Cleveland Neighborhood Progress

Focus your vision. Find your voice. Plan for action. Communicate results.

"We knew in theory that a merger of our organizations could work, but SDP’s ability to manage the participants and focus our efforts through challenging issues and diverse interests helped make our vision for unifying our three organizations a reality. They understand our organization and Cleveland neighborhoods, which is why we continue to work with them on our strategic investments in both."

- Joel Ratner, President & CEO

We facilitated a merger discussion for three organizations working to improve and empower Cleveland’s neighborhoods: Neighborhood Progress Inc. (NPI), Cleveland Neighborhood Development Coalition (CNDC), and LiveCLEVELAND!.

Working with Mark Chupp, assistant professor at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences of Case Western Reserve University, we established a merger process that involved board and staff leadership from each organization while also seeking input and perspective from over 50 stakeholders and audiences across the region. This 6-month process was completed in June of 2013.

SDP continues to work with Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, providing ongoing strategic consulting in a number of areas for staff leadership and board committees.

See LAND studio for another example of a successful merger facilitated by SDP.