Browse Interviews

Marge Misak recollects her early life growing up in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and attending Northwestern University where she received a degree in Journalism and met her husband, Jim. The young family then moved to Clinton, North Carolina, for four years where Misak got involved in a migrant ministry programs. The Misaks eventually decided to move to the Near West Side where they found a sense of community through Cleveland's Catholic Worker. While living on the Near West Side, Misak was…

Maria Smith recollects her early life growing up in Jefferson City, Missouri, attending Catholic schools and later studying Political Science in college. Smith decided to go to law school soon after, later reconnecting with her faith. Smith highlights the need to find community in her life, which eventually led her to Cleveland’s Near West Side. Smith and her husband were involved in the Witness for Peace where they lived and worked in Nicaragua during the Contra War. They would eventually live…

Lifelong Clevelander Chuck E. Hoven recollects his early life growing up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood and attending St. Ignatius High School. Hoven attended John Carroll University as an undergraduate and later attended Cleveland State University for graduate school. Hoven shares his involvement as managing editor for Cleveland's Plain Press, which is a vehicle for many people to raise awareness on community issues like affordable housing. Hoven highlights the imbalances of community…

Gail Long recalls her early education which eventually led her to Cleveland’s Near West Side. Long worked as a community organizer at the West Side Community House, where she helped organize community block clubs that dealt with various issues in the neighborhood. She focuses on the affordability and gentrification of the Near West Side along with her involvement in Tremont’s Merrick House. Long recollects various initiatives she was a part of like the efforts to stop the privatization of Metro…

Near West Side resident Mike Fiala recollects how his early life experiences shaped his role in Cleveland's Catholic Worker movement. He shares his involvement in activism on behalf of affordable housing and providing services for unhoused people on the Near West Side. Fiala highlights the rise of gentrification in the Near West Side, along with the expansion of St. Ignatius High School. He also recollects his involvement in the 2015 March for Tamir Rice.

Near West Side resident Kathleen McDonnell recollects her arrival to the Near West Side and her efforts as a community organizer. McDonnell shares her involvement as a mediator for Cleveland Mediation Center and as an educator on mediation in Euclid High School. She shares her experience dealing with a hazardous waste recycling facility in a residential area and the arrival of lawyers to pressure the Northeast Chemical Corporation to relocate operations away from the neighborhood. McDonnell…

Megan Wilson-Reitz recollects her early life growing up in a diverse community which steered her towards a life of faith and social justice. Wilson-Reitz shares her involvement with community organizing in the Cleveland Nonviolence Network, the Cleveland Catholic Worker, and then her role as a board member for the Ohio City Near West Development Corporation.