What Is Your American Dream? Radhika Reddy
As we celebrate the opening of American Dreams earlier this month at Cleveland Public Theatre, we're spending time learning about the American dreams of those in our community. Even a few that have come true.
This week we feature entrepreneur, real estate developer and philanthropist Radhika Reddy, Founder & Partner of Ariel Ventures, LLC, who has spent the past 30 years making significant contributions to Cleveland and the Greater Northeast Ohio community.
“I came to the US from India with $20 in my pocket and a one-year scholarship to Case. After that year, I was supposed to go back to India. But I was fortunate to get a part time job, worked long hours, went to school full time and completed my MBA. My specialty was turning around troubled companies and helping them make multi-million dollar profits. My company did well. I’ve built it by working very hard, always learning and not being afraid to take risks.
I’m always looking for opportunities – for myself and for others. For a long time, my dream was to create this one-stop international center. My business partners and I bought a building by the lake and now it’s the Ariel International Center. We bring different ethnic groups together; we have events, meetings and build intercultural understanding. I’m now on my fifth building. We want to leave a legacy behind for Cleveland. We want to give back to the community that we’ve adopted.
The American Dream, for me, is the fact that you can come to this country with $20 and work hard, study and do a lot by yourself. You can truly make a difference. You can build something and make things happen that are transformative.” –Radhika Reddy, Founder, Ariel Ventures
Dig deep into the concept of the American dream and be a part of the live studio audience of American Dreams, where you will decide which of three contestants will receive the ultimate prize: citizenship in “the greatest nation on Earth.” Now playing through March 3 at Cleveland Public Theatre.
Get Involved with Global Cleveland
Join us in welcoming and connecting international newcomers to economic, professional and social opportunities in Greater Cleveland. Below are ways you can get involved – from helping international young professionals network with civic and business leaders to attending a naturalization ceremony. We look forward to working with you!
Cuyahoga County, City of Cleveland & Global Cleveland Issue Statements on President Donald Trump’s Immigration Protection Remarks
CLEVELAND – Cuyahoga County, City of Cleveland and Global Cleveland issued the following statements:
“It’s wrong to disrespect some of the 43 million immigrants who live in this country, who are an important part of our country, and who make our country better. Our community is a better place because of the mix of people we have here. And it is particularly outrageous to use vile and racist language to describe the people of entire countries and a continent. The good people of the United States should not sit quietly by in the face of hateful insults coming out of the White House,” said Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish.
“Immigrants and refugees are a significant part of the tapestry that makes the city of Cleveland so unique. We welcome people from all around the world and are ready to provide them with the tools to succeed,” said Mayor Frank G. Jackson, City of Cleveland.
“On behalf of the 112 different ethnic communities in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, Global Cleveland is proud to work with and for, we express our collective dismay and disgust at the characterization of the nations of Africa, Central and South America, and Haiti. Cleveland and Cuyahoga county have had long standing relationships and friendships with our sisters and brothers coming from all over the world, but specifically with people from these maligned nations. With County Executive Armond Budish and with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson, we reach out again with warmth and welcome to our newcomer families, students, entrepreneurs, job creators, nurses, teachers, landscapers, hotel room cleaners, sanitation engineers and police officers, and say thank you for coming to Northeast Ohio. Please know your families here and abroad are cherished by all of us. In the days leading up to Valentine’s Day, we say with full hearts and joy, we love you,” said Joe Cimperman, President, Global Cleveland.
-30-
InterCLE , A Spectacular Success!
The first InterCLE, a grand welcome for our international students, was a spectacular success. So, yes, we’re planning an encore.
- Attendance: 522
- Universities represented: Case Western, Cleveland State, Kent State, Akron, John Carroll, Baldwin Wallace, Tri C, Oberlin
- Nations represented: China, India, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, England, France, Italy, Greece, Mexico, Guatemala, Egypt, Nigeria and many more
- Employers and institutions represented: 22, including Cleveland Clinic, BioEnterprise, Margaret Wong & Associates, Ariel Ventures, Greater Cleveland Chinese Chamber of Commerce
- Restaurants offering tastings: 9, including Li Wah, Ty Fun, Alladin’s
- Dynamic speakers: The crowd heard success stories from former international students and global business executives
Our aim: To tap the energy and expertise of the 6,000+ international students studying in Greater Cleveland. Most are pursuing advanced degrees, often in STEM fields. We want them to feel welcome here. We want them to launch companies and careers here.
Save the Date: InterCLE 2018 is scheduled for Saturday September 8, 2018
Do you wish to participate? There will be opportunities for sponsorships and information tables. Universities can hang their banners. Law firms, banks, insurance agencies and civic organizations are invited to display their services. Contact Courtney Ottrix at [email protected]
Giving Tuesday
At Global Cleveland, we pursue an uncommon quest. We try to attract immigrants to Cleveland and help them to pursue the American dream. We do this because we need their energy and we need their skills to repopulate our city and to compete in the global economy.
With anti-immigrant hostility rising nationally, our work has become more challenging—and vital. That’s why we need your help now more than ever.
Why you should consider donating to Global Cleveland this #GivingTuesday:
- 40% of the founders of Fortune 500 companies were immigrants or their children. This is why we engage high-skill immigrants at events like the 2017 International Student Pitch Contest. We want the next Fortune 500 company to be founded here.
- Global Cleveland’s citizenship initiatives, including our new Community Navigator program, guide immigrants toward naturalization, which contributes to their economic success and strengthens our community.
- With events like the Global Employer Summit, Global Cleveland helps local employers realize the opportunities presented by international talent.
- By matching immigrants with Welcome Mentors, we help newcomers like Monica Ceja from Mexico assimilate more rapidly, get started on a new career, and make Cleveland home.
- Through projects like International Village, Global Cleveland helps revitalize neighborhoods with refugees and migrants who need homes. On #GivingTuesday, support our efforts to strengthen Cleveland by welcoming the world.
- We are a proud partner of Thomas Jefferson Newcomers Academy, Cleveland’s school for immigrant and migrant children. Help us help the next generation assimilate to their new home.
- Immigrants and refugees are unusually entrepreneurial. We created a listing of Immigrant and Refugee Owned Businesses in Greater Cleveland so that people can find and support the authentic ethnic grocery stores, restaurants and services that immigrants create in our community.
First International Pitch Contest Reveals a World of Ideas
[metaslider id=4993]
Can I charge my cell phone just by walking? Lizeth Fuentes Cervantes of Mexico believes you can. Her company, Inergia, has developed a portable knee-charger designed to generate power as you hike or stroll.
How do I keep track of everything everyone tells me at the doctor’s office? PlainDoc might have the answer. The app, developed by Aron Gates of Hungary, is designed to help people organize and keep track of a medical plan.
These and other ideas were revealed at the first International Student Pitch Contest, which unfolded November 1 at the Happy Dog at Euclid Tavern. The showcase drew college students and recent graduates from universities throughout the area, including Case Western, Cleveland State, Kent State and Akron.
The event was made possible by the generosity of the Burton D. Morgan Foundation , which supports entrepreneurship, and was co-sponsored by Global Cleveland and the Health Tech Corridor.
The atmosphere was friendly and expectant in the cozy tavern, as young people from around the world pitched their ideas to a panel of expert judges, vying for cash and prizes.
A dozen finalists competed in four categories: Business Management and Process Improvement; IT and Connected Devices (IOT); Community and Civic Innovations; Healthcare and Biomedical.
The range and complexity of ideas impressed observers like Mike Maczuzak, the founder and CEO of SmartShape, a Cleveland design firm.
He listened intently as Gholamreza Khademi, an engineering student at Cleveland State University, described a prosthetic limb with self-generating power. Later, the two exchanged business cards.
“It’s technology based on the real physicality. That’s what’s cool about it,” Maczuzak said.
Global Cleveland is excited to provide a platform for these innovative and original ideas, and we hope to continue to provide events like this in the future.
“Not only were the pitches done by international students and recent graduates from several area schools, but our judges were also former international students who brought their expertise in evaluating the pitches,” said Joe Cimperman, the president of Global Cleveland. “We think this was a great experience all around and look forward to developing even more support for international student entrepreneurs.”
Our judges were:
Radhika Reddy, Ariel Ventures
MJ Wilson, JumpStart
Renjun Bao, Tencent
Shasha Zhao, The Robbins Company
Cal Al-dhubaib, Pandata LLC
Eugene Malinskiy, DragonID
The winners were:
IT/Connected Devices (IOT)
Lizeth Fuentes Cervantes for her company Inergia and its power generating device
Country of Origin: Mexico
A member of Instituto Politécnico Nacional, YLAI - Young Leaders of America Initiative visiting Cleveland
Community/Civic Innovations
Yulu Li for launching the international young professionals group Friends of Global Cleveland
Country of Origin: China
Graduate of Cleveland State University
Healthcare/Biomedical
Aron Gates for his healthcare app PlainDoc
Country of Origin: Hungary
College: Kent State University
Business Management and Process Improvement
Faraz Ahmed for the job-matching process CareerFix
Country of Origin: India
College: Case Western Reserve University
People’s Choice Award
Lizeth Fuentes Cervantes was chosen by the audience via live online voting.
International students or recent graduates who would like to get involved or pitch in next year's contest, contact: [email protected]
The Magic of Cleveland in One Astonishing School
By Joe Cimperman
Aniya is smiling. We went to her classroom at Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy in the heart of the MetroWest Neighborhood at West 46 and Clark Avenue. She is smiling because she met someone who not only speaks Turkish, but through the incredible providence and serendipity that is Cleveland she met a man who grew up in her village near the Turkish/Syrian border. This newfound friend, a guest of the German Marshall program through the incredible generosity of the Cleveland Foundation, was with Global Cleveland as we staffed one of a hundred introductions to this amazing Cleveland Metropolitan District school. This school is truly one of a kind, and we owe a debt of gratitude to CMSD for establishing it.
Started under the leadership of then Chief Academic Officer Eric Gordon (now our phenomenal superintendent and CEO of CMSD) Thomas Jefferson, TJINA, is a pre-eminent school of excellence for students pre-k through 12th grade who speak English as a second language (or not at all). Its enrollment is a barometer of Cleveland’s success attracting immigrants.
In August of 2016, 605 students were enrolled, coming from 30 nations, speaking 19 unique languages. By May of 2016, there were 990 students from over 40 nations, with an eye popping 31 languages spoken. The children at this school are smart, hard working, dedicated, and magical. The teachers and teacher’s aides and staff and Principal and Dean of Students are amazing as well. Why this school and the students and the surrounding community are so important is straightforward:
- Cleveland and Cuyahoga County continue to attract newcomers.
- CMSD is an amazing District with capacity and excellence to not only welcome these young leaders but to educate and integrate them.
- In spite of the false rhetoric and unhelpful national coarse discourse on immigrants and welcoming and refugees and visas, this school and these students prove that there is more light than smoke, and their becoming vital parts of Northeastern Ohio’s success are true, economic, and supportive of popular demographic trends.
Rich Exner, the demographics expert for The Plain Dealer, uncovered a startling fact recently: between 2005-2015 there were almost 20,000 more people born internationally living in Greater Cleveland than in the previous 10 years.
http://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/index.ssf/2017/03/international_migration_a_popu.html
This is huge. In spite of the extreme vetting to the extreme amount (new citizens to-be already go through 14 serious security steps to come here) we know factually that immigrants give more than they take, https://globalcleveland.org/small-number-immigrants-giving-cleveland-mighty-big-boost/
Also, refugees exponentially return more than they are given, http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2017/09/estimated_number_of_refugees_l.html and Cleveland wouldn’t be Cleveland without newcomers. If you are reading this newsletter you know of what I speak.
Action item: we need your brain power, your muscles, and your creative compassion for Thomas Jefferson and her beautiful students. If you want to help amazing children now and not wait to read about them on the cover of Newsweek, they are right here. Help how? Volunteer, tutor, write about, learn about, share your own brilliance with these inspiring human beings, many of whom have gone through hell to get here, but clearly are in the best place they can be as their new home.
Why help? Because these are our kids and they are winners. And they are on their way to inventing the cure for cancer, creating the next tech startup that will employ 500 native-born U.S. citizens, being great fathers and mothers, teachers, doctors, lawyers, architects, non-profit practitioners, and employees. My email is [email protected] FYI, you should really think about this. If you want to do one thing to make the clouds move in a different direction, this is it. I guarantee you will be smiling, too. Have a great November.
Ohio Companies Invited to Learn How to Do Business in Asia
Asia is home to some of the fastest growing economies in the world and many Ohio companies are exploring business opportunities in Asian nations. Others would like to know how to get started. The Ohio Asian American Economic Summit is designed for companies that are new to Asia and those that would like to expand their operations. It runs from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, November 14, at Ariel International Center, 1163 E. 40th Street in Cleveland.
Business experts from Japan, China, India and Vietnam will discuss opportunities for trade between their nations and Ohio. Local CEOs who are doing business in Asia will share their insight. Lawyers and CPAs specialized in Asian economies will talk about legal and tax issues.
The conference will feature keynote addresses by the Honorable Mitsuhiro Wada, the consul general of Japan, and the Honorable Sandeep Chakravorty, the consul general of India, and end with a networking reception.
It is sponsored by the Ohio Asian American Pacific Islander Advisory Council, Ariel International center, Global Cleveland and Margaret W. Wong & Associates. To register, and to learn more, go to https://www.arielinternationalcenter.com/aic/EventregstartionForm.html
New ‘Citizenship Corners’ Established In Local Library Branches
By: Christopher Hoey
Global Cleveland is dedicated to being a resource to the international community of Cleveland. In an attempt to make resources regarding citizenship more readily available, we will be partnering with 5 local library branches to install Citizenship Corners that will be stocked with pamphlets and other informational materials that can be of use to anyone looking to pursue American citizenship.
The five locations will include the Main Library – International Languages Department, Fulton branch, Lorain branch, Solon branch, and the North Olmsted branch. At each of these locations, local librarians will be able to direct visitors to their citizenship corner setup, explaining the resources that are made available to them.
Each corner will be stocked with copies of the USCIS Civics and Citizenship Toolkit, Naturalization Interview and Test Video, and various study materials for Naturalization tests. Lastly, this will also include a brochure, “10 Steps to Naturalization: Understanding the Process of Becoming a U.S. Citizen” aside the Form N-400, Application for Naturalization.
“We hope that by making these resources publicly available, we help to encourage others to become U.S. citizens and provide them tangible materials to help them in doing so.” said Jazmin Long.
These citizenship corners can be found in cities across the country. Global Cleveland, with the help and support of our libraries, hopes to have these citizenship corners established throughout the winter season.
Global Cleveland is actively empowering our international community by increasing awareness of citizenship opportunities and other pertinent areas of interest to immigrants.
