Afi Scruggs
Stories by: Afi Scruggs
Afi Scruggs is a local freelancer. Her diverse body of work spans more than 30 years and has appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the New Yorker, Cleveland Magazine and the Atlanta Journal Constitution among many others. Visit her page for more information.- 1
DigitalC says its infrastructure improvements will bring affordable, reliable internet to the nation’s most disconnected city. But can the organization go from serving 1,100 to 40,000 customers in three years?
The growing shortage in nurse assistants has given new urgency to Cleveland-area healthcare workforce groups to recruit and inspire a sense of duty in future healthcare workers, as well as find ways to better incentivize, support, and compensate entry-level workers.
Black Americans' relationships with the U.S. healthcare system is a complicated one, based in fear and distrust of historically unjust and biased practices.
The population has fallen, but hopes are high for Cleveland's Fairfax neighborhood, where revitalization efforts are on an upswing.
Third Space co-founder Evelyn Burnett says the point of the workshops is simple: to build awareness around racial equity and inequity. More than 3,000 people from 700 organizations have attended the trainings, which are now offered monthly.
When Ebony Naylor received her cosmetology license two years ago, she figured she’d mark the achievement by herself. The eight women who had mentored her for a year had other ideas.
When Kent Whitley talks about environmental issues, he doesn’t start with words like “sustainability” or terms like “carbon footprint."
“It’s so hard to talk with these big words. You have to go to the dictionary,” he says with a laugh.
Instead he brings the issues down to earth, to air, and to water.
“I say, ‘The lake is dirty...and it’s affecting you.’”
That kind of bluntness is how Whitley and others plan to convince African Americans that they have a stake in environmental policy.
“It’s so hard to talk with these big words. You have to go to the dictionary,” he says with a laugh.
Instead he brings the issues down to earth, to air, and to water.
“I say, ‘The lake is dirty...and it’s affecting you.’”
That kind of bluntness is how Whitley and others plan to convince African Americans that they have a stake in environmental policy.
When LaRaun Clayton and his husband decided to buy a house, they sought a neighborhood where they’d be comfortable and fit in. “For us, it was about finding a place where we weren’t going to be the only ones,” shares Clayton. “Sometimes, being a same-sex couple—not to mention African-American—puts a target on you.” The couple looked in familiar places: Lakewood, Fairview Park, and Gordon Square (where they already lived). But the home prices were at the top of their budget, so their real estate agent took them to another neighborhood: Old Brooklyn.
While Congress floats a proposal to raise the full Social Security retirement age to 69, the impact will hit hardest in Cleveland's urban neighborhoods, where life expectancy is as low as 70—nearly nine years shorter than the national average.
Carlos Jones of I–tal, First Light and the PLUS Band is now serving up a steaming cup of joe alongside his legendary reggae efforts.
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