Culture of
Health Leaders
Alumni

Kimalon Dixon

Kimalon Dixon
Location: Cleveland, Ohio Cohort Start Year: 2018 Project Topics: Addiction and Substance Abuse, Behavioral and Mental Health, Built Environment/Housing/Planning, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Education, Environmental Justice, Food Systems and Nutrition, Health Care Access, IT/Technology, Leadership Development, Obesity, Public, Population and Community Health, Violence and Trauma Populations Served: Adolescents (12-20 years), African-American/Black, Asian/Asian American, At-Risk/Vulnerable Populations, Children and Families, Hispanic/Latino/Latinx, Immigrants and Refugees, Incarcerated or Formerly Incarcerated Populations, LGBTQ+ Communities, Low-Income Communities, Older Adults (65+), People Living with HIV/AIDS, People with Addictions, People with Disabilities, Victims of Crime, Women's Health, Young Children (0-5 years)
Senior Project Director
Cleveland Purpose Built Communities

FOCUS
The Buckeye and Grenville neighborhoods of Cleveland, Ohio, are located at the intersection of opportunity and challenge. Each community has its own cultural richness, history, and assets, yet both have significant health, economic, and educational disparities. My focus is to listen to the community’s voice to inform and implement a holistic revitalization strategy that transforms each neighborhood into healthy, thriving communities of choice.

STRATEGIC INITIATIVE: University Circle Coalition to Address Employment Inequities
University Circle is the epicenter of anchor institutions—it employs more than 30,000 people. Yet Woodhill Homes, a public housing complex located within four miles, has a 69 percent unemployment rate. In a 2018 community assessment, 55 percent of surveyed residents indicated a desire to work. East End Neighborhood House (EENH) provides services despite escalating needs, decreasing funding and an operating deficit. EENH is a high-quality early childhood education (ECE) provider with limited capacity to serve low-income children because of limited local, public ECE funding. This is critical in Woodhill— 37 percent of surveyed parents/guardians reported that their pre-kindergarten-aged child was enrolled in preschool, and 7.9 percent of pre-K aged  students are kindergarten ready. My strategic initiative will address employment inequities in Woodhill Homes by creating an ECE workforce development and enrichment model. Committed partners include East End Neighborhood House, Starting Point, and Imperial Training Center.

MORE ABOUT KIMALON
Kimalon’s career has spanned public health in municipal government to philanthropy. These broad experiences shaped her perspective and evolved her interests and skills to delve into the relationship between public health and community development within an equity framework. Kimalon’s background includes managing a multi-sector collaborative initiative that addressed childhood lead poisoning in Greater Cleveland.

Click here to watch Kimalon’s Legacy Project video.