Citizens Accelerating Change for the Tenth Year in Cleveland

Accelerate: Citizens Make Change is an annual pitch competition that takes place downtown. Unlike most pitch competitions it’s not business owners pitching investors, it’s local citizens pitching community leaders with an idea or initiative that they think will make Cleveland better. A project of the Cleveland Leadership Center and Citizens Bank, Accelerate brings out teens, individuals, classmates and families.

This year’s Accelerate took place on Thursday at the Huntington Convention Center. In front of a crowd of nearly 750 people, the contestant pitched ideas in the categories of Arts and Culture, Health and Wellbeing, Thriving Neighborhoods, Social Change, and Education. There were also categories for teens and a category called technovation, which is for the best and most innovative technological idea.

In its 10th year, Accelerate welcomed Mayor Bibb as he presented a proclamation to commemorate the milestone. Over the past decade, the initiative has seen 273 projects pitched, engaging over 5,000 individuals and leaving a significant impact on the lives of tens of thousands of Clevelanders, according to Marianne Crosley, president, and CEO of Cleveland Leadership Center.   

Our Story and Accelerate

As far as Cleveland events go, Accelerate is a big deal. We first covered the event in 2018 and have seen many pitches go on to become projects, businesses, and nonprofit organizations that many Clevelanders have benefitted from. While the goal is to win the main prize of $5,000, category winners and nonwinners benefit from community exposure and support in the weeks leading up to the event and for years after. I was fortunate enough to have an idea selected to pitch in the 2020 competition and I actually won my category. While I didn’t win the main prize, I do take pride in being considered a past presenter and part of the Accelerate family.

This year’s contestants

This year’s competition featured 26 pitches. The winner was former Lakewood teacher, Laura Balliett’s idea called Cool School Comics. As the winner she took home $5000 from Nordson, the presenting partner of the Education category. Cool School Comics turns learning and text information into comics, to help students stay engaged and help with comprehension.

The other finalists who each won $2,000 were;

• Ariana Smith, who pitched “M.H.M. Youth Summit” was part of the Health & Well-being category presented in partnership with MAGNET: The Manufacturing and Advocacy Growth Network and The MetroHealth System.

• Nicholas “Moses” Ngong and Luciana Salles who pitched “Culture.CLE” in the Social Change category presented in partnership with Centric Consulting.

• Paula Coggins, from Lee-Harvard with a pitch called “Sew City Quilts.” The pitch was in the Thriving Neighborhoods category presented in partnership with Growth Opps.

• Johnathan Jamison and Heavenly Aguilar pitched an idea of “Reel People, Real Legacies” in the Arts & Culture category presented in partnership with Oswald Companies and Westfield.

The Technovation winner, Sara Kidner, secured $3,500 for her initiative, Micro Scholarship Mentor Match, aiding first-generation college students. In the Teen competition, Lilly Moran and Gabby Ransom from Hathaway Brown School won $1,000 and mentorship for their project, “Growing Hope.”

Learn more about the finalist or all of the ideas pitched here