In the late hours of January 31st, the DeWine Administration released the state budget proposal, outlining recommendations for funding, programmatic initiatives, and overall structure of state government programs. One major initiative proposed for the budget is the new Department of Children and Youth. The Department is proposed to be created July 1, 2023. The department...
Ohio Multi-System Youth Coalition State Budget Policy Priorities
By: Tara Britton, Director of Policy; and Sarah Hudacek, Advocates for Ohio’s Future The Ohio Multi-System Youth Coalition consists of families, providers, researchers, advocates and stakeholders from across Ohio committed to better outcomes for multi-system youth (MSY) and their families. The Coalition has continually worked on issues related to youth and families since 2016, with...
PEP: Interrupting disparities in the behavioral health pipeline
For many, 2020 was a year of struggle and difficulties, especially dealing with a pandemic and community unrest. But for an 8-year-old child with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, 2020 would also be the year they were handcuffed by police making them the youngest person to be handcuff by Ohio’s Cleveland Division of Police. Over the years, we,...
Showing our work: does Community Solutions use ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a powerful language model developed by OpenAI, capable of generating human-like text based on input prompts. It has been used in a wide range of applications, from generating news articles to creating personalized responses in chatbots. However, despite its impressive capabilities, ChatGPT has several limitations that must be taken into account when using...
State Budget Priorities 2024-25 from The Center for Community Solutions
As we embark on a new year and the 135th General Assembly, The Center for Community Solutions has laid out a set of priorities for the 2024-2025 state budget that closely align with our organizational policy priority areas and build upon progress made to date. Our budget priorities are responsive to the fact that we’re...
Cuyahoga County Health, Human Services, and Aging Committee Address Multiple Contracts
The Cuyahoga County Health, Human Services, and Aging committee reconvened on September 21, 2022 after a lengthy recess. Because of the break, the county had to hear and consider several contracts, some of which required lengthy presentations and review. The following is a summary of those presentations. Additionally, several of the funding proposals would be...
Gun violence is a public health problem, and so is white supremacy
Gun violence was deemed a public health issue in 2016 by the American Medical Association,[1] and is stated to be the leading cause of premature death, killing roughly 38,000 people a year.[2] Racism has been declared a public health crisis by over 209 jurisdictions since August, 2021 after the killing of George Floyd.[3] If gun...
Our New Collaboration with Prognosis Ohio
We’ve been working on an exciting collaboration for some months now, and today it goes public! Our first episode with podcast Prognosis Ohio features Fellow Hope and our policy findings in the State of Ohio Health and Human Services fact sheets, released last week, in advance of the gubernatorial election. Listen to the episode Hosted...
Suicide Prevention Awareness Month: Understanding the value and purpose of 988
CONTENT WARNING, contains references to suicide and mental health crisis If you or anyone you know is dealing with a mental health crisis, dial 988 immediately. There is hope. The month of September is designated as Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. This month opens the door for behavioral health agencies and nonprofits to educate on the...