One Community Reads is a collaboration among the City Club of Cleveland, Playhouse Square, and all nine local public library systems to create a shared reading experience for the Greater Cleveland community. Throughout January through March 2018, county residents are encouraged to read Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond and join in community discussions among the public and community leaders focused on housing insecurity concerns and fair housing solutions being implemented around the Cleveland area. The community read wraps up with a visit by author Matthew Desmond on March 15 at KeyBank State Theatre. Tickets are required. Get your free tickets now!
January – March
One Community Reads Events
MATTHEW DESMOND
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize to Discuss Poverty in America
As part of the One Community Reads collaboration, bestselling author Matthew Desmond will discuss his Pulitzer Prizewinning book, Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, on March 15 at KeyBank State Theatre. Tickets are required. Get your free tickets now!
Evicted follows eight families in Milwaukee to explore poverty, economic exploitation, and the wide-ranging effects of eviction. Desmond, the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University and Co-Director of the Justice and Poverty Project, uses exhaustive research, years of fieldwork, and storytelling to create a portrait of eviction and its devastating aftermath. Evicted won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction, is a New York Times Bestseller, and was widely lauded as one of the best books of 2017.
“There is a larger point here about the way we think about poverty,” Desmond explained in his official author Q&A. “I’ve always wondered why we have documented how the poor struggle to make ends meet without asking why their bills are so high or where their money is flowing. With Evicted, I wanted to try to write a book about poverty that didn’t focus exclusively on poor people or poor places. If poverty is a relationship, involving poor and rich people alike, I wanted to plumb that relationship.”
One Community Reads is a collaboration among the City Club of Cleveland, Playhouse Square, and all nine local public library systems to create a shared reading experience for the Greater Cleveland community. Prior to Desmond’s appearance, Cleveland Public Library will host a series of events related to Evicted, including legal aid clinics and community discussions surrounding the impact of eviction and housing insecurity in Cleveland. Other events will be held throughout Cuyahoga County to foster discourse on the timely topics raised in Evicted.
“The impact of eviction is a pressing concern here in Cleveland and throughout the United States,” says Felton Thomas, Jr., Executive Director of Cleveland Public Library. “Cleveland Public Library welcomes the opportunity to help facilitate the conversation surrounding economic inequality, poverty, and housing insecurity by being a part of the One Community Reads collaboration.”
Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theater, March 15
Digital Exhibit
View a digital gallery of historic photos showing houses, evictions, and building transformations throughout Cleveland’s history. All original photographs are available in Cleveland Public Library’s Photograph Collection.
January–March
Evicted: A Community Discussion
Join community conversations about Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative students join residents, students, and community leaders to discuss the impact of evictions and housing insecurity on our region and shed light on the work being done by fair housing, veterans affairs, mental health agencies, and social services.
Fri, Mar 2, 12pm at Louis Stokes Wing, 2nd Floor
Facilitator: Dr. David Hammack of Case Western Reserve University
Sat, Mar 10, 12pm at Rice Branch
Facilitator: Dr. Thomas Hilde of Cleveland State University
Neighborhood Bus Tour & Discussion
Guides from Cleveland Neighborhood Progress lead a bus tour through areas of the city in which demolition, reuse, rehabilitation, and renovation have generated housing successes and opportunities. This event is free and open to the public (ages 16 and up). Space is limited. Registration and signed waiver required. Register at goo.gl/2K39E2. Email ops@cpl.org for more information. Tour departs from and retuns to Carnegie West Branch (1900 Fulton Rd.).
Sat, Mar 3, 10am at Carnegie West Branch
Housing Legal Aid
The Legal Aid Society offers legal advice and referrals focused on housing and tenant/landlord issues for low income individuals. First come, first served. Civil matters, advice, and referral only. Bring all relevant paperwork. Clinic attorneys do not represent you. If you need legal representation, you may be referred to the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland or other service providers. Visit lasclev.org for more information.
Sat, Mar 10, 10–11am at Rice
Visit onecommunityreads.org for more information.