In 2018, a grocery store moved away. Another neighborhood got a beautiful, new grocery store, but this neighborhood lost not only a place to buy eggs and milk, but also a central gathering space, a place where elders would buy cups of coffee for a dollar and walk laps around the store with friends. Elders who then started to take a shuttle to the new grocery store, and then when it was canceled, to walk several miles, or rely on friends or family members for a ride.

This is Cleveland’s AsiaTown, which until recently has been overlooked as a neighborhood, despite all of the ingredients of a neighborhood. AsiaTown has residents, a diverse population with Eastern European immigrant past and Eastern Asian immigrant present, Black families, Latin American families, white families of all generations and ages. AsiaTown has businesses, more than 50 of them run by Asian owners. AsiaTown has churches, markets, salons, artist studios. But AsiaTown does not have a park or community center.

In the absence of a grocery store, neighbors started to use the empty parking lot space. Kids rode their bikes and scooters, and women in tracksuits walked laps. Neighbors cut through the space carrying shopping bags or laundry.

Neighbors of multiple ethnic and racial backgrounds, countries of origin, and all walks of life gathered together on summer evenings.

A neighbor brought bongo drums and shared rhythm with neighborhood kids.

A Chinese flute player spread joy through music.

Moms planned a Children’s Day celebration, a place for neighborhood kids to be kids and celebrate their culture and heritage.

One of those moms baked pastries; the Asian market next door hired her to bake for them.

Hundreds of community members gathered to rally for change.

Seniors registered to vote in their native languages.

A woman celebrated moving out of a nearby shelter into a new home.

A dozen Chinese women gathered for a weekly plaza dancing practice 广场舞, claiming their space and visibility while exercising.

Community members nourished each other through shared home cooked meals.

The library set up a mobile book box with free seeds and books in multiple languages.

A Guatemalan family hosted a birthday party at the tables.

Residents reclaimed this community space to fill their neighborhood needs.

What can happen when we let community members set a vision for their own futures? Can we listen to what they share, on their own terms, outside of a public meeting? What can happen when communities have the freedom to embrace their full humanities?

Karis Tzeng is the Senior Fellow, Content + Research at Third Space Action Lab. She has worked in community development for 10 years, including most recently as Vice President of Planning for MidTown Cleveland, where she led neighborhood planning and place-building efforts in the MidTown and AsiaTown neighborhoods.