CLEVELAND, Ohio – Congresswoman Shontel Brown (OH-11) (pictured)  a Warrensville Hts Democrat whose 11th congressional district includes the city of Cleveland,  will welcome U.S.Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra to Cleveland on Thursday July 6, the congresswomen said in a press release on Wednesday.

One of two Blacks in Congress from Ohio, Brown and Secretary Becerra will hold a roundtable discussion at MetroHealth Hospital and tour the Lincoln-West School of Science and Health facilities located there. The round-table discussion will include Steed, MetroHealth President and CEO Dr. Africa Steed, and Lincoln-West Principal Juliette King, a recent graduate of the program and other officials.

Lincoln-West is the only high school in the nation located inside a hospital.

Secretary Becerra is a member of President Joe Biden's cabinet and is the first Latino in american history to hold such office

Media are asked to RSVP to will.mcdonald@mail.house.gov

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com, the most read Black digital newspaper and Black blog in Ohio and in the Midwest. Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.

Women's March Cleveland, grassroots activists rally on City Hall steps on Sept. 20, 2025, taking on President Trump and his attack on historical Civil Rights legislation...By Clevelandurbannews.com, Ohio's Black digital news leader

Above picture: Women's March Cleveland at a march from Market Square Park in Cleveland. Photo by David Petkiewicz of Cleveland.com. Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio-Women's March Cleveland and other activist groups rallied for the  "Cleveland, Oh Make Billionaires Pay & Fight For Women's Rights Rally & March" from the steps of City Hall in downtown Cleveland on Saturday afternoon. The event was part of a national day of action in cities across the country, commissioned by Women's March National.

The crowd was small, but intimate, bringing out the grassroots sector of the community.

Speakers included Cleveland Councilwoman Deborah Gray, activist and Ohio State School Board Member Delores Gray, Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chairperson David Brock, Mayosha Baybach Vales of the Black Women's Army, Cindy Demsey of the Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus, and members of Refuse Fascism and Rise Up for Abortion Rights CLE.

Organizers said the event was a rally for reproductive and Civil Rights and an effort to continue the fight for choice for women in Cleveland and Northeast Ohio, including Black women.

Women's March Cleveland activists Kathy Wray Coleman, Alysa Cooper Moskey, Sierra Mason and Alfred Porter Jr. of Black on Black Crime Inc. organized the event.

Councilwoman Deborah Gray, one of two Black women on council, talked about the importance of having Black women in office and the city's Black Women Commission that she is a part of, and  Ohio State School Board Member Delores Gray discussed anti-education efforts by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, and new state legislation that gives him the authority to appoint members to the state School Board, adding that "the governor wants to dismantle public education."

David Brock said Republicans, nationally and otherwise, are hellbent on instituting policies that benefit White men and the nation's wealthy and that people should vote the Democratic ticket up and down relative to the upcoming Nov. 4 general election.

Speaker after speaker took on President Donald Trump, and what they said is an attempt to roll back Civil Rights gains like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, what's left of it since the U.S. Supreme Court began chipping at it when Barack Obama was president.

Other activist groups supporting the event include Cuyahoga Democratic Women's Caucus, Black on Black Crime Inc., Black Man's Army, Black Women's Army, Carl Stokes Brigade, Refuse Fascism, and Rise Up For Abortion Rights CLE.

Women's March Cleveland's next march will not be until the third week in January of 2026, the 8th Anniversary of its first march in 2017.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com are the most-read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio. Tel. 216-659-0473. Email-editor@clevelandurbannews.com.

By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com

AKRON, Ohio-Ohio 13th Congressional District Congresswoman Emilia Sykes (pictured at right marching for women's rights International Women's Day in Cleveland on March 8, 2021), Ohio's newest Democratic congress person and one of five members of Ohio's majority female and largely Black Democratic Congressional Delegation, will be sworn-in on Saturday, Jan 28, 2023 in her hometown of Akron by Ohio Supreme Court Justice Melody Stewart, a Democrat and the first Black elected to Ohio's highest bench and currently the only Black sitting on the majority female and largely Republican court. The event is free and open-to-the-public and will be held from 2 pm-4 pm at the Firestone Community Learning Center Other dignitaries slated to attend include Presiding Judge of the Ninth Appellate District Court of Appeals of Ohio Betty Sutton, Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro, City of Massillon Mayor Kathy Catazaro-Perry, Akron City Councilwoman Linda Ombien,  President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers and Secretary-Treasurer of the Ohio AFL-CIO Melissa Cropper, ASIA Community Outreach Coordinator Hsa Win, and Akron United Baptist Church Pastor Kevin G. Rushing.

In addition to Sykes, the youngest of  Ohio's Democratic congress people, Ohio's five-member Democratic Congressional Delegation also includes Reps  Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, Joyce Beatty of Columbus, who is Black like Sykes, and Shontel Brown, also Black and of Warrensville Hts The fifth member is U.S Sen Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, Ohio's most prominent elected Democrat and a senior member of Congress. And the three Blacks are women, two of them from Northeast Ohio, which includes the cities of Cleveland and Akron, the hometown of NBA megastar LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers and a city some 36 miles southeast of Cleveland. With Sen Sherrod Brown included, three of the five Democratic delegation members are from Northeast Ohio.

Missing from the delegation as to the 118th United States Congress is outgoing former congressman Tim Ryan, a Youngstown area Democrat and a 20-year congressman who did not seek election to the House of Representatives last year and instead ran a hard fought yet unsuccessful campaign against Republican J.D. Vance in a high-priced election to replace former U.S. Sen Rob Portman, also a Republican, and who retired last year. In fact, Republicans won all of the statewide offices in Ohio in last year's election, including the reelection of Gov Mike Dewine, Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state attorney general Dave Yost, and three seats up for grabs on the seven-member on the largely Republican and majority female Ohio Supreme Court This includes the Ohio Supreme Court seat open due to the  retirement of age-limited Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, her open seat won by sitting Justice Sharon Kennedy, also a Republican, and a former cop.

In helping to turn Ohio's five-member Democratic Congressional delegation majority Black, which is historical in Ohio, and in keeping it largely female, Sykes, a  former state representative and former minority leader of the Ohio House, and the daughter of state Sen Dr. Vernon Sykes and his wife Barbara Sykes, a former state representative, defeated Republican Madison Gesiotto Gilbert in last year's general election to win Ohio's U.S. House District 13 seat The seat was  newly created and was formed via Ohio's new congressional map, a controversial redistricting map that was gerrymandered but still remains intact in conjunction with an Ohio Supreme Court ruling issued.

"It was my name on the ballot, but we are all going to Congress," said Sykes during an election night victory party speech last year that drew a round of applause from supporters in attendance.

Ohio's 13th congressional district covers the entirety of Summit County, parts of Stark and Portage Counties, two of Ohio’s largest cities, Akron and Canton, as well as numerous suburban communities and rural areas. Rep Shontel Brown's 11th congressional district included Akron and Cleveland before redistricting but the new map moves Akron into Syke's new 13th congressional district that Sykes. The Republican-drawn map is in place for the next four years instead of 10 because it passed without Democratic support.

Ohio lost one of its 16 House seats relative to the redistricting process that occurs every 10 years in cooperation with the U.S. census and population dynamics and the new boundaries eliminate its only Black-majority seat, the 11th congressional district, which includes Cleveland and has been led by Rep Brown since 2021, Brown a former congresswoman Marcia L. Fudge's successor.

Fudge is also Black and is now secretary of Housing and Urban Development with the President Joe Biden administration.

Following redistricting, Ohio went from 12-4 Republican-to-Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives  to 10-5 Republican-to-Democrat via the Nov 8 midterm elections. Hence, Republicans technically lost two seats from Ohio and Democrats maintained the four seats they had in the U.S. House prior to redistricting.

Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenewsblog.com the most read Black digital newspaper and blog in Ohio and in the Midwest Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com. We interviewed former president Barack Obama one-on-one when he was campaigning for president. As to the Obama interview, CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT CLEVELAND URBAN NEWS.COM, OHIO'S LEADER IN BLACK DIGITAL NEWS.