CLEVELAND — It’s been four years since a Bloomberg CityLab study found Cleveland had the worst outcomes of any city in the country for Black women in health, education and the workplace, and now four years later, local researchers are saying not much has changed.

What You Need To Know

  • In 2020,  Bethany Studenic and her co-founder, Chinenye Nkemere, launched Project Noir, a qualitative survey of 500 Black women in northeast Ohio, after the national study was released

  • Project Noir 2024, which brought in nearly three times the survey responses as 2020, found things haven’t changed much

  • The latest round of data shows 79% of respondents were paid less than others in similar positions, 63% felt they needed to work harder to get the same grades as fellow students, and 56% had been spoken down to about health-related symptoms

  • This time around, Nkemere and Studenic are pointing out the role that individuals play in upholding the systems that create these problems

“What Black women are telling us in Cleveland is that the problem is still very much here,” said Bethany Studenic, co-founder of local think tank Enlightened Solutions.

In 2020, Studenic and her co-founder, Chinenye Nkemere, launched Project Noir, a qualitative survey of 500 Black women in northeast Ohio, after the national study was released. Now four years later, they’ve done another survey in northeast Ohio.

Project Noir 2024, which brought in nearly three times the survey responses as 2020, found things haven’t changed much. The data found many Black women are experiencing similar types of discrimination in health care, education and work settings.

“Black women giving us quotes about their health care experiences, their education and their workplace experiences,” Nkemere said. “But once you start looking at the statistics, it becomes extremely stark.”

The latest round of data shows 79% of respondents were paid less than others in similar positions, 63% felt they needed to work harder to get the same grades as fellow students, and 56% had been spoken down to about health-related symptoms.

“When you start thinking about each individual story, that’s each Black woman in a system where their work is being undermined and, more than that, destroyed,” Nkemere said.

This time around, Nkemere and Studenic are pointing out the role that individuals play in upholding the systems that create these problems. They said while institutional investments and programs are important, so is personal accountability.

“This is doctors coming in and not listening to their patients,” Studenic said. “This is educators looking at young Black women and saying, ‘You’re not good enough.’ And we really need metrics around accountability. We need programs around accountability.”

The city of Cleveland’s public health director, Dr. Dave Margolius, said the city is working to make improvements for Black women, but it’s important not to sweep this data under the rug.

“We know that the experience as a Black person in Cleveland is worse than the experience as a white person in Cleveland,” Margolius said. “And it’s important for people who look like me to really say that and acknowledge it so we can move forward on solutions.”

Nkemere and Studenic believe with the right commitment and investments, Cleveland can become a place where Black women thrive.

And — they’re not going to stop doing the work until that happens.

“We have a kernel of something good here,” Nkemere said. “We have the ability to actually change and effectuate change here. So why not continue doing this work? Why not continue doing racial and gender justice so that all Black women and all Black girls are able to thrive here in this region? We’re just not going to stop.”