This project involves a series of physical improvements in a low-moderate income neighborhood of Cleveland including the development of two multi-purpose urban trails that link to a larger urban network, the construction of two schools, and the conversion of two brownfields - one into a 9-hole golf course and the other into a green space/playfield. It involves: Safe Routes to School programs; workplace fitness initiatives; an active living design review of new schools; a neighborhood social marketing effort segmented by priority populations; a youth walking and biking support groups and management; and community organization for physical activity program. Neighborhood planning and policy efforts include: a bicycle, pedestrian and transit masterplan; an active living component to the citywide comprehensive plan; the redesign of a major intersection, Feet Avenue corridor plan; and research on new street design standards which would provide routine accommodation of pedestrians, cyclists, transit users as well as traffic calming measures.

The project has great potential to demonstrate the feasibility of cultivating a broad-based partnership that successfully combines a community development focus with active living in a large, low-moderate income neighborhood. It also could help demonstrate how a built-out, low-resource neighborhood can be significantly retrofitted and functionally transformed through a mix of large physical projects, programs and policies that promote physical activity.

This organization was one of 25 demonstration projects selected by Active Living by Design, a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). It also incorporates a healthy eating initiative and collaborates with the STEPS to alter their U.S. program.