Title: Living For We
By: Marlene Harris-Taylor
Air date: March 1, 2023 - July of 2023
Summary description:
Living For We is an 11-episode podcast series about the health and well-being of Black women in Cleveland. Each episode averaged around 25 minutes. We wanted the judges to hear a little from several episodes instead of just one episode so we put together this 30-minute excerpt with highlights from several episodes.
Podcast Executive Producer and Host, Marlene Harris-Taylor, assembled a team of creators, primarily women of color, to create this ground-breaking podcast.
In 2020, Bloomberg CityLAB published a study that ranked Cleveland dead last in terms of livability for Black women. On Living For We, we talk to Cleveland's Black women about their experiences at work, at school, in the doctor's office, and in community with each other to answer the question... is Cleveland really as bad as they say it is for Black women?
Ideastream Public Media partnered with two Cleveland researchers who created the “Project Noir” survey on the heels of Cleveland receiving that dubious ranking of least livable. The survey captured the feedback of over 450 Black women providing accounts of frustration, isolation, marginalization, and discrimination, within the workplace, healthcare facilities, and the education sector.
The podcast approaches a topic that could be very negative and deflating, but instead focuses on the empowerment of Black women who are not waiting for others to improve their situation. Black women lifting up each other is the meaning behind the title, "Living For We."
It also features advice and commentary from Dr. Angela Neal-Barnett, therapist and professor at Kent State University. She provides tools and tips to help Black women survive and thrive in Cleveland.
Some of the guests from this season include: Samaria Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice who was shot and killed by a Cleveland police officer when he was only 12 years old; a legend in local television news, former anchor Romona Robinson; Cleveland Clinic OBGYN Dr. Linda Bradley, the first Black female physician ever hired by the Clinic; Dameyonna Willis, the founder of the QueenIAm program and several of the beautiful young girls in her afterschool empowerment program; and Jazmin Long, CEO of Birthing Beautiful Communities, a program making a difference in combating the Black infant mortality rate in Cleveland.
The podcast, which currently has more than 130,00 downloads, was featured as “New and Noteworthy” by Apple Podcasts and NPR’s Podcast site.
To hear more episodes of Living For We, please visit our show page: https://www.ideastream.org/podcast/living-for-we