Cleveland City Council Health and Human Services Committee Meeting - February 9, 2026
Cleveland City Council Health and Human Services Committee Meeting - February 9, 2026
This meeting covered multiple agenda items including grant acceptances, a lease extension, and presentations on maternal health, food access, arts funding, and lead remediation. Several emergency ordinances were approved, and significant discussion centered on the loss of $3.289 million in lead abatement grant funds due to underperformance.
Consent Calendar
- Ordinance 103-2026: Emergency ordinance authorizing the Director of Public Health to apply for and accept grants from Cuyahoga County Invest in Children and First Year Cleveland for the Moms First program. Approved.
- Ordinance 32-2026: Emergency ordinance authorizing a one-year lease concession with Neighborhood Family Practice at 2358 Professor Avenue. Approved.
- Ordinance 118-2026: Emergency ordinance authorizing acceptance of a grant from Share Our Strength for the Food Access Navigators program under Cultivating Cleveland's Next Generation. Approved.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were recorded. All speakers were either council members, administration officials, or invited presenters.
Discussion Items
- Moms First Program: Health Director David Margolius and Commissioner Lita Wills presented on the Moms First healthy start home visiting program. The program serves pregnant mothers, fathers, and families until the baby is 18 months old. In 2024, it served 196 babies and 691 participants. The city provides $450,000 annually. Council members expressed strong support and asked about breastfeeding support, pay for case managers ($24/hour), and data on infant mortality. It was noted the program's infant mortality rate hovers around 4-5 per 1,000 births, compared to the city's 13-14.
- Neighborhood Family Practice Lease: Andrea Lyons of NFP described the federally qualified health center, which has operated at 2358 Professor Avenue for 30 years. The lease is for one year as NFP plans future consolidation. Councilmember Jones inquired about services in Ward 1 and urged expansion to the Lee-Harvard area. Councilmember Harsh noted the site serves many from the east side.
- Food Access Navigators Grant: Zayna Pixler, local food systems strategies coordinator, introduced the program to hire youth (ages 14-24) as food access navigators to connect residents to SNAP and other food resources. The grant is $24,000, exclusively available to municipalities. Councilmember Harsh asked about the city's role. Councilmember Jones raised concerns about potential federal SNAP cuts and the need for contingency planning. A task force with the county is established.
- Sustain the Family Initiative Presentation: Pastor Kyle Early and Angel Jacobs presented their program supporting expecting mothers and families with workforce development, housing assistance, and wraparound services. Funded by $175,000 from the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives and $550,000 from Ohio Department of Children and Families, they aim to serve 150 families. They requested council help in promoting the program.
- Assembly for the Arts Presentation: CEO Jeremy Johnson and board chair Chinanya Kamara presented data on the creative economy: $7.59 billion economic impact, 26,000 jobs. They highlighted successes of the transformative arts fund (seven projects, 300+ artists) and the passage of Issue 55 (cigarette tax generating $138 million over 10 years). They discussed plans for a cultural plan, guaranteed income for artists, and challenges like low audience attendance and local government funding lagging national averages. Councilmember House Jones praised upfront funding for artists. Councilmember Harsh raised concerns about the closure of WCSB college radio and its impact on local venues. Councilman Conwell suggested using TANF dollars for arts programs.
- Lead Remediation Update: Dr. Margolius reported progress: lead poisoning rate at 11% (state) / 14.5% (city), lowest ever, but still high. He highlighted the need for new housing, demolitions, and permanent hazard reduction. Chief McNair revealed that the Ohio Department of Development is reclaiming $3.289 million of a $5 million lead safe grant because the city only completed 17 homes in two years, failing to spend ARPA funds by the February deadline. Parameters were too restrictive ($15,000 cap, only windows/doors) and required lead clearance, forcing complex blended funding. The state allowed some flexibility but denied an extension. Councilmembers expressed frustration and called for an audit of all grants, better management, and a possible trip to Columbus to advocate for the funds. Councilman Harsh asked about compliance and exit interviews. Chief McNair committed to an audit within 3-4 weeks.
Key Outcomes
- All three emergency ordinances (103-2026, 32-2026, 118-2026) were approved unanimously.
- The committee received the presentations from It's Not a Moment and Assembly for the Arts as informational.
- Chief McNair will conduct an audit of all grants in the Department of Community Development and report back within a month.
- The committee will consider a letter or trip to the state to attempt to reclaim the $3.289 million in lead grant funds.
- A future presentation on infant mortality and health issues is planned for April (Minority Health Month), including contributions from multiple agencies.
- Councilman Conwell will explore using TANF funds for summer arts programs for youth.
Meeting Transcript
I'll wait. Cartero. Here. All right, thank you. All right. This is what we're gonna do. Um, before I bring everybody else up. I'm going to um do the legislation first. Hey, Francis. How you feel? This is to hear before you activists came in and start being activist, Francis was at Mills activist for a long time. Well, now I don't want to put us like that. But for a long time working in the community. Um, what else? And she was dealing with lead issues and health issues in the community, working hard, giving back to the community. Um, didn't look to um anything in return whatsoever. She would just help. And at that time I was doing a fatherhood movement. We were doing it in the same time that um Chris Harsh was out in the neighborhood as well. Because he was battling lead. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And um, I'll I'll tell you something about Chris later. Matter of fact, I can see it now. He had me protesting in front of Sher Williams, the president of Sharon Williams' house. He did, he did, he did. A lot of houses and a lot of houses. My neighborhood about battling with uh foreclosures and things like that. And uh, he was with Acorn at the time, one of the biggest radicals around this guy right here, Maverick. He's a Maverick. But I like seeing um Um Francis. Um so we'll do this legislation. I have uh um after that, um, and then we'll move to the other agenda part. And I'll have Carl Early here for about ten minutes. I just want him to explain a beautiful program. We'll go into the arts and then we'll come back into um to lead. And I know about that piece. Um I want to get with you on that, what was it three million dollars? Is it from the state of Ohio? We draft a letter to the uh I'll talk with you, and if we have to draft a letter to the governor or something like that. And we will we'll go down and talk with him. We won't we just won't lose it, man. I mean, he's a good friend of mine, too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll text him. Yeah, we'll talk afterwards. I don't like losing. So saying that, uh, ordinance number one zero three, twenty twenty-six have been approved by um the law the uh public health, that's your director, finance department, as well as director of law. It's an emergency ordinance authorizing the director of public health to apply for and accept one or more grants from Calgar County, invest in children program for the first year Cleveland to conduct moms first project service under the Invest in Children Partnership and first year Cleveland Partnership Programs and authorizing the director to enter into one or more contracts with various agencies, entities, or individuals to implement the grants, as I said earlier. The health director, David Margolias, the finance director, as well as the law director approved this grant. Now it's up to us, director.
openpublica.com