Rich Hoban - Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities
Nominator: Cory Riordan, St. Clair Superior Development Corporation
How has the nominee implemented sustainable business practices in his or her business or organization and what are the triple bottom line benefits (people, planet, prosperity) of the nominee's work?
Rich Hoban, SAW Inc and the Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities are responsible for the reclamation and transformation of an old school site to an urban farm to provide their clients with job opportunities in the local food, urban farming movement.
How does the nominee actively participate in the sustainability community? How do they collaborate and share their knowledge with others?
BRDD is in the process of opening ten farms throughout the city to provide their clients with developmental disabilities with rewarding work planting, caring for, harvesting, and processing food in inner-city Cleveland. They participate in farmer's market and have drastically improved the life around Stanard Farm, their site on Stanard and East 53rd for the community residents through their beautification of the lot, bringing activitiy, and opening their doors to their neighbors.
How has the nominee inspired you to implement sustainable business practices? What is your relationship with the nominee: supervisor, employee, peer, father, friend or other.
As the development corporation we are inspired by the unique way in which they have taken urban farming to a new level by providing a tremendous benefit to their clients as well as the surrounding community. It helps us to view open space, gardens and farming as community development tools.
How can someone else translate the success of the nominee? Is the work of the nominee an example or model that others can follow?
They are both unique, because of the clients they serve (DD) and a model in the fact that they have sucessfully implemented an urban farm, integrated the surrounding community, plan to move to food processing, and participate in farmers markets, all using existing tools and resources available through OSU extension and others.
