Building Hope utilizes social enterprises to provide better
futures for people, and to help fund its own operations

PART III of the series about the non-profit Building Hope in the City

By JOHN KEREZY, eyeoncleveland.com founder

CLEVELAND, OCT 16 – Urban farming in neighborhoods which have become food deserts. After-school and summer tutoring programs for households with eager children. Internship opportunities. Employment through social enterprises, which in turn provides both steady work for people and also raises funds for ministry purposes.

Programs such as these have become the heartbeat of Building Hope in the City.  So, as this ministry celebrates its successes with a Gala fund raising event on November 1 (details below), it is achieving holistic transformations in its Clark-Fulton & Stockyards ‘home base’ and across a large swarth of Cuyahoga County as well.

“We realized that we had to change the model for how a non-profit social service agency works in order to partner with the residents of this neighborhood,” recalls Brian Upton, executive director of Building Hope. “Rather than being just another non-profit relying on ‘outside’ expertise, we’ve chosen instead to listen to our community and invite them to help shape and lead our services, both in volunteer and in employment capacities.”

Building Hope’s presence in the center of a neighborhood it serves, on West 58^th Street on Cleveland’s near West Side, sends a powerful message that it is committed to playing its role in renewing its neighborhood and supporting its residents to find opportunity for deep community connections, affordable housing, meaningful work, and faith. 

“Project by project, street by street, we felt called to engage the community with programs and services that all invest in the people living here,” Upton says. “We are striving to develop and implement a model of what holistic transformation looks like today.”

SOME LOVE IN ACTION EXAMPLES

Social enterprises earn about 40% of the income, or about $2 million, of Building Hope’s $4.8 million budget. That’s an extraordinary amount for a non-profit.  (insert chart). About half of the social service agencies in the U.S. have adopted social enterprise models, according to a study by Social Impact Architects. Two of the largest examples of this are Goodwill and the YMCA/YWCA.

“Building Hope has multiple sources of income anchored by social enterprise efforts…” notes Marty Uhle, president and CEO of the Community West Foundation, one of Building Hope’s regular supporters. “This is a dream for many non-profits, and Building Hope has achieved it, with plans for even more.”

One example is Peripeti Homes. Once a week, a few immigrants and refugees get together in the basement chandlery of Building Hope’s headquarters building. There they make products for Peripeti.

“Peripeti Home offers handcrafted candles and home fragrances that promote wellness and community connection,” says Kate Walsh, founder and creative director. “All our products are made using natural ingredients, and we support ethical employment practices.”

The company focuses on using all natural ingredients in its candle products. It is dedicated to providing non-toxic fragrances in a very competitive yet unregulated industry. Here’s just one small example: all candles are made from natural soy wax. Founder Walsh became especially concerned about chemicals in all its products after she was diagnosed with cancer and successfully treated in 2021.

“We emphasize the principles of clean living, sustainability, and social impact (with Peripeti),” Walsh adds.

For more details about Peripeti Homes, click here:  https://peripetihome.com/  

Another example is Common Threads Thrift Store, an upscale thrift business which has in years past been rated the #1 Thrift Store in Northeast Ohio by Scene Magazine.  It specializes in clothing, accessories, home décor, and other types of home goods.

Joy Heuberger has been a regular customer at Common Threads since 2017. “I knew that I needed an economical place to buy clothes for our family, which included four kids, and several friends recommended that I try Common Threads,” she recalls.

“I have found dresses for weddings, baby clothes, school uniforms, Christmas gifts, and household items that save my budget big time! And the best part is my money is invested back into the community,” Heuberger adds. “I know what Common Threads stands for—it supports me as a customer by offering great deals and accepting my donations, and it supports my city by reinvesting profits back into the community. Everywhere I go, I recommend Common Threads to others because it is a win-win for those who go there!”

There’s an additional benefit of Common Threads: sustainability. It reduces textiles going to landfills by diverting hundreds of thousands of pounds of clothing from the trash heap to store racks.

Common Threads currently has two locations, on Lorain Road in Fairview Park and on Smith Road in Brookpark. But plans are underway to add a third location in the Clark Fulton-Stockyards neighborhood, close to Building Hope’s headquarters.

Here is the website:  www.commonthreadsthrift.com

Between Peripeti and Common Threads, about 75 people have steady employment opportunities. Additionally, the enterprises benefit from having a steady stream of dozens of volunteers assisting their operations.

GALA EVENT ON NOV. 1 WITH A
ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY

After a Covid-19 hiatus, Building Hope is holding its renowned in-person bund raising banquet once again. Its Restoring the City Gala on Saturday, November 1 is a celebration of the beauty, diversity, and vibrancy of Cleveland. The theme “Colors of Hope” invites attendees to see the many ways that God is restoring lives and communities.

Attendees at the event, held at the Cleveland Hilton Inn downtown, will enjoy an evening with dinner, drinks, live music, and stories of those who have a heart for Cleveland. Your attendance will help fund programs and provide more hope for neighborhoods and people who are touched by Building Hope.

The gala is well known for a fabulous array of auction items, with all the proceeds going to Building Hope.

Perhaps the leading auction donation this year is a certificate which is good for a ride for two people on the Goodyear Blimp. You cannot purchase a ticket for the Blimp, as it’s not an airline! Goodyear makes a handful of Blimp Certificates available each year to non-profits, and this year it’s granted one of those certificates to Building Hope. So, if you’ve always wanted something unique like a blimp ride, you have a chance to do that if you attend the “Colors of Hope” gala.

Below is a link to tickets and additional information. ACT NOW, as the deadline for tickets is Monday, October 20.

https://www.buildinghopeinthecity.org/events-list/2025-restoringthecity-gala

Link to Part I in this series: https://eyeoncleveland.com/2025/08/13/building-hope-does-just-that/

Link to Part II in this series: https://eyeoncleveland.com/2025/09/05/housing-and-the-cycle-of-help/