Advocate

Advocacy is at the center of The Centers’ work to improve health, family, and workforce outcomes in Northeast Ohio. The Centers actively engage with our state, local, and federal elected officials to inform the policymaking process around issues that most impact those we serve and advocate for sustainable funding for the government programs supporting our work.

Health

Finance mental health and substance use services as part of an integrated healthcare system.

Federal

  • Renew and increase long-term congressional appropriations for the federal Health Center Program and National Health Service Corps program.
  • Enact 340B reform legislation that preserves the sustainability of the program and supports true safety-net providers.

State

  • Strengthen the behavioral health workforce pipeline by promoting career development opportunities through regulatory reforms and advancing legislation.
  • Enforce insurance parity for mental health and substance use services.
  • Develop the regulatory and reimbursement framework for Ohio’s Community-Based Comprehensive Behavioral Healthcare model consistent with the core principles of the federal Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) program.

Family

Uphold and strengthen Ohio’s commitment to high-quality early childhood education, helping families and children make the most of the critical first 2,000 days of life.

 

Federal

  • Include funding to close the compensation gap between Head Start and elementary school teachers, as well as cost of living adjustments that keep pace with inflation in the 2024 and 2025 appropriations bills.
  • Pass the Head Start for Our Future Act to allow college students participating in the federal work-study program to work in early childhood education programs in order to alleviate staffing shortages and build the pipeline of talent in the field.

State

  • Maintain and improve the Step Up to Quality (SUTQ) 5-star rating and improvement program.
  • Allow for the braiding of multiple public funding streams (e.g., PFCC and federal Head Start funds) for children who qualify for multiple programs.
  • Increase investments to ensure equitable compensation and benefits for early care and education professionals.

Work

Empower low-income Ohioans to become job-ready, develop skills, and earn credentials for in-demand jobs.

 

Federal

  • Reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) with meaningful investments in high-quality skills training, economic supports, and pathways to high quality jobs that meet the demands of the modern economy.

State

  • Allow for greater flexibility in the number of weeks an Ohio Works First participant may participate in job search and job readiness activities.
  • Waive fees for state certification courses for Ohio Works First participants.

Child Welfare

Ensure all children in the child welfare system receive needed behavioral health treatment at placements close to home as they work toward reunification with family.

 

Federal

  • Reauthorize Title IV-B of the Social Security Act with increased investments in evidence-based family reunification programs, growing the child welfare workforce, and behavioral health services for children and their families.

 

State

  • Invest in the Child Wellness Campus model: an innovative public-private partnership where child-serving nonprofits work in lockstep with County Children & Family Services staff to connect children in county custody to their best placement as quickly as possible through:
    • Rapid assessment, reunification, and kinship diversion
    • Close-to-home residential treatment with seamless step-down and step-up options
  • Ensure the proposed closure of Ohio’s youth prisons is paired with significant investment in the community-based continuum of care for youth with severe behavioral and emotional challenges.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

The Centers 
4500 Euclid Avenue Cleveland, OH 44103
Adam White, MPA, Strategy Associate
216-325-9505 or adam.white@thecentersohio.org,

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