Achieving Health Equity in Greater Cleveland’s Black Community: The Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition Is Fighting For You!

Health equity means everyone has a fair and just opportunity to attain their highest level of health. In practice, this goes beyond treating everyone equally – it requires actively addressing systemic barriers like poverty, racism, and lack of access to resources that cause worse health outcomes in marginalized groups. Health parity refers to achieving equality in health status and outcomes, so that Black/African American communities have the same opportunities for long,healthy lives as others. Achieving equity and parity involves focusing societal efforts on eliminating avoidable injustices and disparities in healthcare, as well as the social conditions that impact health. In short, it means no one’s health should be predetermined by their raceor zip code. Achieving this is crucial not only for moral and social justice reasons, but also for the overall vitality and economic well-being of the Greater Cleveland area.The Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition (NEOBHC) is the first organization in Ohio dedicated exclusively to addressing Black health disparities. NEOBHC emerged because Black Clevelanders needed an advocate focused on the unique challenges affecting their health.The coalition’s vision is to achieve health parity (equality) in the African American population.Its mission is to create equity in the African American community by addressing the
cumulative impact of racial, economic, environmental, and social injustices on education, employment, housing, and health. causes. In short, NEOBHC works to educate, advocate for, and empower the community so that these systemic inequities can be dismantled.
Over the past decade, NEOBHC has grown into a multifaceted social justice organization – part advocacy group, part direct service provider, and part research institute. It was founded and is led by members of the community it serves, ensuring trust and cultural insight. NEOBHC’s strength lies in its ability to work across multiple sectors – partnering with public health agencies, nonprofits, faith organizations, and residents – to tackle health issues from all angles. To achieve its goal of health equity, NEOBHC coordinates a wide range of programs addressing key disparities in Greater Cleveland’s Black community. These initiatives target a range of issues,
from violence prevention to nutrition to environmental justice, all reflecting the coalition’s holistic approach. NEOBHC’s work underscores what health equity truly means in practice: meeting people’s needs according to their circumstances to achieve equal outcomes. By addressing racial and economic inequities head-on, the coalition is inching the region closer to health parity – where Black Clevelanders no longer suffer worse health simply because of their race or ZIP code. The impact can be seen in small ways and big: a mother and her children who no longer go to bed hungry because of delivered meals; an asthmatic child breathing easier because their home has
been remediated for lead and mold; or broad systemic shifts, like the city investing more in the health of Black neighborhoods.