For a few weeks before and after the November election, four journalists set out in different neighborhoods to ask Clevelanders how they were feeling about their communities, the city and voting. Their work was part of a new community news fellowship organized by Cuyahoga Community College, the Journalism + Design lab at The New School in New York and Cleveland’s Neighborhood Media Foundation. It is supported by Signal Cleveland.
The news fellows — Louis Lyons, Diana Sette and Cleveland Documenters Christina Easter and Charlestine Randle-Pride — asked the same questions to more than 100 people before Election Day. They followed up with many of them after.
“Ninety-plus percent of the people were cooperative,” said Easter. “I just got that vibe that people want to tell their story.”
Some of the feedback gathered in the interviews will be published by community news organizations affiliated with Neighborhood Media Foundation and by Signal Cleveland.
The fellowship was modeled on a similar effort in Oakland, California, led by Journalism + Design, which promotes innovation in local news. It grew out of the community journalism certificate program launched last year by the same organizations. That certificate program will resume in 2025.
Signal Cleveland asked the fellows to share some insights about their work.
What are your one or two biggest takeaways from this project?
Easter: It really was surprising to me how many people are aware of who the politicians are, and how many people feel — it was like a consensus — that the politicians are for rich people and not the everyday people.
Sette: Many people expressed that they had received such an onslaught of campaign texts and they were disarmed when I was asking them more general questions about what was important to them and what they would do locally. That opened them up to sharing.
Randle-Pride: People seem to be hopeless. They don’t have any vigor or excitement about participating in democracy. My other takeaway is that it is very important to have a community news system that touches the people I like to call the “folk down the way,” the everyday people who are struggling.
Lyons: There was a lot of confusion out there. There’s a lot of people who didn’t understand what was really going on and really didn’t have a lot of answers.
Does any one person or answer stand out in your memory?
Sette: I spoke to elders in the community who said when they were young, they didn’t have the right to vote. And the people who spoke to being so jaded and feeling so left out by the political system that they really didn’t feel like it applied to them at all. Those stuck with me.
Lyons: I interviewed a man named Mr. Archie. It was a very good interview. But he told me that he doesn’t vote for anyone who is younger than him. He was 67, maybe older. Mr. Archie believes that young people do not listen. I had to remind him that I was younger than him and I was listening to every word that he was saying. But there were a few other people that I interviewed who were the same.
What if anything do you plan to do next involving community news?
Easter: One thing that I would like to see, if the fellowship can continue, is small town halls with other organizations that are doing this work too. And to have councilpersons, judges, people running for mayor, etc., attend these and hear from the people directly.
Sette: I just launched a YouTube channel called Community Voices with Diana Sette. It’s long-form conversations around organizing, what’s happening locally, and community building.
Randle-Pride: I love being a Documenter. I’m also interested in doing a podcast on grassroot organizations in Cleveland.
Lyons: The Collinwood Observer will be closing after next month. I would like to start something for that neighborhood. There’s a lot of great things there in that community.