By: Hope A. Lane-Gavin, Fellow, Health Equity, The Center for Community Solutions Katherine Ungar, Policy Associate, Children’s Defense Fund – Ohio Over the past several months, The Center for Community Solutions and Children’s Defense Fund-Ohio have worked together to evaluate the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program to Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). WIC is a critical program, with a proven track record...
Racism as a Public Health Crisis: Mental Health Pipeline
A temper tantrum over a pair of sunglasses led to the arrest of a six-year-old. That six-year-old child with known medical issues was arrested by the school’s resource officer, placed in zip ties by another officer, put in the back of a police car, taken to a juvenile center for processing fingerprinted, had their mug shot taken, and received a...
Cuyahoga County Council HHSA Committee Approves Salvation Army Contract
The Cuyahoga County Health, Human Service, and Aging committee met on March 16 to hear one contract. The contract extension will run until September 30, 2022, for the Salvation Army Pick Up, Assessment Sheltering Service (PASS) Program. The PASS program provides basic temporary housing and rapid rehousing and recovery for up to 75 homeless men according to Marcos Cortes, who...
Student loan payment pause extended again, Department of Education announces a reset plan for students in default
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education announced another extension of the federal student loan payment pause. The payments had been set to restart on May 1, 2022, but the pause has been extended until at least August 31, 2022. The payments were set to restart on May 1, 2022, but the pause has been extended until at least...
Measuring Racial Segregation in Cuyahoga County
Greater Cleveland is one of the most segregated large cities in the United States. A quick look at census data reveals distinct patterns of residency along racial lines. For example, Black people make up 48 percent of people in Cleveland, while white people comprise 71 percent of suburbanites, disproportionate to their shares in the county as a whole. Defining the...
Greater Cleveland Area Organizations Seek to Build Human Capital Through Ohio’s Capital Budget
The Ohio General Assembly will soon take up a state capital budget that will top the $2 billion dollar mark. Several health and human service organizations in Greater Cleveland are making the case for why their organizations should receive some of these funds via a community project designation. In the last state capital budget, 13 health and human service projects...
Public Health Emergency Unwind: Nutrition
From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent Public Health Emergency (PHE) it was clear that in order to mitigate the virus’ harm on our public health infrastructure, our economy and life as we knew it, governments, from Congress to City Hall, needed to prioritize strengthening the health and human service safety net. Across party and state lines, programs...
Ohio Benefits Self-Service Portal Gets Important Upgrade; Ohio Starts to Commit to Human Centered-Design
By: Rachel Cahill, Visiting Fellow, Public Benefits Jami Turley, Ohio Benefits System User Ohioans have long faced problems using Ohio’s online application and case management system for key work supports, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and Ohio Works First (OWF). In November 2020, Community Solutions published a paper entitled, Prioritize Customer Needs in Ohio Benefits System: Findings...
Prevention services and systems of care key to implementing OhioRISE
By: Patrick Kanary, Consultant OhioRISE, Ohio’s next generation of behavioral health Medicaid for children, youth, and families, continues to roll forward to its ‘live’ date of July 1, 2022. Implementation of OhioRISE[1] is a complex and intensive process with multiple partners at the state and local levels. Implementation of OhioRISE is a complex and intensive process with multiple partners at the...
Exploring the Digital Divide in Ohio
Ohioans are becoming more connected than ever before. According to the newly released American Community Survey 2020 5-year estimates, 84.9% of Ohio households (4,003,564 households) are connected to the internet. The majority (84.5%; 3,988,413 households) of these connections are high speed broadband connections, such as cable, fiber optic, cellular data, or satellite services, however, a small number (0.3%; 15,151) of...