Commissioner Lita Wills of the Cleveland Department of Public Health briefed the committee on the Division of Health Equity and Social Justice's priorities, tools and risks facing residents as federal and state benefit rules change.

Wills described the division's remit, created after a City Council resolution that declared racism a public health crisis, and said the office coordinates programs across city departments to address social determinants of health. She listed core programs that fall under the division's purview: HIV services, Minority Health, Moms First (a federally funded Healthy Start home‑visiting program) and the Office of Mental Health and Addiction Recovery.

The commissioner explained a new health and equity assessment (a six-step, fillable tool adapted with guidance from the Network for Public Health Law) that the city is using to screen existing programs, proposed policies and contracts for unintended equity impacts. Wills said roughly eight assessments are completed or in progress and the city plans to publish a small report with examples once the team reaches a larger sample.

Wills warned that incoming SNAP and Medicaid administrative changes will increase re-enrollment requirements and create a "war of paperwork" that threatens continuity of benefits for vulnerable residents. She said Fast Track Cities partners and the Cuyahoga County Board of Health estimate about 5,000 people locally rely on Medicaid for HIV treatment; losing coverage could force greater reliance on Ryan White and other safety-net resources.

On federal grant compliance, Wills described how recent presidential orders and HRSA reporting changes have introduced new conditions into award letters for programs like Moms First. The department has asked the law department to review whether accepting those amended award conditions would conflict with municipal policy; that review has delayed distributing the remaining federal award dollars to partner agencies.

Council members pressed for data access and accountability. Wills said the division uses the Clear Impact database to aggregate indicators (EMS, hospital data and other open sources) and will share reports and the underlying data sources with council. She acknowledged infant mortality remains a persistent disparity for Black and brown residents, cited provisional numbers (staff referenced about 13.6 for a recent year and Wills discussed an earlier peak near 14.2), and said the division is pursuing community-led strategies and studying best practices such as Cradle Cincinnati.

Wills closed by highlighting communications and training efforts: program one-pagers in English and Spanish, regular social-media outreach (the department reported tens of thousands of impressions across platforms for the health programs), and a structured onboarding and professional-development program for the division's staff.

Next steps the commissioner identified included: continuing the legal review of federal award conditions, publishing more health-and-equity assessment examples, coordinating with community hubs to assist residents with re-enrollment and sharing data reports with council.