The integration of Cleveland suburbs was a long and controversial process. However, with the influence of the Cuyahoga Plan, many African American families were welcomed into predominantly white neighborhoods. In Bay Village, a black family was contacted before their move by residents of the neighborhood to "let them know they had friends in Bay." Neighbors also provided the family with a home-cooked meal on moving day, and neighborhood children accompanied their new classmates to school. Aside from welcoming new families, the Cuyahoga Plan provided support for families who faced intimidation and less than friendly neighborhood experiences. The Cuyahoga Plan was important to Clevelanders hoping to live in integrated communities because of the services and support it provided.

The Cuyahoga Plan was formed in 1974 in response to the racially motivated discriminatory practices in the Cleveland real estate market. Prior to the Plan, very few suburbs had any kind of substantial minority population, with the exception of some eastern Cleveland suburbs, like Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights and Warrensville Heights. Members of all races were steered into particular neighborhoods, and in areas like East Cleveland, the racial make-up of communities was in constant flux. For decades, blacks had been excluded from all-white neighborhoods, in which some residents would resort to bombings and threats in order to intimidate and prevent minorities from buying or renting homes. The Ludlow Community Association, formed in 1957, was the first group to make a concentrated effort to maintain an integrated community. While Ludlow became a national model for its integration efforts, the existence of only one racially welcoming neighborhood in Cleveland placed too much pressure on Ludlow and the surrounding neighborhoods, causing communities to be unstable. Organizations like Fair Housing Inc. (formed in 1962) and Operation Equality (a national program with support from the Urban League of Greater Cleveland, created in 1966) were two later efforts to further the desegregation of suburbs with a reach wider than the Ludlow community. The efforts of the organizations and the fair housing movement were federally solidified with the Fair Housing Act of 1968, but there was no real power to enforce the act, resulting in only modest successes for both Operation Equality and Fair Housing Inc. The Cuyahoga Plan formed to help African American families move to the suburbs by enforcing the laws enacted by the Fair Housing Act.

The Cuyahoga Plan used "checkers" to monitor fair and unfair real estate and lending practices in Cuyahoga County, and pressed charges against those found guilty of discrimination. Hoping to stabilize communities throughout Cleveland during and after integration, the Cuyahoga Plan monitored real estate companies as well as lenders. The Cuyahoga Plan took an institutional approach to the cause, forming relationships with not only real estate agents, but brokers and lending agencies, as well as other community members, allowing for the creation of a list of preferred agents and brokers who promised to practice fairly. While initial integration was important to the Plan, its board understood the importance of lasting integration, and as a result created resources to support families living in integrated neighborhoods, as well as promoted community activities to create a sense of togetherness. These resources fell under the Plan's "Life Support Systems," which, with their very existence, demonstrate the difficulty in maintaining an integrated neighborhood.

The Plan was not without resistance from both white and black community members. White families feared plummeting house values (another problem battled by the Cuyahoga Plan) while some black families did not want to place their safety and comfort on the line for the sake of integration. There was resistance from not only the community level, but business and governmental level as well. Even after the passage of the Fair Housing Act, some companies continued their unfair and manipulative methods. If companies were caught disobeying the act, they often entered into a legal battle facilitated or backed by the Cuyahoga Plan, and the discriminating company frequently lost. The Plan's Discrimination Complaint Service provided a place for black families who felt discriminated against to report their problems. One such complaint resulted in a lawsuit which ended with a settlement of $20,000 in favor of an African American couple, according to an article in the Plain Dealer from September 1980.

Unlike earlier attempts in Ludlow, the Cuyahoga Plan took an open housing approach to the fair housing movement, meaning the organization simply wanted to provide the resources to allow families to move into whatever neighborhoods they chose, rather than persuading white families to move and stay in suburbs with a growing black population, and persuading black families to be "pioneers" in white neighborhoods. The emphasis on fair housing and ensuring free choice set the Cuyahoga Plan apart as a progressive initiative.

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The Heights Community Congress was a fair housing organization which formed in Cleveland Heights in 1972 in response to racial discrimination practices in the Cleveland real estate and lending markets. After East Cleveland endured a dramatic upheaval in the second half of the 1960s, with its population transforming from predominantly white to predominantly black in a remarkably short period of time, the members of the Heights Community Congress wanted to ensure that Cleveland Heights would not be "another East Cleveland." Their mission was to encourage integration without re-segregation. After a 1972 survey, now known as St. Ann's Audit, members of a social group called Action for a Change found extreme racial steering in Cleveland and Shaker Heights; the group decided to organize and intervene in the unfair housing practices.

A common myth held that the influx of blacks into a community inevitably led to a decrease in property values; this myth caused many white families to pick up and move at the first sight of an African American family on the block. This phenomenon of panic, known as white flight, was just one of the problems facing the integration of Cleveland suburbs. The Heights Community Congress sought to end the discrimination in suburban integration by attacking the problem from every angle. The myth of decreased property values was perpetuated by lending agencies, who would not give money to suburbs with even a few black families for home improvement purposes. The resulting state of disrepair in integrated and black communities led to the establishment of a subcommittee within the Heights Community Congress which helped black families get funding, as well as created workshops to educate first-time home owners about home improvement and loan options.

The HCC used "checkers" to audit real estate companies. Checkers were both black and white couples who would each try to inquire, separately, about properties for rent or sale. If the couples were given different information and race was suspected to be the motivator, the HCC would intervene and equip slighted families with the tools necessary to sue. The methods used by the Heights Community Congress were aimed at creating and maintaining integrated neighborhoods, with a focus not only on the racial make up of communities, but on all aspects of community life, like education, code enforcement, and public safety. The HCC was to be a "parallel institution" to the real estate companies to ensure that someone was enforcing fair housing law, according to Heights Congress member, Lana Cowell. The Heights Community Congress's auditing role transferred to the Heights Housing Service in 1977 when it was brought into City Hall.

The Heights Community Congress was determined to draw public attention to the successes of integration by showcasing thriving neighborhoods with a wealth of recreational community activities. The HCC also conducted (and continues to lead) Heritage Home Tours, in order to allow the public to view beautiful, well maintained historic homes in the Cleveland Heights area. The tours would not only bring a sense of pride to the community, but showcase the maintained property value levels, despite integration. The HCC would distribute awards to homeowners who took an active role in maintaining the integrity of their home, harboring a sense of pride in the integrated neighborhood. As HCC director Kermit Lind described, the community activities like block parties, planned by the HCC, would not have been nearly as important in the Cleveland Heights community if it were not for the need to showcase black and white families having fun and doing things together. The Heritage Home Tours and other programs led by the Congress were a method of assurance that integration was continuing, and was a positive and valuable aspect of the community.

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Shiny windows, clean floors and new furniture. All are part of a new office and a new opportunity. This is what African American entrepreneur Isaac Haggins imagined for his realty business. Haggins, whose new office in Cleveland Heights in 1968 became the first black-owned realty office in any Cleveland suburb, sold homes in the Cleveland area to both African Americans and whites at a time when Realtors refused to do so. By 1960 and through the 1970s, Cleveland Heights endured a tumultuous housing and real estate environment. African Americans were moving into suburbs where the population was overwhelmingly white. This movement unreasonably scared some whites into committing criminal acts against them.

Haggins began his real estate business in 1961 in order to fulfill his dream of selling good homes to any person no matter what race. He had two offices located at 10215 St. Clair Avenue and 12534 Union Avenue on Cleveland's east side. After having many successful years in both locations, Haggins opened his third office in December 1968 in Cleveland Heights at 2221 North Taylor Road. The office space was sold to him by an Italian man who warned that he could not guarantee his safety. While violence was not an everyday occurrence in Cleveland Heights, it was a possibility. Haggins did not think much about the warning and opened the office with much fanfare. He hosted an open house in December 1968 to celebrate the opening of the office. The party was attended by many city officials, local citizens and community leaders.

Unfortunately, the celebration was short lived. In February 1969, Haggins office in Cleveland Heights was bombed as an act of racial violence. The bomb damaged the interior of the office and cost $10,000-$12,000 to repair. A positive message that resulted from the disaster was that the community banded together. Haggins received many sympathy calls and letters stating support for him and his company and hope for justice. The Cleveland Real Estate Brokers Association even posted a $500 reward for any information that could produce a suspect. The bombing served as another wake-up call to politicians and citizens that a real problem was on their doorstep.

The culprits were never captured but Haggins Realty bounced back. Only four months later, Haggins hired seven new staffers out of the 165 who applied. According to the Call & Post, the new employees were attracted to Haggins Realty due to the amount of sympathy around the entire city after the Taylor Road office bombing. However, the rest of Haggins's career was not always full of praise and support. He was accused of using blockbusting techniques in his realty practice, a charge he steadfastly denied. Despite the devastation of the bombing and through the outpouring of support and the accusations of blockbusting, the Haggins Realty firm continued to be successful. By October 1971, Haggins Realty reached over $1 million in sales just for that month alone. Haggins Realty continued its success for many more years to come.

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Robert P. Madison was a young and eager man who returned from the Second World War in 1946 looking forward to a new beginning. Passionate about architecture since childhood, Madison knocked on the door of the Western Reserve University's School of Architecture that July. He was promptly denied admission because of his skin color. The school had never admitted a black student and declared that it was not about to start. Madison was not going to take rejection lying down. He was a United States soldier and more importantly he was a person. The color of his skin should not be a factor. Madison returned to Western Reserve the next day wearing his Army uniform, decorated with his Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge and five combat ribbons. Not only did he serve valiantly but he was also wounded while fighting in Italy. Madison told the dean that "my blood has been spilled on the soil of Italy to make this country free." Upon seeing and hearing of Madison's service record, the dean agreed to let the young veteran into the school on the condition that he passed preliminary tests. Madison did so and was accepted into the program, where he exceeded all expectations.

Following architecture school, graduate study at Harvard, and a brief stint teaching at Howard University, in 1954, Madison returned to Cleveland to open his own office to practice architecture and engineering. It was the first firm started by an African American in the state of Ohio. In 1960, Madison and his family moved from the overcrowded Glenville neighborhood to Cleveland Heights, where he experienced more discrimination. However, this time it was due to where he chose to live, not where he wanted to go to school. Madison moved his family to a home he designed and built at 2339 North Park Boulevard in Cleveland Heights. They were not even able to purchase the property because they were black; instead, a Jewish person purchased it in their name, which was a common practice during that time. At that time there were very few black homeowners living in the suburb. However, Madison needed to move his family out of Cleveland to find a better education system for his daughter. In Glenville, students were being put into relay classes, meaning that they went to school for half a day instead of a full day due to high enrollments. Madison and his wife were both educated and they were not going to allow their daughter to get only half an education.

The Madisons encountered many acts of racial violence directed at their home during their first year of living in Cleveland Heights. Even prior to moving, Madison received a phone call from a man telling him that he did not want him to move to the neighborhood. Madison ignored the advice from the man. His neighbors even attempted to buy him out of the house. During their first year living on North Park Boulevard, rocks were thrown at their house and there was a woman who refused to walk on the sidewalk in front of their house. The Madison family dealt with those threats and continued to live on that street for forty years. Through all of their struggles, Madison remained a successful architect and principal at his firm, Madison, Madison, and Madison (later Robert P. Madison International), which had a hand in many prestigious projects including U.S. embassies, Cleveland Browns Stadium, the Louis Stokes Wing at Cleveland Public Library, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, among many others.

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