The Cuyahoga County Health, Human Service and Aging (HHSA) committee considered two very important subjects during their most recent meetings. The first meeting, held February 16, discussed the issue of homelessness, where the committee considered two contracts that would seek to enhance the delivery of homeless services. The other meeting was held on March 2,...
March 21, 2022
Lessons of Two Years of COVID-19: Impacts of an Offline System for WIC Beneficiaries in Ohio
By: Hope A. Lane-Gavin, Fellow, Health Equity, The Center for Community Solutions Katherine Ungar, Policy Associate, Children’s Defense Fund – Ohio In our first blog of this series highlighting our research into the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and how it operates in Ohio, we outlined many of the program’s...
March 21, 2022
Poverty data for 2016-2020 shows mixed results for Cleveland and Cuyahoga County
The number and percent of people living in poverty in Cleveland appears to have dropped in 2020, according to the American Community Survey 5-year estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Although the change is not statistically significant, improvements in the economic circumstances for children continued a recent trend, and estimates of child poverty in...
March 21, 2022
What’s Going on with ARPA in Greater Cleveland?
Work is underway for our Greater Cleveland American Rescue Plan Council (GCARP Council). We are in the process of bringing together a steering committee to guide our coalition and work, and we are planning to hold our first public meeting in Spring, 2022. Stay tuned for more details on how to engage with this important...
March 14, 2022
Racism is a public health crisis that cannot be ignored
Over the past three years, racism has been declared a public health crisis in numerous communities across the United States. Milwaukee County was the first to declare it in 2019, with other governmental entities following suit, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Cuyahoga County. Often, governmental entities focus on addressing...
March 14, 2022
Unwinding the Public Health Emergency: Ohio Medicaid
On March 10, 2020, Ohio recorded its first case of Covid-19. In the two years after that case, the state Medicaid program played a critical role in ensuring access, providing coverage, and enabling budget stability as the state grappled with the complexities of the pandemic and its effects. And while the clinical science has not...
March 7, 2022
Getting older and getting connected
What do your seventeen-year-old niece and seventy-four-year-old uncle have in common? An obsession with TikTok? Maybe, especially if they live in Lorain County. A recent community needs assessment of older adults in Lorain County paired with census data has revealed some surprising and exciting data related to older adults and internet usage. And while Uncle...
March 7, 2022
Unwinding Emergency Pandemic Supports
Over the last two years the federal government enacted a number of waiver options, flexibilities and enhanced benefits across public programs to promote health insurance coverage and economic stability during the Covid-19 pandemic. Many safety-net programs, reinforced by targeted assistance and suspended payments have held families together, helped keep them safe and supported their most...
February 28, 2022
Black Grief During the Pandemic and the Importance of Healing
When I think about the COVID-19 pandemic, I recognize the great deal of hurt and pain of people not just in the United States, but around the world. The pandemic has impacted families, friends, and colleagues from all walks of life. As of the release of this article, over 935,000 Americans have lost their lives...