Author

Rachel Dissell (She/Her)

Rachel is the Community and Special Projects Editor for Signal Cleveland. She works with Cleveland Documenters and Signal staff to report those stories for wider understanding and accountability. She also serves as the contributing editor for The Marshall Project – Cleveland where she focuses on including residents’ voices in criminal justice reporting. Rachel has reported in Cleveland for more than two decades on stories that have changed laws, policies, hearts and minds. She was part of the team that helped launch Cleveland Documenters in 2020, and she was a John S. Knight Community Impact Fellow in 2021. Dissell is a two-time winner of the Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma for narrative stories about teen dating violence and systemic failures with rape investigations.

Rachel's Latest Articles

An illustration with a dark purple background featuring a map Ohio shows a Black man with handcuffs and an orange jail jumpsuit turned toward a White, elderly mail judge. On the left of the image is a representation of an HIV test.

He’s 23 and in an Ohio Prison for Exposing Someone to HIV – Even Though He Couldn’t Transmit the Virus

By Ken Schneck & Rachel Dissell (She/Her)

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March 13, 2024

Ohio has six laws that criminalize living with HIV leading to at least 200 prosecutions in recent years. Caymir Weaver is one of them.

An illustration with a dark purple background shows a person with dark hair and purple skin tone standing on top of a large representation of an HIV test. A spotlight focusing on the person and the test is coming from the state of Ohio, in red.

‘Antiquated’ and unscientific laws enforced against Ohioans living with HIV

By Ken Schneck & Rachel Dissell (She/Her)

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February 28, 2024

New research reveals hundreds of charges against Ohioans under AIDS-panic era laws.

Conflicting narratives emerge regarding cancelation of Columbus Holi-Drag Storytime event

By Rachel Dissell (She/Her)

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December 6, 2022

Seven different statements have been made since the event's cancelation...but they don't completely line up.

“She was just ready to turn her life around” – Advocates and Trans Community Remember the Life of Tierramarie Lewis

By Rachel Dissell (She/Her)

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August 4, 2021

Lewis' death weighs on those who tried to help her avoid the fate of far too many Black transgender women in Ohio and across the county.

Slavic Village Effort Takes HIV Prevention to the Neighborhood Level in Hopes of Reversing Trend

By Rachel Dissell (She/Her)

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BIPOC

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January 21, 2021

Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood has seen an increase in new HIV diagnoses since 2015. A project there aims address that.

Turning to HIV/AIDS Clinical Trial Network to Help Build Black Clevelanders’ Trust in COVID-19 Studies

By Rachel Dissell (She/Her)

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BIPOC

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October 27, 2020

COVID-19 vaccine trials, striving to recruit people of color, look to Cleveland’s HIV/AIDS clinical trial network as a model.