The Connection Series January 2, 2003 WCPN Web Exclusive By: Mike West Cleveland has suffered from a bad reputation for decades. The lingering image problem has some people so upset they're willing to spend their own time and effort to do something about it. Northeast Ohioans have formed several groups to tackle it's bad image problem and encourage business investment and opportunity. Jazz Mandair, one of the co-facilitators of the Connection Series speaks to the group during a recent meeting. The Connection Series is one of a number of groups that has recently formed around these issues. Their slogan is "Connecting City Hall and the Business Community." About 40 Connectors gathered December, 3 for their third meeting in a Playhouse Square conference room. They were what's left of an initial group of 190 that came to their first session last spring. Participants have no budget or leaders. But they insisted they are dedicated and hope to tap into established companies and city hall for resources. Jeff Bauer is an Art Director/Illustrator for communications design firm Giraffe Incorporated in Cleveland. He said, "There is a sense of wanting to get involved and to do something big for the city that you live in and with the connections that I've made over the last few years it seems a natural fit to get involved with the ideas that are generating. There seems to be also this aura of people just in groups coming together all doing something for the betterment of the city. This is just one of those groups that is kind of emerging out of this." During the meeting, attendees divided themselves into five groups that would take on various projects: "Selling Cleveland to Clevelanders", "Selling Cleveland to Non-Clevelanders", "Selling Cleveland Business Viability to Cleveland Businesses", "Selling Cleveland Business Viability to Non-Cleveland Businesses" and "Selling Cleveland to Governments, Non-Profits, Associations and all other Organizations." Leadership exercise conducted during meeting. Connection members began to decide what specific tasks needed to be done to in order to achieve their long list of goals. At that same meeting Ideas ranged from passing out cards with positive messages to full blown advertising campaigns. "We really need people to come out of the woodwork. It's not the government that's going to make the changes it's the people that live within' in it to come up, step up to the plate and do something" said Bauer. Connection members welcome everyone no matter what their business status. In fact, the structure of Community Action Teams is based on working without bosses. The closest thing to supervisors are "coaches" who are charged with making sure members of each task group gets the resources and the help they need to turn their ideas into tangible results. Tracy Hannan is a first year Associate at the Thompson-Hine law firm. She is part of the "Selling Cleveland to Clevelanders" Community Action Team. Hannan lived in Michigan until her family moved to Cleveland when she was a teen-ager. She says the move was an eye opener. "I dreaded coming here, and after being here during high school and then even more so coming back as a professional, I've realized what a great city it is. But looking at other cities around I realize how much better it could be and so I though this was great way to kind of do something about it other than saying we have this potential and recognizing the great stuff that we do have here and letting other people know about it." There are at least eight other groups working on parallel lines with the Connection Series. Organizers admit that there is a risk momentum could fizzle. But Bauer says that it's worth the risk, and the buzz is building. "On a small level it's better than doing nothing at all, so yes, I think we will have an impact and if anything what were doing here is creating a little bit of a buzz and this buzz will hopefully lead to people understanding the idea behind it to get involved and to do something." The next Connection series meeting is planned for February, 25 at the Club at Key Center at 5:30 PM. Everyone is invited and the VIP. list includes the Mayor of Cleveland and the head of the city's Economic Development department. More about the Connection series is on-line at www.connectionseries.com.