For the past eight months, I have been a graduate assistant (GA) with The Center for Community Solutions (Community Solutions). Being a graduate assistant means that I worked at Community Solutions 20-hours a week while also going to school to get my Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs...
Author: Sam Sobul (Sam Sobul)
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Budget testimony before Senate Finance Committee starts, despite Ohio House not yet passing budget
Director Kimberly Murnieks of Ohio’s Office of Budget and Management (OBM) and Director Mark Flanders of the Legislative Service Commission (LSC) testified to the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday, as part of the first day of informal hearings on HB 166, the main operating budget. Murnieks went first, providing an explanation of how OBM went...
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Emergency assistance services contract focus of county health, human services and aging committee
The April 17 meeting of the Cuyahoga County Health, Human Services and Aging committee consisted primarily of a discussion about a resolution to extend the master contract for emergency assistance services through Cuyahoga County’s Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Currently, the contract is set to expire at the end of April 2019. The...
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Driver’s license suspensions disproportionately impact poor Ohioans
The Center for Community Solutions has written about the ways in which our current transportation policy choices affect health outcomes and Medicaid spending, including how access to transportation increases economic mobility and alleviates poverty. However, it’s important to highlight how a driver’s license is a near necessity for employment in Ohio, with the Ohio Department...
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Number of Ohio syringe exchange programs more than doubles in two and a half years
Syringe exchange programs are a public health strategy designed to prevent the spread of blood borne pathogens such as HIV and hepatitis amongst people who inject drugs (PWID). The programs also connect clients to other services, including substance abuse treatment, HIV testing, and, in some cases, physical and mental health treatment. In March of 2016,...