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

Speakers: Brent Larkin, Columnist, cleveland.com; Ohio State Senator Matt Dolan (R-24) Gun deaths rose 43% from 2010 to 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. The Gun Violence Archive reports more than 350 mass shootings in the first half of 2022. Recently, Ohio passed two gun laws: one expands concealed carry laws and the another … Continue reading Guns: How Can We Keep Our Loved Ones Safe?

Speakers: Adarsh Krishen MD, MMM, FAAFP, Chief Medical Officer, Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio; Mary Schatzman RN, gynecology, Northeast Ohio Women's Center What will the vulnerable do without Roe? A strong social safety net will be critical to helping women cope with an unintended pregnancy and delivery, not to mention a newborn. It will be … Continue reading Post-Roe: Impact & Options

Speakers: Kate Mozynski, Staff Attorney, Equality Ohio; Phyllis "Seven" Harris, Executive Director, LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland Most of us know people who are gay, lesbian or transgender, but many don’t understand what it means to be non-binary. An estimated 11% of LGBTQ adults in the US, approximately 1.2 million, identify as nonbinary, according … Continue reading Getting to Know Non-Binary People

Speakers: Sally Martin, Director, and Tim Kobie, Manager, Strategic Code Enforcement Initiatives, both of Cleveland Building and Housing Department; Ayonna Blue Donald, Vice President, Ohio Market, Enterprise Community Partners The cost of purchasing a home has skyrocketed, and rental costs have increased as well. It has become especially difficult to find affordable housing in marginalized … Continue reading Where Have All the (Affordable) Houses Gone?

Speakers: Donna Graham, Vice President, Revenue Cycle, MetroHealth Medical Center; Kinsey Jolliff, Principal, Health Policy & Payment Innovation, The MetroHealth System. Staffing shortages, rising expenses, supply chain issues and limited bed availability are major problems for the healthcare industry.  All this leads to funding challenges. How does it affect the average patient?

Speaker: Tom Sutton PhD, Director, Community Research Institute, Baldwin Wallace University Inflation, gas prices, guns violence abortion and democracy itself. All are on the ballot. The party that occupies the White House historically loses an average of 25 seats in the midterms. Gerrymandering is often the deciding factor. Will money and slogans determine the outcome? … Continue reading Midterm Elections: Meltdown, Referendum or Party Switching?

Speaker: Kristin Hall, Executive Director, Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District; Judy Huichun Zhang, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, CWRU Lake Erie is an asset of Ohio that is taken for granted. Gov. DeWine signed into law HB 175 that exempts from pollution regulations of all Ohio tributaries not protected by the Clean Water … Continue reading Water: You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘til It’s Gone

Speaker: Bethia Burke, President, Cleveland-based Fund for our Economic Future; Jacob Duritsky, Vice President, Strategy & Research, Team Northeast Ohio (Team NEO) Studies show that labor shortages are still prevalent despite that the pandemic is under better control. Do they contribute to the downturn in the economy? What are the causes? What does the future … Continue reading Labor Shortage: What’s the Future in NE Ohio and Beyond?

Speakers: Brian Hoffman, Esq., Executive Director, Ohio Center for Strategic Immigration Litigation; Patrick Kearns, Executive Director, The Refugee Response Normally, 3,000 immigrants come to Cleveland annually.  In 2019 there were 12,000 pending immigration cases in Cleveland’s Immigration Court.  What will 2021 bring with deportation issues?  The US has 13 million undocumented immigrants, including over 700,000 … Continue reading Immigration, Refugees, DACA and the Future

Speakers: Mark Weber, Retired KSU Dean, Library Services, and Activist Leader of Jewish, Secular and Labor Organizations. Hatred of Jews, Muslims and any other group is wrong. How can we combat anti-Semitic stereotypes and messages that are clearly inaccurate? Is reasoned criticism of the Israeli government's policy to occupy the West Bank anti-Semitic? Let's discuss.

Speakers: Darcy Freedman, PhD, Professor, CWRU School of MedicineJulie Johnson, CEO, The Hunger Network. Food insecurity has increased since the pandemic, with an estimated 226,000 people hungry in Cuyahoga County in 2020. Food shortages and increases in food costs have made it difficult for the Cleveland Food Bank to supply distribution sites. Cleveland, with its … Continue reading Food Insecurity Challenges & Solutions