Now that you've learned a bit about OneCleveland, we are looking for your analysis and advice. Several cities are already contemplating and initiating projects in this vein - but most would be led not by an alliance of nonprofits, but by government. Conversely, private business continues to make major investments in IT, without broad collaborations or a community service mission.

Here are some key questions we’d like you to consider:

(1) When we discuss cross-boundary initiatives in government, the boundaries are typically understood to be departments within City or State government, or collaborations across multiple jurisdictions. But the boundaries crossed in the OneCleveland case cross sectors - spanning public and private, nonprofit and for-profit. In what situations are such "big picture" boundaries the right ones to focus on? And when might such boundaries be the wrong ones to focus on?

(2) OneCleveland has built its assets primarily through a venture capital approach: by persuading companies such as IBM and Cisco to donate equipment on the prospect that they’ll gain a foothold in an emerging market, and by persuading nonprofits to invest more substantially in IT than their operations would normally warrant for the sake of exploiting untapped community potential. What can OneCleveland teach us about how the role of education, or salesmanship, in successfully funding this kind of initiative?

(3) OneCleveland is fundamentally a multi-sector initiative. Could a City, County, or State play the role that Case Western has played in OneCleveland? How would having a government entity in that role affect the project’s financial viability or effectiveness? Can government follow a venture capital approach?

(4) Consider OneCleveland's reliance on user, or subscriber, fees. When are such fees an appropriate and effective funding mechanism for a cross-boundary initiative?

(5) Despite its stated intent to build an infrastructure for economic growth, even OneCleveland has been accused of stymieing business IT investment. What’s your view, and do you think a stronger or weaker government role would change those dynamics?

(6) A great part of OneCleveland’s ability to leverage high-profile donations - and extensive free publicity from media coverage - resulted from its being the first of its kind. Does this make replicating the model substantially more difficult for other cities?

(7) Lev Gonick first attempted to pilot a project like this in Monterey, California, and failed. Is a state of crisis or near-crisis, such as Cleveland's and Northeast Ohio's depressed economy, a necessary precursor to the success of such an ambitious cross-boundary initiative? What other factors might influence the success of such initiatives?

(8) There are plans to expand OneCleveland geographically; with the addition of Akron in February, the project has been renamed OneCommunity. Can this model support unlimited growth, or do you believe an excessively wide geographic reach could undermine the project?