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Kids who start behind, often stay behind. Unfortunately, that’s particularly true for children of color in Ohio, according to a comprehensive report from Groundwork Ohio. In Cuyahoga County, just 22 percent of African-American and black children and 19 percent of Hispanic children demonstrate kindergarten readiness, as opposed to 52 percent of white children in the […]

As we discussed in our 2019 edition of 10 Issues to Watch, health care systems and payers are increasing their attention on and investment in addressing social determinants of health (SDOH) – conditions like income, employment, education, housing, safety, transportation options, and others that influence individual and population health. In a recent piece, PatientEngagementHIT writer […]

In 2018, three important pieces of legislation were signed into law that have the potential to move the dial on our nation’s abysmally high maternal and infant mortality rates, as summarized below and by policy experts at the Nurse-Family Partnership. The Preventing Maternal Deaths Act of 2018 (H.R. 1218) authorizes and funds administration of new […]

Advocacy & Communication Solutions, LLC is pleased to announce Nikki Reiss as our new Senior Strategist. Ms. Reiss will direct and support government relations and advocacy, policy analysis, strategic communication planning, and strategy development for ACS clients in Ohio and across the country. Ms. Reiss brings a sharp legal mind and more than 15 years […]

Rapid re-housing is a short-term, crisis intervention model that has expanded in recent years to help households quickly, minimize the time spent homeless, prevent a return to homelessness, increase self-sufficiency, and ultimately end homelessness. In October 2018, The Urban Institute released a brief that reviews the evidence to date regarding the effectiveness of rapid re-housing […]

Several states, including Ohio and Michigan, have recently released study results that show Medicaid Expansion continues to improve health and support employment of their states’ residents. This research showed significant benefits, such as: Michigan has seen financial benefits from its expansion, which now covers more than 650,000 residents. In a paper released by Economist Sarah […]

America’s health insurers – in partnership with state- and federal-programs – have begun to address the non-medical, social, and physical environments which affect a person’s overall health – also called the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH or SDH). Research continues to show that these factors, such as housing, access to healthy food, education, and employment […]

The National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE) issued a policy update about the Early Childhood Education Workforce and its ongoing collaboration with the National League of Cities (NLC) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The policy brief details successful statewide collaborations with state school boards in Michigan and […]

Infant Mortality – the death of a child before his or her first birthday – has been a serious crisis since well before the advent of modern medicine. But it’s come into a new light in the last few years, particularly regarding African American children, because these children die at an alarmingly higher rate than […]

In 2019, a new requirement in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)* will require schools to report per-pupil spending data. Currently, school districts allocate their resources however they see fit – evenly across every school, more in schools with higher need, or less in schools with higher need. Requiring schools to share this data will […]