Anchor Initiatives
Partnering to create one million jobs for Black Americans
Cleveland Clinic is committed to addressing structural racism and bias in our community. As an anchor institution in every community we serve, we recognize the health impact of racial disparities and work to eliminate them.
In 2020, we engaged in a partnership with OneTen, joining a coalition of 37 of the largest U.S. employers, to train, hire and promote one million Black Americans into family-sustaining jobs with opportunities for advancement. The coalition will achieve this goal over the next 10 years.
In January 2021, OneTen began working with Cleveland Clinic and other partner employers to improve workplace inclusivity practices and to connect partner employers with talent providers. OneTen’s focus will be on reducing exclusionary hiring practices, identifying robust and new talent sources and ensuring that adequate and equitable career pathways for advancement exist.
We set a goal to hire or promote over 500 Black caregivers in 2021, and exceeded our goal by hiring or promoting more than 800 Black caregivers.
Community partners collaborate on grocery store and apartment complex in Fairfax
In 2021, Cleveland Clinic, Meijer, The City of Cleveland, Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation and Fairmount Properties broke ground on a new grocery market and apartment complex in the Fairfax neighborhood of Cleveland, which could open as early as 2023. The new Fairfax Market mixed-use project includes a 40,000-square-foot grocery store and a 196-unit apartment building, and will be located on the corner of East 105th Street and Cedar Avenue in Fairfax. Due to its lack of accessible supermarkets, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has designated Fairfax a food desert. The development underscores our commitment to improve social determinants of health—the economic, educational and environmental factors that affect wellness and quality of life.
A vibrant vision for Fairfax on view outside BioRepository
What brings you solace, peace or hope? What are your dreams for the future? Multimedia artist Jacolby Satterwhite posed those questions to Fairfax neighborhood residents. In response, participants provided drawings and writings expressing the importance of love, faith, family and community in their lives. Satterwhite converted these drawings into 3D animations that populate a futuristic world of perpetual dawn. The artist focused on dawn as a daily opportunity for rebirth, and the maypole celebration (a springtime ritual in which participants wrap ribbons around a pole in a public square) as a symbol of renewal. By translating community drawings and situating them in his own videogame-like world, the artist proposes a strong, healthy and vibrant vision for Fairfax. The wall, a permanent fixture outside the BioRepository, is a dynamic affirmation of the enduring spirit of the neighborhood and the energy and passion of its people. Installed in 2021, this public art project marks the start of a renewed and enduring relationship between Fairfax and Cleveland Clinic on the occasion of its centennial anniversary.
This project was commissioned by Cleveland Clinic in collaboration with FRONT International, with community support from Karamu House.
Cleveland Clinic donates 100,000 meals to Greater Cleveland Foodbank in honor of 100th year
Cleveland Clinic made a $25,000 donation to longtime community partner, Greater Cleveland Foodbank, to help provide 100,000 nutritious meals to children and families in need. Our donation was part of the 2021 Harvest for Hunger campaign. The annual campaign raises critical dollars to supply food to area hunger relief organizations.
Throughout northeast Ohio, one in six people is food insecure. Food insecurity—or a lack of regular access to safe and nutritious food—can have far-reaching impacts on a person’s health, especially when they are in a position where they need to choose between spending money on food or on medicine and medical care.
By supporting the Harvest for Hunger campaign, we hoped to encourage other anchor institutions in our community to donate in order to help the foodbank reach their goal of providing 25 million meals to local residents facing food insecurity in 2021.
Caring for the community is a cornerstone of our foundation and a long-standing priority at Cleveland Clinic. One way we care for our community is by building partnerships with organizations, like Greater Cleveland Foodbank, to make a difference in the lives of our neighbors.
Honoring Cleveland Clinic’s Centennial with art exhibition at Cleveland Museum of Art
Derrick Adams: LOOKS! is a collaboration between Cleveland Clinic and the Cleveland Museum of Art in celebration of Cleveland Clinic’s centennial anniversary. Both institutions are deeply committed to the value that all people need to see and be seen with empathy, and each contributes to that goal through art. A cornerstone of Cleveland Clinic’s care model, empathy is embodied in the diversity of its contemporary art collection, wherein patients, visitors and caregivers alike can find themselves represented in the art. Derrick Adams’ paintings in LOOKS directly address representation and visibility as conduits to empathy. Presented at the Cleveland Museum of Art from December 2021 to May 2022.
Public Health Initiatives
Cleveland Clinic Northeast Ohio Spanish-speaking provider directory
Caring for the Hispanic/Latinx community is a priority at Cleveland Clinic. To improve access to care, we created a directory of physicians and nurse practitioners who are bilingual and fluent in Spanish. Provider areas include primary care, medical and surgical sub-specialties.
Unite Us
When patients seek care at Cleveland Clinic, often their healthcare needs are only part of the picture. In 2021, we began working with Unite Us to create a more seamless and measurable process for referring patients to community resources that address social needs. Common types of referrals include assistance with food, housing/shelter and utilities, mental and behavioral health needs, benefits navigation and individual and family support. All Cleveland Clinic patients regardless of insurance are eligible for this support.
The Unite Us referral platform supports collaboration, community-wide care coordination and secure, bidirectional data sharing to enable Cleveland Clinic to track the impact of community resource referrals on individuals’ health. As part of our initial launch of Unite Us, Cleveland Clinic collaborated with MetroHealth to build Unite Ohio, a coordinated care network of health and social service providers. As of the end of 2021, the Unite Ohio network supported 13 counties in Northeast Ohio: Ashland, Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit and Wayne.
