Living For We

The powerful girls of the QueenIAM program, run by 27-year-old founder and mother Dameyonna Willis, tell us all about their big dreams and hopes for their lives in Cleveland. While the Commission for Black Women and Girls– an entity conceived in those girls’ best interest– struggles to get off the ground at City Hall, these young women are building a future for themselves through self-love and sisterhood.  Learn more about the QueenIAM program here.  Want to share your thoughts as a Black woman in Cleveland? Leave us a message at (216) 223-8312 and you may just hear yourself on the podcast.  Learn more about Living For We here. Read our foundational research, Project Noir by Enlightened Solutions, here!  Join Enlightened Solutions and the Living For We team for a live podcast activation event with our creative director HeyFranHey!

Living with trauma as a Black woman in Cleveland isn’t a rare experience, but what’s it like here when we find ourselves in the white-hot light of controversy and public scrutiny? How do we cope? Samaria Rice and Ayesha Bell Hardaway, both Black women with unique painful experiences in the court of public opinion share their stories.  Want to share your thoughts as a Black woman in Cleveland? Leave us a message at (216) 223-8312 and you may just hear yourself on the podcast.  Learn more about Living For We here. Read our foundational research, Project Noir by Enlightened Solutions, here!

In 2020, Cleveland– a city with a nearly 50% Black population– was labeled the least livable city in America for Black women… and with data to back it up. This news has undeniably focused a lens on the not-so-positive lived experiences of Black women and femmes in our city, but… what can be done about it? 2020 CityLAB article naming Cleveland the least livable city for Black women Project Noir by Enlightened Solutions  Want to share your thoughts as a Black woman in Cleveland? Leave us a message at (216) 223-8312 and you may just hear yourself on the podcast.  Learn more about Living For We here.

This new podcast from Ideastream Public Media addresses livability metrics and recent findings surrounding the health and wellness challenges Black women face in Northeast Ohio. Each episode shares firsthand accounts of Black women’s experiences in Cleveland’s workplaces, schools, and educational systems. Living for We is a part of Connecting the Dots between Race and Health, an ongoing Ideastream initiative that looks at how racism contributes to poor health outcomes in Northeast Ohio, along with uncovering what actions local institutions are taking to tear down the structural barriers to good health. The initial data that inspired Living For We was released back in 2020 when cityLAB of Pittsburgh released a study that ranked Cleveland dead last in terms of livability for Black women. In response, Cleveland’s Bethany Studenic and Chinenye Nkemere of Enlightened Solutions published Project Noir, a survey featuring over 450 Black women from the Cleveland area who share accounts of frustration, isolation, marginalization, and discrimination, within the workplace, healthcare facilities, and the education sector. With ChiChi and Bethany of Enlightened Solutions on their team, Ideastream has worked with Evergreen Podcasts to explore these findings through their new audio series, Living for We. Our first episode drops March 2023. We'll see you then!