Bremer Fisher's accomplishments merit an article

I read with great surprise, concern and disappointment that Deanna Bremer Fisher resigned, effective immediately, from FutureHeights. 

My husband and I moved to Cleveland Heights almost 16 years ago, so our experience living here has been very much impacted by the work of FutureHeights. We have supported it financially for many years. 

During the more than 14 years that Bremer Fisher worked for FutureHeights, she accomplished many things, including:

  • Publishing the Heights Observer community newspaper, which has become a trusted source of information and has received several Excellence in Journalism Awards from the Press Club of Cleveland.
  • Providing leadership skills training to more than 80 residents, and funding for more than 50 neighborhood-based projects throughout our community.
  • Hosting public forums on a number of important topics, including Severance and the transition to a directly elected CH mayor.
  • Mentoring neighborhood groups and providing fiscal agency services for several that are doing good work throughout our community.
  • Creating a signature event for Cleveland Heights—Heights Music Hop—that showcases local musicians and our wonderful business districts.
  • Creating the FutureHomes program that rehabilitates vacant, abandoned homes in several distressed neighborhoods, including the area surrounding our newly renovated high school. 
  • Increasing the city’s focus on distressed neighborhoods, such as the Noble and North Coventry neighborhoods, and facilitating the first comprehensive planning process for the Noble Road Corridor in at least 20 years.
  • Facilitating a civic engagement process and creating a redevelopment plan for the Cedar Lee Mini-Park, an underutilized and neglected city-owned site.
  • Supporting our local businesses in many ways, including producing the annual Best of the Heights Awards.

I understand that, however well-intentioned, nonprofit governance can be messy and misdirected. The immediacy of the resignation and the brief boxed announcement in the May issue of the Heights Observer suggest that there may have been differences between Bremer Fisher and the FutureHeights Board of Directors.

Nevertheless, an article detailing her leadership and accomplishments, with a thank you and an explanation, would be appropriate and welcome.

Ruth Anna Carlson

Ruth Anna Carlson moved to Cleveland Heights' Cedar Fairmount neighborhood in 2006. She is a retired lawyer.

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Volume 15, Issue 7, Posted 5:19 AM, 06.30.2022