Toxic: A Black Woman's Story Film Screening + Facilitated Lunch Discussion

Join First Year Cleveland, CWRU Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, CWRU Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, CWRU School of Medicine, and community partners for an on-campus screening of Toxic: A Black Woman's Story. Envisioned, filmed and premiered in Cleveland 5 year ago, Toxic follows Nina, a Black pregnant woman in her second trimester of pregnancy. The film depicts the cumulative effects of toxic, racialized stress Nina experiences in a single day--and how that stress contributes to infant mortality.

Following the 30-minute film, join a facilitate table discussion over lunch to explore how our own bias, history, and racist systems must be named and dismantled to build communities where families can thrive.

In 2021, Black babies made up 35 percent of births in Cuyahoga County and 59 percent of infant deaths.
Racism and discrimination are the root causes of infant death. Black mothers in Greater Cleveland are four times more likely to experience the death of their baby than white mothers, regardless of socioeconomic status.

First Year Cleveland, housed at the Mandel School, believes everyone has a role to play in ensuring that every baby born in Greater Cleveland will celebrate a first birthday.

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