Maintaining the yards of vacant and abandoned properties is a tremendous amount of work for the Cuyahoga Land Bank. In fact, the Land Bank services more than 3,000 properties every year. Most properties the Land Bank acquires have been vacant for months or even years. As a result, the yards of these properties are often overgrown with weeds, trash, and debris.
In our efforts to maintain these properties and prevent them from becoming a nuisance to the community, the Land Bank contracts with several field service teams that perform various duties, including lawn maintenance, trash removal and window board-ups. One of its trusted partners in this work is CleveLawn-Home, a Cleveland-based non-profit social entrepreneurship dedicated to reducing violence and poverty in greater Cleveland. The group provides second chances through workforce development and other support services to help people overcome challenges and find meaningful employment.
CleveLawn-Home has provided lawn maintenance on many vacant lots in the Cuyahoga Land Bank’s property inventory since 2019. The team also provides interior inspections and photo documentation of vacant homes and boards up broken windows and doors when needed.
“Our partnership with the Cuyahoga Land Bank has been instrumental to the success of our organization,” says Paul Fitzpatrick, Executive Director of CleveLawn-Home. “Everything that we have accomplished can be traced back to our partnership and the belief the Cuyahoga Land Bank has in our work and mission. We are extremely grateful for their support.”