Summary
- The Music Settlement is working on an expansion of its University Circle campus.
- Council members and officials discussed health department programs.
Follow up questions
- Ward 1 Council Member Joe Jones spoke about dire health outcomes in the Lee-Harvard area. How can that be the case with a neighborhood that neighbors the suburbs of Shaker Heights and Warrensville Heights and is near Cleveland Clinic South Pointe Hospital?
$12 million Music Settlement expansion
Cleveland City Council Health, Human Services, and the Arts Committee meeting. Jan. 12 9:30 a.m.
The committee’s chair, Council Member Kevin Conwell, Vice Chair Austin Davis and the five other committee members were present. The arts community was represented by officials from The Music Settlement, which offers music programming to newcomers to Cleveland and the community at large. It has been around for 114 years, said President and CEO Geralyn Presti.
The main campus in University Circle, 11125 Magnolia Drive, is looking for more space with better acoustics for activities and programming. The organization is rehabbing a home on its campus, a project it began two years ago. This appeared to be a delightful point of conversation for Conwell, who said he plays steel drums and expressed excitement about his instrumental acumen. Everyone should have a hobby, right? But don’t quit your day job! [Editor’s note: Conwell has been known to get down.]
Jeff Brown, chair of the Center of Music, spoke about programs the Settlement offers to seniors. Conwell said he wants to support music programs for more senior residents in the community.
Presti said the expansion project is a must-have, not just a nice thing to do, adding that they plan to break ground in the spring and open in fall 2027. Presti said the organization has raised about $10 million for the $12 million project. She also mentioned they have approval from the Cleveland Landmarks Commission to go forward. The expansion would bring the number of instructional spaces at the campus to 42, up from 28.
Conwell said he’d set up a meeting to see what the city can do to help.
Officials discuss health programs
Now we move from music to health in part two of this meeting, which featured more intense discussions covering a plethora of health topics.
Lita Wills, commissioner of the health department’s Health, Equity, and Social Justice Division, made it clear that racism is a public health crisis, as Cleveland City Council declared in 2020. She provided a cascade of information on various health outcomes that was difficult to ignore. She presented slides and graphs to support her points. Wills stressed the importance of policy evaluation for better health outcomes.
Wills spoke about the work the city and county do to help HIV patients receive the treatment and medication they need for everyday living. Officials spoke about potential changes because of funding cuts related to federal mandates on diversity, equity and inclusion. Wills’ response was that they’re still doing their work.
Ward 1 Council Member Joe Jones called out his ward’s ZIP code, 44128, as though it needed some extra attention and said the administration wasn’t communicating statistics on infant mortality rates or how medical outcomes for Black women have changed in the area. He said his neighborhood has “Third World situations” as far as quality of life.
Council Member Stephanie Howse-Jones praised Wills for her leadership as well as the work they are doing as a whole, including communicating information to residents.
Also, council members praised MomsFirst, a program that offers services to pregnant moms and has a father component as well.
Best regards!
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These notes are by Documenter Bilal Hakeem.
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