With 22 partner newsrooms, reporters and community organizations embedded in nearly every corner of Northeast Ohio from Akron to Cleveland’s Buckeye-Woodland neighborhoods, NEO SOJO is currently dedicated to targeting one issue — how the COVID-19 crisis is impacting communities — and spotlighting solutions. We want to tell stories that lift up ways to solve issues that plague our communities and change the conversation about what’s possible in Northeast Ohio.
Northeast Ohio Solutions Journalism Collaborative
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School of One/FacebookOhio’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill and a second bill that restricts access to LGBTQ+ healthcare are looming in the legislature. -
Michael Indriolo/The LandRefugees are building up Ohio’s declining population, and US Together is helping them develop, finance, and expand small businesses in hopes of lifting the local economies.
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Recent transit redesign did help; what else can be done? -
And what the Greater Cleveland RTA learned from the Paradox Prize. -
Outdated city zoning codes in many Cleveland communities make new construction virtually impossible on the inner ring suburbs’ smaller vacant lots. But some communities are working toward adapting their codes to accommodate modern-day infill housing to meet a variety of needs. -
What else can be done in Ohio and beyond to help? -
Exploring what can be done to help cities’ poorest residents who struggle with water debt. -
The everyday "hassles" people in need face that create difficult and often unattainable hoops to jump through when seeking government assistance. Officials say these are necessary to root out fraud and ensure assistance to those that need it most but researchers say otherwise. -
Water has increasingly become more expensive for people struggling to make ends meet. -
In both Cleveland and Philadelphia, the pandemic and the cities’ high poverty rates mean there are thousands of people behind on their water bills.
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Those who are interested have until Nov. 15 to sign up to receive the payments. -
A new Cuyahoga County diversion center in Cleveland's Hough neighborhood can trace its roots to the work of Greater Cleveland Congregations and the group's opposition to using public money to renovate a sports arena. -
Northeast Ohio’s economy has suffered setback after setback in recent decades. There was the loss of major industrial players which led to the American rust belt decline. Then there was the 2008-2009 recession. And finally, the pandemic. The Northeast Ohio Solutions Journalism Collaborative (NEO SoJo) will soon embark on a year-long reporting project on the region’s economic recovery from the pandemic. -
Cleveland is one of seven cities in the U.S. that has enacted a right to counsel program that provides free legal representation to tenants facing eviction. Early statistics from the program’s first year of operation show promising results: dozens of evictions prevented despite a federal moratorium on evictions. But what will happen when that moratorium ends?
