Saturday Stats

Numeric news from Policy Matters

3: Number of key components of a successful continuum of care for people experiencing a mental health crisis: someone to call, someone to respond, and somewhere to go. Cleveland’s passage of Tanisha’s Law and the countywide expansion of Frontline’s Care Response program are positive steps for emergency crisis response in the Cleveland area. A recent decision by Cuyahoga County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board could also support progress. Last week, Bree Easterling, Sr. Project Coordinator for Criminal Legal Transformation, was among those urging the board to approve funding for a behavioral health crisis center. Shortly thereafter, they did.

65: Number of spots still available at Reimagining the Silicon Heartland, our summit on the impacts and intersections of data centers and chip manufacturing in Ohio. Presented with our national partners, CHIPS Communities United, the event will feature three panel conversations with policy experts, labor leaders, advocates, and scholars. (Plus, we’ll provide lunch from Freedom a la Carte!) It’s in person at the Statehouse Atrium in Columbus from 9-3 on May 22nd. Admission is free but registration is required.

Want to stay informed about our work in these areas? Subscribe to CHIPS Ahoy! for monthly insights into Intel’s Ohio One project and more, and stay in the loop on data center policy and pushback on the Data Center Communities United listserv.

857: Number of people who have signed our petition to stop H.B. 649, one of the two deeply flawed child care bills under consideration in the legislature. Even with recent amendments, 649 still risks exposing kids’ biometric data and would create unnecessary expenses for both the state and child care providers, who already operate on razor-thin margins. (BTW: Legislators made some improvements to the other problematic child care bill, H.B. 647, though it still needs work. And we’re still waiting for them to get behind policies that are proven to increase affordability and access to high-quality child care.)

11.6%: Share of Ohio’s public school revenue coming from the federal government last year, when the Trump administration started talking about massive cuts to education funding. Folks like Parents United for Public Schools (PUPS) stood up and prevented those cuts — at least, for now. Now PUPS has launched their Safeguard Our Schools campaign, to ensure Ohio’s congressional delegation knows that we expect them to stand up for our public schools if (when) the president proposes more cuts. Sign and share their petition today!

850+: Number of “collateral sanctions” — penalties and punishments that affect people who have been convicted of a crime even after they have served their sentence — that restrict Ohioan’s access to jobs. At least, that’s how many there were in 2018. We don’t have a current estimate because the online database that tracked Ohio’s collateral sanctions was defunded and taken offline. That maze of employment restrictions (and the lack of transparency about which apply to whom and when) is just one of many obstacles facing Ohioans returning from prison. Cuyahoga County’s Office of Reentry is using the month of April to raise awareness about the challenges of rejoining a community after incarceration — and the resources available for people doing so. Check out their Reentry Awareness Month page for details, and the flyer below for a sample of the programming: