News Releases

Common Ground Conversations Provide Opportunity to Hear from Community

The second annual Common Ground conversations, a program of the Cleveland Foundation, took place at more than 100 sites across Northeast Ohio on Sunday, June 24. Many organizations in Cuyahoga, Lake and Geauga counties hosted Common Ground conversations, which provided residents with the opportunity to meet, connect, share a meal and discuss ‘why does place matter’ – the theme for the 2018 events.

The Food Access Raises Everyone (FARE) Project coordinated Common Ground conversations at eight partner sites, providing residents with the opportunity to share their experiences and visions for health in the following neighborhoods:

• Central & Fairfax
• Euclid
• Hough
• Kamm's Corners
• Kinsman
• Ohio City
• Old Brooklyn
• South Tremont

The FARE Project – initiated by The Food Trust in 2015 with funding from the Saint Luke’s Foundation – engages hundreds of food access champions across Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, including residents, grassroots leaders, community development corporations, private businesses, governmental agencies, philanthropy, faith-based organizations, healthcare and educational institutions.

Recognizing the opportunity to support these important community conversations while also collecting data that could inform the 2019 Cuyahoga County Health Assessment, several HIP-Cuyahoga members served as facilitators or scribes at the eight FARE Project sites. Information from the inaugural Common Ground conversations helped to inform key findings in the draft 2018 Cuyahoga County Health Assessment.

"Common Ground conversations provide an excellent opportunity to hear directly from community residents in a very meaningful way while leveraging gained knowledge to inform future community health planning," said Kirstin Craciun, director of community outreach at The Center for Health Affairs.

To learn more about the health planning efforts in Cuyahoga County, contact us.