The proposed Greater Cleveland Activist Center will be the long-term focus of Sunday's inaugural Greater Cleveland Activism Awards, a gala honoring Northeast Ohio residents who have spent decades working for social change. Attorney Fred Gray, who represented Rosa Parks and worked alongside Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., will deliver the keynote address at Cleveland's Agora Theatre. Proceeds will help launch the center, which organizers envision as a way to connect veteran activists with a new generation of local leaders.
Errol Porter, a reporter for the City of Cleveland's TV20 and Gray's stepson, founded and organized the gala, according to Signal Cleveland. Porter told the outlet that honorees were evaluated on longevity, community impact, leadership, sacrifice and consistent service. He described the awards as an effort to recognize sustained local work and to present activism as something open to people regardless of fame, wealth or elected office.
A Legal Legend Returns To His Alma Mater's City
Gray's connection to Cleveland runs deeper than family ties. He earned his law degree from Case Western Reserve University in 1954, a path he was forced onto because law schools in his home state of Alabama barred Black students at the time, according to the Middle District of Alabama. He then returned to Montgomery determined to dismantle legal segregation, going on to represent Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin, and victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study over a legal career spanning nearly seven decades, as detailed by Milwaukee Independent. King himself reportedly referred to Gray as the chief counsel for the protest movement, per the same outlet. That body of work, which included landmark cases eliminating segregated public transportation and state-sanctioned racial gerrymandering, earned Gray the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden on July 7, 2022.
Honoring A Gang-Prevention Pioneer Who Died This Year
Existing Programs Offer Models for the Proposed Center
Greater Cleveland already has organizations that provide leadership development and mentorship. According to the Cleveland Leadership Center, its programs serve participants from high school through retirement and emphasize collaboration, community issues and civic involvement. Global Cleveland also operates Global Rising, which connects participants with Northeast Ohio professionals for professional and personal development. Those programs provide potential models for a proposed center focused on linking experienced organizers with emerging activists, although the available descriptions do not establish that they leave a specific unmet need. Official city records also show continued public investment in violence prevention. The City of Cleveland said its 2026 Summer Safety Plan includes nearly 2,400 participants through a Young Opportunities Unlimited partnership and $1 million for community-based violence intervention through Cleveland Thrive. In a separate 2024 report, the city said it provided $1 million in Neighborhood Safety Fund grants to 14 organizations supporting violence-prevention efforts.
One of the gala's most emotional moments will come with a posthumous special award for Khalid Samad, the longtime Cleveland anti-violence activist who died earlier in 2026, according to Signal Cleveland. Samad founded Peace in the Hood, an organization that worked to prevent gang violence, and per The Real Deal Press, he died on March 19, 2026 at age 73 after serving as assistant to the public safety director for youth gang intervention under former Cleveland Mayor Jane Campbell. He also spent nearly a decade as a gang prevention specialist for the Cleveland Board of Education, from 1991 to 2000, and worked as a prevention and investigative specialist for Cleveland's gang task force, according to Signal Cleveland.
Samad's local standing was cemented well before his death. In 2016, he was inducted into the Cleveland International Hall of Fame by current Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin, who lauded him for dedicating decades to street-level youth mentorship and violence prevention, according to a WKYC report. Griffin reportedly called Samad the heartbeat of Cleveland's neighborhoods.
Recovery, Education And LGBTQ+ Leadership Also Recognized
Anita Bradley will receive the Health and Recovery Advocacy Award for founding the Northern Ohio Recovery Association in 2004, an organization she continues to influence through recovery programming and models for people seeking sobriety, per Signal Cleveland. Bradley previously served as executive director of Compass House Inc., described as the largest residential substance abuse treatment center in Lorain County. Her national credentials run deep too: she was named a White House Champion of Change in April 2016 for her addiction recovery leadership, according to Faces & Voices of Recovery, and previously advised federal substance abuse agencies under both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. The organization Bradley founded has since grown considerably; in June 2024 it received a $1 million federal Community Project Funding grant through U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown to expand community-based addiction treatment and sober housing services across Northeast Ohio, according to the Northern Ohio Recovery Association.
Cleveland State University researcher Dr. Shereen Naser will receive the Ambassador for Cultural Unity & Justice Award for her work on inclusion and cross-cultural cooperation, according to Signal Cleveland. Naser founded and directs the university's Cleveland Child and Adolescent Research in Education Lab, and in August 2026 she was awarded the American Psychological Association's 2026 Outstanding Committed Professional Award for her research advancing anti-racism and equity in public education, per Cleveland State University.
Phyllis “Seven” Harris will receive the gala's first LGBTQ+ Community Leadership Award. She has served as executive director of the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland since 2012, according to Signal Cleveland, and under her leadership the center expanded its programming for youth, families and seniors. In 2019, the center moved into its current facility in the Gordon Square Arts District, a milestone that established a permanent hub for regional LGBTQ+ programming, per Cleveland Magazine. Harris also leads the Pride in the CLE festival, which Hoodline covered when the march returned to Mall B this summer.
A Storied Venue And A Broader Push For Local Advocacy
The gala's setting carries its own history. The Agora Theatre at 5000 Euclid Avenue originally opened on March 31, 1913 as the Metropolitan Theatre opera house before a $3 million historic restoration in July 2018 modernized its 2,000-capacity auditorium, according to AEG Worldwide. The restoration preserved the building's original 1913 Grueby-Faience tilework in the lobby, per the same release.
Sunday's program will include performances from Q Parker, Carlos Jones and the P.L.U.S. Band, and Moises Borges, with Harry Boomer serving as emcee, according to Signal Cleveland. Proceeds from the awards will support creation of the Greater Cleveland Activist Center, which Porter is developing to offer leadership development, training, connection and collaboration between experienced activists and younger community members.
The proposed center would take shape as local advocacy nonprofits navigate a shifting funding landscape. Hoodline previously reported on how federal grant changes have squeezed Cleveland's Fair Housing Center, underscoring the broader challenges facing organizations that provide community services.
