News story

Civic Innovation Lab's investment in ideas has paid off for Cuyahoga County, study says

by Tom Breckenridge/Plain Dealer Reporter

Friday September 11, 2009, 2:40 PM

The modest success of a fund that seeds quirky ventures has its director thinking of a bigger stage.

The Civic Innovation Lab, a six-year program of the Cleveland Foundation, has invested in an indoor park for mountain biking, an alternative-fuel station and a company that turns recycled bottles into cheese trays.

Overall, the lab has invested in 52 ventures since 2003. About one-fourth are successful, another quarter have folded, and the remainder aren't yet thriving or are too new to evaluate, according to a breakdown from the lab.

Lab-funded companies generated $9.4 million in economic impact and sustained 128 jobs last year in Cuyahoga County, according to a study by the Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University.

"The lab is investing in ideas," said center director Ziona Austrian. "This is pre-, pre-, pre-seed funding, ventures that other funders would not even look at. So I think they are doing well."

The lab awards grants of up to $30,000. Led by Jennifer Thomas, the lab links grant recipients with veteran entrepreneurs, who volunteer to mentor the fledgling companies.

The lab values ventures that have an impact beyond the bottom line, Thomas said. Goals include fostering an entrepreneurial mindset in Cuyahoga County's struggling economy.

"We're not spending a lot of money, but we're getting a lot out of it," Thomas said.

The Cleveland Foundation has funneled about $1.5 million into the program. A recent outside evaluation of the lab found "some positive results," said Robert Eckardt , the foundation's senior vice president for programs and evaluations.

The foundation initially believed the lab grants would be mostly about "pure economic development," Eckardt said.

"Yet you find people who want to make a difference by doing things that enrich the civic space as well," he said.

Those people include Deby Cowdin and her husband, who are taking empty bottles that bars and restaurants discard and heating them into food trays and other gift items.

The lab's $30,000 grant and mentoring will help the company -- called From the Blue Bag LLC -- double gross sales that totaled about $100,000 last year, Cowdin said.

Along the way, the company has diverted about 10 tons of glass from landfills.

Working with the lab "has really enabled us to take this business to the next level," Cowdin said.

Thomas said the lab's success has her thinking of approaching foundations elsewhere in the region to expand the lab's footprint.

She's also received calls from afar, leading her to believe the lab's entrepreneurial approach can be replicated in other states. She's begun to explore the opportunities.

"It's a flexible, scalable, low-cost model," Thomas said.

(Source:http://snipr.com/rrhgf)