Build Healthy and Vibrant Communities
Whether you live in the city or the country, suburbs or small towns, we all want an Ohio where every single one of us can thrive and flourish.
We should all have the freedom to make our medical decisions based on what’s best for our health – whether it’s accessing an affordable range of pregnancy-related care like abortion, or getting gender-affirming treatment. We also need to care for Black and brown mothers who are at higher risk for debilitating physical conditions like pre-eclampsia.
We can protect our children and future generations by tackling big problems like toxic lead in our homes and pollution in our backyards. We can create good union jobs by generating clean energy.
But for decades, powerful special interests have rigged the rules in Ohio and held our state back. Big corporations like FirstEnergy have used their power and influence to buy off corrupt politicians.
Certain officials have also blocked Ohioans from making the best decisions about their bodies, introducing harmful bills that interfere with our basic medical freedoms.
In the meantime, these politicians and their corporate conglomerate friends have gotten rich off our backs. They’re shortening our lives by blocking us from affordable health care, poisoning our kids with toxic lead, filling our communities with guns and opioids, and driving up prices for life-saving prescriptions.
It’s the job of lawmakers to ensure that we are treated fairly and equally. That means having access to a wide range of affordable health care treatments, including abortions, medications, and surgical procedures that make us healthy and whole.
It also means providing locally-made energy from the wind and sun that creates union jobs, heals our climate, and protects our air and land for generations to come.
Joining together from Columbus to Columbiana County, we demand a safer, healthier, and cleaner Ohio for all of us. No exceptions.
Here are our policy solutions:
Recognize racism as a public health crisis and dedicate resources to addressing the root causes of racism, chronic poverty and associated negative impacts on health, as identified by Gov. DeWine’s COVID-19 Minority Health Strike Force.
Engage in participatory budgeting. Leverage federal pandemic relief dollars to address the underlying causes of racial, gender and income health disparities by including the most affected communities in decisions about how the money is spent. Use health and equity assessments as a tool to determine whether state and local spending priorities truly address these purposes prior to making decisions on how to allocate resources.
Protect all Ohioans' right to make their own medical decisions, in consultation with their doctor, whether it’s to start a family, end a pregnancy, or receive gender-affirming care.
Make sure new babies survive and new moms can raise their children by addressing the racial health disparities that cause high infant and maternal mortality rates in the Black community.
Include Doula care in Medicaid coverage and create a pilot program for Doula support for incarcerated expectant moms.
Ensure our communities are prepared for the next public health crisis by fully resourcing local public health agencies. Protect the health of all communities through vaccination education and outreach, and additional vaccine distribution and COVID testing sites to serve low-income and rural communities.
Use federal pandemic relief dollars to create job opportunities for people of color, women, working-class Ohioans, and others who are often excluded by building healthier, climate-resilient communities:
Federal funds can be for projects that embrace clean energy and transportation alternatives, create green space and urban tree canopies, and repair past damage to our land by reclaiming mines, reforesting the region, restoring wetlands and remediating brownfields.
Federal funds can also create jobs rehabbing old buildings – removing toxic lead paint and making them more energy efficient.
Federal money can move Ohio into the future by modernizing the electric grid, prioritizing clean energy, expanding our electric vehicle infrastructure and improving our public transit system.
When Ohioans come together to push for these policies, we can make a better future for all of us. The color of our skin, the zip code of our birth, or the money in our pockets will no longer determine our chances of living long, fulfilling lives.