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Policy Matters is changing the conversation about what’s possible in Ohio. The facts are clear, Ohio has enough resources to create an economy that works for everyone, regardless of our race, income, or zip code. Through our work with community coalitions, in the press, and at the statehouse we are connecting with people who also believe Ohio can be a place where the economy and the government work for all!

This year we celebrated some real policy victories:

• We joined the Guardians for Fair Work campaign and won local wage theft ordinances—to make sure workers are paid their full wages for all the hours they put in—first in Cleveland, then in Cuyahoga County and the city of Euclid. Senator Sherrod Brown recently announced the Wage Theft Prevention and Wage Recovery Act of 2023, and he is using our research to fight wage theft nationwide.

• As the K-12 policy and school funding experts in the All In for Ohio Kids coalition, we ended decades of unconstitutional public school funding in Ohio and won the Fair School Funding Plan in the last two state budgets. This year we used our research to make sure that not only is the funding in place, but the state will base funding levels on newer estimates, which will increase per-pupil spending by 12.1% and increase starting salaries for educators.

• In recent budget negotiations, we worked with our partners to win Medicaid coverage for doula services and continuous coverage for kids ages 0-3; modest increases to initial child care eligibility; and funding for child care infrastructure in places with high infant mortality. We are already working with our coalition partners to identify the next priorities for health care and child care in the state budget so that we can do the research we need to make our case to policymakers.