Last week the Ohio Department of Health released the latest report on maternal mortality in Ohio, A Report on Pregnancy-Related Deaths in Ohio 2017-2018. There is a lot to unpack in the report and we’ll spend more time with the details in the coming weeks. However, we identified some key data points that should be...
During the state budget debate over funding, the state’s parental leave policy was changed to allow employees working for the State of Ohio more paid time off upon the birth or adoption of a child. The major changes are highlighted below: State employees will now have 12 weeks of paid time off, at 70 percent...
The Center for Community Solutions welcomes a new member of the public policy team, based in the Columbus office. Dylan Armstrong joins Community Solutions in the role of Public Policy Fellow. “We are excited that Dylan has joined the team. His advocacy and state budget experience, across several roles and different states, will enhance the...
The 2024-2025 state budget is wrapped. While we’ll spend a lot more time and blog-space on how this state budget will impact health and human services, this initial reflection on the budget provides a quick look at where The Center for Community Solutions’ budget priorities landed. Improving the health of Ohio’s kids and moms Community...
Community Solutions has been working for several years with the legislature and both the Kasich and DeWine Administrations to improve women’s and maternal health in Ohio. One key element of this work is expanding access to doulas. When we learned that one of Governor DeWine’s budget vetoes was related to doulas, we had to dive...
The Positive Education program works hard to support young people to overcome and thrive. Their annual event, PEP Rally for Kids, was in person for the first time in four years on June 6, 2023. Community Solutions was thrilled to join Cleveland Votes as honorees recognized as important local organizations who help make government and...
It feels like Groundhog Day with the debate going on in Washington D.C. over the federal debt limit. We’ve been here before, right? While negotiations are ongoing (and could be in a more solid place, considering this was written last week), you have likely heard about some health and human service-related policies that are “on...
The budget is moving quickly through the Senate process, and we wanted to offer an update on where things stand. The budget bill, now formally Amended Substitute House Bill 33 (hereafter referred to as HB33) was officially referred to the Senate Finance committee on May 3. Now the informal hearings that have already been occurring...
It’s been a busy few weeks (months…years….?) in the Ohio legislature. Last we checked in, the Governor’s version of the state budget—House Bill (HB) 33—was making its way through the House of Representatives. The House Finance Subcommittee on Health and Human Services, along with the other issue area subcommittees, heard testimony from a diverse set...
In our continuing work to make the state budget process more understandable and accessible, we’re going to revisit some tips from last time around. The last state budget proceedings took place in the first half of 2021, just as vaccines for COVID-19 were becoming available, so much of our and others’ budget advocacy was conducted...
