Now that fiscal year 2024-25 is underway, state departments are anticipating the funding commitments laid out in the state budget. Much of that funding will help Ohioans that need assistance in health, food, housing, etc. Agency allocations in the health and human services sector will be especially helpful for special populations like older adults and...
Activists like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. worked tirelessly to ensure marginalized individuals obtain civil rights but are often gone too soon to realize the impact they have made in society. Dr. King was assassinated at 39 years old, but when pathologists completed his autopsy, they reported that his heart looked like one of a...
On July 4, 2023, Governor Mike DeWine vetoed numerous provisions from the state budget, including the preemptive language that would prevent local regulation on tobacco and alternative nicotine products. Originally, the Ohio Senate included the preemptive language about tobacco regulation and retail licensing in its version of the state budget along with other plans to...
On June 6, Health Impact Ohio hosted its annual CHW (community health worker) Day at the Vern Riffe Center for Government and the Arts in Columbus, OH. It was a call for CHWs to advocate funding for both the Ohio Commission on Minority Health and the Ohio Center for Community Health Worker Excellence (as described...
On April 26, 2023, the Ohio House of Representatives passed its version of the state budget, known as House Bill (HB) 33. The legislative language for HB33 is over 5000 pages long, but there are two documents prepared by the Legislative Service Commission which may be helpful to use when viewing changes to the programs:...
You may have heard of awareness markers for mental health such as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, but did you know there is a World Maternal Mental Health Day? A day to raise awareness, change attitudes to reduce stigma, and influence policies about maternal mental health, World Maternal Mental Health Day takes place on May 3,...
We live in a highly stressed society in the United States. According to a survey conducted by The Harris Poll, adults mainly cited violence and crime (75 percent), inflation (83 percent) and the political climate (66 percent) as major sources of stress. Another significant source of stress is the current racial climate (62 percent). This...
On February 23, 2023, Director Ursel J. McElroy of the Ohio Department of Aging (ODA) testified her department’s state budget requests. Coincidentally, the Ohio Legislative Service Commission released ODA’s redbook to the public on the same day. During her testimony, Director McElroy stated that Ohio is now the sixth state with the largest population of...
Lung Cancer Awareness Month ended in November reminding us how many people are still affected by the disease as it continues to impact marginalized populations, most notably African Americans. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health, the death rate of lung cancer for African American men was 55.4...
