Community Engagement Team (2021 & 2022)

 

Ward 15 Councilmember Jenny Spencer

Jenny Spencer has served on Cleveland City Council since November 2020. Councilmember Spencer believes that Watterson-Lake is a unique opportunity in the burgeoning Gordon Square Arts District, due to the size of this publicly-owned parcel. In 2021, Councilmember Spencer allocated $12,000 in Casino Revenue Funds for this engagement process, and appreciates the collaboration of the City of Cleveland and Cleveland Metropolitan School District. She looks forward to the community’s feedback and engagement around what role this site will play over the next century.

City of Cleveland

The Cleveland City Planning Commission (CPC) is the City’s lead department for the Watterson-Lake redevelopment process (lead contact: Adam Davenport, District Planner). Planning Commission staff have assisted with processing funding to carry out the current community engagement process, and identifying the facilitation team. The City’s Division of Real Estate and Community Development Departments will also later have involvement related to the site’s disposition. 

This past year, 18 school sites that were a part of another CMSD facility grouping, the City solicited adaptive re-use proposals. For more information about that process, follow this link. The Planning Commission and the other above-mentioned departments have been involved with CMSD, CDCs and other neighborhood groups, and developers who have applied for these sites to meet neighborhood and City goals of re-use whether these are vacant land sites or buildings that can be renovated or rehabilitated for another purpose.

 Free By Design

Free by Design LLC was the lead facilitator for the Fall 2021 community engagement process. Free by Design LLC is a consulting firm specializing in: project coaching, facilitation & community engagement. Free by Design LLC consultants for the Watterson-Lake engagement process were Indigo Bishop and Kaela Geschke.

  • Indigo Bishop

    Indigo Bishop is a lifelong Clevelander, facilitator, and strategist specializing in sustainable development. She has worked for non-governmental organizations, in higher education, in philanthropy, and in affordable housing. Guided by her passion for cross-cultural dialogue and creative community building, Indigo is dedicated to designing for and with the next generation and leveraging existing assets to strengthen our neighborhoods. Indigo is well known locally for her ability to facilitate dialogue that generates trust and builds collective action. She has trained hundreds of practitioners across the country, equipping them with integral community building techniques for lasting positive change.

  • Kaela Geschke

    Kaela Geschke is passionate about connecting community members in creative ways to drive change. She utilizes principles of community network building to bring together neighbors and area stakeholders to address long standing division and inequities in Cleveland. Kaela’s expertise is in authentic resident engagement, project management, leadership training and facilitating spaces of shared power. Kaela has facilitated community engagement processes for large public and nonprofit institutions including: City of Cleveland Tax Abatement Study, Clark Fulton Together Masterplan, and City of Cleveland 10-Year Housing and Investment Plan.