Flooding. Heat waves. Devastating storms. As the planet warms, Northeast Ohio is bracing for these impacts — and more. This year, we’ve seen a heat dome, power outages, and a heavy rain causing sewer contamination at Edgewater Beach.
Yvonka Hall, pictured in a 2022 file photo, is executive director of the Northeast Ohio Community Resilience Centre. (Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com)Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com. This column was originally published at cleveland.com. You can access the full article here.
Climate impacts do not affect all people equally. Working-class communities, people of color, and other vulnerable groups are hit first and worst. That’s because climate impacts are layered over existing problems, like poverty, pollution, and discrimination. For example, Black and brown neighborhoods that were denied investment by “redlining” are often hotter and more flood-prone than wealthier, whiter areas. That’s one reason Black Americans are 50% more likely to die of extreme heat than non-Hispanic whites, per 2004-2018 federal data.
But while we may be vulnerable, we are not powerless.
This summer, my organization — the Northeast Ohio Community Resilience Centre (NEOCRC)—traveled across our nine-county region, hosting a series of Reimagining Communities Conversations. We talked with residents about the challenges facing our communities — including pollution, flooding, and the health risks of a changing climate. Together, we began to envision solutions.
The work is important, and it’s significant that we are leading it. NEOCRC was previously the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition, founded to address health disparities in the Black community. For nearly 15 years, we’ve educated and empowered families on issues including asthma, lead poisoning, and food justice. We exposed the tragedy of our community’s high rates of maternal and infant mortality, and we fought exploitative tobacco advertising in Black neighborhoods.
Today, we recognize the growing health threats from climate impacts. Our new name reflects that concern, and our expanded commitment to building stronger, healthier, more resilient communities. While our name has changed, our mission remains the same: to address the social, structural, environmental, and behavioral factors that shape our health by educating, advocating for, and empowering those we serve.
Our commitment to climate resilience won national recognition last year, when we received a $1.3 million grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. We are the first African American agency to receive this competitive grant — a recognition of our work, and of the disproportionate effect climate change is having on our community.
The grant has allowed us to forge a network of 30 community-based organizations, including churches, agencies, and concerned citizens from across the region. By engaging residents in dialogue, the initiative will inform future policy decisions, connect people with resources, and promote collective resilience.
The next step is to build “resilience hubs” across the region. Each hub will be located in a trusted community site — churches, schools, community centers — and hosted by a member of our Faith Advisory Board. The hubs will offer residents reliable places to access information, resources, and support before, during, and after climate-related events.
The resilience hubs will reflect each county’s top environmental concerns identified during the Reimagining Community conversations, and each will look a little different. Some will focus on extreme heat by offering a place to cool off during a heat wave. Others will develop strategies to help residents cope with flooding and stormwater. Still others will address air quality and asthma, power outages, or water quality. But they all serve the same essential purpose: helping residents prepare, stay safe, and stay connected.
Climate change isn’t fair. And here in Northeast Ohio, it is battering communities that have long borne more than their share of hardship. But our communities are also blessed with strong, resilient people who know how to “make a way out of no way.” NEOCRC is proud to bring those people together to envision a safer, healthier, and fairer future for all the people of our region.
Yvonka Hall is executive director of the Northeast Ohio Community Resilience Centre