The East Cleveland Neighborhood Center

The Neighborhood Center, a non-profit organization is an accredited member of the United Neighborhood Center of America, Greater Cleveland Neighborhood Center Association, and United Way Services.

The Center operates from a “Family Resource Center”, paradigm, and targeting services to low to moderate-income families within its geographical service area. 

This approach provides the strategy for collaboration and necessary service integration needed to accomplish our mission: 

The Center’s holistic priorities are as follows: 

1.      Enhance family living skills for optimal development of children and well being of each family member;

2.      Provide opportunities for enjoyment and development of individual skills and interest; 

3.      Assist families in crises; 

4.      Increase economic opportunity and security for families; 

5.      Facilitates positive connections, mutual help, and cooperation among families; 

6.      Strengthen the capacity of families to improve community conditions and obtain needed resources; 

7.      Increase access to existing services and build collaboration and cooperation among human service organizations.

The mission of the East Cleveland Neighborhood Center is to strengthen community and improve quality of life by offering social services, public education, prevention and intervention services.  Further, our broader purpose is to serve as the human service provider in the East Cleveland community by supporting the social, economic and political participation of residents. The East Cleveland Neighborhood Center is a non-profit community based organization that provides human services within a community based setting that are based on understanding the local needs, and conditions within that community.

Our services are intended to improve the neighborhood as a setting for family and individuals living within the East Cleveland Community.  The Center has an extensive history of working with other service organizations throughout the city, so as not to reinvent the wheel; but rather develop service capacity to meet the needs of the many people served through partnering and collaboration.   

ECNC's focus is on families; recognizing  families make up neighborhoods, and the quality of family life is an indicator as to the quality of neighborhood and or community.   

Indicators of our efficiency relative to achieving our mission is in our various programming over the years which included; School Truancy Reduction; Child Safety Net for families who had exhausted their welfare benefits: assisting with their transition from welfare to the workforce and outreach that aided sanction families to restore their welfare benefits when appropriate; Culturally Specific Parenting Classes; Family Respite Programming; Girl Scouts; Crime Prevention and Awareness Programming; Early Start; Alternative to School Suspension Programming; Music Classes; School to Work Programming; GED Preparation Programming; Alcohol Anonymous Meetings; Day Care; Tutoring; a Thrift Room; daily bread and pastry distribution, just to name a few. 

ECNC’s current programs include, Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Prevention Services for teens through the Teen Services Center, which offers both  In-School and After-School programs and a Teen Summer Camp; Juvenile Diversion Program,; Tapestry Program; Freedom School (literacy based program) one of our signature programs in partnership with the Children’s Defense Fund: ECNC is one of only three Freedom Schools in Greater Cleveland; youth cultural exploratory trips to historical black colleges, and historical civil rights sites; Shoes and Clothes for Kids distribution site;  and a Holiday Gifts and Food Basket distribution site.