Hello CityProwlers! I hope you are enjoying autumn in Cleveland or your city. I am delighted to announce that the Arcades tour is finally available on the website! This tour features all 3 of downtown's unique and magnificent arcades and gives some insight to how Cleveland came about building them. Plus, I interview 4 people that have connections to the arcades. Have a listen here!!

There was so much interesting information on the arcades that I had to leave out of the recording (to keep it to a half hour) that I will be adding arcade content to the blog, or maybe even doing some mini podcasts in the near future.

Let's hope a Cleveland indian summer kicks in soon! As the days get shorter and the temperature drops, pretty days to walk around the city are dwindling. So get out and prowl while you can!

Lots of media attention for CityProwl Cleveland this fall!

• Jennifer's interview with Mark Urycki of 90.3 FM WCPN aired in September. You can listen to it here.
• WEWS/Channel 5 will air a short piece on CityProwl Cleveland October 19th at 5pm.
• Inside Business Magazine will profile Jennifer as an Ohio Entrepreneur in the November issue.
• Jennifer was featured in the fall catalog for Naturalizer Shoes! Selected to represent Ladies Who Launch as one of six female business owners, she got to fly to NYC for a fancy photo shoot this summer. Check out the online article here!

CityProwl Cleveland has teamed up with the Playaway Digital to load the tours on their digital audioplayers. Why is this special? Because the units can be used by people who do not have access to .mp3 players. This month, The Associated Construction Distributors International had their regional convention in downtown Cleveland and rented players for their attendees' use during their stay. CityProwl Cleveland has plans to expand into the tourist market with this tool. We'll keep you posted!

In September, CityProwl Cleveland worked with the Playhouse Square Foundation to create digital 'hint' stations' for their annual Discovery Tour. CityProwl-produced narrations and photos were loaded onto laptops and monitors located throughout Playhouse Square to help the 400 participants find items on a high-tech scavenger hunt. Much fun was had by all!

Spotlight: Civic Innovation Lab

CityProwl Cleveland was able to to have a successful launch this year, due in part to receiving a $30,000 grant from the Civic Innovation Lab. The CIL is a project funded by The Cleveland Foundation, offering mentorship, training, and funding of up to $30,000 for ideas that have a measurable economic impact on the Greater Cleveland community.

Since its launch, in September 2003, the Civic Innovation Lab has received over 250 proposals, supported over 20 new economic development initiatives, and trained over 200 entrepreneurs. The Lab looks for ideas that are: innovative (something that is not happening already in Greater Cleveland), civic (there is charitable intent) and economic (the idea has the potential to improve the economy). While this could mean job creation, CIL also values supporting downtown vitality, stemming brain drain, encouraging a new industry, or promoting entrepreneurship.

While the grant money is important to the champions (grantees), the mentors are the engine of the Lab. The core of the Lab is the connection that it makes between present community leaders, mentors, future community leaders and the champions.

The CityProwl Cleveland boutique at CafePress, the online marketplace, is having a Halloween Sale on its fabulous merchandise. Get t- shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, caps and the like, emblazoned with the CityProwl Cleveland logo.

The majority of CityProwlers are between 26 and 50 years old, college educated, married homeowners. 28% live in the city, 60% live in the suburbs and 10% live 1 hour or more away from Cleveland. They are equally men and women and most have children. If you want to weigh in with your stats, please take the CityProwl Cleveland survey. We can't wait to get to know you better!