Community advocates are mourning the loss of Kwame Botchway, the 33-year-old director of Community Impact and Innovation for Cleveland Neighborhood Progress, who was found dead in his apartment on Cleveland's West Side Aug. 17.
No cause of death was announced.
Botchway, who led the organization's small business development and entrepreneurship programming, will be missed for his engaging personality and drive to help others, said Dione Alexander, president of CNP's Village Capital Corporation, where Botchway had worked.
“Kwame was just a bright light," she said. "We are all deeply saddened because we wanted to see the bright light burn longer. There was just so much that we all knew that Kwame was going to contribute to the world, and we couldn't wait to see it.”
Botchway, who migrated to the United States from Ghana in 2017, focused on building greater equity in the local economy at CNP by leading the organization's small business development and entrepreneurship programs. This included his work with Contractors on the Rise and the Equitable Development Initiative, which provides access to capital and technical assistance to women and minority real estate contractors and developers.
Alexander said she believes Botchway’s infectious personality and passion will continue to inspire others.
“We are hopeful that everyone that was engaged in discourse and conversation with him about issues around social, racial, economic and climate justice will honor that relationship by continuing to do the work, knowing how important it was for him that we co-create a just society," she said.
Botchway expressed his philosophy on life and his perspective on his work in Cleveland in an interview with cleveland.com earlier this year.
"Two things that I've always carried with me, the first one was to keep your head up always," he said. "And I think all through my life, all the challenges, all the storms that I've had to navigate all the way from my small village in Ghana to Cleveland and all the work that I've done, I've always learned to keep my head up and hold myself up high and not allow those challenges to put me down. And the second is a quote from Confucius, that says, 'Wherever you go, go with all your heart.' And I feel like that's been my Cleveland story."
He also maintained his connection to Ghana and his fellow African migrants, co-founding the Pan-African Center for Transformation. As Botchway said on his LinkedIn site just a week ago, the group's goal is "to mobilize our people and work toward a future of political, economic and psychological liberation among others."
Botchway worked to build greater equity for minorities, women and the migrant community in Northeast Ohio through his work with other organizations.
For example, he founded and served as principal of Citadel Impact Consulting, which focused on social impact strategy and worked with clients such as the environmental planning agency Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, Power A Clean Future Ohio and Solar United Neighbors. He also worked with the International Economic Development Council, the Black Environmental Leaders Association, Global Cleveland, Resource Cleveland and the World Economic Forum's Global Shapers Community.
Global Shapers Community Cleveland, a local network of young community organizers, launched a fundraiser Aug. 18 for Botchway. He supported the group's network of hubs across Cleveland, Chicago, Des Moines, Minneapolis, Cape Girardeau, Cincinnati and Madison. He was also working to open hubs in other Midwestern cities.
The group is seeking $30,000 to help support Kwame's memorial service and burial in Cleveland, the shipping of his personal effects, and to support travel costs for Kwame's family, according to the GoFundMe page. Any additional funding will be used to start a student scholarship in Botchway's name at Case Western Reserve University for a student from Ghana.
The group has raised $24,572 as of Aug. 20.
