Continual learning is part of everything we do in CSVP. Along with supporting our nonprofit investees, we aim to provide a forum where partners and community members can learn about not-for-profit organizations and their management, philanthropy, and community issues.  

Our educational programs, held several times throughout the year, focus on a range of topics from new approaches in philanthropy to regional concerns. For example:

• Partners and friends of CSVP gathered to hear Dr. Claudia Coulton, co-director of the Center on Urban Poverty and Social Change at Case Western Reserve University, discuss new thinking and research on the indicators of poverty in Cleveland. This presentation spoke to CSVP's ongoing desire to understand Cleveland's problems and find the nonprofits that are getting at the root of them.  

• Another highlight was a program featuring Ray Leach of JumpStart and Baiju Shah of BioEnterprise, two Cleveland nonprofit venture capital firms, along with Jonathan Murray of Early Stage Partners, discussing innovations in economic development from nonprofit and for-profit perspectives.

Learning is also embedded in all of CSVP’s internal programs: 

• Members of our Investment Team learn about strategic grant making and how to determine whether a nonprofit is a good fit for an engagement with CSVP.


• CSVP Teens introduces partners’ teenage children to strategic philanthropic involvement as they conduct a grant cycle and award a $5,000 grant to an organization of their choice.


• Speakers at partner meetings address issues affecting our community and the implications nonprofits may face in serving their clients.

Check out the attached files below to see PowerPoint presentations from our May 2012 First Friday event: Youth Violence as a Public Health Issue, featuring Michael L. Walker (Executive Director, Partnership for a Safer Cleveland), Blaine Griffin (Director, Community Relations Board, City of Cleveland), and Adriennie Hatten, Ph.D. (Education Program Officer, Sisters of Charity Foundation).

Attached Documents

Adriennie Hatten: Youth Violence as a Public Health Issue	[ ]	1665 Kb	17/05/12 13:37
Blaine Griffin: Operation Focus	[ ]	4462 Kb	17/05/12 12:38
Michael Walker: Safer Communities Part One	[ ]	2421 Kb	17/05/12 13:53
Michael Walker: Safer Communities Part Two	[ ]	2639 Kb	17/05/12 13:52