St. Clair Superior Issue Committees The residents, businesses and stakeholders of the St. Clair Superior neighborhood have joined together to form important issue committees including Safety, Environment, and Schools. Issue Committees include: Safety Action Committee Environmental Committee Schools Committee Safety Action Committee The Safety Action Committee is a group facilitated by St. Clair Superior Development Corporation which works with residents to eliminate the root causes of crime. This committee takes a more global approach to addressing crime throughout the neighborhood, as opposed to the area community action groups. Membership is made up of neighborhood leaders who generally emerge from community action groups and have a passion for working on safety issues. The group works with police officers from the Third and Fifth District Police Departments and residents meet with these officers regularly throughout the year. Meetings are held every 2nd Monday of each month at the SCSDC office located at 4205 St. Clair Avenue. The Safety Committee invites different units from the police, courts, and prosecutor¹s office into the community to educate residents on the roles that each group plays in the criminal justice system. The committee employs an anonymous tip sheet that residents can use to report criminal activity to the police, while protecting their identities. One main focus of the safety committee¹s efforts is to combat the issues surrounding juvenile crime and has implemented a curfew initiative to assist the police in keeping our children off the streets late at night and during school hours. Members of the group are also collaborating with staff at the Substance Abuse Initiative by participating in their Drug Free Zone program. The group also hosts a neighborhood safety summit each year and participates in the City of Cleveland¹s Night Out Against Crime. For more information contact Michelle Broome, Community Action Coordinator at 216-881-0644. Environmental Committee The Environmental Committee's purpose is to improve the quality of life for all community stakeholders. Recently, the Environmental Committee was awarded $1,030.00 by Neighborhood Connections, a small grants program of the Cleveland Foundation for a Spring Blooming Perennial Bulbs project. The project kicked off in November 2005 with the distribution of bulbs to neighborhood residents. The idea for this project sprouted from a desire to address our natural surroundings. One of the major problems in our neighborhood is a lack of physical beauty at the street level. Residents have often complained that beautifying their gardens can be too costly, and for some, too difficult to maintain. Perennial flowering bulbs are the perfect method for addressing these concerns. The Environmental Committee has sponsored the annual neighborhood clean-up over the past two years. In the organizing of these events, residents have begun talking about more than just cleaning up the neighborhood. This project will provide a 'seed' for the long term beautification process of the community as well. As the flowering plants become established, the group will assist in the partitioning of the bulbs to be spread to other gardens. Perennial plants are known to spread and increase coverage over the years. Therefore, the group will be able to spread the bulbs of these plants to other interested neighbors over the years. The goals of this project are as follows: To build community through neighborhood beautification. To enroll more interested residents and business owners into the environmental activities of the Committee. To educate the community on xeriscaping (use of drought tolerant and native plants) and sustainable gardening practices for a maintenance free garden. Schools Committee The Schools Committee was reestablished in January 2004. The primary focus of the Schools Committee has been on the new Cleveland Municipal School District (CMSD) Kindergarten through Eighth Grade School that will replace the existing CMSD Willson Middle School. However, the committee will also address education issues throughout the community. Several committee members have had the opportunity to participate in site visits to other schools to look at new school construction and learn more about the K-8 program. In addition, one member attended a School Facilities Conference and Fair in Columbus through a grant obtained by CMSD from KnowledgeWorks. The Schools Committee was awarded grant from Neighborhood Connections to support several community learning sessions about green building and how to create a safe, high quality, healthy school environment. The result of these sessions is a wish list created by the community with the assistance of experts in the field of green building/materials that will be submitted to CMSD for inclusion in the new school design. If you are interested in learning more about these committees, or would like to join, contact us. We'll be happy to put you in touch.