Cleveland — The city of Pittsburgh’s gender equity commission released a study in 2019 listing major midwestern cities, including Cleveland, as the worst places in America for Black women to live. After Bloomberg CityLab ran a story with lead researcher Junia Howell in 2020 examining the most livable cities for Black women confirming Cleveland’s ranking, Enlightened Solutions (ES) hit the streets for deeper analysis of factors keeping the population last in health, income, employment and education outcomes.
Based on inaugural research in 2020, ES co-founders Chinenye Nkemere and Bethany Studenic knew that the outcomes of Black populations in the midwestern region were exacerbated by race and gender-based inequities. Several years later, the gender justice think tank’s phenomenological study Project Noir 2024 explores the experiences of Black women in northeast Ohio to serve as a nationwide example of systemic interventions for improved living.
“It is really all well and good that folks will study Black women; but the problem is, nobody ever actually asks Black women their opinions,” said Nkemere, ES strategy director. “We have a deep, deep history in the Black Midwest about migration patterns (and) economic shifts, yet and still all of the (majority) Black midwestern cities have the worst economic outcomes for Black women and Black families. That is how Project Noir started around the idea that the general public is forgetting about the fortitude and historic nature about the Black Midwest, which is essentially leaving us behind and is contributing to this gap in research we are seeing about Black women.”
In further response to the CityLab story, the Cleveland Commission on Black Women and Girls was established by the Bibb Administration to create opportunities and improve quality of life for their families and communities. The commission of 12 members representing various sectors and institutions hosts listening sessions and meetings, most recently unveiling Project Noir 2024 findings last month to a full audience. In the field of equity and inclusion, ES’s work will help the Commission craft its policy agenda including, but not limited to, housing, policing, employment, health and voting rights.
Black women continue to struggle in the city’s job market and workplaces, with 79 percent of respondents being paid less than others in similar positions and 77 percent have been micromanaged and felt their work was being unfairly critiqued, for instance. Since the 2021 publication of the inaugural study, the term “DEI Hire” has become a coded slur aimed at Black women in nonprofit and corporate spaces, leaving them feeling targeted and isolated.
Despite the northeast Ohio region’s global reputation for healthcare, medical professionals disproportionately focus on Black women’s weight, sexuality and reproduction, often neglecting other chronic or critical needs, according to respondents. Fifty-five percent said they felt uncomfortable with a healthcare provider, and 10 percent had procedures performed without their consent or going beyond their given consent.
Village of Healing Cleveland co-founder and CEO Da’na Langford is a member of Enlightened Solutions’ board of directors and sees positive outcomes for Black women and families that counteract the prevailing narratives. From a provider standpoint, Langford said it’s important for nurse practitioners and nurse-midwives to practice in their full scope with collaborating physicians for better patient satisfaction. “Our patients have noticed when they go without Village of Healing versus now being under the care of Village of Healing, they say their care and the way they’ve been talked to, everything is completely different,” Langford said. “We’ve been able to rattle the system enough to where (larger hospitals) engage in the conversations with us and engage in the care with us and Cleveland Clinic is the biggest one that has truly decided to engage, so that’s a positive that has come out of it.”
Project Noir researchers say the study is not designed to prove or disprove the existence of disparities affecting Black women, nor to unfairly criticize the region. The goal is integrating lived qualitative stories with quantitative data to tell the story of experiences of women living in Cleveland, Lorain, Youngstown and Akron. The project is organized into four key areas of discussion: workplaces, healthcare, education and a call to action.
After reading the Pittsburgh study and CityLab article and relating to each other’s experiences, Nkemere and Studenic started talking to their friends and ended up surveying over 450 Black women online in summer 2020. In 2024, ES tripled its reach, digitally surveying 1,324 Black women across northeast Ohio. Women were back outside attending advocacy events, wanting to share their stories and discover their collective power. Additionally, leaning on this community connected ES to nearly 100 area partners instrumental to the growth of Project Noir through 2024.
From a research standpoint, blackness tends to be discussed outside the community by individuals who are not part of the community. A former middle school English teacher with degrees in political science and African-American studies, Nkemere’s work focuses on the lived experiences of subjects that provide the critical link for understanding the context and history of current problems in the Black community.
A Nigerian-American raised by upper-middle-class parents on Cleveland’s east side, Nkemere calls herself a “boomerang Millennial” who lived nearly a decade in Houston before relocating home to work for the Department of Justice and attend graduate school. While excited about the prospect of her homecoming, she was confronted by racial and gender issues. Studenic, ES managing director who is an attorney and social worker, grew up in an impoverished rural Ohio community and was homeschooled until college, but she also experienced gender and age disparities. Both women worked together at the Department of Justice until 2018 and incorporated Enlighted Solutions as a nonprofit organization in 2019 in the heat of the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements. ES’s mission is creating, implementing and publishing research-based solutions centering the lived experiences of diverse people. Focus areas are advocacy, research and organizational development.
The anonymous Project Noir survey showed the collective experiences of Black women who never knew each other, proving that educational, workplace and healthcare systems have a long way to go for equitable access for livability. “For our organization, we know the majority of women drawn to our work want to talk about workplace issues. The thing that (most) surprised Bethany was the detail and the gravity with which many Black women discussed their healthcare issues, which is very shocking,” Nkemere said. “The word that was utilized the most in our 2020 survey in the healthcare section was ‘trauma.’ The word ‘despair’ for Black women and girls as they’re seeking education is the one that shocked me to my core. When you purposefully undereducate Black women and Black girls, you are under educating entire generations.”
Black women are the most educated demographic and yet many women are pushed into lower-paying and less prestigious specialties due to the lack of consideration by educators and administrators. For instance, 49 percent of respondents were steered away from their passions into entry level positions, and, 44 percent were expected to educate others on their experience with race dynamics.
These findings from the study makes Alexis Prewitt, 36, believe Project Noir is critical for her livelihood and brings to light the effects of negative stereotypes and conversations. “People constantly see Black women as things/images/personas (and) fail to look at us as human beings in which the world around us impacts our day-to-day lives,” said Prewitt, local actress and owner of Beneficial Refresh cold-press juice company. “(Project Noir) is the first time our story is heard while truly trying to find a solution.”
In 2024, when skeptics asked Enlightened Solutions if things are getting better or if the founders hate Cleveland, Nkemere and Studenic shut down the speculation, making sure people understand that shedding light on the problems leads to more people changing the systems with investments of resources for Black women and families. This takes a multi-pronged approach creating opportunities for Black women to get together in spaces affirming their lives, in celebration of their contributions to local arts, culture and workplaces.
The Commission’s meeting motivated attendees to start working on the call to action outlined in Project Noir 2024, aimed at elected officials, workplaces, healthcare, education, philanthropy and community groups, individuals and media. Immediate actions are drafting and supporting legislative policies addressing pay equity, workplace discrimination and healthcare disparities. Read more about them at projectnoirorg.com/calltoaction.
Greater Cleveland transplant Delanie West, owner of Be Super Creative Business & Brand Development and founder of Resolute Routes – A Resilience Pathways Foundation, focuses on equipping women and girls with the tools to achieve their health, wellness and wealth goals. She said the region’s growth depends on prioritizing access to quality learning and leadership development, exposure to mentorship and real-world experiences, networking for building social capital as a lifelong asset and diverse ecosystems creating pathways for lasting connectivity and access.
“Without real investment in community-driven pipeline programs, Cleveland risks perpetuating inequities rather than dismantling them,” West said in an email to Black Girl Media. “Change demands more than rhetoric; it requires sustained intentional action.”
