The City Club of Cleveland Podcast

Trauma surgeon and professor Dr. Brian H. Williams has seen it all: gunshot wounds, stabbings, and traumatic brain injuries. Dr. Williams is also an Air Force Academy graduate, a Harvard-trained physician, a former congressional health policy advisor, and a nationally recognized leader at the intersection of public policy and structural racism, gun violence, and health equity. He has treated gun violence victims for more than two decades.\r\n\r\nIn his new book The Bodies Keep Coming, Williams ushers us into the trauma bay, where the wounds of a national emergency amass. He draws a through line between white supremacy, gun violence, and the bodies he tries to revive, and he trains his surgeon\'s gaze on the structural ills that manifest themselves in the bodies of his patients.\r\n\r\nWilliams has also served as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow at the National Academy of Medicine and as a professor of trauma and acute care surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine. Williams and his work have been featured in outlets like the Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News, CNN, and Newsweek.

According to the Ohio Department of Health, the infant mortality rate not only serves as a key indicator of maternal and infant health but is also an important measure of the health status of a whole community.\r\n\r\nAnd this year at the Cleveland International Film Festival, a documentary film showcasing nurses\' heroic efforts to support mothers and babies won the coveted audience choice award. American Delivery certainly hit home. The City of Cleveland has one of the worst maternal and infant mortality rates in the developed world, especially among women and infants of color. Yet, to support women and babies, we must go beyond healthcare delivery. Public-private coalitions like First Year Cleveland are rising to the challenge, building a community movement that identifies causes and develops sustainable, system-driven solutions.\r\n\r\nJoin the City Club as we hear from First Year Cleveland\'s Angela Newman-White and American Delivery film director Carolyn Jones on the maternal and infant vitality movement, and how we can ensure all mothers and babies are guaranteed healthy beginnings.

It has been roughly 40 years since the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our country, and thanks to extraordinary advances in antiretroviral therapy and support services, survivors are now living long, healthy lives. For this reason, more than half of people diagnosed with HIV in the United States are aged 50 and older. Now, researchers, doctors, and patients are once again facing questions with uncertain answers on what to expect from HIV/AIDS in aging bodies.

When Secretary Pete Buttigieg first joined us at the City Club in 2019, he was \"Mayor Pete\" of South Bend, Indiana, and already emerged as one of the nation\'s most visionary politicians. In 2021, he was sworn in as the nation\'s 19th Secretary of Transportation and is the first openly gay person confirmed to serve in a president\'s Cabinet. During his tenure as Secretary, he has worked to achieve organizational excellence in the department's operations, and his focus as Secretary has been to deliver the world's leading transportation system for the American people and economy.\r\n\r\nIn his first year at the Department, he prioritized supporting the development and passage of President Biden's signature Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Since the law's passage, Secretary Buttigieg and his team have focused on effectively delivering the investments provided by this legislation, enabling the most significant improvements in U.S. transportation infrastructure in over half a century.\r\n\r\nSecretary Buttigieg served for seven years as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, taking a leave of absence from the mayor's office for a deployment to Afghanistan in 2014. He lives in Traverse City, MI with his husband Chasten, their two children, Gus and Penelope, and their dog.

Beth M. Hammack is the president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, one of 12 regional Reserve Banks in the Federal Reserve System. She began her term on August 21, 2024. In this capacity, she participates in the formulation of US monetary policy and oversees 1,100 employees in the Bank's Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh offices who conduct economic research, supervise banking institutions, and provide payment services to commercial banks and the US government. Prior to her appointment as Cleveland Fed president, she was cohead of the global financing group at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and a member of the management committee.

In 1982, Ari Weinzweig, along with his partner Paul Saginaw, founded Zingerman's Delicatessen in Ann Arbor with a $20,000 bank loan, a Russian History degree from the University of Michigan, four years of experience washing dishes, cooking and managing in restaurant kitchens and chutzpah from his hometown of Chicago. They opened the doors with 2 employees, a small selection of specialty foods, and exceptional sandwiches.\r\n\r\nToday, Zingerman's Delicatessen is a nationally renowned food icon and the Zingerman's Community of Businesses has grown to 11 businesses with over 750 employees and over $65 million in annual revenue. Ari Weinzweig is also a prolific writer. His most recent publications are the first four of his six book series Zingerman's Guide to Good Leading.\r\n\r\nThe conversation will be moderated by New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle. Coyle\'s book The Culture Code was named Best Business Book of the Year by Bloomberg, BookPal, and Business Insider. Coyle has served as an advisor to many high-performing organizations, including the Navy SEALs, Microsoft, Google, and the Cleveland Guardians.

On November 22, 2014, just after 3:30 in the afternoon, a 12-year-old boy was shot by a police officer outside of the Cudell Recreation Center. Tamir Rice had been playing with a toy gun, an airsoft replica that was missing the telltale orange tip. The officer shot Rice twice less than two seconds after getting out of the police cruiser which had not even come to a complete stop. Rice died from his wounds the following day.\r\n\r\nThis tragedy was seen by many to be part of an ongoing pattern of excessive force by the Cleveland Division of Police. In the intervening years, many reform efforts, including a consent decree and a new citizen-led oversight commission, have been attempted and implemented to not only reduce violence but also improve relations between police and the communities they serve.

At a time when the world seems fraught with polarization and violence, it\'s important to pause and witness the resiliency and solidarity of communities who are committed to working together to address poverty, injustices, inequality, and many other disparities.\r\n\r\nFounded in 1974, as a response to the predominate mission model at the time, IPM was as groundbreaking then as it is today. A global organization based right here in Northeast Ohio, IPM is the premier, intersectional and multi-faith organization that nurtures & affirms justice, solidarity, and peace.\r\n\r\nAnyang\' Nyong\'o, the current Governor of Kisumu County, in the Republic of Kenya, is known by many as the Mandela of Kenya. He has a long list of exceptional political accomplishments focusing on education, economic development, health, and social services. Along with his wife Dorothy Nyong\'o, who is incredibly remarkable as the First Lady of Kisumu, Kenya and Founding and Managing Trustee of the African Cancer Foundation. Dorothy also serves as a member of IPM's International Executive Board and Regional Vice-Chair for Sub-Saharan Africa. Both are the parents of five children, including Oscar award-winning actress Lupita Nyong\'o.

In the 2nd youth led forum of the year, we will focus on how racial inequities in education are deeply entrenched in the American school system, affecting not just individual students but the broader landscape of educational achievement and opportunity.\r\n\r\nResearch shows that schools with higher concentrations of students from marginalized racial and ethnic groups are more likely to experience underfunding, overcrowded classrooms, and limited access to advanced coursework and resources. This systemic inequality can contribute to lower graduation rates and diminished college and career readiness across the board, impacting the ability of schools to produce well-rounded, critical-thinking scholars.\r\n\r\nAccording to a report by the U.S. Department of Education, schools serving predominantly minority students receive roughly $23 billion less in funding each year than those serving predominantly white students. These disparities not only hinder the academic potential of individual students but also compromise the overall quality of education in America, limiting the nation's ability to cultivate diverse, informed, and capable leaders for the future.\r\n\r\nThis forum will dive into the root causes of these inequities, their impact on students of all backgrounds, and what can be done to create a more equitable and inclusive educational system.

Join Congresswoman Shontel Brown, who has championed local issues since her election in 2021, and Congressman Max Miller, a former Trump administration official, as they discuss the critical work ahead in a politically divided Congress. They delve into pressing topics like workforce development, economic challenges in Northeast Ohio, and the importance of bipartisan cooperation on issues like the urgent need for a new farm bill. Claire Roth, from Ohio Newsroom, highlights the narratives behind these political dynamics, emphasizing civility amidst a contentious atmosphere.