HAPPY NEW YEAR!
JANUARY 2015
FREE
The East Cleveland Narrator
One Community, Telling Our Own True Stories
Digital Edition Extras on ECNarrator.com
Attendees listened and spoke in a packed town hall meeting with Mayor Gary Norton, Jr. and City Council President Barbara homas in the East Cleveland Public Library
lower auditorium, Wednesday, December 3, 2014. he topic was the city’s serious inancial problems and its future. Jim Rokakis, former Cuyahoga County treasurer and
current vice president of Western Reserve Land Conservancy and director of hriving Communities Institute, gave a presentation. Read more on Page 3. (ECN Photos)
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THE NARRATOR NEEDS YOU. DONATE. ADVERTISE.
THANK YOU, RECENT DONORS! Phyllis Banks Cook • Loretta Laffitte-Griffin •
Camille Mathes • Kelly Starling-Lyons • Christine Taylor-Butler • Cynthia Vicky
Trotter • Lori Urogdy Eiler • Loretta Williams
It's 2015! And for nine months,
he Narrator has told positive
and honest stories from our
community.
Even if you don't live in East
Cleveland, if community ser‐
vice matters to you, supporting
the Narrator with donations
and ads means you're serving
everyday people by helping
them speak from the streets.
If you and everyone who
reads this letter donates
$5 - $100 or more today,
we'll be over our
fundraising goal.
Donors like you make he Nar‐
rator possible. Donors have
raised $780 of our short-term
goal of $1,000. We need $6,000
all together to help cover ex‐
penses through March.
In November 2014's issue, we
spread the word about events
like the Turkey Takeover at the
Cleveland Clinic Stephanie
Tubbs Jones Health Center. Its
sponsors gave away 1,000 free
turkeys, 20,000 pounds of fresh
produce and free clothes for
children.
Volunteer and professional
writers and photographers have
shown readers in and outside
East Cleveland what this city is
about. On these pages, neigh‐
bors and others who care about
East Cleveland volunteered to
tell upliting stories about resi‐
dents, business leaders and
public servants. And we've
worked hard to tell the whole
story about East Cleveland's i‐
nances.
Our low-cost ads helped busi‐
nesses like United Furniture get
new customers and non-proits
like he Music Settlement in
University Circle attract new
students. Ads in the Narrator
stay online in our digital library.
So our advertisers keep reach‐
ing the public for one low price.
2 | "I Am Mom"
• Sexual Assault
3 | GOVERNMENT |
Eastside Greenway
M. LaVora Perry, Publisher
Dear Reader,
INSIDE
Because of he Narrator, read‐
ers throughout Greater Cleve‐
land and as far away as Japan
know that -- even with our
challenges -- East Cleveland has
a lot to celebrate.
In 2015, we want everyone who
wants a printed copy of he
Narrator to get one. he Narra‐
tor is free in print and online.
Print matters because most East
Clevelanders have little money
or are elderly or disabled. Like
donor and East Cleveland Pub‐
lic Library Associate Librarian
Pamela Owens told me on New
Year's Eve:
"(In East Cleveland,)
people need printed
information. Some
people don’t have
computers and don’t
know how to operate
them."
now, they work for very little or
no money. My goal is to be able
to pay a professional staff of
photojournalists and a layout
designer.
I want to pay delivery people so
you can get your copy as soon
as it comes out. I'm grateful that
neighbors like Charles Walls
and Hank Smith volunteer to
deliver papers. But they deserve
pay because it takes time and
work to deliver to over 80 loca‐
tions.
4 | Project Clean Lake
5 | EDUCATION | Post Your
Event • City Club Youth
Forum • Legal Rights,
Responsibilities,
Realities
6 | FEATURES | "Woman's
Work," Lesley Huff
7 | "Reigning Men,"
Leon Hines
our expenses through March.
Follow the instructions on page
2 under "DONATE" or "AD‐
VERTISE" to donate money or
purchase an ad.
What these readers do
have is community pride.
They use the Narrator to
stay connected to our
neighborhoods.
So, today, make a donation of
$5 - $100 dollars or more. Pur‐
chasing ads and buying from
our advertisers are more ways
you can help us raise money.
Your donation or ad will help us
print papers, pay workers and
stay in business. Without your
help, he Narrator might simply
become a small website that
never reaches most East Cleve‐
landers.
As publisher, not only do I want
to keep the Narrator in print, I
want to pay the paper's profes‐
sional writers, photographers
and proofreaders fair fees. Right
So keep he Narrator available
for everyone. Help us reach our
short-term goal of $1,000 and
our irst-quarter goal of $6,000
total. You'll be helping us meet
hank you, Tom O'brien and
Lila Mills of Neighborhood
Connections, for donating 15
Neighborhood Voice
newspaper racks!
hank you for your generosity.
-M. LaVora Perry