EARN in Ohio

Ohio Network publications

  • Black policy matters: Toward an antiracist policy agenda

    “There is no such thing as a nonracist or race-neutral policy. Every policy in every institution in every community in every nation is producing or sustaining either racial inequity or equity between racial groups.” (Ibram X. Kendi, How to Be an Antiracist, August 13, 2019) Since 2000, Policy Matters Ohio has provided an essential voice in […]

  • Race in the Heartland: Equity, Opportunity, and Public Policy in the Midwest

    A half-century removed from the high-tide of the civil rights movement, progress on racial equity has slowed or stalled on many fronts. Nowhere is this more starkly evident than in the twelve states of the Midwest region, where racial disparities in economic opportunity and economic outcomes are wider than they are in other regions, and policy […]

  • Race in the Heartland: Equity, Opportunity, and Public Policy in the Midwest

    • October 10, 2019
    • Colin Gordon

    A number of factors—historical, economic, demographic, and political—have shaped patterns of racial disparity and race relations in the Midwest. Of the eight most segregated cities in 2010’s Census data, six (Milwaukee, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Cincinnati) are in the Midwest. And despite some pockets of Latino growth in the last generation, fully 91.4% […]

  • State of Working Ohio 2019: Realities and Remedies

    In many ways, Americans have been given a gift for the last decade – an economic expansion unprecedented in its length. And many of the indicators of the expansion are quite strong: Unemployment levels are very low, particularly for those with college degrees. The nation continues to add jobs each month, though Ohio cannot consistently […]

  • Climate Change is Hazardous to Ohio Children’s Health

    Climate change is hazardous to children’s health. Heatwaves degrade air quality, exacerbating symptoms of asthma, one of the most common chronic childhood illnesses. Heavy rains and flooding can contaminate public water supplies with bacteria to which children are especially susceptible. Warmer average temperatures allow insect populations to multiply, and with them the incidence of insect-borne […]

  • A Green New Deal: 10 ways to promote a sutainable Ohio

    The Green New Deal has excited a new generation of activists and beautifully framed how this kind of societal transformation is in keeping with our history. Previous plans, like the Apollo Alliance and Blue-Green Alliance platforms, have carefully incorporated some policy nuances that we can learn from. As the Green New Deal is fleshed out, […]

  • Refundable tax credits for working families put kids first

    Poverty rates in Ohio remain high despite improvements in the job market. There were still 115,000 more Ohioans living in poverty in 2017 than in the year prior to the last recession.Child poverty is exceedingly high. Cleveland has the highest child poverty in the nation — nearly half of all kids. Cincinnati had the third […]

  • Breaking barriers: Issue 1 could put Ohioans back to work

    The consequences of a criminal conviction extend far beyond the sentence imposed in court. Ohio’s legislature and its administrative bodies have constructed an array of legal restrictions, called collateral sanctions, that can limit access to housing, licensing and jobs. Policy Matters Ohio has found that collateral sanctions limit or bar access to one in four […]

  • Loopholes in a loophole

    Tens of thousands of upper-income Ohioans are qualifying for tax credits that seemingly are limited to those who have much lower incomes. It’s all legal – and it’s probably costing the state millions of dollars a year.

  • Ohio Promise: Equitable free college

    Ohio can make college affordable, significantly increase attainment, and reduce the student debt burden, by enacting a well-targeted, holistic need-based aid program. Policymakers should commit to affordable college by pledging to implement policies to cover the cost of attendance for all moderate-income students at community colleges and public universities. Ohio needs a free-college promise for […]