Groundwork Ohio Roadshow 2026: Lorain County

By Brittany Boulton, Vice President

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I have lived in Columbus since 2008, but I was born and raised on the Lorain County line. It was an honor to return to Lorain County through Groundwork Ohio’s 2026 Roadshow Listening Tour (stop #2 if you’re counting along with our team)!

My first stop in my home county was in Avon. I provided remarks about the child care crisis at the SHEroes event hosted by the Women's Fund of the Lorain County Community Foundation. The Community Foundation has connected people who care with causes that matter for 46 years, distributing over $143.2 million of grants and scholarships to the community in support of health care, education, the arts, and more. The Women’s Fund began targeting their efforts five years ago through Change the Cycle, an effort that has distributed over 745,000 period products across Lorain County. Their leadership believes in the importance of listening to what women and children are facing, including “the quieter realities that don’t always make headlines.”

At the SHEroes event, I shared the data that illustrates how child care costs and a lack of availability are hurting economic prosperity for Ohio’s women and our broader state economy.

The audience of over fifty attendees was surprised to learn of the $5.48 billion Ohio is leaving on the table, as identified by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Ohio Chamber of Commerce, and Groundwork Ohio. 

After inviting the event attendees to join Groundwork Ohio’s Women’s Coalition for Child Care Solutions to learn more about Ohio’s policy landscape for young children and lift their voices in shared advocacy efforts, I learned about the incredible work being led by LaTanisha Walker-White, a practicing doula and the founder of The Teen Parent Plug. The Teen Parent Plug provides life-changing support, resources, and education to help young parents thrive as caregivers and individuals. Ms. Walker-White’s organization connects young parents to mentorship, job readiness training, employment opportunities, and the skills necessary to build strong, independent families.

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My second day in Lorain County kicked off with our first Kitchen Table Conversation, a portion of the Roadshow dedicated to listening to family and caregiver voices. The learnings from these conversations will help inform Groundwork Ohio’s Policy Priorities and help hold our work accountable to the people who are impacted most directly by early childhood policy changes: Ohio’s young children and their families who love them.

Deanna Szente and Bekah Johnson are both active members of Groundwork’s Family Action Network, which meets monthly and works alongside our team to strengthen family engagement and ensure that families have a meaningful role in decision-making and advocacy. Our conversation covered numerous systems that impact young children and their families in Lorain County, including:

• Housing affordability – waitlists are too long and there are extremely few units that can accommodate families,

• Systems navigation – navigating multiple points of entry, home visits, and clinical care visits across multiple providers in order to meet children’s health needs, often during work hours,

• Meeting service needs of children with developmental disabilities – young children with developmental disabilities or other chronic health needs face additional absences for mental / behavioral / physical health challenges in addition to making clinical appointments, and;

• Mental health – the need for family counseling in multiple shapes and sizes, both for individuals as well as between parents as well as their children.

I took over three pages of detailed notes on our discussion and left with a full heart and a hand cramp! Deanna and Bekah are powerful advocates not just for their own children, but for young children around the state who deserve systems that help them thrive.

From coffee at Mojo’s in Bay Village, I traveled to the City of Lorain to visit with Tamika Bonilla, owner of Jump at the Sun Early Learning Center, a Gold-rated center through Ohio’s Step Up to Quality program. The children at Jump at the Sun were enjoying a freshly made lunch through the center’s partnership with Children's Hunger Alliance, who administers USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) funds at child care centers all over Ohio. A former high school English teacher, Tamika is committed to providing high quality learning and care opportunities to the children she serves, from infant through school-ager with summer as well as before- and after-school care. When I arrived, she was preparing the children’s meal herself as she has had to cut staffing, including her cook. Tamika shared that after nearly 15 years in business, she has recently had to cut staff due in part to changes to what defines full-time versus part-time care for students enrolled in publicly funded child care. Tamika also shared the story of a parent who is facing the possibility of career growth at work at a nearby hospital system, but at the risk of losing access to the publicly funded child care benefits that help them access care.

My next stop was at Lorain Public Library meeting with Jazmynn Montana, a Population Health Strategist with Lorain County Department of Public Health. We discussed the importance of doulas before, during, and after birth as well as the challenges of timely transportation for expectant moms who might not have access to a personal vehicle.

I finished the day back home in Grafton Township, where my children had been spending their stint on our Roadshow with their grandparents while on summer break. I’m looking forward to more opportunities to hear from parents, child care professionals, and community leaders around the state on the next leg of the Roadshow listening tour!

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Explore Groundwork Ohio's county fact sheets to learn more about the data behind these Roadshow stops: Lorain County.