The City Club of Cleveland Podcast

Toni Morrison\'s work undeniably reshaped American literature, and her influence extended well beyond her novels like Beloved or The Bluest Eye. Morrison confronted slavery, identity, trauma - as well as beauty - as she centered Black experiences. Morrison changed not only what stories were told, but how they were told.\r\n\r\nHarvard professor and award-winning author Namwali Serpell\'s latest book On Morrison, argues that Morrison\'s literary skill often gets overshadowed by her public image as a Black female writer. On Morrison takes readers through her canon of literature, and focuses on the artistry and technique, demonstrating "how to read Morrison with the seriousness that she deserves."\r\n\r\nNamwali Serpell was born in Lusaka and lives in New York. She is the author of multiple award-winning books, and her debut novel, The Old Drift, won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction, and the Los Angeles Times's Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction.\r\n\r\nFor an entire year, starting on Toni Morrison's birthday, the influential Nobel Prize-winning Ohioan will be the focus of literary and historic events in the Buckeye State. Join us - in partnership with Literary Cleveland - as Kourtney Morrow with the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards sits down in conversation with On Morrison author Namwali Serpell.

Bradford Davey, former Chief of Staff to Mayor Justin M. Bibb and urban policy leader, reflects on remodeling City Hall with a young cabinet and operational reforms. He discusses hard calls on lead remediation, balancing speed with safeguards, the emotional cost of public service, and a call for civic leaders to own results. He plans to keep working behind the scenes to support the city.

In December 2025, Slovenia completed its two-year term on the United Nations Security Council-participating in 558 formal meetings and 238 consultations of the Security Council, and so much more. Throughout its term, Slovenia addressed the most pressing issues, upheld its values, and shared its expertise globally to maintain international peace and security.\r\n\r\nMore recently, in its final month as a member of the UN Security Council, Slovenia held the Presidency for the second time. A visit to Syria and Lebanon was on the agenda, as well as topics related to Bosnia, Sudan, Palestine, Afghanistan, and others. At the helm is Ambassador Samuel ?bogar, who brings a wealth of policy knowledge and experience to the table. There may be few others with such timely insights on global affairs that have recently dominated the headlines.\r\n\r\nIn addition to his term in the Security Council, Ambassador ?bogar has had an impressive diplomatic career. He has served as Slovenia\'s Foreign Minister, Deputy Foreign Minister, Ambassador to the US, and Head of the EU Delegation to Kosovo and North Macedonia.

On September 15, 1963, a bombing carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, instantly killed Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Carole Rosamond Robinson, and Cynthia Dionne Morris Wesley. Also in the room was Addie Mae\'s younger sister, 12-year-old Sarah Collins, who survived the blast and valiantly tried to rescue her sister, but was blinded by shattered glass. For decades, Sarah slipped into anonymity-but her story lives on in her latest memoir The 5th Little Girl: Soul Survivor of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing (The Sarah Collins Rudolph Story).\r\n\r\nLisa McNair was born one year after her older sister, Denise, was murdered in the bombings. Her book Dear Denise is a collection of forty letters from Lisa addressed to the sister she never knew, but in whose shadow of sacrifice and lost youth she was raised. Both accounts offer an intimate look into the lives of two women who carry the weight of history, and two families touched by one of the most heinous tragedies of the Civil Rights Movement.

Daniel Coyle is the New York Times bestselling author of The Culture Code, The Talent Code, The Little Book of Talent, The Secret Race, Lance Armstrong's War, and Hardball: A Season in the Projects. Coyle, who works as an advisor to the Cleveland Guardians, lives in Cleveland, Ohio, during the school year and in Homer, Alaska, during the summer with his wife, Jen, and their four children.\r\n\r\nIn Flourish, bestselling author and leading culture expert Daniel Coyle trains his eye on the groups and people who demonstrate exceptional connectivity, presence, and dynamism. He draws on research and original reporting-taking us inside an unlikely brotherhood of thirty-three men who were trapped in a Chilean mine, a tiny Michigan deli that blossomed into a $90 million ecosystem of businesses, an inventive Dutch soccer team that revolutionized the sport as we know it, and a disconnected Paris district that remade itself into a tight-knit neighborhood-to reveal the principles and practices that ignite and sustain thriving. He finds that flourishing groups do two things: They make meaning (creating deep connections) and build community (forging a common good).

This is a youth-led forum, powered by student voices.\r\n\r\nAccess to quality healthcare is not experienced equally across communities. Differences in policy, insurance coverage, education, and systemic barriers can shape who receives care, when they receive it, and the outcomes they experience.\r\n\r\nThis forum will examine disparities in healthcare access and outcomes, highlighting how policy decisions, advocacy efforts, and community-based organizations influence care for marginalized communities. Through discussion and shared perspectives, the conversation will explore how inequities show up in real-world healthcare experiences and what is being done to address them at local and national levels.\r\n\r\nThe forum aims to provide students, educators, and community members with greater insight into the systems that shape healthcare access, while encouraging thoughtful dialogue around equity, accountability, and change.\r\nPanelists\r\nCathe Caraway\r\nCoordinator for Region 1, Healthcare for All Ohioans / Single Payer Action Network Ohio (SPAN Ohio)\r\n\r\nKatie Davis Bellamy\r\nChief Operating Officer, MetroHealth Community Health Centers\r\n\r\nModerator\r\nNakshatra Mohan\r\nStudent, Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School

Baldwin Wallace University has a new President, and Lee Fisher is ushering in a new era as the University\'s 10th President. Tapping into his deep and diverse career spanning the public, private, nonprofit, and academic sectors, President Fisher hopes to redefine what\'s possible and lead the charge toward a bold, sustainable future in higher education. President Fisher took the helm in late 2025, the same year the University celebrated its 180th birthday. With his first 100 days behind him, what are the challenges, opportunities, and strategies ahead for the mission and vision of BW?\r\n\r\nBefore being named President of BW, Fisher served as the Dean and Joseph C. Hostetler-BakerHostetler Chair in Law at Cleveland State University College of Law. Fisher served 18 years in state-elected public office, including as Ohio Attorney General and Lt. Governor.

The Department of Homeland Security has escalated immigration enforcement in recent months, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducting raids in Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, and most recently Minneapolis, where ICE agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens, Ren?e Good and Alex Pretti, detained countless citizens and legal immigrants, including multiple children.\r\n\r\nThose incidents have sparked widespread protests, bipartisan criticism in Congress, where Democrats have moved to block funding for the agency, and multiple lawsuits, including from the states of Minnesota and Illinois. A federal judge in Minnesota said that ICE had violated nearly 100 court orders.\r\n\r\nIn Ohio, Haitian immigrants in Springfield are bracing for ICE activity as their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is set to expire on February 3rd; and immigrant communities across the state are facing increased anxiety over ICE enforcement in the Buckeye State.

In 2009, 246 people were victims of gun violence in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2022, that number was 121, reflective of a steady decline over more than a decade. That reduction in gun violence was the result of the work of Omaha 360, a persistent and consistent effort by organizations and leaders across the city who come together every week to share data, coordinate strategies, and respond to community needs. This work is paired with youth engagement, reentry services, and engagement with law enforcement agencies-supporting violence prevention from every angle.\r\n\r\nWillie Barney founded Omaha 360 through his work with the Empowerment Network, a community building initiative that has grown from an idea into a broad community-wide collaborative supporting efforts in education, workforce development, and housing. Douglas County, Nebraska\'s Sheriff\'s office was a key partner to the effort. Wayne Hudson--now Chief of Police in Shaker--helped to lead and support the work.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, municipalities across Cuyahoga County have long sought to reduce gun violence. Recent years have seen emergency departments consistently reporting more than 300 gunshot wounds each year. And in 2025, County Executive Chris Ronayne appointed Myesha Watkins administrator of the county\'s Office of Violence Prevention, and the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas has recently created a new Violence Intervention Program.

In Washington State, 42% of Black households have zero net worth. It\'s a statistic echoed in Black communities across the nation--including here in Cleveland. The legacy of historical policies like segregation and redlining has impacted both homeownership and opportunities to build generational wealth today. Now, skyrocketing rents and a shrinking housing supply have put homeownership out of reach for many. But what if it doesn\'t have to be this way?\r\n\r\nEmerging in 2021, the Black Home Initiative is a new regional effort based in the Seattle-Tacoma region that seeks to target the racial inequities at the core of the housing ecosystem. The initiative is powered by the Civic Commons through a large network of 122 public, private, philanthropic, and nonprofit institutional partners. Together, they focus on growing the pool of homes for purchase; supporting Black households who want to buy a home and obtain a mortgage; and improving collaboration to create a more efficient and effective ecosystem for Black homeownership.\r\n\r\nHow can we work together to grow wealth and build vibrant communities through homeownership? Join us at the City Club as Alesha Washington from The Seattle Foundation leads a conversation with Michael Brown from the Civic Commons on what we can learn from the Black Home Initiative.