India Pierce Lee 

 

Program Director for
Neighborhoods, Housing, and Community Development
at the Cleveland Foundation

 

by Hasan Moore, crew 3

 

 

Is your job important?  India Pierce Lee’s job is very important. Since 2006, she has served as the Program Director for Neighborhoods, Housing, and Community Development with the Cleveland Foundation. The Cleveland Foundation been around since 1914 - that`s 100 years! They have $2.2 billion, which they used to give 3,097 grants last year. They give grants in five main areas: education, neighborhoods, human services, arts/culture, and economic development.

 

The Cleveland Foundation is a organization that provides people with funding and opportunities to help improve themselves and their neighborhood. The mission of The Cleveland Foundation is “to enhance the lives of residents of Greater Cleveland by working together with donors to build community endowment, address needs through grant-making, and provide leadership on key community issues.” Pierce Lee has an important role with her involvement in this foundation to help the people of Cleveland.  

 

Although the Cleveland Foundation has many departments, Pierce Lee is specifically involved with the Greater University Circle Initiative which provides funding to projects that empower people to enhance their economic development. Pierce Lee trains people for careers - not just jobs - careers! Also Pierce Lee helps people pay off their house payment in 4-5 years; usually it takes at least 20 years to pay off a mortgage. She is currently working to stabilize the local economy through her work with the Greater University Circle Initiative, a partnership with local organizations to revitalize the neighborhood. Pierce Lee is an amazing woman because she wants to do even more to improve the city. “There are so many needs in Cleveland,” she said. “God has given me this opportunity to influence people.”

 

As program director, Pierce Lee also works to improve the development of Cleveland’s neighborhoods. Through grant-making, she allows Cleveland-based organizations to do art, culture, and beautification projects to make the neighborhoods more lively. She describes the theme of her job and of the foundation as “turning passion into purpose.”

 

Pierce Lee has been recognized for her accomplishments. She was awarded the keys to the city in not one city, but two, Cleveland and Dallas. She was endowed with the key to the city of Cleveland in 2001 for bringing businesses to the community through running the city’s Empowerment Zone.

 

She has learned from her experiences that “it’s easy to help people we know, it’s harder to help people we don't know.” That is something she tries to do every day at the Cleveland Foundation.