Greater Cleveland Region

Slavic Village, a once-vibrant neighborhood near downtown Cleveland, has been plagued by blight, vacant houses and financial hardship. We felt the area was worth saving, and committed resources to do just that.

The Slavic Village Recovery, LLC (SVR), a collaborative partnership of private and non-profit entities, was formed to acquire and rehabilitate 2,200 single-family homes to create affordable housing and bring large scale change to the area.

Huntington arranged a line of credit to help fund the rehabilitation of homes targeted by the project and has provided mortgage financing for the majority of homes.

The Detroit Shoreway, located two miles west of Downtown, is an up and coming historic neighborhood with eclectic restaurants and taverns, antique shops and access to Lake Erie.

Last summer, we celebrated a groundbreaking in this diverse area -- the renovation of the Templin-Bradley Company building. Built in 1916, the building once housed the country’s largest distributor of seeds, plants and bulbs. It was recently was named to the National Register of Historic Places.

The building is poised for an $8 million transformation, and will be converted into 30 units of mixed-income rental apartments providing creative living space for artists and families. The project is being developed by Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization in partnership with the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, Ohio Capital Corporation for Housing, Ohio Development Services Agency, Huntington National Bank and other organizations.

If you’re a kid, it’s embarrassing to start school with a tattered backpack or none at all. So to kick off last school year, Huntington partnered with the Salvation Army of Greater Cleveland to distribute more than 1,200 new backpacks across the region to school kids in need.

Our colleagues visited the Salvation Army facility in West Park to pass out backpacks and school supplies through an interactive, financial education back-to-school shopping activity. Students were each given 30 “Huntington Bucks” to shop for their school supplies.

Additionally, team members helped distribute backpacks at the Geauga County Department of Jobs and Family Services facility in Chardon.

Learning to manage money responsibly is important at any age. In 2014, we partnered once again with Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland to deliver 383 hours of financial education to more 1,500 students, elementary through high school age, in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. More than 100 of our colleagues volunteered for the yearlong program that focused on work-readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.       Junior Achievement BizTown® is a registered trademark of Junior Achievement USA and JA Worldwide.

•Buckeye Woodland

•Junior Achievement

•Youth Opportunities Unlimited.

•YWCA

On April 26, 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Glenville High School, preaching non-violent resistance and change. In 2014 Huntington partnered with City Year Cleveland to celebrate the memory of that day and the late civil rights leader with a day of service at the school.

Volunteers painted a mural in the school with the following quote from Dr. King designed to inspire kids now and in the future: “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character -- that is the goal of true education.”

Huntington supports diversity, and when Cleveland was chosen to host last year’s Gay Games, we were delighted to participate in this quadrennial event.

The Gay Games, an international LGBT multi-sport and cultural event, was held at locations in both Cleveland and Akron in August 2014. More than 10,000 participated in 35 athletic and cultural events. Many Huntington LGBT Business Resource Group colleagues volunteered as airport greeters and registrars throughout the week-long games.

In addition, colleagues participated in local pride events, including the 26th Annual Cleveland Pride parade in Cleveland in June.

•College Now •Alzheimer's Association

•American Heart Association

•American Red Cross

•Arthritis Foundation

•Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland

•Care Alliance Health Center

•Centers for Families and Children

•City Year

•Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital

•Global Cleveland

•Harvest for Hunger

•Hunger Network

•Ronald McDonald House

•Project Love

•Shoes and Clothes for Kids

•United Way of Greater Cleveland

•University Hospitals

•Cuyahoga Community College Foundation

•Downtown Cleveland Alliance

•Diversity Center of Northeast Ohio

•Gordon Square Arts District

•Greater Cleveland Partnership

•Greater Cleveland Sports Commission

•Jewish Federation of Cleveland

•PlayhouseSquare Foundation

•President’s Council

•Team NEO