La'keylia Brown hangs onto an inflatable unicorn as her relatives rock it back and forth during the Back 2 School festival at a Sunoco gas station in Cleveland's Mount Pleasant neighborhood on August 10, 2025.
From tight races for Cleveland City Council seats to family reunions, Signal Cleveland was there for moments both big and small that shaped the city throughout the last year.
We tracked the local impacts of policies from the city, state and federal government. We documented stories of those affected by violence in our communities. And we celebrated the accomplishments of Clevelanders across the city.
Although there are far too many stories to recount here in words, Signal Cleveland reporters rarely headed out into the community without a camera. Here are a few of our favorite photos from 2025:
Willie Elmore kisses his granddaughter Arie Ferguson during an opening ceremony for the updated Storer Park in Stockyards on Sept. 6, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo / Signal Cleveland / Catchlight LocalThe Parks/Perrymond/Perryman family reunion at Garfield Park on June 21, 2025. Credit: Kenyatta Crisp/Signal ClevelandThe Parks/Perrymond/Perryman family reunion at Garfield Park on June 21, 2025. Credit: Kenyatta Crisp/Signal ClevelandLeft: Zamya Pinkney (left) and Zendaya Pinkney (right) style Dallas Smith’s hair during a Juneteenth celebration at St. Thomas Aquinas school in St. Clair-Superior on June 19, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight Local
Right: Na’Myah Scott, a sophomore at Collinwood High School, poses for a portrait at a desk in her school on Dec. 4, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight LocalJonae McCloud (left), Xavier Guerry (center) and Gigi Sanchez (right) pose for a picture on their first day of school outside Max S Hayes High School in Cleveland’s Clark-Fulton neighborhood on Aug. 18, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight LocalCleveland Police towed and impounded the car Ibrahim Alim used to take his friend, who had been shot, to the Cleveland Clinic emergency room. Without a car, Alim, pictured above on August 1, 2025, struggled to hold a steady job. He and a friend worked together on a car detailing business outside a bar in the Union-Miles neighborhood to make money. Credit: Michael Indriolo / Signal Cleveland / CatchLight LocalMayor Justin Bibb and communications consultant Nancy Lesic tour the National Acme brownfield site at an event marking the start of cleanup on April 7, 2025. Credit: Nick Castele/Signal ClevelandAttendees pop streamers to celebrate a construction milestone for the Cavaliers’ new practice facility on the Cuyahoga River on July 11, 2025. Credit: Nick Castele/Signal ClevelandOhio State Sen. Jerry Cirino, who authored the controversial higher education bill known as SB1, spoke at the City Club of Cleveland on April 17, 2025. His speech drew protests from college faculty and others. Credit: Mark Naymik
Debra Williams-Jones casts her vote in Cleveland’s primary election at Fatima Family Center in Hough on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight LocalLeft: Cleveland mayoral candidate Laverne Gore shares her priorities and concerns about the current mayor’s administration with the East 63rd Street Block Club in the the basement of St. Stanislaus Church in Slavic Village on Oct. 8, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight Local
Right: Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb greets a young attendee at the launch of his reelection campaign in the Mill Creek neighborhood on Sept. 13, 2025. Credit: Nick Castele/Signal ClevelandA church service on a recent Sunday at Liberty Hill Baptist Church on Euclid Avenue in the Fairfax neighborhood. Like many of Cleveland’s historic Black churches, the congregation has had to raise money for expensive repairs. Credit: Kenyatta Crisp / Signal ClevelandThe choir at performs on a recent Sunday at Liberty Hill Baptist Church on Euclid Avenue in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood. Credit: Kenyatta Crisp / Signal ClevelandPeggie Brown sits in a pew at Shiloh Baptist Church. She’s been a member of the church in Central for more than 60 years. Credit: Kenyatta Crisp/Signal ClevelandShiloh Baptist Church in Central is one of Cleveland’s many historic Black churches that had to figure out how to pay for expensive repairs. With recent grants, the church was able to fix a deteriorating plaster dome and stained glass panels. Credit: Kenyatta Crisp / Signal Cleveland
Angela Britton puts on roller skates next to a blanket showing her son Damarion Lazaia Whitsett in her home on March 12, 2025. Britton wrote a story about how the death of her son impacted her life for a book called “Write the Vision II: Life Beyond the News Snippet.” Credit: Michael Indriolo
Wanda Good holds a picture of her and brother Troy Dee Good on March 27, 2025. Good wrote a story about how the death of her brother impacted her life for a book called “Write the Vision II: Life Beyond the News Snippet.” Credit: Michael Indriolo
Sharon Rose holds a picture of her brother Gregory Devon Buchanan. Rose wrote a story about how the death of her brother impacted her life for a book called “Write the Vision II: Life Beyond the News Snippet.” Credit: Michael Indriolo
Constance Pickard knits a sweater in her home on March 17, 2025. Pickard wrote a story about how the death of her daughter Shante’ Ford impacted her life for a book called “Write the Vision II: Life Beyond the News Snippet.” Credit: Michael Indriolo
Che Gadison points out a dumping site near her home in East Cleveland. Credit: Nick Castele/Signal ClevelandSt. Vincent Charity Medical Center’s main building undergoes demolition in July 2025. Credit: Nick Castele / Signal ClevelandY-Haven, a residential treatment center for people with substance use disorders that is housed in the building shown here, may have to cut its budget due to potential funding reductions from the county. Celia Hack/Signal ClevelandCars roll down the West Shoreway in Cleveland. Credit: Nick Castele / Signal ClevelandLeft: A pedestrian drawbridge opens for a boat in North Coast Harbor. Credit: Nick Castele/Signal Cleveland
Right: Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, flanked by Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam, at a news conference announcing a $100 million settlement payment from the team. Credit: Nick Castele/Signal ClevelandMayleigh Johnson, a student at Louisa May Alcott, holds a up a sign she made at a Cleveland Metropolitan School District Board of Education meeting on Nov. 19, 2025. Franziska Wild/Signal ClevelandStephen Marquez, the captain of the East Tech High School robotics team, screws a swerve drive into a robot’s base during a build session on Feb. 13, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo / Signal ClevelandLeft: Cleveland Metropolitan School District CEO Warren Morgan announces a plan to close and merge dozens of schools during a Board of Education meeting at the Arnold Pinkney East Professional Center on Nov 5, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight Local
Right: Cleveland City Council Member Mike Polensek asks questions to Cleveland Metropolitan School District officials and Mayor Justin Bibb during a town hall meeting about the district’s plan to close and merge dozens of schools at Collinwood High School on Nov. 11, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight LocalDavis Aerospace and Maritime High School students rally outside the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s downtown office building to oppose the shortening of their school’s year-round calendar on April 23, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight LocalCaptain Joe Slusarski (left) Deckhand Ken Figeuroa (center) and Student Intern Josh Dannison (right) pull a log from the Cuyahoga River up onto a barge called Flotsam on July 14, 2025. The river clearing program is an internship opportunity for students at Davis Aerospace and Maritime High School. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight LocalRiders trot along the Lake Erie shore during the Cleveland Metroparks Mounted Police’s annual horse ride at Edgewater Beach on October 10, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight LocalLeft: East Tech High School student Cherish Holley poses for a portrait during a plant sale hosted by the school’s horticulture program at Washington Park on May 8, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight Local
Right: Cuyahoga County Board of Health Summer Worker Isaiah Allen uses a ladle to look for mosquito larvae in a pond at Bradley Nature Park in Westlake on July 24, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight LocalDancers from a performance of “Thakadhimi thakita” at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Festival, April 16, 2025. Credit: Gennifer Harding-Gosnell / Signal ClevelandNeighbors Gary P (left) and Dom Dacunto (right) walk their dogs in the shade of ash trees along West 50th Street in Detroit Shoreway on Sept. 16, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo / Signal Cleveland / CatchLight LocalEbonie Randle (right) and her beekeeping student BreJona Whitlock (left) check on a screen in their beehive at Shalom and Tranquility Community Garden in Brooklyn Centre on July 18, 2025. The hive is looking much more active than it did on their last hive check a few weeks ago, Randle said. The bees still probably will not produce very much honey this year, she said, but they’re raising a lot of young. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight LocalLeft: Margaret Armstead, a Detroit-Shoreway resident, at a local pocket park near her home on Nov. 22, 2025. Armstead helped develop the park years ago. Credit: Celia Hack / Signal Cleveland
Right: Kathy McDonald poses for a portrait at Hyacinth Park in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood on Oct. 9, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight Local
Jean Paul Hernandez reaches out toward a hibiscus flower at BarrioBoy Garden in Clark-Fulton on July 30, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight Local
Betty Jo Palmer sits on a swing at Storer Park in Stockyards on Sept. 6, 2025. Palmer lives next to the park and spent years asking local officials to upgrade its grounds. The park reopened with a new playground, trail and other amenities in the Fall. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight Local
Sam Fuller, a member of the Super Garden Kidz, performs a handstand on the playground at Shalom & Tranquility Community Garden in Brooklyn Centre on July 23, 2025. Credit: Michael Indriolo/Signal Cleveland/CatchLight Local
Visual Journalist (he/him)
As Signal Cleveland’s visual journalist, I use photography and video to show the people and places that make up Cleveland’s character. My role is supported by CatchLight and Report for America.
Signal Cleveland is a nonprofit newsroom that fuses community building with local news reporting. We produce authoritative, trustworthy daily journalism across a range of topics, including government, economy, education, health, and safety and resilience.
