortgages and rehab loans for new homebuyers who want to upgrade and customize housing in the first-ring according to their own preferences. Without new investment, the well maintained housing in these communities may begin to deteriorate.
First-ring suburbs also offer walkable, bikeable neighborhoods and access to nature. The stereotypical view of the suburbs implies homogenous housing and lush green lawns--the so-called crabgrass frontier. But on closer examination, there are a variety of housing types in these communities. And nature abounds in the inner-ring. Garfield Heights and Maple Heights sit at the edge of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Euclid is rediscovering its lakefront. Warrensville Heights rests along Mill Creek. And South Euclid has numerous neighborhood green spaces on vacant lots where houses have been demolished, and a growing portfolio of innovative green infrastructure projects that manage stormwater and a host of ecological benefits.Cleveland’s first-ring suburbs are ripe for rediscovery. City residents looking for a stable and affordable place to raise their families and establish home equity are already settling in these communities. Inner-ring suburbs also serve as a gateway to the “American Dream” for new immigrants. And although Millennial households show a distinct preference for urban living, some will likely opt for suburban living as they get older and have children. Having come of age during the Great Recession, Millennials may appreciate the affordability of housing in first-ring suburbs and reinvent these communities to reflect their values and preferences. Changes in local, regional, and national policies are needed to encourage reinvestment in first-ring suburbs, along with new visions of suburban living that appeal to a larger and more diverse swath of prospective residents.The CUDC is proud to have played a supporting role in Communities at the Crossroads: A Survey of Five First-Ring Suburbs and we’re excited to see these communities plot a new course forward.