Creating an economy that works for everyone.

We are a non-profit policy research institute.

We create a more vibrant, equitable, sustainable and inclusive Ohio through research, strategic communications, coalition building, and policy advocacy.

Vibrant, Equitable, Sustainable, Inclusive.

Our research covers policies that matter to Ohioans:

Tax & Budget

Public policy can ensure corporations and the wealthy pay what they owe in taxes, so Ohio can fund a budget that works for everyone.

Work & Wages

Public policy can ensure Ohioans are paid their fair share, treated with dignity, and set the terms of their own employment.

Education & Opportunity

Public policy can provide excellent schools, affordable college, and accessible pathways to good union jobs in every Ohio community.

Justice & Safety

Public policy can support what truly keeps us safe: economic security for everyone, including people who have been incarcerated.

Health & Health Equity

Public policy can help Ohioans of all ages and genders lead healthy lives and access all the care, treatment, and support they need.

Sustainability & Climate

Public policy can repair and protect our air, water, and soil while also creating good union jobs that pay family-sustaining wages.

Our Impact

Since 2000, Policy Matters has helped make Ohio a better place to live, work and raise a family. We’ve accomplished a lot, and we’ve got plenty more to do.

Ohioans in minimum-wage jobs get annual raises to keep up with inflation.

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working families with kids get Ohio's EITC.

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increased funding for Ohio's public schools.

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"The rigor with which Policy Matters approaches its research is always impressive. Their influence on the debate is extraordinary and they help human service advocates and policy makers bring about positive changes for the neediest Ohioans."

Marcia Egbert, Senior Program Officer

The George Gund Foundation

Policy victories

The work of Policy Matters Ohio has contributed substantially to innovative policy changes that improve the lives of Ohio families and strengthen Ohio communities. These include:

Raising the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation, giving 330,000 poor working Ohioans a raise each year (2006).
Reinstating collective bargaining rights for 350,000 Ohio public sector workers, strengthening communities and giving these workers a voice in the workplace (2011).
Getting a state Earned Income Tax Credit in Ohio, which puts a little more in the pockets of 440,000 working families with children (2013).
Researching the benefits of Medicaid expansion, which a large coalition of business and human service advocates worked closely with the governor to achieve. Medicaid expansion brought over $2.5 billion in federal dollars to Ohio in the first two years and extends health insurance to 366,000 low-income working Ohioans (2014).
Passing an innovative layoff-aversion strategy that helps employers retain skilled workers and helps workers keep their jobs (2015).
Persuading Gov. DeWine to sign an executive order allowing Ohioans with real, justifiable reasons not to return to work during the COVID-19 pandemic to continue receiving unemployment benefits (2020).
Achieving a Fair School funding expansion of $1.7 billion in the 2022-23 budget and then winning phase two of Fair School funding in the 2024-25 budget — including updates to the base cost calculation, which increased per-pupil spending by 12.1% and increased starting salaries for educators.
Requiring employers to provide a paystub to all employees, creating accountability and paving the way to fight common forms of wage theft experienced by Ohio’s most vulnerable workers (2024).
Eliminating driver’s license suspensions for failure to pay a court fine; a drug offense that doesn’t involve a vehicle; and truancy. Easing the calculation of fines for repeat offenses of driving without insurance, a crime often born out of an inability to pay (2024).
Establishing a new Bureau of Crisis Response in Cleveland, authorized to create unarmed crisis response teams for behavioral health crises, through the passage of Tanisha's Law (2026).

Award-winning, hard-hitting

Policy Matters has received awards from The Nation magazine, Cincinnati CityBeat, the northeast Ohio chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, the Mandel Center for Non-Profit Organizations, the Ohio Association of Non-Profit Organizations, the Ohio Federation of Teachers, Ohio Education Association, and Inside Business magazine.

Funding

Policy Matters is grateful to receive generous funding from the George Gund Foundation, the Saint Luke’s Foundation, the Cleveland Foundation, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Raymond John Wean Foundation, the Fowler Family Foundation, the Economic Policy Institute, the Joyce Foundation, the Ohio Transformation Fund, the Skyline Foundation, the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, and individuals like you.