The City Club of Cleveland Podcast

Extensive research has shown the powerful impact of effective family-school partnerships on students, parents, teachers, and schools. In fact, Dr. Mapp joined the City Club in 2017 to talk about the importance of community supported education.\r\n\r\nNow, Dr. Mapp is back to discuss what we have learned from the COVID-19 crisis and the national racial reckoning about the critical role of home-school partnerships to support student success and school improvement. She will also introduce the Dual Capacity-Building Framework for Family-School Partnerships (Version 2)-a compass that lays out the goals and conditions necessary to chart a path toward effective family engagement efforts that are linked to student achievement and school improvement.\r\n\r\nDr. Mapp is the co-author of several books, and from 2011 to 2013, Dr. Mapp served as a consultant to the United States Department of Education in the Office of Innovation and Improvement. She will be joined by Habeebah R. Grimes, CEO at Positive Education Program; and Gina Garrett, Family Program Manager at Open Doors Academy.

There may not be a presidential race, but it\'s hard to overstate the significance of the political year ahead. It\'s not just that 2022 brings the usual statewide contests--Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and so forth; Ohio has an open senate seat with a formidable roster of primary contenders, including political neophytes, a celebrity author, and a firebrand former state treasurer. The GOP\'s incumbent governor faces an insurgent primary effort to his right. And new district boundaries will change the dynamics in 15 congressional races, as well as in state legislative seats. Plus, this is all happening with relatively new state leadership in both major political parties.\r\n\r\nOhio GOP chairman Robert Paduchik took over leadership of the state party in February of 2021, having previously served as Donald Trump\'s Ohio campaign manager in 2016 and co-chair of the Republican National Committee from 2017-2019.\r\n\r\nElizabeth Walters was elected chair of the Ohio Democratic Party in January 2021. President and at-large member of Summit County Council, Ms. Walters was raised in Northeast Ohio, was the party\'s previous executive director, and is the first woman to serve as chair.\r\n\r\nJoin us, in-person at the City Club on January 14th for a conversation moderated by Andy Chow of the Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau.

In early 2021, and after 18 years of service, David Abbott announced his retirement as president of the George Gund Foundation. He is one of several long-time leaders in the philanthropic, public, and private sectors to announce their departure over the last several years-evidence that the next era of Cleveland leadership has arrived. And Dave is ready to pass the baton.\r\n\r\nAbbott began his career as a Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter. He moved on from there, earning a law degree from Harvard University and spending 10 years in county government. As county administrator, he played a key role in the creation of the Gateway project, now home to two professional sports team and a strong business community. Dave also served as the executive director of the Cleveland Bicentennial Commission, overseeing the opening of the Great Lakes Science Center. He then served as director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum before taking the helm at University Circle Inc.\r\n\r\nHe has worked in just about every part of the community, working to make Cleveland, and our country, a better place to live for everyone.\r\n\r\nSo what are the lessons of this storied tenure? And what does he see as the opportunities and challenges for Cleveland\'s next generation of leadership? Join us, in-person at the City Club as we sit down in conversation with one of Cleveland\'s biggest champions.

For more than 30 years, David Harris has been leading the American Jewish Committee (AJC), one of the world\'s leading advocates for civil rights for Jews and a strong Jewish voice against discrimination of all kinds. As every era, these last three decades have seen their share of anti-Semitism, which range from individual instances of violence, to mass shootings, and the rise of far right Holocaust deniers attempting to shape policy based on a false understanding of history.\r\n\r\nIn his time at the AJC, David Harris has consistently worked to combat anti-Semitism, to advocate for the nation of Israel and to build bridges with allies, wherever they may be. In January of 2020, he led an historic delegation of Muslims and Jews to visit Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp. Prior to his leadership role at the AJC, he played a key role in helping Jews emigrate from the Soviet Union where they faced intense discrimination.\r\n\r\nJoin us, in-person at the City Club on December 10th as we hear from David Harris, CEO of the American Jewish Committee.

The discovery of the bodies of these missing people, among at least eight others who were found as authorities searched for Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie, has highlighted a disturbing question when it comes to those reported missing: was enough done to find them too?\r\n\r\nThe Gabby Petito case created a media frenzy resulting in a deeper look into how missing persons cases in the United States are handled. Most glaring was the ongoing, disproportionately less attention given to missing persons cases involving people of color. The first 72 hours of a missing persons case are the most crucial, after which the volume of clues, evidence and witness accounts slow to a trickle, severely impeding cases with less attention. Further, missing persons cases are often complicated by sex trafficking, kidnapping and drug-related crimes involved in addition to the search for the missing person, as well as runaway cases often receiving less attention due to the misconception they are in less danger than other missing persons.\r\n\r\nHere in Cleveland, high profile missing persons cases and rescues shed light on many of these key issues. As result, several organizations and initiatives have been put in place to address concerns. However, there is always more that can be done.\r\n\r\nWhat more can be instituted to ensure missing persons cases are adequately reported and handled? How can the public, as well as the media, be better equipped to disseminate information about missing persons cases? In what ways can we ensure all missing persons cases are given the same priority?\r\n\r\nJoin us at the City Club for a virtual Youth Forum as an expert panel explains the intricacies of missing persons cases, and what can be done to help find them.

In January 2019, Say Yes Cleveland was launched as the fourth community-wide organization based on the Say Yes to Education model of tuition scholarships and support services for Cleveland students. With its 25-year commitment, Say Yes Cleveland was seen as a complete game-changer and ushered in the next era of public-school education where all kids have the opportunity to succeed through post-secondary education.\r\n\r\nWhen Say Yes Cleveland first launched, the City Club heard from local leadership on how Cleveland plans to leverage the scholarship program and expand support services. But nobody could have predicted what was to come. Cleveland schools, students, and parents have now weathered three school years touched by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the increase in capacity for support services has never been more critical.\r\n\r\nHow has Say Yes Cleveland been able to step up to serve CMSD scholars in this most urgent time of need? What else needs to be done to ensure more students succeed? And what are the strategies Say Yes Cleveland will employ to combat some of the more pressing challenges exacerbated by the pandemic?\r\n\r\nJoin the City Club in-person as we hear the latest updates from Diane Downing, Executive Director of Say Yes Cleveland. Her remarks will be followed by a panel conversation including Lekisha Rogers, Say Yes Cleveland Family Support Specialist at CMSD's Joseph M. Gallagher K-8 School; and Leean Andino, 2019 graduate of CMSD's New Tech West High School, and the first student to earn a bachelor's degree with a Say Yes Cleveland Scholarship.

The remarkable conversion of HIV/AIDS from an inevitable death sentence to a manageable chronic illness is not only one of the most noteworthy medical achievements of the past forty years, but it is also a significant political and social achievement.\r\n\r\nCeleste Watkins-Hayes, PhD, author of Remaking a Life: How Women Living with HIV/AIDS Confront Inequality, outlines the importance of the activism and community leadership that led the way to address this seemingly unsurmountable problem. She points to the significance of looking for leadership in unexpected places, the value of constructive conflict among diverse groups, and the willingness to see this public health threat through the lens of inequality as useful lessons that can apply to many of our challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic.\r\n\r\nThe HIV movement offers a hopeful reminder in the time of COVID-19 of the power of ordinary citizens to change the world and a call to action to address the disparities and challenges that persist.\r\n\r\nJoin the City Club virtually with Watkin Hayes as we mark World AIDS Day on the 40th year since the AIDS/HIV pandemic began.

Cuyahoga County is poised to build a new justice center--a construction project that is much more than just a new building. It\'s a unique opportunity to either create the conditions for criminal justice reform to truly take hold, or to cement the status quo.\r\n\r\nKaren Chinn was part of the group of national consultants who assisted Cuyahoga County leadership in the first phase of the work. It was an assessment of Cuyahoga County\'s entire criminal justice system, and the factors that have an impact on things like jail population and the rate of court filings.\r\n\r\nHow can these findings help inform the construction of a new justice center? One that helps the community realize its aspirations to become a more just and more equitable community?\r\n\r\nJoin us in-person at the City Club with Karen Chinn for a conversation on how to plan for justice.

The year 2020 sparked massive change in education as a result of the pandemic, equal parts highlighting innovative ways of teaching kids as well as the ways in which education has fallen short. Prior to this year, the way in which students in the U.S. are educated has remained steady over the past century. However, educators are now taking another look at what can be done to improve.\r\n\r\nAmong the many, necessary changes was the need to reach and stay connected with students. Glaring issues were immediately apparent once districts went virtual: in disenfranchised areas, enrollment immediately dropped. Student learning was impacted, with many missing an entire grade or more worth of learning. Lack of access to a computer or internet connection was a major culprit, as well as a lack of means for schools themselves to implement ways to stay connected with their students. The issues are only the latest amongst several - - in 2018, the U.S. ranked 38th in the world in math scores and 24th in science.\r\n\r\nThis has led to fresh looks into how issues such as redlining have impacted the education system in America, and a recent infrastructure survey reported more than 100,000 are in immediate need of ventilation upgrades in order to provide the best health environment for students.\r\n\r\nSo, what are the available solutions?\r\n\r\nAs a result of the American Rescue Plan, the country's schools now have the available funds to address several key issues. But will they? What would an overhauled education system look like?\r\n\r\nJoin us for a virtual forum at the City Club as a Youth Forum panel explains the ways in which education can continue innovating and improving post-COVID-19.

Novelist Marlon James and Historian Vincent Brown will crack open their ideas in a unique conversation centered on Jamaica. The island is a lynchpin in world history, and a wellspring of world culture. Both men won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award in this vein: James in 2015 for "A Brief History of Seven Killings" and Brown this year for "Tacky's Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War." They are enthusiastic readers of each other's work.\r\n\r\nBrown is the Charles Warren Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies at Harvard University. He explores the political dimensions of cultural practice in the African Diaspora. "Tacky's Revolt" tracks the coordinated uprising of enslaved people in Jamaica in 1760-1761 that influenced the contemporary world\'s notions of race and war.\r\n\r\nJames is the first Jamaican to win a Man Booker prize, also for "A Brief History of Seven Killings," a polyphonic novel put in motion by the 1976 assassination attempt on Bob Marley. His newest series, described as an African "Game of Thrones," began with "Black Leopard, Red Wolf" in 2019. It resumes in February with "Moon Witch, Spider King." James is on the English faculty at Macalester College.\r\n\r\nJoin the City Club at noon Tuesday, November 16, for a virtual conversation with these virtuosos of history and literature.