The Beauty for Ashes collaborative journalism project grew out of a desire to hear directly the voices of Black women who have suffered from the loss of a child or a mother during childbirth. We heard, recorded, and memorialized the stories of nine Black women from Cleveland. If disparities in healthcare and birth outcomes stemmed from institutional racism, then the women’s stories would assist in providing the solutions. What the Beauty for Ashes project intends to accomplish is a wedding of these women’s voices with current information to improve lives in Cuyahoga County.

In this interview, Miesha Wilson Headen and Pastor Aaron Phillips, Executive Director of Cleveland Clergy Coalition, interview Chasity Strawder on Radio One’s 1490 AM station in Cleveland. Chasity wrote a memoir entitled “Broken for the Promise” which recounts her painful pregnancy and the indifference of most of her medical providers. She discusses nearly miscarrying, intermittent homelessness with her husband, and a struggle for basic transportation.