Making Our Own Space is a program of Kent State University’s Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative that engages and empowers middle school and high school students with skills to transform public spaces in their neighborhoods. With generous support from the Cleveland Foundation, the CUDC is launching a new MOOS Rapid Response Team and we’d like your input as this program takes shape.

After six years of designing and building public space improvements with young people and the completion of a strategic planning process for the program last year, we are excited to begin expanding and evolving the work of MOOS. The MOOS Rapid Response Team will build on existing partnerships in many of the neighborhoods we’ve been working in. We are also seeking a new community partner for MOOS.

The MOOS Rapid Response Team will be small but mighty, working closely with CUDC staff as urban researchers tackling questions relevant to their community. While we will still pull out the drills and chop saws for construction projects on occasion, we will also expand the design tools students use to think spatially and respond to the challenges and opportunities of their neighborhoods. This first MOOS-RRT program will run for 18 months starting in August 2021 with a group of eight students ages 13-18. Students will be paid a stipend for their leadership and creative work in the program.

In May 2021, we will issue a Request for Proposals and invite community organizations to apply to bring the MOOS-RRT program to their neighborhood. Please help us shape this RFP by completing a short survey to share your thoughts on what issues are most important in Cleveland neighborhoods right now.

If you or someone you know is affiliated with a youth-serving organization in the City of Cleveland and would be interested in collaborating on this project, please include contact info in your survey response so we can follow up.