About this Event
Following the momentum of Cleveland’s No Menthol Poetry Contest, Village of Healing brings Cleveland’s Public Health leaders together for a community conversation with Beyond the Smoke: Progress, Policy, and the Future of Our Health, a community screening and expert panel discussion.
The conversation about tobacco and its impact on Black communities cannot end when an event ends. The No Menthol Poetry Contest held last month on September 11th in partnership with the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council (AATCLC), The Poet Life, and local community organizations, used spoken word and storytelling to raise awareness about tobacco and menthol's impact on Black communities. Beyond the Smoke moves the conversation from awareness toward education, policy and action. Menthol itself is an important part of the discussion. “It’s cooling properties can make cigarette smoke feel less harsh, and the CDC says menthol can increase dependence and make quitting more difficult.” The CDC also reports that “tobacco companies have historically marketed menthol products aggressively to Black communities and that the Black population is more likely to die from smoking-related diseases than Hispanic and non-Hispanic White people.” Cleveland’s adult tobacco and cigarette use has declined over the past decade but remains higher than the national average. Cleveland has enacted major new tobacco laws.
Those facts make the participation of Dr. Harris and Dr. Margolius especially significant. Together, they bring city and county level public health perspectives to a community conversation about prevention, regulation, health equity and how tobacco policy ultimately affects real families and neighborhoods.
“We don't want this conversation to disappear after one successful event,” said Da’na M. Langford, Founder and CEO of Village of Healing. “The No Menthol Poetry Contest demonstrated that our community is ready to talk about this issue and the harmful effects we see in some of the patients we serve at our medical center. Beyond the Smoke allows us to take that conversation further, to put health, policy and community in the same room and ask what we can do next to protect our families and our future.”
The Free community event will feature a screening of the short documentary Black Lives, Black Lungs, followed by a discussion moderated by Da’na M. Langford, M.S., CNM, FACNM, Founder and CEO of Village of Healing, with two of Northeast Ohio’s leading public-health officials: Dr. David Margolius, MD, Director of Public Health for the City of Cleveland, and Dr. Roderick Harris, DrPH, Health Commissioner of the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. Their participation gives residents a rare opportunity to hear directly from the public-health leaders responsible for addressing tobacco-related health concerns at both the city and county levels.
Village of Healing is a 501c3 nonprofit development organization that operates The Village of Healing Center, a Black led and operated medical center created to decrease health disparities affecting Black families.
Event venue & nearby stays
Euclid Public Library, 631 E. 222nd St, Euclid, United States
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