Voices for Ohio's Children

I made the trip back to Dayton for the Voices for Ohio's Children regional briefing today. The event was held in the United Way building on Salem Ave., and service providers from Help Me Grow, Community Action, community health organizations, and the United Way, among others, were in attendance. Even a state legislator sat in on the discussions today.

The morning began with a presentation on the state budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year passed several weeks ago in the Ohio General Assembly. Of course, the news wasn't good, and it wasn't really new either. Because the state constitution mandates that the budget be balanced every fiscal cycle, and Ohio had a deficit of over $3 billion dollars, many Health and Human Services programs were drastically cut, directly impacting the quantity and quality of services provided across the state. And we're not out of the woods yet. Representative Peggy Lehner from the 37th district (Montgomery County) reported that there would be budget corrections meetings beginning as early as this fall, which means even more money can still be lost. It is reasonable to say that pretty much every agency expected some loss of funding this year, but enough is enough.

And if that's not bad enough, I also learned that advocates are now beginning to worry about the 2012-2013 funding cycle. With a "safety net" based on one-time federal stimulus dollars, plus a handful of video lottery terminals, and no solid tax base or revenue to speak of, it is likely we'll see even more cuts next time.

After learning about the budget situation, the group voiced specific ways community agencies have been affected by the cuts. I was pretty quiet during this part; the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks was one of the only groups to see an increase in funding this year by $3 million dollars (though it is no where near enough to meet the rising demand for food assistance), so I just listened to what others were experiencing as they tried to meet greater demands with even fewer resources. Let me tell you, it isn't pretty out there.

But Voices for Ohio's Children didn't organize the briefing to just sit around and complain. They organized these briefings to set their policy agenda in response to the budget cuts. Near the end of the session, we broke into five groups to discuss policy priorities in five result areas, which include keeping children: Safe, Educated, Healthy, Connected, and Employable in the future. I joined one other person to form the "Employable" group, and together we worked on revising and adding to the current policy priorities listed.

For children/teens to grow into employable adults, we recognized the need for a positive, working adult role model in the home and community. Therefore, we suggested that advocacy efforts focus on making work support programs like food stamps, cash assistance, and child care assistance truly supportive. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the amount of time spent at Job and Family Services and other agencies to maintain benefits/support tends to interfere with holding down a job. Furthermore, if families earn just a tad over the income limits set for these programs, their benefits completely stop. Their overall situation has not improved enough to take on all of their expenses, and they end up sliding backwards right back where they started. We need more transitional services to support working families as they make their way up to economic self-sufficiency.

Additionally, we talked about providing children with a variety of educational experiences, including vocational training, service learning, and real-life skill building exercises to prepare teenagers for adulthood. Society puts a heavy emphasis on college being the only route to success, yet we know that not every child is the perfect fit for college. While I value my personal college experience, I also value other opportunities for learning such as technical training and national service programs. Perhaps if we encourage a variety of educational opportunities, more children will grow into successful, employable adults.

And that was just a taste of what my group came up with. Even more policy ideas were generated in the other 4 areas. It was recommended that the facilitators send out a summary of each regional briefing's findings for all 5 areas. If/when I get the revised policy agenda, I'll share it with you.

I think it's clear that this is a critical time in our state, even weeks after the passing of the state budget. Depending on the solidarity and collective action taken by people like you and me, we can prevent more budget cuts from devastating thousands of Ohio's most vulnerable populations. If you are interested in advocating for Ohio's children and families, check out the website below. It will give you tips on how to lobby your representatives, as well as how to become a policy partner with Voices for Ohio's Children. It's definitely worth a look.

http://www.vfc-oh.org/cms/site/841df35d572b686e/index.html