POLICY PRIORITIES

ACCESS TO HIGH-QUALITY EARLY LEARNING EXPERIENCES 

To advance our bold goals of increasing third grade reading and college and career readiness, we will...

STATE

Advocate for increased investments in quality early learning 
Through public preschool, public-private partnerships, evidence-based home visitation and subsidized childcare for working families

LOCAL 

Explore major expansion of quality preschool
By taking a collaborative leadership role to evaluate local feasibility and promote public awareness about the critical importance of high-quality early learning 
 

  • 90% of kids that begin kindergarten prepared will pass third-grade minimum standards, and 77% will be on track for college and career readiness
  • Only two in 10 Akron Public Schools graduates are prepared for success
  • 29% of low-income 4-year-olds are in preschool nationally, compared to 5% in Ohio

 

ACCESS TO INCOME SUPPORTS AND FINANCIAL SERVICES 

To advance our bold goals of financially empowering individuals and families, we will...  

STATE

Reform eligibility of subsidized childcare for working families in line with other states 
So that more families are eligible for subsidized childcare,and so that benefits are not cut short due to an unexcepted job loss

LOCAL

Reform and expand tax credits for working families
So that more working families can receive tax credits to help them their day to day needs and build financial security

  • Ohio's eligibility criteria make it more difficult than 46 other states to qualfy for childcare
  • Childcare for two children is 29% of a working poor family's budget (their greatest expense), making it cost-prohibitive to many families
  • Federal Earned Income tax (EITC), is effective in reducing poverty and boosting earnings. Ohio has one of the weakest state EITCs. State EITC reform could return up to $375M/yr to Ohio's working families

 

ACCESS TO EFFECTIVE TREATMENT OF OPIOID ADDICTION

To advance our bold goal of decreasing emergency room visits due to overdoses, we will... 

STATE & LOCAL

Expand access to most effective treatments for addiction to opioids
By monitoring and advocating for policies that impact the public response to the opioid epidemic, sich as Medicaid spending on addiction treatment
 

STATE & LOCAL 

Expand effective youth prevention strategies
By expanding quality early learning and youth experiences that build developmental assets

  • Even though at least 4,000 Ohioans died of an overdose in 2016,nearly eight times that number went to an ER becasue of an overdose (31,564 ER visits in Ohio; over 2,400 in Summit County)
  • At 4.5 overdose-related ER visits per 1,000 people, Summit County had fourth highest rate in the state in 2016, and the highest rate of any other large,urban county in Ohio