December, 2010 Click here to make an online gift to LakewoodAlive.

Dear Friend of LakewoodAlive,

If you are like me, you’re probably finding it hard to keep up with all of the praise and recognition Lakewood has received over the past few years: This Old House Magazine nomination of Lakewood as the 2008 “Best Place to Buy an Old Home”, the Business Week nomination of Lakewood as Ohio’s 2009 “Best Place to Raise Your Kids” the Travel & Leisure nomination of Lakewood as one of 2010’s “Top 10 Coolest Suburbs” and the Scene Magazine Best of 2010 Cleveland Readers Poll winner “Best Suburb”.

Lakewood has become a major destination – not only regionally, but our inclusion as one of the top 10 “Coolest” suburbs in the country places us prominently in the national spotlight. Regardless of who is doing the evaluating, it becomes clear that our residents enjoy a quality of life unmatched by most inner-ring suburban communities: we are family-friendly; many necessities are accessible by foot; our housing stock and public schools are top-notch; we are small business-friendly.

As 2010 draws to a close, I want to write you to let you know the role LakewoodAlive has played and continues to play as a key collaborator in Lakewood’s revitalization. As you know, we are a nonprofit organization dedicated to facilitating economic development in Lakewood with a focus on our historic downtown commercial district using the National Main Street™ approach. We also facilitate community by bringing people together to celebrate and share ideas in ways that engage and inspire.

Please see the 2010 list of accomplishments at the bottom of this letter.

Our work would not be possible without the support of those who believe that sustaining Lakewood into the future is the responsibility of everyone who calls Lakewood home. Your participation in our forums and festivals demonstrates your commitment. Now, your year end tax-deductible investment will ensure that the great work of your neighbors and friends to secure and enhance Lakewood’s economic future will continue. Whether you can give $25 or $2500, your gift will help preserve our hard-earned quality of life and ensure our community is recognized for its strengths well into the future.

Together, we are assuring Lakewood’s future.

Thank you for your generosity and for your commitment to the future of Lakewood.

Sincerely,

Mary Anne Crampton

Executive Director

LakewoodAlive is a 501(c)(3) economic development corporation whose mission is to improve the quality of life of residents by creating alliances with community leaders, leveraging community assets and expanding the pool of available resources in order to facilitate economic stability and growth in the City of Lakewood. All gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.

· Leveraging our Main Street™ status and resources for downtown Lakewood revitalization. Heritage Ohio again awarded LakewoodAlive its national accreditation for 2010 and awarded LakewoodAlive’s Executive Director the Main Street Executive of the Year for the work achieved in 2009-2010.

· Collaborating and partnering with the City of Lakewood and other Northeast Ohio communities, organizations and businesses to promote Downtown Lakewood and our quality of life.

· Working with landlords and developers on security initiatives, filling vacant spaces, exploring a special interest district and to promote the downtown Lakewood district to new businesses.

· Working with the City of Lakewood and the real estate community to promote housing within walking distance of the downtown district amenities by hosting the Lakewood Open in March and September, 2010.

· Continued facilitation of the Downtown Lakewood Business Alliance, a Downtown Lakewood merchant organization, and assisting the merchants in various promotional events, including the Second Annual Lakewood Chocolate Walk, City Wide Streetsale, and Holiday Promotions: Late Night Thursday Shopping and the Gingerbread Home Tour.

· Coordinating beautification efforts including flower displays, clean windows, and trash removal and erasing graffiti in the downtown district.

· Coordinating the creation of the downtown Lakewood map to promote downtown Lakewood shopping, dining and services. Map available at Lakewood Hospital, downtown businesses and various community events.

· Creating a sense of place by developing a downtown Lakewood signage and wayfinding plan for the downtown district, which plan has been approved by the City Planning Commission and will be implemented with the use of federal funds, along with the traffic signalization project in late 2010 and early 2011.

· Marketing our downtown district and events via Positively Cleveland, social media and other avenues to attract visitors from outside Lakewood.

· Hosting collaborative downtown Lakewood events and live entertainment such as Front Porch Concerts, STREETWALK, Downtown pARTy, Spooky Pooch Parade and Light Up Lakewood.

· Presenting community engagement forums on economic development issues effecting Lakewood and Northeast Ohio, including a forum on Lakewood Hospital’s: Vision for Tomorrow, wind energy and the most recent forum held on November 9, 2010, Bailey Building & Beyond: Downtown’s Lakewood Renaissance.

· Maintaining websites: downtownlakewood.org and lakewoodalive.com where details on all our activity may be found.

· Protecting our housing stock. LakewoodAlive’s Housing Outreach program has extended “exterior housing early intervention” outreach services to over one thousand residents. This year, the program has attracted the support of The Cleveland Foundation with a two year grant award to expand our housing outreach efforts

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· Collaborating with the City of Lakewood Court, Building Department, Legal Department, Planning and Development and Community Services to be more effective in our outreach and assistance to low-moderate income residents to help them maintain the exterior of their homes and to protect our neighborhoods.

· Collaboration with Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland, Inc. offering financial counseling to Lakewood residents on Mondays at the LakewoodAlive office.

· Inspiring and engaging residents to advocate for and volunteer to make their community a better place to live, work and play. Over 6,000 LakewoodAlive volunteer hours have been logged in 2010.