Mayor’s Message

Dear East Clevelanders,

As Mayor of East Cleveland, I would like to congratulate Tyisha Blade, Owner/Editor-in-Chief, on publishing this inaugural issue of The East Clevelander Magazine. We are particularly proud that Tyisha (after graduating Shaw High School, Cleveland State University and working for Ideastream Public Media and WOIO Channel 19) felt a calling to bring her talents back to East Cleveland to launch this beautiful, quarterly magazine by and for us.

As an administration, we have worked for a long time to bring a publication to East Cleveland to get our residents involved, encourage active participation and publish truthful, informative, accurate and fact-based stories about our city. It’s finally here. The City of East Cleveland supports (but does not control) this independent magazine, privately owned and operated by an East Clevelander. The information you find in this magazine will be free of undue influence from outsiders or even from us. We believe in the mission of The East Clevelander, to bring fair, accurate and unvarnished views from you and your fellow community members.

Period. In this magazine you will learn about the heroes among us: citizens rolling up their sleeves and pitching in to make their own community a better place. The kind of storytelling The East Clevelander Magazine brings to our city has been long overdue.

For decades, outsiders have told stories about us without us. We are grateful to finally have this magazine as our own platform for East Cleveland “insiders”—those who live, work, and play in our great city—to tell our stories, ourselves. Readers of The East Clevelander Magazine will regularly be exposed to articles by our neighbors, our spiritual leaders, our teachers, operators of our neighborhood businesses, charities and other advocates for East Cleveland residents, organizers of our community events, our first responders, our council representatives, our government officials and you.

Any East Cleveland community member may submit content for publishing consideration in The East Clevelander Magazine. Thank you for picking up this issue. When you’ve read it from cover to cover, please share this copy with your friends, your family, your neighbors or anyone who might be interested in learning about the real East Cleveland.

Our city faces many challenges. In this magazine, you will find solutions to overcome these challenges from City Council, from East Cleveland leaders, and from me. But I want you to know I will be reading The East Clevelander Magazine to find out about ideas from you, too.

This magazine is more than just another small business for East Cleveland. Community periodicals build bridges. Community periodicals bring communities—yes, even communities like East Cleveland— together. The East Clevelander Magazine, East Cleveland City Council, the East Cleveland City School District, the East Cleveland Public Library, and the Mayor of East Cleveland believe this is the only word powerful enough to shift the perception of East Cleveland: “Together.”

The next deadline for submissions is June 30…don’t forget to write!