Plain Dealer op-ed: Strong policies help children flourish
New online tools provide look into how policies affect Ohio family budgets. Policy Matters Ohio and Columbia University National Center for Children in Poverty co-authored an op-ed in the Sunday Plain Dealer highlighting new online tools that show costs of basic family needs in Ohio, and how key policies affect household budgets. Amy Hanauer, executive […]
Amy Hanauer: We deserve real talk on debate stage
Policy Matters Executive Director Amy Hanauer has a piece in The Huffington Post today challenging Republicans debating in Cleveland Thursday to have a real discussion of issues important to Northeast Ohio and beyond. She writes: “In Cleveland, as LeBron says, “nothing is given, everything is earned,” so earning respect here will require something beyond defaming […]
Black jobs matter, too
In an opinion piece published today in The Plain Dealer and on Cleveland.com, our executive director Amy Hanauer and outreach coordinator Amelia Hayes discuss how the economy and jobs relate to the Black Lives Matter movement. Amy (pictured left) and Amelia wrote that we’re not experts on strategies to immediately transform relationships between communities and […]
Aged out and at risk
As a research intern at Policy Matters Ohio, Brant Duda looked into expanding supports for foster-care youth to age 21. Brant brought a special perspective to the topic: He was a foster child who found himself on his own at age 18. Now pursuing a master’s degree in social work, Brant wrote an opinion piece […]
Ohio’s tax system burdens the middle class and poor
Zach Schiller on Cleveland.com, Feb. 1, 2015: Ohio should increase income tax rates on the most affluent. Ohio’s tax system is slanted against the poor and middle class, and getting more so. Our legislators should remedy this – and generate more revenue to better educate Ohioans and provide other badly needed services – by increasing […]
Fix Ohio’s unemployment compensation fund with adequate resources
Ohio’s unemployment compensation system is broke. It owes more than $1.3 billion to the federal government. We have been borrowing for more than five years, but now the issue is getting attention. State Rep. Barbara Sears (R., Monclova Township) heads an Ohio House committee that has held hearings around the state on the subject, including […]
Opinion: State budget cuts hurt communities
Across Ohio, local governments have fewer resources to provide public services than before the last recession. State budget cuts and the erosion of inflation prevent many Ohio communities from resurfacing roads, reopening recreation centers and rehiring firefighters and police at pre-recession levels. The state cut Local Government Funds to towns, cities and counties in half, […]
The Growing Problem of Payday Lending in Ohio
Policy liaison Kalitha Williams discusses the adverse impact nefarious lenders can have on poor families. First published in the Columbus African American News Journal, August 2014 edition.
Ohio’s tax cuts favor the affluent, do not create jobs
Ohio’s new tax cuts favor the wealthy, families and neighborhoods pay. Abandoned houses dot the landscape, community efforts to get quality pre-K off the ground need a boost, and shocking infant mortality rates go unchecked, while jobs growth languishes. This piece originally appeared on cleveland.com. Tax cuts. That’s the main answer for Ohio’s challenges that […]
Think Globally, Innovate Locally
Director Amy Hanauer weighs in on the power of local communities to create positive change in a national climate that has often left families behind This article appeared originally in Dissent Magazine. Denial and indifference are two of the main congressional responses to the inequality, economic stagnation, and climate change that threaten America. But progressives […]
Better child care would help Ohio’s children, workers, employers
Parents who work need to know that their children are in safe, high-quality care settings while they are on the job. So do their employers. But such care is expensive: Last year, the average cost of child care in Lucas County was $740 a month for a preschooler, according to the Ohio Association of Community […]
Improve education in Cleveland by treating problem, not symptoms
Almost a year has passed since new levy money began flowing to the Cleveland school district and partnering charters. Since then, the schools have become more deeply engaged in many encouraging initiatives, the best flowing from collaborative efforts among the district, the teachers’ union and community partners. There have been bumps along the way, however, […]