We had a full day lined up for our young professionals/non-for-profit organization day. Vice president of the Cleveland Leadership Center, Rachel, came to visit us in the morning and spoke to us about non-profit work. She shared her story of how she went from micro work to macro work.
Then, we had lunch with Tom NcNair, Executive Director of Ohio City, Inc. He talked to us about how the Cleveland area is being developed and all the ways his organization is helping make the city better.
Our third stop was with Renee Jones Empowerment Center, which works against human trafficking. Renee gave us a history of how she was inspired to start the organization and we witnessed a bit of their planning meeting. Laura really enjoyed hearing Renee's story and strongly resonated with the mission of the organization. Renee was such an inspirational powerhouse who is doing great things in the community.
We took a quick break to check out Brewnuts and try some delicious donuts, then we headed to a coffee shop that the Hispanic Business Center is renting out to meet with Jason Estremera. He oversees business development within the Hispanic community and gave us insight into how to engage with a community's culture. He impressed on us that it never hurts to try!
Lastly, we walked to Skylight Financial Group and recent Cleveland Leadership Center alumni Andrew gave us an inspirational boost to become involved in civic engagement. It was clear that he was effected by his involvement both at the CLC and the places he has volunteered his time at. We enjoyed meeting him and hearing his story.
We are packing up, cleaning up, and saying goodbye to Cleveland early on Saturday morning.
-Laura, Liz, Mario, Victoria, Hailey, Naima, Deon, Frankie, Chris