Evelyn Burnett

 

Vice President of
Cleveland Neighborhood Progress

 

by Arieana Powerll, crew 6

 

 

Many people plan out their future job. Often, however, these plans don’t turn out the way they expected. People frequently stumble upon their current jobs by accident. Evelyn Burnett was one of these people. She is the Vice President of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, an organization that strives to improve economic opportunities in Cleveland by building houses and shopping areas. She helps to build services where anybody, regardless of their income, housing, etc., can come to get high quality financial training and services. 

 

Cleveland Neighborhood Progress builds structures that benefit the community. They have built things like Dave’s Grocery, Family Dollar and residential real estate. They improve asset buildings and education and health awareness. CNP raises money from foundations and re-grants the funds to other community developing corporations. The purpose of it is to make sure that people live in good housing and can afford their housing even if the community is underserved. CNP’s vision is to make Cleveland’s communities attractive and vibrant. They want to address the most critical issues in Cleveland and fix them. Cleveland Neighborhood Progress doesn’t do this to get money, but to give houses and amenities to people who need them.

 

Cleveland Neighborhood Progress has made a lot of progress over the years. Cleveland Neighborhood Progress currently works with the following corporations: Buckeye Area Development Corporation, Burten, Bell, Carr Development, Inc., Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, Fairfax Renaissance Development Corporation, Famicos Foundation, Northeast Shores Development Corporation, Ohio City Inc., Slavic Village Development and Tremont West Development Corporation. The biggest project they accomplished is the PNC Community Financial Centers. By partnering with these development corporations and building the financial centers, Evelyn Burnett and Cleveland Neighborhood Progress have made great progress towards fulfilling the mission of creating vibrant and strong communities in Cleveland.

 

When she was younger Evelyn Burnett did not plan to be involved in the type of work she does today.  “I liked school, but only the social part of it,” she stated. “I didn’t like learning for advancement and was not interested in the same things I am now.”  When she was younger, she wanted to be a barber because they were the social people in town, and everybody told the barber everything. She went to Ursuline High School. She went to college at the University of Akron to dance and to study public relations with a double minor in marketing and sales. Later, she got a master’s degree in public administration. This led to her eventual promotion to Vice President. She says, “I had to study a lot and had to go to college. I talked to people that I admired and got advice from them. I had to perform really well and I had to be willing to do things that I didn’t want to do.”Evelyn Burnett became interested in the cause of improving urban neighborhoods “by accident.” She wanted to be in philanthropy, but she felt disconnected from people. After she received her Master’s in public administration, she decided that she wanted to work with people. She came to Cleveland from New York City because she recognized the public concerns and opportunities here that would allow her to work with people.

 

Evelyn Burnett has many responsibilities as a Vice President of Cleveland Neighborhood Progress. She has to oversee and manage programming integrating services around education, leadership building, community engagement, workforce development and wealth building into the community development. Some activities include creating and managing programs, creating an integrated service deliver model to ensure the No Wrong Door approach, and increase opportunities for all people in Cleveland. She also has to research behavioral economics and a variety of other factors so that she can know how to make smart decisions that benefit communities. 

 

Evelyn has very high hopes for her cause. She hopes that lots of people live and invest in Cleveland. Her goal is to have her organization build homes for people to live in and areas to shop in. She wants to have everything people need in Cleveland and nothing less. Through her work at Cleveland Neighborhood Progress she has shown that she is committed to making this happen.

 

“To be vice president, I had to study a lot and had to go to college. I went to talk to people that I admired and got advice from them. I had to perform really well and be willing to do things that I didn’t want to do.”   

 

 

Sidebox:

Advice to Students

Evelyn advises students to “stop watching TV, read, explore more, be more physically active and travel more.” By following this advice students will be able to recognize and take advantage of opportunities when they arise.