Our Issues and Advocacy
The Northeast Ohio Young Black Democrats has several core areas of policy that directly align with our mission and purpose to continue to enhance the black community throughout Northeast Ohio. These key issues represent major areas of concern for the black community and will be used in our evaluation of candidates that seek our endorsement.
Education
- We will continue to fight for education that is equitable and based on the needs of our neighborhoods.
- We will continue to fight for the education of our community at the local, state and federal levels.
- We advocate for school boards that directly reflect ALL key stakeholders within the community (parents, teachers and community members) and we will seek out and endorse school board candidates who also believe in these ideals.
- We will help provide education in various areas such as: voting rights, important community issues and civics.
Health, Housing and Homlessness
- Infant mortality, mental health, drug dependence, food deserts and attacks on women’s heath are just some of the issues we will focus on to eradicate health disparities in the black community.
- We advocate for equitable housing within each ward of our community and will continue applying pressure to politicians who continue to allow gentrification in various neighborhoods as Cleveland continues to flourish.
- As a community, we need to ensure that safe housing needs for all of our brothers and sisters are met and that there are safe and clean homeless shelters throughout out city.
Criminal Justice
Criminal Justice
- We believe that black lives must be valued in our society and demand a system of equality and justice for all black black people.
-The relationship between law enforcement and the community needs to be improved.
-We advocate for community policing with officers directly from the community in which they serve.
- We fight for criminal justice system reform as a whole to provide a heavy focus on developing equitable communities and instituting programs that keep the youth and historically disenfranchised off of the streets.
- We support successful re-entry programs that focus on job preparation and stability to eliminate the perpetuated cycle of crime in our communities.
- We advocate for the elimination of both for profit prisons and the death penalty.