Civic Innovation Lab grants $30,000 to web-based reality game
     

CLEVELAND (March 29, 2009) – The Civic Innovation Lab, a project of the Cleveland Foundation which provides grants and mentorship to individuals with ideas for improving Greater Cleveland, recently awarded a grant to the talent attraction initiative, Got*City GAME!.

Got*City GAME!, founded by Barbara Siss Oney and TL Champion, received $30,000 to create a web-media series of reality-style city-focused scavenger hunts, where teams compete to show their city knowledge. The web televised game will act as an 8-week radio/web media campaign that will drive college students and young professionals to a website to "vote" for their favorite competing teams. The website, www.gotcitygame.tv, will be developed as a primary site or aggregator for young people to engage with education, employment, career, lifestyle and community aspects in Ohio. It will direct users to a host of resources and websites that currently exist.

Four teams of two participants, each sponsored by a local college or university, will compete to prove they have “City Game” – meaning they know the most about their city.  The program will showcase aspects of the city that makes downtown living great in each of the featured Ohio cities, beginning with Cleveland. The team with the most votes/points will wins downtown living for a year, including a free condo, tickets to theatre, sports, restaurants, nightclubs, etc.

“Barbara and TL have been extremely creative in their effort to come up with a product for talent attraction and retention,” says Lab director Jennifer Thomas.  Joy Roller, Executive Director of The Gordon Square Arts District, will mentor Got*City GAME! for the Lab.