Policy Priorities
Statewide advocacy is vital to shaping the policies that impact Ohio’s babies, toddlers, and young children. By informing and influencing public policy, Groundwork Ohio organizes and elevates priorities that improve outcomes for young children and their families.
As Ohio’s leading early childhood advocacy organization, and the only organization solely focused on young children during the prenatal period through age 5, Groundwork’s policy priorities are data-informed and fact-driven. We work alongside stakeholders, decision-makers, and families with lived experience to drive urgent action and strengthen the systems that ensure Ohio’s youngest children have access to healthy, nurturing, and safe environments where they can thrive.
Research, including the work of Nobel Laureate economist James Heckman, demonstrates that investments in children during the earliest years of life can produce significant benefits for children and families and returns for society over the long term. When Ohio invests in the conditions that support children and families from the start, it lays the foundation for healthier children, stronger families, and a stronger future for our state.
Early Learning & Child Care
Our work focused on Early Learning is dedicated to building strong foundations for young children and preparing Ohioans for a better future by transforming systems that advance early learning, promote equity, and prioritize prevention. Through policy development, research, data analysis, and collaboration, we engage diverse stakeholders to advance policies and systems that support high-quality early learning. Our work is rooted in the voices and experiences of families and early childhood professionals and focuses on securing leadership across Ohio’s early childhood systems.
Our goal is to transform early learning policy by removing barriers to accessing quality early learning opportunities for Ohio’s young children, improving readiness-to-learn, strengthening relationships among state and local early learning agencies, and supporting effective leadership across early childhood systems.
Health Care Access & Quality
We work to prepare Ohioans for a better future by building and strengthening systems that improve maternal and young child health, promote health equity, and prioritize prevention through policy development, research, and collaboration so that all Ohio mothers and young children thrive.
As Ohio’s health care and public health systems continue to evolve, policy and systems-level changes can help improve access to high-quality care and outcomes for women, young children, and families. Our work on healthcare access and quality focuses on policy development and systems building at the intersection of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, maternal and child health programs within the Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Department of Behavioral Health, and Ohio's Medicaid program.
We work to position Ohio's health systems to craft, advance, and scale policies and programs that increase access to high-quality care and interventions for pregnant women and young children. We do this by educating and engaging stakeholder and, equipping state and local leaders with the targeted support, tools, research, resources, and peer learning opportunities they need to advance and sustain effective policies and programs.
Early Childhood Trauma Prevention
Ohio must ensure that young children can grow, learn, and play in environments that protect them from the harmful effects of stress, trauma, and adversity. Early experiences and relationships have a profound impact on healthy development, and exposure to trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) can have both immediate and long-term effects on children’s health and well-being. Strong, nurturing relationships and supportive environments can help buffer the effects of early childhood adversity and trauma and promote healthy development.
Our work to prevent early childhood trauma focuses on strengthening the systems, relationships, and supports that surround young children and their families. We advance policies and systems that promote healthy caregiver-child relationships, support Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, and ensure that young children and families receive developmentally appropriate, trauma-informed support when they need it. Through Safe Babies Ohio, we work alongside local communities and child welfare partners to strengthen systems and improve how they respond to the unique developmental needs of infants and toddlers. What we learn from local implementation and community-driven solutions informs our policy and systems-building work to advance stronger, more developmentally appropriate approaches to child welfare as we aim to prevent deeper involvement in the system.
Economic Stability
Economic stability is foundational to the health and development of young children and their families. When families have the resources and stability they need, they are better able to provide safe housing, nutritious food, health care, child care, and other essentials that support their children’s development and long-term success. When families are struggling to make ends meet, the effects can extend across every aspect of family life and make it more difficult to access the supports and opportunities young children need to thrive.
Our work on economic stability focuses on policies and systems that strengthen the economic security of families with young children and reduce the financial pressures that can undermine family well-being. We work alongside families, stakeholders, and decision-makers to advance policies that address the rising costs of essentials - including housing, food, transportation, health care, and child care - and strengthen the supports that help families achieve and maintain economic stability. By addressing the economic conditions that shape family life, we can create stronger foundations for children, families, and communities to thrive.