About Slavic Village Development
Slavic Village Development (SVD) is a non-profit community development corporation serving the North and South Broadway neighborhoods of Cleveland, Ohio. With an investment of $160 million over the past 25 years, Slavic Village Development has proven itself to be an aggressive and capable community development corporation.
SVD is a member of the Ohio CDC Association (OCDCA), a statewide membership organization of Community Development Corporations that engages in capacity-building, advocacy and public policy development that fosters socially and economically healthy communities.
Slavic Village Development has a long history of highly successful physical development and community building, with particular emphasis on complex real estate site assembly. SVD has rehabbed or built more than 1,000 housing units, including a 200+ home planned community; several large multi-family buildings; and more than 400 homes for low income families.
In recent years, SVD has refined its programming and has increasingly used community organizing and community building activities to address quality of life issues, such as activities for youth, safety and recreation. Arts programming, including public art, concerts, festivals and parades have become more important as has the development of parks, green space and recreational amenities. SVD has been instrumental in the creation of several new parks, and in 2006 opened Morgana Run Bike Trail a 3-mile trail developed on an abandoned rail line. SVD leveraged the development of the trail and created a new park and history center capitalizing on the Mill Creek waterfall, and linked the Morgana Trail to the Ohio Erie Canal Towpath, an extensive trail system just south of the neighborhood.
Mission Statement
Our mission is to preserve, empower, and advance Slavic Village as a thriving diverse neighborhood. Essential to our neighborhood is its unique identity with quality housing anchored by excellent recreational, educational, cultural, religious, and institutional anchors supported by a vibrant retail, commercial, and industrial base.
Organization Goal
The goal of the organization is to revitalize the Broadway neighborhood through rehabilitation of existing housing, storefronts and buildings; construction of new homes; retention of existing buildings and recruitment of new ones; and provision of housing services and community organizing programs to improve the quality of life.
Core Values
- Distinct identity
- Cultural, racial, social and economic diversity
- Entrepreneurial and proactive approach to resolving issues and enhancing neighborhood assets
- Real-estate development based
- Community Empowerment
- Compatible co-existence of residents, business and industry
- Sense of community ownership and belonging through the education and empowerment of residents and businesses
- Creation and support of a commonly held set of community behaviors and standards
Board of Directors
President
Chris Smetana, Lincoln Financial Group
Secretary
St. Ann Solma, Resident, Villa Montessori Center Teacher
Treasurer
Suzanne Ferrara, Business Loan Officer, National City Bank
CHN Representative
Krume Stojanovski, Former Resident, Krume & Associates
Fr. Joe Callahan, Pastor, Our Lady of Lourdes Church
Lindsay Breedlove, Law Clerk, US Court of Appeals Akron
Jim Czech, Resident, Retired Realtor
Ja’Ovvoni Garrison, Resident and Student
Linda Golubski, Resident, Co-Owner, Golubski Funeral Home
Liz March-Robinson, Associate, Third Federal Savings
Josefa Martinez, Chief Financial Officer, University Settlement
Marty Piszczak, Director, Stella Walsh Recreation Center
Matthew Slates, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland
Jane Warner, Attorney, Tucker Ellis