Groundwork Ohio Roadshow 2026: Butler and Franklin Counties
Groundwork Ohio’s Roadshow continued with a visit to Butler County and Franklin County, covering maternal and infant health, child care, and the economic realities families face raising young children in Ohio.
The Groundwork Ohio team met with Myla Perry of NyNi Inc. and Dominique Johnson of the Butler County General Health District and project manager for Queens Village work in Butler County, to learn about the barriers mothers and babies face, and the collaborative systems local partners have built to address them.
Later, the Roadshow returned to Franklin County for a family roundtable at the Reynoldsburg Library, where mothers of young children shared their experiences with child care, pregnancy and maternal health care, Medicaid, employment, rising household costs, and other systems affecting their families.
Together, the conversations showed two sides of the same story: what can happen when communities intentionally build systems around families, and what families experience when those systems are difficult to navigate.
Butler County: Collaboration That Is Making a Difference
Thanks to key community partnerships and funders, including the Maternal and Infant Vitality Initiative (MIVI) funding from the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, bi3 support for the Black Midwives Project, and community efforts including Queens Village and Project Milk Mission, Butler County partners shared significant progress in reducing infant deaths. From 2024 to 2025, the county saw a 37.5% decrease in infant mortality. Sleep-related infant deaths also decreased approximately 83%, from six deaths in 2024 to one in 2025.
Behind that progress is an intentional effort to bring partners together, including doulas, midwives, hospital teams, home visiting programs, fetal and infant mortality partners, and others who meet regularly to identify challenges and work collectively on solutions. These community partners report that the greatest success comes from individual relationships. Rather than simply handing a parent a phone number or paper referral, partners described making the call themselves or sending a message to their network saying, “I have a family that needs this. Who can help?” This can be the difference between giving a family information and actually connecting them to support.
Butler County's safe sleep work provided a clear example of that collaborative approach. Butler County has expanded its approach from educating only mothers to educating the broader community, including using train-the-trainer strategies so families hear consistent messages from the people around them.
The Groundwork Ohio team saw this work firsthand.
A pregnant mother participating in the Black Midwives Project and working with Nyni, Inc. is preparing to deliver in a few weeks. Her parents met the Groundwork Ohio team at our Roadshow stop to pick up a delivery bag Myla Perry had prepared for her. While there, Dominique Johnson spoke with the baby's grandparents about safe sleep and connected them with resources to ensure the baby would also have a safe place to sleep at their home.
The delivery bag demonstrated another part of maternal health support that can easily go unseen. The mother had everything she needed for her baby but did not have the items she needed for herself to go to the hospital, and no money to purchase them. Myla stepped in to help make sure she was prepared.
Doulas, Trust and Community Relationships
The group was later joined by a doula in training who shared why she wanted to support mothers during pregnancy and birth. Rooted in her firsthand account of the ways race and religion can affect someone’s treatment in a healthcare setting, this doula in training is committed to advocating for women during one of the most vulnerable periods in their lives. Although doulas are nonclinical, she has learned more about the clinical aspects of childbirth during her training with Nyni, Inc, improving her understanding of medical terminology and what mothers may experience enables her and other doulas in the community to reinforce information from healthcare providers, support mothers in asking questions, and ease fears when pregnancy or delivery does not go according to plan.
Franklin County: Hearing Directly From Mothers
After leaving Butler County, the Roadshow returned to Senate District 3 in Franklin County for a family roundtable at the Reynoldsburg Library, where four women at different stages of motherhood spoke candidly about raising families and navigating systems intended to support them.
Child care quickly emerged as a concern. Mothers described long waitlists, including being told they should have joined a waitlist before their babies were born. These women described finding a child care opening as only part of the challenge. These parents described the importance of safe, nurturing, high-quality child care settings as a top priority, acknowledging that poor early learning experiences can not only put children in potentially unsafe conditions, but can leave children entering kindergarten already behind. One mother ultimately found a Type B home provider she trusted through her church, highlighting how much families may rely on personal relationships, word of mouth, and sometimes luck to find care they trust.
Mothers Want Information Before They Have to Ask
As the group of women were asked to reflect on their pregnancy and birth experiences, prenatal care emerged as an important priority. Mothers who entered pregnancy with established physicians and insurance generally described smoother access to care, whereas those relying on clinics were more likely to see different providers at each appointment, making continuity of care impossible.
Black mothers discussed feeling dismissed or treated differently in healthcare settings, as participants raised discrimination experienced by Black healthcare professionals. One mother described experiencing hyperemesis gravidarum without initially understanding what was happening or receiving adequate education about the condition. Another described feeling pressured toward a C-section, pushing back, and ultimately delivering a safe vaginal birth.
As the group discussed postpartum mental health, it became clear that gaps in information often continue after delivery. Participants described the isolation of postpartum depression, and lack of a diagnosis or support to navigate such a challenging time for her mental health as a new mother.
Families Cannot Use Resources They Don't Know Exist
Across our conversations in Butler and Franklin Counties, it became clear that families often carry misconceptions about the services that exist, what they qualify for, and the cost of accessing those services. For example, doulas in Butler County shared that when expecting mothers hear about doulas, a common first reaction is:
“I can't afford it.”
This signals that many families do not recognize that their Medicaid plan can cover doula services, or that other free or low-cost supports exist. Families described Medicaid as an important resource to keep them and their children connected with necessary care and services – and yet, parents also identified a need for additional support staying enrolled in Medicaid benefits that they qualify for, rather than arbitrarily losing coverage due to paperwork barriers, moving, or long hold times on the phone.
Economic stability was central to our conversations throughout the day. Parents described climbing bills for gas, electricity, food, and housing – expenses that, added together, prevent families from meeting their basic needs consistently. The mothers we spoke with emphasized that having a job does not necessarily mean a family can afford to live, and pregnancy can make employment even more complicated, where additional accommodations may be necessary. Participants called for more “grace” for pregnant workers and stronger paid maternity leave so mothers are not forced to choose between recovering from birth, caring for their babies, and maintaining their income.
One Day, One Consistent Message
The day began by seeing what can happen when a community intentionally builds relationships across organizations and ended by hearing from mothers about why those relationships matter.
In Butler County, partners demonstrated the value of collaboration, trusted messengers, warm connections to resources, and a willingness to put families ahead of organizational credit.
In Franklin County, mothers described struggling to find quality child care they can trust, healthcare they may not fully understand, benefits that can be difficult to access, and household costs that continue rising even when families are working.
The message from the day was clear: creating a resource is not enough. Families need to know it exists, trust the people providing it, be able to access it, and have someone willing to help them make the connection.
Learn More
Explore Groundwork Ohio's county fact sheets to learn more about the data behind this Roadshow stop.
