Keymah Durden III, Randy McShepard & Damien Forshe
- Three best friends that grew up in Cleveland’s Lee-Miles neighborhood
- Co-Founders of Rid-All Green, focused on growing food, creating jobs, and building healthy, green neighborhoods
- Dedicated to bringing urban farming to Cleveland
- Durden is an environmental educator who has lead programs and activities both nationally and internationally. He is currently involved in projects in Ghana, Kenya, Belize, and Israel.
- McShepard is also the Co-Founder and Chairman of PolicyBridge, a public policy think tank serving the Northeast Ohio region.
- Read about Forshe in Time’s 100 most influential people in the world
Bobby Womack (1944-2014)
- Born and raised in Cleveland’s Central Avenue neighborhood
- Singer, guitarist songwriter
- Wrote songs for the Rolling Stones, Wilson Pickett and Janis Joplin
- Preformed guitar back up for Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin
- Launched a solo career that reached its peak in the 1970s
- In 2009, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Frank Robinson
- Born and raised in Cleveland
- Played outfield for the Cincinnati Reds and Baltimore Orioles
- After a playing career, he was hired in 1975 by the Cleveland Indians as a Coach, making him the first black manager in MLB history
- Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1982
Louis Stokes (1925-2015)
- Born and raised in Cleveland
- American attorney, civil rights pioneer and politician
- Served 15 terms in the US House of Representatives
- Was the first African American congressman elected in the state of Ohio
- In his retirement, Stokes worked as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University
Jim Brown
- Born and raised in Cleveland
- Athlete, actor, activist
- One of the Cleveland Browns greatest players(1957–1965)
- Every season Brown played, he was voted into the Pro Bowl, and he left the league strong by scoring three touchdowns in his final Pro Bowl game
- Brown retired in July 1966, after nine seasons, as the NFL’s all-time leading rusher
- In retirement, Brown pursued acting starring in Dirty Dozen and Ice STation Zebra.
- Most notably, Brown was the first African-American to announce a televised boxing match in the United States