Martam Group is dedicated to environmental improvements that foster a sustainable future and lead to social and economic improvements in communities around Cleveland, OH. Formed in 2023, the group aims to improve the environment by working with businesses, community leaders, and residents to create a clean and safe place to live. Recognizing that trees are vital to the sustainability of the environment, Martam Group partnered with a local sorority to plant 25 trees. Martam Group also held a shredding and recycling day to address reducing waste in landfills and pollution.
Members of the Alpha Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., which includes Martam Group CEO/Chair Marsha Morrell Smith as its President (not pictured), hosts a tree-planting event in Cleveland, OH.
Martam Group has a small, dedicated staff, board and volunteers located in Orange, OH. in eastern Cuyahoga County and is a suburb of the Cleveland metropolitan area, the second-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 372,624 in 2020. Cleveland faces a number of environmental issues, including urban sprawl that has led to the loss of wetlands, farmland, wildlife habitats and riparian areas. Once a center of the steel and auto industries, hazardous facilities, such as power plants, waste facilities, and areas with unhealthy soils continue to jeopardize the health of black, indigenous and people of color, who are more likely to live near these areas. In 1969, the Cuyahoga River caught fire, becoming an international symbol of environmental degradation. The river’s pollution had been noted over a century earlier, and the incident helped to fuel citizen outrage and a sense of environmental crisis that led to the first Earth Day events in 1970.