The City Club of Cleveland Podcast

A recent poll from the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center found that 91 percent of Americans favor some sort of criminal justice system and police reform. But that\'s not the only aspect of our legal system hampered by decades of discrimination, racism, and classism. There is also a persistent civil justice gap in America - and it\'s widening.\r\n\r\nThe civil justice gap is described as the difference between the civil legal needs of low-income Americans and the resources available to meet those needs. According to one recent study, poor and low-income Americans received adequate legal attention for only 14 percent of the civil problems they reported. The vast majority, unable to afford representation, too often navigate the courts and other bureaucracies on their own as they face eviction, debt collection lawsuits, issues with immigration, disability, and domestic violence. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this problem. What is it about the way our courts work that make it so hard for ordinary people to navigate them and get the resolutions they need?\r\n\r\nJoin us as national and local experts discuss the scope and scale of the problems that people encounter in the civil legal system, and explore some potential solutions.

As the nation begins to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we\'re learning that the availability of child care, decisions regarding when to safely re-open schools, and the broader workforce are inextricably connected.\r\n\r\nWhile child care professionals were initially lauded as essential employees at the start of the pandemic, their prioritization declined as time passed. Statewide lockdowns, the closing of schools and in-person learning, and the dramatic increase in the number of parents working from home or not working at all resulted in the shuttering of many child care centers, some permanently. It is estimated that up to 40 percent of child care centers will never reopen after the pandemic subsides.\r\n\r\nThis situation has and will continue to disproportionately affect women. With schools closed and limited options for safe and affordable child care available, women have dropped out of the workforce. According to the National Women's Law Center, women have accounted for 55 percent of the net 9.8 million jobs lost since February 2020. The lack of high-quality, affordable early care and education has been a barrier to women\'s employment and advancement for decades. Now, if current trends are left unaddressed, we risk exacerbating existing inequalities and reversing decades of progress toward the creation of an inclusive economy for women and people of color.\r\n\r\nWe\'re at a critical point in our state - and our nation\'s - history. The decisions made in the near term will impact child care providers, working women, businesses that employ parents, and our children, the future of Ohio's workforce. Join us as two local leaders discuss efforts underway in Northeast Ohio to address the child care crisis.

More than 22 million Americans have lost their jobs since the onset of the pandemic. As a result, in early January, American households were $40 billion behind in utility bills and $32 billion in rental arrears. A stimulus package that earmarked $25 billion in rent and utility assistance helped some as did a federal moratorium on evictions, issued first by the Centers of Disease Control, followed by Congress, and extended by President Biden through March, 2021. But is it enough?\r\n\r\nOver the past few years, Cleveland has made great strides in combatting evictions. In June, 2020, the right-to-counsel program was launched, guaranteeing free legal representation in eviction cases for extremely low-income residents. Yet the threat of eviction isn\'t solely an urban problem. In Cuyahoga County, there are about 76,000 renters, who are facing

Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption investigator and Russian President Vladimir V. Putin's most prominent critic, is determined to challenge the authoritarian leader and change Russia\'s political system. He was arrested on January 17 upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Putin has denied being involved. Navalny is currently jailed for violating the terms of a 2014 conviction, a conviction Navalny maintains is politically motivated.\r\n\r\nNavalny's arrest and jailing has prompted the biggest dissent the Russian government has faced in years, and the peaceful protests that have occurred across Russia have been met with heavy police presence and thousands of civilian arrests. The situation has also heightened tensions between Russia and the European Union (EU)

Right now, the United States is experiencing a period of unprecedented social upheaval and a racial reckoning - partially caused by the coronavirus pandemic - that is forcing us to confront vulnerabilities in the economic system. The economic chaos created by the pandemic illuminated the deep economic and occupational inequities that have persisted for decades, resulting in a hollowed-out middle class and an insurmountable chasm between wealth and poverty.\r\n\r\nIn the workplace, racial bias affects negotiations over starting pay, future wages, and upward mobility. Employees of color start off making less money and receive less promotions than their white colleagues, a disparity that compounds over time. White workers are about 50 percent more likely than workers of color to hold \"good\" jobs, and much less likely to be displaced from their jobs by automation. Eliminating these racial inequities in income could boost the U.S. economy by $2.3 trillion a year.\r\n\r\nThe only way to provide economic security for all Americans is to dismantle systemic racism in all our economic structures, including the workplace. A recent report from the National Fund for Workforce Solutions found that, while these problems are national in scope, the solutions need to be local. How are the root causes of racial inequities in the workforce being addressed? What efforts are underway locally to advance workforce equity? Are they working? And how much impact can they have if the other inequities in American society - in housing, transportation, childcare, and education - aren\'t also addressed and eliminated?

In 2021, Cleveland faces a mayoral election. Leading up to the primary, the City Club will be speaking with candidates seeking the city\'s highest office.\r\n\r\nWith more than 35 years of experience as a nationally recognized attorney, Dick Knoth has developed expertise in governance, complex business matters, and intellectual property.\r\n\r\nBeyond his experience as trusted counsel, Knoth has made a significant commitment to community engagement. For more than three decades, he has worked and volunteered with many clubs, groups, and organizations throughout greater Cleveland. Those organizations range from large community healthcare enterprises, to educational institutions, to at-risk youth support and engagement groups, along with diverse arts associations.\r\n\r\nKnoth believes we are at an existential juncture for our city. Public safety, the needs of city neighborhoods, the importance of creative thought in bringing economic solutions to the community, and the future of our youth are the central issues influencing his campaign.

9to5: The Story of Movement is the latest film from Academy Award-winning documentary filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steve Bognar. The film chronicles the previously untold story of the founding of 9to5, an organization started by a group of secretaries in Boston in 1972 in response to rampant discrimination, unfair pay, lack of upward mobility, and sexual harassment in the workplace.\r\n\r\nTheir ideas spread rapidly

In March, the Urban Land Institute Cleveland and the City of Cleveland will present a virtual symposium, Building a 21st Century City: The Future is Now!. The Symposium will focus on how Cleveland can embrace advances in technology, mobility, and economic inclusiveness to result in a more competitive and smarter city, ready for the changing technology of the 21st century.\r\n\r\nNew Jersey has emerged as one of the most innovative and technologically engaged states in the nation. In 2018, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy appointed Beth S. Noveck as the state's first Chief Innovation Officer, responsible for making government services more responsive and jumpstarting its innovation economy.\r\n\r\nNoveck directs the Governance Lab (The GovLab) and its MacArthur Research Network on Opening Governance. At the GovLab, she directs better governance programs, including work with public institutions on public engagement in lawmaking (CrowdLaw), expert-sourcing innovative solutions to hard problems (Smarter Crowdsourcing), and co-creation between cities and citizens (City Challenges). She also coaches \"public entrepreneurs,\" working with passionate individuals to take their public interest projects from idea to implementation.\r\n\r\nPreviously, Noveck served in the White House as the first United States Deputy Chief Technology Officer and director of the White House Open Government Initiative under President Obama. UK Prime Minister David Cameron appointed her senior advisor for Open Government.\r\n\r\nJoin us as Noveck shares her experiences at the intersection of technology, academia, and state and local governments, and offers insights on what Cleveland needs in order to succeed in the 21st century.

In 2016, the United Nations declared internet access a human right. Making the internet as a public utility has been discussed for decades, and the call to finally make the move to provide access to all was felt like never before at the onset of the COVID-19 shutdowns.\r\n\r\nNearly 15 percent of American homes have no internet access. Advocates of the push for internet as a public utility say lack of access creates lasting socioeconomic effects, as well as carrying the potential to impede the practice of other rights, such as free speech. Also without it, thousands of school children have been left behind due to lack of access. Now a year into the pandemic, this equates to a full grade loss for some of our poorest and most disadvantaged students. Public school enrollment has significantly decreased nationwide, with a 16 percent average drop in kindergarten enrollment. While using technology to continue classroom sessions was the obvious alternative to in-person schooling, for many parents and guardians internet access continues to be a luxury difficult to afford even prior to the massive job losses prior to the pandemic.\r\n\r\nSeveral key issues, such as net neutrality and the shortage of affordable laptops, have also resulted in internet inequality for those with less economic access to the internet and funds to purchase technology.\r\n\r\nWhat are local, state and the federal government doing to ensure citizens have sufficient access to the internet? How does the concept of net neutrality impact the push to address income internet inequality?\r\n\r\nJoin us at the City Club for a joint City Club Youth x EYEJ forum to discuss internet inequality.

\"The opposite of poverty is not wealth. The opposite of poverty is justice," Bryan Stevenson, Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative.\r\n\r\nThe COVID-19 pandemic has proved devastating for many across the country, but due to disinvestment and systemic policies, African Americans and communities of color have been disproportionately affected.\r\n\r\nAs Cleveland Public Library (CPL) celebrates 152 years of service to the community, it continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of residents. The system\'s new strategic plan focuses on equity and prioritizes a vision aimed at creating a city where opportunity is available to all.\r\n\r\nJoin us as CPL, together with the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority and the Cleveland Branch of the NAACP, discuss the historical and racial inequities in Cleveland and how their respective institutions are working to usher in a new era of justice.