NLI Live: You’re invited to join us on April 5th

NLI Live is an initiative designed to blend community dialogue, education, and the arts to inspire collaborative, community-driven solutions to the challenges facing our neighborhoods. As a grassroots-focused event with an artistic twist, our goal is to create a space where community voices are heard and empowered to drive lasting change. We kick off this exciting series of events on April 5th and will discuss fatherhood and men’s health, plus have a performance by Hubb’s Groove!

NLI’s Community Book Club has a new book for March

Since 2020, NLI has hosted its Community Book Club. Over 600 community members have participated with us. We have read and discussed 21 books that tackle the issues of race and social justice. We’re pleased to announce that the next offering of 2025 is Original Sins: The (Mis)Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism by Eve L. Ewing. This group will convene beginning March 18th and will meet for six sessions, with the final meeting scheduled for April 22nd. We’ll meet on Zoom on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm. The Community Book Club is free to attend and participate, but guests must register. A limited number of copies of the book are available on a first come, first served basis.  Click below to learn more. 

True2U

Connecting with Cleveland’s Future Leaders

In the True2U mentoring program, volunteers  work with small groups of 8th graders in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District to help the students consider their strengths and interests, create a vision for their future and weigh their high school and post-secondary options so they can set off with confidence down the path to their future.

Mentors are still needed. Do you remember being in the 8th grade? Did you know who you were and what you were going to be, or did someone help you think it through? Just sharing your story with Cleveland students, and being a steady partner along the journey, will have ripple effects for the students and our city, for years to come.

Schools As Neighborhood Resources:

Building Youth and Families from the Ground Up.

Our flagship program for community engagement, Schools as Neighborhood Resources opens six school buildings for recreation and enrichment programming for all ages.

SNR is the longest-running school-community initiative in Cuyahoga County. It’s a model of school, family and community collaboration that turns schools into community gathering places designed to improve the educational environment and social development opportunities for students and families.

Community Engagement

Building Leaders from the Ground Up

Neighborhood Leadership Institute provides leadership training, resources and development to individuals in Greater Cleveland’s diverse communities. We take pride in elevating an individual’s natural leadership talent. Together we share a common goal—to improve and positively impact our communities through courageous leadership, collective ownership, empowerment, inclusion and accountability.

Neighborhood Leadership Institute partners with agencies and institutions to engage ordinary citizens in change initiatives and to strengthen emerging leaders within their communities with targeted trainings.