Alana Belle Running for Cleveland City Council in New Ward 9

Alana Belle is running in Ward 9 Credit: Courtesy Photo

Some early challengers have already declared their candidacies for this November’s Cleveland City Council elections, when all positions will be up for grabs after wards were redrawn to decrease the number of seats from 17 to 15.

Count Alana Belle among them.

The Glenville native this week has thrown her hat into the ring for the new Ward 9, which includes her home neighborhood as well as chunks from the old Ward 8 and Ward 10. Kevin Conwell, the current Ward 9 councilmember, is expected to run as the incumbent for the seat.

“Glenville deserves a Councilmember who is both willing to stand in the streets with the people to protest police brutality and someone who can stand at podiums at the Ohio Statehouse, speaking to legislators about expanding our rights,” Belle says on her campaign website. “Glenville deserves a Councilmember who will continue its legacy of investing in our community through art and deepen that investment by expanding the resources available to our neighbors in need.”

She graduated from the Cleveland School of the Arts and has remained active in the arts ever since. She attended Cleveland State University, where she joined organizations committed to racial justice and improving the Black experience on campus. Belle describes those early experiences as formative to her following years, when she became involved in organizing for educational, social and civic causes including work with the likes of Preterm and the Ohio Women’s Alliance.