We are thrilled to announce that Governor Mike DeWine and Director Kristi Burre from the Governor's Office of Children's Initiatives will be the keynote speakers during our virtual event Laying the Groundwork Summit: in the Ohio House on Friday, March 19th from 10:00-11:30 AM.
Following the event, you are invited to participate in our Making this Moment a Movement 5-day Virtual Advocacy Challenge where you will commit 5 minutes of your time each day for 5 days as we provide you easy opportunities to elevate your voice and influence statewide policy. We are calling on parents, caregivers, early childhood professionals, community leaders, policymakers, business owners, advocates and more to share their stories at the Statehouse and urge legislators to invest in the future of all young children in Ohio. Together, we will make this moment a movement!
You’re invited to join Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Voices and Groundwork Ohio for a webinar TODAY from 10:00-11:00 AM on why access to child care is important to small businesses as a key workforce issue. Throughout the webinar, you will have the opportunity to hear from small business owners about why child care matters to them and how small businesses can partner with early childhood advocates to address this issue.
Ohio's state biennial budget process is now in full swing, but what does this budget mean for pregnant women, infants, toddlers and their families? Join us on Friday, March 12th from 10:00 - 11:30 AM as we provide stakeholders with an update on the state biennial budget and what is needed to ensure that young children and families remain a top priority in the budget.
We hope you will join us for this important conversation to learn more about the state biennial budget and how to engage with Ready, Set, Soar Ohio throughout the process.
Groundwork Submits Budget Testimony on ODJFS and ODH Funding
This week, Groundwork and many of our stakeholders submitted budget testimonies before the Ohio House Finance Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. In our testimony on the Ohio Department of Health budget funding, we called on members to double Governor Mike DeWine’s proposed increase to Help Me Grow investment through an additional $1.9 million over the biennium beyond the current proposal. In our testimony and in many of our stakeholder's testimonies on the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services budget funding, we called on legislators to commit to expanding eligibility for Ohio’s publicly funded child care program to 200% FPL, and to start by increasing eligibility to 150% FPL in FY22.
Here We Grow Again!
Groundwork is happy to announce the addition of two new staff members to the team this week!
Melissa Bacon joins Groundwork as our Policy & Advocacy Director. Prior to joining Groundwork, Melissa was the Director of Government Affairs and Stakeholder Engagement in OCALI’s Office of Policy and served in policy roles at the Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Ohio Children’s Hospital Association, Ohio Senate, and in the Office of Governor John Kasich.
Chelsea Kiene joins Groundwork as our Director of Communications & Stakeholder Engagement. Prior to joining Groundwork, Chelsea was the Communications Director for For Our Future Ohio and served in communications roles at the Center for American Progress, The Huffington Post, and Equality Ohio.
Why Local Leadership Matters to Young Children
Last week, Groundwork Ohio and Ready, Set, Soar Ohio partnered with the National Association of County Commissioners and the County Commissioners Association of Ohio for a webinar. The goal of the webinar was to offer county leaders across the state of Ohio with insight on the roles they play in investing in young children as well as offer examples from other states that have successfully invested in their young children.
Read our blog to learn more and to watch the recording.
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