CLEVELAND —  Four years ago, a Bloomberg study ranked Cleveland last in the country for Black women in health, education and the workplace.

Now, local think tank is asking: Has anything changed? 

What You Need To Know

  • Four years ago, a Bloomberg study ranked Cleveland last in the country for Black women in health, education and the workplace. Now, local think tank is asking: Has anything changed?

  • Researchers at Enlightened Solutions interviewed hundreds of Black women in Cleveland about their experiences after the Bloomberg data was published in 2020

  • Now, they’re seeking more input through surveys to check in with how Black women in Cleveland are doing four years later

  • Through their outreach, Enlightened Solutions got about 500 women’s responses in the last round of research and this time they’re aiming for over 1,000

Researchers at Enlightened Solutions interviewed hundreds of Black women in Cleveland about their experiences after the Bloomberg data was published in 2020. 

The resulting research was compiled into a report called Project Noir, which is divided into three categories: education, health and workplace outcomes. 

“It’s important to see what has changed,” co-founder of Enlightened Solutions, Chinenye Nkemere, said. ”Especially due to changes around affirmative action, the DEI white racial reckoning, other promises that corporations, non-profits and our educational institutions have made.”

Now, they’re seeking more input through surveys to check in with how Black women in Cleveland are doing four years later.  

“Many times we study Black women. We study Black families, but we don’t actually ask Black women their opinion,” Nkemere said.

Through their outreach, Enlightened Solutions got about 500 women’s responses in the last round of research, and this time they’re aiming for over 1,000.

Nkemere recruited local blogger Courtney Ottrix, of Courtney Covers Cleveland, to help those efforts for the project during the first round in 2020.

As someone who uses her blog to highlight Cleveland’s good qualities, Ottrix felt compelled to take part in the process.

“It was like, ‘How are you sharing that Cleveland is this great place when this report shows that it’s the worst place in America for women?’ It was like no, we really need to talk to women to get to know their experiences and really get them to take the survey,” she said.

To help foster community, they’ve created spaces for women to complete the survey together and talk about shared experiences.  

“I think that just creating a space for so many women to come together and actually talk about what it’s like being Black woman living in Cleveland was important,” Ottrix said.

Nkemere said she’s seen different industries in the city trying to address the struggles Black women face, pointing to the creation of the Black Women and Girls Commission in Cleveland’s City hall and more attention on racism as a public health crisis.

But, she said, it’s vital to continue checking in with Black Women about how they’re feeling each step of the way.

“The only thing that is important to me as a researcher is to pass the microphone to Black women,” she said. “I don’t like to think that I know everything that is going to happen. I only know my single story.”

She intends expand on her work for years to come.

She said the tones and textures of misogynoir, the intersection of race and gender, will change, and its impact is serious. 

“Again, because it is killing Black women here,” she said. “This is no longer just this idea of this isn’t something we should be studying. It’s important to benchmark and be able to tell our stories.”

The survey is open at Project Noir’s website until April 30.