On a day-to-day basis, this means Menesse wears
a lot of hats. Often, she is connecting with other nonprofit organizations,
government officials, investors, and developers. She spends a good amount
of time talking with executive directors of the neighborhood CDCs and with
City of Cleveland community development officials and council members, and
there’s also the work of talking with real estate developers and home builders,
convincing them that investment in Cleveland makes sense.
Plus, there’s a lot of work with lending partners.
“Your ability to execute on the ground in a neighborhood is really often
dictated by whether a bank is willing to lend in that neighborhood,” says
Menesse, which is part of the reason Cleveland Neighborhood Progress has
two lending subsidiaries of its own for both neighborhood-size and small-scale
investment projects.
Larger projects include the reimagining of the old St. Luke’s Hospital, where
CNP now has its offices, and CNP’s recently announced investment in Shaker
Square. Smaller projects include things like lending to small business owners.
“We fill the gap between what the private financial market will do and
what needs to be done in neighborhoods,” explains Menesse. In addition to its
lending and other work, Cleveland Neighborhood Progress also advocates for
policy changes at the county and state levels.
“I spend a lot of time connecting the dots,” says Menesse of what it means
to lead an organization that balances so many priorities. That’s the kind of
complex, strategic approach that economic development work requires.
This isn’t Menesse’s first foray into economic development leadership. She
was Shaker Heights’ economic development director from 2010-2018, where
she shepherded the Van Aken District project as well as other initiatives. After
that, Menesse worked for the City of Cleveland as its director of Community
Development until 2020.
“I absolutely loved that job,” says Menesse of her work with the City of
Shaker Heights. She also loved growing up here. Her family moved here from
Mumbai when she was 4. She attended Shaker schools, making lifelong friends
along the way. She and her husband Rick, who also grew up in Shaker Heights,
returned from Colorado when they were expecting their second child. Livability
and affordability were major factors in the move from Colorado, as it came when
Menesse was making a career change to urban planning, stepping back to attend
grad school, and devoting more time to parenting. It’s wonderful, Menesse says,
to live in a city where you can actually balance your life and your family.
That’s the hope for all the neighborhoods that Cleveland Neighborhood
Progress serves. As the organization says, “We will not be satisfied until all
Cleveland residents live in a neighborhood that meets their needs. This is how
we measure progress.” Menesse’s mission is to make that happen. SL
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