We’ve maintained our momentum during the summer months:

• Since May GCC staff and volunteer leaders have conducted nine canvasses in five Cleveland neighborhoods — Central, Fairfax, Lee-Harvard, Mount Pleasant and Slavic Village. We have knocked on 1,033 doors and have had 366 conversations with residents of those neighborhoods. The issues we have surfaced in our neighborhood walks will help us shape our GCC 2021 Cleveland mayoral platform.
• We welcomed Ashley Reddick as our new GCC Associate Organizer on August 2nd. Along with supporting our last two canvassing events, Ashley is busy reaching out to Strategy Team members, Management Team members and Core Team leaders to set up one-on-one relational meetings.
• On August 14, GCC member congregation Shiloh Baptist Church held a vaccine pop-up clinic where 63 vaccines were administered.
• Forty-eight congregations and institutions submitted their utility bills to GCC’s Power UP Purchasing Cooperative to qualify for the group purchase of electric supply contracts and to support this effort. Ultimately, 27 organizations signed contracts to protect their budgets and align with like-minded groups.
• Our Criminal Justice Bail Reform and Juvenile Bindover Action Research Teams have been busy gathering and reading relevant information to identify unmet needs in these two areas. The teams will report their findings in late September.
• As of mid-August, 157 individuals have donated to the 2021 Friends of GCC Campaign. This is 58% of the total number of donors to our 2020 campaign with four and a half months to go in the campaign. Forty-nine donors increased their donations from last year and so far we have seen 31 new donors. We have reached 54% of our goal of $80,000 by year end.