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Natalie Ronayne
Executive Director, Cleveland Botanical Garden

The Nominator: Ruth S. Eppig, Sears-Swetland Family Foundation

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?
Natalie is passionately dedicated to the CBG`s GreenCorp program in which teens from our most disinvested neighborhoods are taught how to farm on vacant reclaimed land while studying an intensive curriculum on plants and sustainability. Natalie knows each teen by name.

1. people: the youth are given job skills, work readiness, entrepreneurial training and product development skills(Ripe From Downtown Salsa and Vinaigrette), and as they say,"I`ve learned how to work as a team and to lead." They have gained hope.

2. planet: the urban ecosystem is improved and green infrastructure benefits are studied. ie runoff, temperature, recycled food waste, composting etc.

3. prosperity: The Greencorps youth are the product. They learn entrepreneurial skills so that they may find jobs, go on to college, start their own businesses and contribute to the Cleveland economy.

How has the nominee inspired you to implement sustainable business practices?
Natalie is central in the sustainability community. She has woven together collaborations with so many organizations that I fear I will leave out several: CWRU- extern program, OSU-farm research, Kent State- liquid crystal research for glasshouses, Neighborhood Progress Inc and Kent State- Reimagining a More Sustainable Cleveland, City of Cleveland - low mow research, CMNH and Cleveland Zoo and Holden Arboretum- biodiversity alliance, Donita Anderson- Farm to Table, ECity- entrepreneurial training, Master Gardeners, 2 local downtown restauranteurs-product development and canning, local CDCs- Greencorps Gardens location and neighborhood introduction, WRLC- protecting reclaimed lots, and UCI alliance- cutting costs with the Wade Oval Institutions. The collaborations run the gamut from financial to advisory. Sharing knowledge is central.

How can someone else translate the success of the nominee? Is the work of the nominee an example or model that others can follow?
Natalie has inspired me to fund Greencorps because I see that the program changes lives. I have no business outside the foundation but personally I am becoming a better gardener because of what I have learned from the Greencorps youth.

How does the nominee actively participate in the sustainability community? How do they collaborate and share their knowledge with others?
Will Allen of Growing Power said, "Cleveland Botanical Garden does the work!" Natalie`s programs could be models for revitalization in any urban industrial city. The C. S. Mott Foundation believes this is true and has made a grant for a long term longitudinal study of GreenCorps youth on how the program affects their lives.