Councilman Matt Zone, Ward 17, Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, Neighborhood Progress Inc and Village Capital

A ribbon cutting ceremony for a house that has gone through rehabilitation under the Strategic Investment Initiative (SII), which is a program designed by Neighborhood Progress, Inc. The SII is designed to target an area surrounding an anchor project, which in Detroit Shoreway, is the 328-unit Battery Park Development.  By channeling grant funds from the Cleveland Foundation, George Gund Foundation, Enterprise Community Partners, and others, NPI assists the community-based development corporations to improve housing in the area around the anchor project. 

The house, which utilizes environmentally friendly features such as salvaged wood and an on-demand water heater, is one of what officials hope will be many more similarly renovated homes in Detroit Shoreway – which is already benefiting from the massive, nearby Battery Park residential development and the proposed development of the Gordon Square Arts District.

Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 5 pm 

(Media tours and interviews can be arranged before or after the ribbon cutting ceremony upon request.)

"The renovation of this home takes a formerly vacant and boarded up house and creates a home that is environmentally friendly and affordable," said Jeff Ramsey, Director of the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization.  "It also repairs the urban fabric in this strategic area of the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood." 

"John and Lisa McGovern are an example of Cleveland's brain gain," said Councilman Zone.  "This young, educated couple could live anywhere in the country.  They chose the Detroit Shoreway neighborhood because of the $300 million in development that is underway here, the community's commitment to economic diversity, and because of DSCDO's leadership in pioneering green buildings.  And the location can't be beat.  This is one of the few places in Northeast Ohio that you can walk to the beach and it's just 5 minutes from Downtown".