When elevated blood lead levels are in the news, it is typically related to the youngest members of our community. Children aged 5 and under tend to suffer the most devastating and permanent consequences of lead poisoning. Reporters at Cleveland’s Plain Dealer newspaper have consistently reported on the conditions that result in elevated blood levels...
Upon leaving the Legislative Budget Office in 1982, Richard G. Sheridan relocated to Lakewood on Ohio’s North Coast, where he taught classes and served as fiscal director at Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin Urban Center. He later moved to The Center for Community Solutions (then, the Federation for Community Planning), where he was a...
In December, I authored an infographic report on racial disparities in Cleveland, which served to stoke community dialogue and keep the issue of systemic racism top-of-mind for many in the nonprofit and public sector communities. In the first part of 2019, I will explore some possible solutions to problems that were raised in the infographics....
Shortly after graduating with a Master’s degree in political science from The Ohio State University in 1977, I sought employment as a “practitioner” of the trade with the Ohio Legislative Service Commission (LSC). Upon interviewing with LSC Director David Johnston, he thought I would best fit the organization in their Legislative Budget Office (LBO). While...
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...
The first meeting of the year for the Cuyahoga County Council Health, Human Services and Aging (HHSA) committee took place on January 16. County Councilwoman Yvonne Conwell will remain chair of the committee, Councilman Dale Miller and Councilwoman Shontel Brown also are on the committee. Joining the HHSA committee are newly-elected councilwoman Cheryl Stephens, as...
One out of every six Ohioans relies on help from the federal government to buy groceries for themselves or their families each month through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly “food stamps”). In Cuyahoga County, that number is one in five. And even in Geauga County – the county with the lowest poverty rate...
Assuming there is no agreement reached between congressional legislators and the White House, the partial government shutdown will pass the one-month mark this week. Last Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed legislation guaranteeing back pay to furloughed federal employees, many of whom have already missed a paycheck. There are more than 78,000 federal employees spread across...
One of the recommendations that came to me in 2012 while working on the third edition of Follow the Money was to go beyond the mechanics of budget process and focus on the substance of the policies addressed in those budgets. This suggestion came from no less than a mentor of mine, William J. Shkurti,...
