Lake Erie is a dominant and signature feature of Cleveland. It has helped define this community, played a vital role in its economic life, provided recreation for its citizens and, in recent years, become the focus of ambitious civic development plans. The Foundation has had a long-standing interest in the future of Lake Erie, funding projects on everything from improving its water quality to building new cultural institutions along its shoreline.

1997 provided additional opportunities for the Foundation to express its interest in the lake. The Civic Vision process, originally convened in the 1980s, received Foundation funding again in 1997 to update potential lakefront and downtown development plans. The Foundation also funded participation in a  lakefront design studio by students from the Harvard Design School whose ambitious and imaginative plans enlivened the community discussion. In addition, we were involved in conversations about plans to build a new convention center, move the Western Reserve Historical Society’s Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum and establish a mini-aquarium on the lakefront. And we have watched with pride as the Great Lakes Science Center, opened in 1996 with major Foundation support, welcomed its one millionth visitor and finished its first year in the black. We also continued our involvement on the environmental front with grants to groups such as the Lake Erie Alliance and Great Lakes United.

This long-standing and broad involvement made Lake Erie a logical choice this year for the photo essay which has become an integral feature of our annual reports. Frank Gohlke beautifully captured both the mystery and the majesty of Lake Erie in his images which document the joys and rewards of living so close to such a large body of water as well as the raw power and force of nature inherent in life along this Great Lake.

The Foundation also continued to make progress in other areas of its grantmaking during 1997. Significant grants to the Cleveland Enterprise Group, which operates ShoreBank, continued our investment in community revitalization. This outpost of the Chicago-based, now national, community banking enterprise has demonstrated its usefulness in economic development and community-based loan activities. Our environmental agenda reflected our interest in building leadership in the field with grants to organizations such as the Great Lakes Environmental Journalism Training Institute at Michigan State University and the Clean Water Fund. We continued our commitment to arts education with significant funding for the Initiative for Cultural Arts in Education, a promising program for Cleveland Public Schools children, and with an endowment grant for the Musical Arts Association’s remarkable Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra.

The Foundation continued its support of Greater Cleveland’s human services infrastructure with grants to organizations that provide everything from child care to shelter for the homeless. Increasingly in 1997, the Foundation’s grantmaking turned to broader public policy issues related to poverty and welfare reform with grants to organizations such as Case Western Reserve University’s Center for Urban Poverty and Social Change and the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation’s Urban Change Project. The state of the Cleveland Public Schools again dominated our education agenda. Foundation staff was deeply involved in the work of a broadly based Strategy Council appointed by Cleveland’s mayor and schools superintendent to develop an action plan for school improvement.

As always, the proof of the Foundation’s good work is the listing of its grantmaking contained in this book. We hope it informs you and suggests the challenges we face as we look to 1998.

David Bergholz, Executive Director