Speaker: Scott Osiecki, CEO, Cuyahoga County Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services, (ADAMHS). The Cuyahoga County Diversion Center opened in May. It provides treatment rather than jail for non-violent, low-level offenders, along with services for the mentally ill and drug addicted. The Center is staffed with psychiatrists, doctors, nurses and treatment specialists. Are police … Continue reading Cuyahoga County Diversion Center: How Does It Work?

Speakers: Christopher Prewitt, Chief Technology Officer, MRK Technologies and Rockie Brockway, CSO Chief Information Security Office, TrustedSec. Cybercrime and ransomware are growing nationally and internationally.  Ransomware is extortion.  It gains unauthorized access to our individual accounts as well as private computer systems in corporations, government agencies, and infrastructure systems.  All of us are vulnerable.  Can … Continue reading Ransomware & Cyberattacks:  How Am I Affected?

Speakers: Jonathan Entin, CWRU Professor of Law and Political Science; Ryan Claassen, Political Science Professor, Kent State University. What do the results of the November 2nd election mean? Low turnout usually produces surprising results. Multi-racial and unaffiliated voters are increasing. Can democracy exist when political parties are increasingly polarized? How are the parties handling the … Continue reading Political Parties, Polarization and the Future

Speaker: Bryan Adamson, CWRU Professor of Law. GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft). How does GAFAM’s power and size affect capitalism, democracy, and our personal lives? These companies measure our attention, collect user data from us, and lock in the means to get messages (including disinformation) into our consciousness via advanced technology and tailored … Continue reading Social Media, the Internet, and Technology: Monopolies vs Accountability

Speaker(s): Arin Miller-Tait, Community Development, Program and Project Manager, University Circle; Mittie Imani Jordan, Entrepreneur, Pastor, Hough Resident, and Neighborhood Organizer. Voted the best arts district in the US by USA Today, University Circle (UC) is an extraordinary epicenter of culture, education, art, and healthcare. How are UC organizations directly serving their surrounding, underserved neighborhoods? … Continue reading University Circle: Excellence, Impact & Surrounding Neighborhoods

Speaker: Akram Boutros, M.D., CEO and President, MetroHealth System Cuyahoga County ranks 75th out of Ohio’s 88 counties in health outcomes. MetroHealth has transformed its healthcare system to address the social determinants of health. Example: the H.O.P.E program (Health, Opportunity, Partnership, Empowerment) addresses health disparities due to social isolation, food, housing and employment insecurity. A variety … Continue reading Transforming Health Care: What’s Coming?

Speakers: Bob Rosenbaum, Co-Chair, Heights Observer. Panel: Sharon Broussard, Project Manager, NEO Solutions Journalism Collaborative, and Jim O’Bryan, Founder, Observer Media Project. Factual, independent news media is the bulwark of democracy. Fake news, lies, and manipulation of facts influence a large majority of the population via social media, radio and TV. Are local, non-profit media … Continue reading Democracy, Non-Profit News, and the Future

Speaker: Robert Rich, Director, Center for Inflation Research, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland Inflation has multiple impacts on our lives and communities, and it has surged over the past year. The consumer price index, a broad-based measure of inflation, rose 6.8% last November, the largest increase since 1982. The current elevated readings serve as a … Continue reading The Pandemic and the Inflation Outlook

Speakers: Jessie Hill, Professor, CWRU Law School; Lisa Reisz, JD., Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease, LLP What are the fundamental rights of women? Can they exist alongside religious beliefs and the right to life, or not? The choice of whether to have children, when and with whom is central to gender equality and the ability to … Continue reading Government Mandated Pregnancy: Supreme Court or State’s Rights

Speakers: Chris Knestrick, Executive Director, Northeast Ohio Coalition of Homeless (NEOCH); Jean Kosmac, Street Outreach Worker; Angelo Anderson, an activist who has experienced homelessness. In Cuyahoga County, 6,000 people experience homelessness, according to Housing and Urban Development (HUD). What factors cause loss of homes and who helps people find shelter?

Speakers: Fred Bidwell, FRONT International Founder; Gregory Peckham, Executive Director, LAND Studio Colorful murals decorating Midtown industrial walls. The giant hand sculpture outside Cleveland’s Museum of Contemporary Art. Underground Railroad photos amidst church pews. These projects are among many of two Cleveland arts organizations: LAND Studios (https://www.land-studio.org), and FRONT International: Cleveland Triennial for Contemporary Art … Continue reading Cleveland Public Art: Outside the Box

Speakers: Cheryl Johncox, Fossil Fuels Organizer, Sierra Club, and Ted Auch, Ph.D., Director, FracTracker Alliance, Great Lakes Program. The brine that the fracking industry produces as waste is being used on Ohio’s roads as a de-icer. Limited testing indicates the brine contains radioactive concentrations that can pollute soil or become airborne as radioactive dust, thus … Continue reading Fracking, Radioactive Brine and Icy Roads