Slavic Village Development expects the Broadway Slavic Village Road Map to be EcoDistricts-Certified by the calendar year 2022. The District team, comprised of a majority of BSV residents to stakeholders–12:11–have worked to access the neighborhood’s strengths, challenges, and opportunities for growth for nearly 24 months under the three pillars of EcoDistricts Protocol: Resiliency, Equity, and Climate Protection.

EcoDistricts Protocol is a comprehensive framework that guides community and urban development. Over the course of two years, the District team learned about the process of neighborhood planning, residents, and stakeholder engagement and is working on a neighborhood plan by collaboration and consensus. The team also developed a Declaration of Collaboration between team members, created a resident and stakeholder survey based on six areas of priority within the EcoDistricts Protocol (place, prosperity, health and wellbeing, connectivity, living infrastructure, and resource restoration), and have been workshopping strategies and indicators related to each of the District team’s goals. The District team’s work will be compiled into the comprehensive road map by ReThink Advisors, which EcoDistricts will then review for certification.

The road map requires the adoption of its goals and strategies by the wider Broadway Slavic Village community in order to be successful. Every two years, the District team will review indicators, adjust strategies as necessary and recertify the road map in collaboration with the neighborhood. The road map will also inform SVD’s master planning process beginning next year.

The figure demonstrating our Neighborhood Stabilization Strategy is that Slavic Village saw an increase in overall occupancy by 48%. This dramatic rise was coupled with the third year of decrease in severely distressed properties, which for the first time since 2013 is just under 100 properties or approximately 1%. The average Slavic Village homeowner in 2022 emerged from the pandemic lockdown to find a home in better repair and with stable value. Although an overheated housing market can take a small amount of credit for the increase in value, the increase in repair is what ultimately ensures livability. Therefore, stability was not the result of any invisible hand but rather the work of Slavic Village outreach staff connecting residents to resources as a critical part of our Stabilization Strategy.

With these metrics of increased occupancy and decreased condemned properties, our Stabilization Strategy now shifts to protecting the gains that have been made. Slavic Village has expanded its advocacy of tenants’ rights to live in safe and decent housing and continued to pursue targeted intervention of fundamental strategic properties. Recent tenant advocacy has yielded over $10,000 in settlement awards to area tenants who were overpaying in rent relative to rental conditions. Moreover, civil nuisance litigation has resulted in additional priority acquisitions for rehab using legal remedies to ensure that negligent vacant properties can be restored. As we look to the future, SVD is pursuing additional grants to directly support pilot projects that proactively support resident support to ensure this community remains stable and resilient for generations.

Dr. Stephen Figler, the owner of Broadway Optical (7211 Broadway Avenue), has been an Optometrist in Slavic Village since June 1991. Broadway Optical provides general vision exams, emergency eye service, glasses, and contact lenses. In his practice, Dr. Figler is accompanied by his wife, Heather Figler, as his office manager and an additional four staff members.

Dr. Figler/Broadway Optical had been a tenant in the building, and in 2020 he was given the opportunity to purchase the building. “I stayed in Slavic Village to help Slavic Village. I did not want to be another doctor to move out of the area, regardless of recruitment attempts.”

With assistance from the City of Cleveland Economic Development, Dr. Figler was able to purchase the building and move his practice from the basement to the 1st Floor. Dr. Figler’s investment has a total of over $250,000 in his renovation of this building.

Slavic Village Development was recently awarded a Healthy Urban Tree Canopy grant from Cuyahoga County Planning Commission in the amount of $21,385.87 for the 2022 grant cycle. The HUTC funding supports the organization’s tree canopy goals for the ReForest Slavic Village project and is matched with a $7,500 grant from the Cleveland Tree Coalition. ReForest Slavic Village is now in its third phase, focusing on tree planning and planting with maintenance for existing trees to begin right away. Building off two previous phases of ReForest Slavic Village, SVD will plant 20 new trees on vacant lots at Spafford and Worley Ave in conjunction with the planning and construction of a new pocket park near AB Hart Elementary in collaboration with residents.

ReForest Slavic Village is supported in part by the residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from the Cuyahoga County Healthy Urban Tree Canopy Grant Program.