The City Club of Cleveland Podcast

In November 2024, Bernie Moreno was elected as a U.S. Senator for Ohio. He is largely known for building one of the largest dealership groups in America, eventually employing over 1,000 Ohioans. Born in Bogota, Colombia, Moreno moved to the United States with his family at age five, becoming a U.S. citizen at 18. Following his business career, he turned his focus to public service.\r\n\r\nSenator Moreno has already sponsored signature legislation, including the USA CAR Act, which aims to give tax breaks for buying American-assembled vehicles, and the Transportation Freedom Act, aimed at boosting domestic auto manufacturing and easing certain emission rules.

In Cuyahoga County 1 in 10 children will be sexually abused before their 18th birthday; and victims of trafficking can be women or men, girls or boys. Right now, organizations in Northeast Ohio are doubling down to address sexual violence and human trafficking. What are the current advocacy efforts and challenges to access to care right here in Cleveland? And what tools are available to help protect our communities in a time when uncertainty on policy, progress, and funding only adds to these challenges?\r\n\r\nJoin us at the City Club as we hear from leadership from the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center and Canopy Child Advocacy Center on the state of sexual violence and human trafficking in Cuyahoga County; and what each of us can do to ensure a safe and healing environment for all survivors.

The Great Lakes influence our surrounding regions\' culture, economy, and environment. Yet, record-breaking temperatures and unprecedented weather events across these regions, and those who rely on the lakes for their way of life, are asking questions about what's to come.\r\n\r\nChris Winslow has the answers.\r\n\r\nChris is the Director of the Ohio Sea Grant's College Program, where he coordinates their research with Ohio State University's Stone Lab-Ohio Sea Grant's education and outreach facility on Lake Erie and part of The Ohio State University's College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences.\r\n\r\nFor more than 100 years, professional researchers from across the nation have worked at Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Labs to help solve the most pressing issues facing the Great Lakes, such as invasive species and toxic algal blooms. Researchers provide critical science that informs policy, guides environmental management, and shapes public understanding of Lake Erie and the broader Great Lakes region. From ecosystem health to economic impact, this research plays a key role in ensuring a more resilient future for the communities that depend on the lakes.

There is no simple solution or singular approach to gender equality in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. But Anita Zaidi, President of the Gender Equality Division at the Gates Foundation knows that when women and girls can prioritize their own health and well-being, and be leaders in their societies, everyone benefits. In a piece for Harvard Public Health, Dr. Zaidi called for women\'s health to be a priority, \"Systemic negligence-including the lack of effective treatments, poor care delivery, and the overall dearth of scientific research that centers women's health-has driven gender disparities in health outcomes.\"\r\n\r\nThrough her work at the Gender Equality Division, the Gates Foundation has invested in efforts that advance women\'s economic empowerment, improve and protect women's health and bodily autonomy, increase child survival and resilience, and more. Previously, Dr. Zaidi spent 30 years as a pediatrician and was Chair of Pediatrics and Child Health at the Aga Khan University in Karachi, Pakistan, where she worked to reduce child mortality through the prevention and treatment of newborn illnesses and vaccine-preventable diseases.

Since its 2014 founding, The Marshall Project has changed how the media covers criminal justice, shifting from traditional crimes and court coverage to covering the system itself, along with abuses and malfeasances inside the publicly funded structures. The Marshall Project garnered major recognition, including two Pulitzers and a Peabody, and in 2022, opened its first local newsroom here in Cleveland, Ohio.\r\n\r\nThe Marshall Project--Cleveland has been responsible for a number of notable successes, including drawing attention to a sitting judge who was improperly steering divorce cases to a friend and spotlighting deaths inside the Cuyahoga County jail. Now, The Marshall Project is using the Cleveland newsroom as a model for other communities, expanding its local coverage to Jackson, Mississippi, and St. Louis, Missouri.\r\n\r\nAs our community hosts the annual convention of the National Association of Black Journalists, we bring some of the journalists leading The Marshall Project nationally and locally to our stage to talk about their work, their impact, and their plans for the future.

The Northeast Ohio Hispanic Center For Economic Development (NEOHCED) has led the way for Cleveland\'s Latino community, and includes multiple anchors that build success and equitable asset building: The Northeast Ohio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce has, for close to 40 years, represented the Latino and non-Latino business community in Northeast Ohio; They are home to Northeast Ohio's only Latino Small Business Development Center; and have been committed to community development and equitable asset building in Cleveland's Latino, and other underserved communities.\r\n\r\nAs President & CEO, Jenice Contreras is a beacon of leadership and a champion for economic empowerment at NEOHCED. Most notable is the new CentroVilla25, Cleveland\'s Premier Latino Market & Food Hall, which celebrated its grand opening in June this year. CentroVilla25 is a groundbreaking $12 million adaptive reuse initiative that truly changed the game on what is possible in La Villa Hispana in Cleveland\'s Clark-Fulton neighborhood.

Cleveland is repositioning its future as a dual waterfront city. Take a deep dive (pun intended!) as we reflect on the past, present, and future visions to transform our downtown into "Coastland".\r\n\r\nFor over a year, the local chapters of the American Institute of Architects, American Planning Association, American Society of Landscape Architects, and the Urban Land Institute (AIA, APA, ASLA and ULI) have collaborated on a topic of mutual interest and significance: our waterfronts and their connections to downtown. In summer 2025, multi-disciplinary professionals from these organizations hosted "From Cleveland to Coastland" featuring a 'design your own adventure' exploration of Cleveland's downtown, lakefront, and riverfront developments.\r\n\r\nPanelists from the Urban Land Institute, Greater Cleveland Partnership, and RDL Architects will discuss the results of the adventurers' collective experiences and expertise, offer insights on placemaking, architecture, and real estate development, and share impactful ways to transform connectivity between the shores and core.\r\nPanelists: Melanie Kortyka, Executive Director, Urban Land Institute Cleveland; Allison Lukacsy-Love, Managing Director, Major Projects, Greater Cleveland Partnership; Gregory Soltis, AICP, Senior Designer, RDL Architects; and moderated by Zaria Johnson, Reporter/Producer, Ideastream Public Media

A Panel with Mayor Justin M. Bibb, Cleveland; Mayor Todd Gloria, San Diego; Mayor Donna Deegan, Jacksonville; and Mayor Quinton Lucas, Kansas City\r\n\r\nMayors will tell you they don\'t have the luxury of inaction. Despite chaos in Washington, Mayors have remained focused on providing a path forward and continuing to deliver for their communities -- on serving their constituents, solving problems, and executing promised reforms and improvements.\r\n\r\nThis summer, Mayors from across the country will gather in Cleveland for the annual convening of the Democratic Mayors Association (DMA), where Cleveland Mayor Justin M. Bibb currently serves as president.\r\n\r\nImmediately following the Mayors panel, there will be a session featuring former Senator Sherrod Brown, \"Dignity of Work: Winning Working Class Voters,\" and attendees are welcome to stay for that as well.\r\n\r\nThe DMA is comprised of mayors of cities of 30,000 and more, creating a network of municipal executives connected to leaders from business and labor. The summit is organized around the theme "Community over Chaos: A Path Forward."

Most known for \"Random Acts of Kindness Everywhere,\" or R.A.K.E. this summer Ricky Smith launched his latest feel-good venture: Something Good Social Kitchen--a casual walkup food stand in Playhouse Square Plaza, which includes collaborators like Chef Michael Symon and exclusively features Cleveland-based providers.\r\n\r\nR.A.K.E.'s mission is simple: to support the community in a positive way. They aim to enrich lives, encourage kindness, and promote the act of "paying it forward." And just like R.A.K.E., Ricky Smith is bringing the same altruistic vibe to Something Good Social Kitchen: For every meal sold, R.A.K.E. donates one meal to people in need.

Right now, we are at a critical moment in our nation\'s political climate, where distrust and misunderstanding have driven the narrative of the public sector\'s role in solutions to our communities\' critical and complex challenges. This includes issues like housing, climate readiness, land use and water management, transportation, municipal finance, social equity, and more. Today\'s public service requires resilience, leveraging new talent, and building skills for true urban vitality.\r\n\r\nThe Vibrant Communities Fellows program at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy is a foundational example of how to build vibrant, engaged communities marked by trust and agency for positive change. This collaborative program offers 24-weeks of expert coaching and peer networking to support public and private sector leaders in advancing sustainable community development.\r\n\r\nGeorge \"Mac\" McCarthy, President & CEO of the Lincoln Institute, leads the conversation with Gillian Prater-Lee, Program Assistant at LISC Cleveland, and Christine McIntosh, Planning Manager at the City of Euclid.