CVI Network


Collaboration Networks in the Cuyahoga River Valley


The Cuyahoga River Valley identifies us as Northeast Ohioans. For over two hundred years, The River and Valley has nurtured the development of our cities, our economy and our communities.  However, because the Valley presents so many different faces to our communities, it is difficult to define any one project or theme that could be described as “The Work of the Valley”. The Work of the Valley is not simply tending to pollution problems, or economic revitalization. Rather, the Work of the Valley is systemic in scope, integrative in approach, and comprehensive in effect; and achieved through diverse individual and organizational networks.

Organizational networks already exist throughout the Cuyahoga Valley. These are usually focused on common interests, such as the industries that use the Working River, the environmentalists that nurture greenspace throughout the Healthy Valley, or the many governments that focus on the well being of their communities across Northeast Ohio.  But, until recently, the perception of the Cuyahoga Valley as a geography unified through a single whole system has not existed.

The work to transform the Cuyahoga Valley is not possible without the generous support from both the public and the private sector. In addition to the benefactors mentioned below, scores of businesses, organizations, and individuals, through the Cuyahoga Valley networks, provided their time and expertise to help us to understand this complex place, and to shape our strategy. This spirit of cooperation that is present throughout Northeast Ohio will help to sustain future collaboration.

One of the purposes of the Cuyahoga Valley Initiative is to introduce a vision of the Cuyahoga Valley that Northeast Ohioans can identify, convene existing and future stakeholders to build this complex vision together, and help existing networks work together toward the common purpose of healing the valley in a way that incorporates human needs, sustainable ecological principles and economic opportunities.