Turnaround Ohio aims to keep and grow the jobs we have by investing in Ohio’s strengths and bringing the jobs of the future by making sure we have the most educated workforce possible.

Revitalizing Our Cities and Towns is our commitment to give local leaders the tools they need to create jobs and attract investments to make their communities vibrant centers of commerce. There are no great states without great cities, and as Governor and Lt. Governor, we will pursue a revitalization plan and an urban investment agenda that will work to create jobs in vibrant cities, provide an education that works for every student, and ensure we have safe and healthy communities throughout Ohio.

1) JOBS IN VIBRANT CITIES

Ohio has had a proud history of economic success that springs from our cities. Whether it is aviation in Dayton, rubber in Akron, marketing in Cincinnati, insurance in Columbus, glass in Toledo, bearings in Canton, steel in Youngtown, or manufacturing in Cleveland, our cities once dominated their industries. But recently, because of policy decisions that have emptied out our core communities, Ohio’s towns and cities have not been the vibrant centers of commerce they once were.

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will partner with our cities and towns and embrace a new generation of entrepreneurs and innovation by:

• Taking the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership Statewide and Promoting Economic Inclusion

The survival and growth of business start-ups in urban areas can be significantly improved with a comprehensive, high quality program that supports our entrepreneurs. Ohio is home to two highly successful, nationally recognized urban entrepreneurship programs that all of our communities can emulate. Cleveland and Cincinnati have piloted the Urban Entrepreneur Partnership in collaboration with the Kauffman Foundation, resulting in exceptional growth among businesses in the program. In Cleveland, the program is operated out of the Small Business Development Center and resides at the National Urban League. Cincinnati’s program operates in cooperation with the Cincinnati Urban Empowerment Center. Both programs provide urban entrepreneurs with access to a high quality network of business services and complement these resources with a comprehensive counseling program from a network of committed peer companies and executives. Notably, this program results in improved economic inclusion for minority businesses, in terms of access to capital, diversity of suppliers for businesses and government, and workplace diversity in executive suites and corporate boardrooms.

The Strickland-Fisher Administration will take this approach – and its economic inclusion successes – statewide, developing similar programs specifically designed for urban entrepreneurs in every major city in the state. We will dedicate $5 million annually to this project, which can be funded by reallocating funds currently used for the Economic Development Division and the Small Business Development Centers Program within Ohio’s Department of Development.

• Establishing New Micro-Incubators

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will work with local communities to replicate the success of existing business incubation programs. These “micro-incubators” will provide start-ups with immediate access to ready-to-occupy flexible office space with room to grow and the ability to tap into shared computing facilities. Entrepreneurs additionally benefit from mentoring provided by local business leaders and university faculty involved in the program. Research has shown that public investment in incubators results in greatly expanded tax revenues and increases the chance that the businesses will succeed and grow. Communities that can demonstrate significant local commitment to the program will be selected in a competitive process. Four new centers will be established at an anticipated start-up expense of $3.5 million and annual operating costs of $.75 million. The program will be paid for with a combination of federal sources, including the Department of Commerce and the Appalachian Regional Commission, and existing state funds within the Ohio Department of Development.

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will work with local leaders to make Ohio’s cities and towns attractive places to do business by:

• Supporting the Ohio Main Streets Program and Historic Preservation Tax Credits

As a symbol of a community’s heritage, the health of its historic downtown district provides a visible indication of an area’s economic vitality, in turn affecting its ability to recruit new businesses and residents. In Ohio, the nonprofit Heritage Ohio operates the Ohio Main Street Program, promoting historic preservation and economic development of traditional downtown business districts. Communities selected for official “Main Street” designation undertake a rigorous program of consultation and planning and seek private investments and federal grants to redevelop downtowns into vital centers of community activity and commerce. Since the program’s inception in 1998, Ohio’s thirty-two Main Street communities have helped stimulate civic pride and economic activity, producing over $300 million in reinvestment and more than 1,800 full-time jobs.

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will commit $3 million annually to the Ohio Main Street program and participating communities. Funding will be provided by reallocating resources within the Ohio Department of Development.

Additionally, the Ohio House of Representatives recently passed a bill to provide for a State Historic Preservation Tax Credit. This is a good first step for attracting investments and supporting the redevelopment of existing communities. We will support efforts in the General Assembly to move this bill forward.

• Using Ohio’s NextGen Broadband Network to power downtown wireless districts in Ohio’s cities and towns

In BroadbandOhio, the Turnaround Ohio plan for broadband deployment statewide, we have focused on an affordable way to build out broadband on the Ohio NextGen Network to every county seat in all 88 counties. As part of that strategy, the NextGen Network will make available high bandwidth connectivity for economic development and municipal use. Such connectivity is important for attracting new businesses to Ohio’s towns and cities. Additionally, every county seat in Ohio and many neighboring towns will be able to affordably create wireless districts in their downtowns and commercial areas.

• Creating an Urban Markets Tax Credit

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will also work with Ohio’s mayors and neighborhood leaders to create an Ohio Urban Markets Program, designed to stimulate investment in our urban neighborhoods by attracting private investment through a new investment tax credit program. We want to help build healthy neighborhoods by investing in economic and community development projects that create jobs locally, provide critically needed healthcare and that create affordable housing opportunities. This would begin as a pilot program, modeled after the successful New Markets Tax Credit Program at the federal level. A Strickland-Fisher Administration would dedicate $20 million in tax credits for the first year of this program.

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will ensure investments in infrastructure that will make our towns, cities and state places that can support the needs of businesses by:

• Making Ohio a Gateway to International Commerce and a Hub for the Nation’s Freight

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will harness Ohio’s strengths and partner with private industry to create the Ohio Gateway – an integrated network of multi-modal facilities that seamlessly links Ohio’s citizens, businesses, railways, highways and port facilities into the most advanced and efficient transportation system in America. Ohio’s location, industrial base and network of distribution and logistics assets uniquely position our state to become a premiere gateway to international commerce and a hub for the nation’s freight. Sixty three percent of the U.S. manufacturing base and major population centers of the Northeast, Midwest and Canada lie within 600 miles of Ohio. Furthermore, the state ranks 4th in the nation in the value of freight exported, third in imports and is home to a number of major air and seaports.
To reach its full economic potential, Ohio must create the conditions necessary to attract the distribution and logistics industries to move the nation’s goods using our ports, rails and roads. The explosive growth that is forecast to occur in freight shipments across Ohio cannot be accommodated by our current infrastructure alone. To be successful, we must also link our many air and water ports, expand our rail network, link local communities to major rail lines, and create seamless connections to port facilities and transportation hubs in nearby states and countries. Development of the Ohio Gateway requires a bold approach to transportation planning that is closely tied to the state’s economic development objectives. By improving our rail system, modernizing our ports and building regional partnerships, we will establish Ohio as home base to the nation’s distribution and logistics industries that could potentially create 40,000 new jobs in the eight years of a Strickland-Fisher Administration.

I am on record supporting the Ohio Hub, a rail system that will serve intercity corridors with integrated air, highway and transit. Investment in rail infrastructure will strengthen our state’s assets as a premiere gateway to international comers, a hub for the nation’s freight and lay the groundwork for passenger service. A Strickland-Fisher Administration will strongly support efforts to move ahead on freight rail expansion in Ohio, working for passage of pending legislation to provide federal matching funds for rail projects. We will also double funding for Ohio Rail Development Commission grants for local rail spurs and intermodal facility construction projects at an annual cost to GRF of $2 million.

• Incentivizing Smart Growth and Making “Fix-It-First” a Priority for State Investments

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will embrace “Fix-It-First” and “Smart Growth” principles as strategies to redevelop our urban areas. Ohio should not be using taxpayer dollars to promote unchecked sprawl or to encourage the abandonment of cities. Fix-It-First policies will allow us to, where appropriate, focus our spending on the repair of existing roads, bridges, rails, and other infrastructure. And when new infrastructure is needed, Smart Growth policies will allow Ohio to direct investment toward those areas specifically designated by local jurisdictions for growth.

• Address The Problem of Vacant and Abandoned Industrial and Residential Buildings and Land

Development of brownfields – urban and rural sites with environmental contamination – costs six to eight times what it costs to develop pristine land. The public sector must help narrow this differential. A Strickland-Fisher Administration will use our experience in obtaining federal support for state priorities by working with Ohio’s Congressional delegation to obtain additional brownfield redevelopment funding.

Today, the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF) in the Ohio Department of Development provides critical financial assistance in the cleanup of brownfield sites for communities that are seeking to revitalize contaminated sites. The program has been particularly helpful in urban areas which are facing significant challenges in redeveloping sites that had previously been productive. The Strickland-Fisher Administration will actively support efforts for the reauthorization and continued funding of the Clean Ohio program and will work to improve its administration so that we can adequately meets the significant needs of our communities.

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will partner with local leaders to ensure policy decisions at the state level will support our towns and cities by:

• Establishing a Governor’s Office of Urban Development and Infrastructure and Creating an Ohio Development and Redevelopment Plan

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will establish the Governor’s Office of Urban Development and Infrastructure, charged with assuring that the priorities of Ohio’s cities and towns are articulated and made part of all our Turnaround Ohio priorities across all cabinet agencies, boards and commissions. Additionally, this office will coordinate development of an Ohio Development and Redevelopment Plan through a statewide process with significant input from mayors, city councils and metropolitan planning organizations. This plan will target Ohio development to those areas of the state where it is needed and desired, better allocating resources to areas that need them for job development, infrastructure renewal or to preserve farmland. Ohio’s ability to revitalize economically will require an interagency and state-local approach never before undertaken in our state.

• Supporting and Reforming the Local Government Fund

The Local Government Fund is a tangible expression of the longstanding, 70-year partnership in Ohio between the state and local leaders. We must remain committed to the Local Government Fund and improve it, not destroy it. The Strickland-Fisher Administration will oppose any legislative efforts to repeal the Local Government Fund and will devote our efforts to rebuilding and reforming it to adjust to tax changes and program priorities important to Ohio’s cities and towns. We will support current initiatives to reform the local government fund, so that it:

o Adequately supports local social service needs
o Is predictable and stable from year to year, protecting the state budget, as well as our cities and towns from see-saw budgeting
o Provides strong support for safe and secure communities
o Allows for long-term investments for job creation and formation

• Establishing an Ohio Community Charter that will Reward Cities and Towns Working Together to Build Strong Regional Economies

Companies often need to react to market changes, and move locations to maximize the efficiency of operations. But in other cases, the move of a building a few blocks will move a company’s tax base from one community to another. Under the Strickland-Fisher Administration, the state will take a strong stand against poaching (the practice of enticing one company to a neighboring town just to obtain the tax revenue base and jobs). We need cities and towns that work in partnership to build strong regional economies that will turn our state around, not civic leaders that seek to undermine their neighbors.

The Strickland-Fisher Administration will create a certification process for communities, in consultation with Ohio’s professional economic development organizations. Certified communities will sign a Community Charter signifying that they are committed to collaborative approaches to development such as adhering to a regionally developed “non-compete” arrangement and allowing school districts to have a voice in how abatements are implemented. The state, for its part, will prioritize its approval of economic development tax incentives for projects for those cities and towns that have signed the Community Charter.

The state will also encourage joint economic development districts to enhance regional economic cooperation among local governments. These projects can create win-win solutions with multiple jurisdictions sharing new revenues and gaining jobs for their respective citizens. The state must clear the obstacles that impede the ability of local governments who choose to share revenues under these agreements.

• Bringing Funding Decisions to Town Squares, not Capitol Square

As communicated in recent policy announcements, the Turnaround Ohio economic development strategy will “regionalize” state dollars for economic development, infrastructure support and workforce training. Decisions about funding priorities and budget allocations will be put close to those neighborhoods that have the most knowledge and stake in those decisions. This will allow local and regional civic, business, and elected leaders to determine the best economic development investment strategy for their region.

• Making the Job Ready Sites Program City-Friendly

The Job Ready Sites Program, one element of the public works and economic development bond package approved by voters last fall, is a seven year grant program intended to create a statewide inventory of sites available for immediate use by large-scale commercial and industrial operations. Upon taking office, the Strickland-Fisher Administration will take immediate actions to ensure that the rules of this program do not disadvantage our cities. Specially, we will roll back the Job Ready Sites rules that currently limit the program to sites greater than 150 acres.

• Continuing a strong support for the Arts to boost Ohio’s Creative Cities

Cities across America are now recognizing that the Arts are not only a quality of life issue but also an economic engine for development and revitalization. Civic leaders are acknowledging that the Arts play a key role in determining a city’s social and economic identity. Arts and cultural facilities are the foundation of Ohio’s vibrant history. These facilities and the exciting programs they provide add value to every community and are particularly important to attracting and retaining creative knowledge workers and revitalizing communities. There are nearly 17,000 arts-related businesses in Ohio and those businesses employ more than 89,000 people. A Strickland-Fisher Administration is committed to providing state capital funds for community arts projects that will achieve the most productive results for the public. The state should adopt standards and a model community capital improvements process for all state-funded arts projects using the Ohio Cultural Facilities Commission.

• Leading by Example

We will assure that investments in state facilities and new leases are made with a priority on locations that are close to transit routes and in core urban areas. We will focus state resources on reusing vacant and abandoned buildings in urban cores, bringing daytime, pedestrian traffic back to our urban centers and spurring strong urban retail markets.

2) EDUCATION THAT WORKS

Education is the backbone of our communities and the gateway to economic opportunity. All of Ohio’s families, despite where they live, must be able to send their children to safe schools that provide them the skills they need to compete in a global economy. Many of our education proposals have been laid out in previous Turnaround Ohio announcements including Learning for Life: A Fair Start for Every Ohio Child and Learning for Life: High Quality Education for High Quality Jobs. Below is a recap of some of those previously announced initiatives as well as new commitments to other important programs.

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will ensure that all Ohioans have access to an education that works and schools serve as dynamic centers of our communities by:

• Closing the Achievement Gap at an Early Age

Ohioans are born with many different levels of opportunities, and despite their individual circumstances, the Strickland-Fisher Administration is committed to giving all of Ohio’s children a fair start in life. Investments in the earliest years offer a tremendous opportunity for building a lifetime of positive outcomes, but far too many Ohio children are falling behind at the start of their academic journeys. This achievement gap has roots that begin long before a child enters the schoolhouse door, but participation in high quality early learning programs is a demonstrated method for boosting school readiness for vulnerable children. We must make such opportunities available to all of Ohio’s children, particularly those at risk for failure. In our Turnaround Ohio proposal Learning for Life: A Fair Start for Every Ohio Child, we commit to investing $50 million per year in quality early care and education. In this plan, we also recognize the critical importance of a child’s social, emotional and physical development in school readiness and lifelong learning and have pledged to increase the availability of voluntary screening and treatment of physical and behavioral health problems in young children.

• Ensuring All Students High-Quality Teaching and Instruction

The research is clear: the single most important thing that a school can provide its students with is a skilled and knowledgeable teacher. As explained in our Turnaround Ohio proposal Learning for Life: High Quality Education for High Quality Jobs, we will work to incentivize public colleges and universities to prepare primary and secondary teachers who agree to work in “hard-to-staff” schools including schools with high rates of teacher turnover, high proportions of under-prepared teachers and low rates of student achievement.

• Adequately Funding Interventions for At-Risk Students who are Not at Grade Level

The State of Ohio has already mandated diagnostic and achievement assessments and interventions for our under-performing students. Unfortunately, current leadership has not appreciated the value of helping these students and has not adequately funded these interventions. A Strickland-Fisher Administration will be committed to making sure that our students, especially those most at risk, will not be left behind. We will support both interventions that complement classroom instruction as well as strategies that could include opportunities in smaller classes and after school programs. If our economic development depends on a strong, educated and capable workforce, we can no longer afford to ignore our under-performing children.

• Engaging Communities and Schools in Preventing Dropouts

Leaving school without a diploma deprives young people of not only needed knowledge and skills, but it also deprives them of the availability of opportunities throughout their lives. Dropouts are likely to have low lifetime earnings and higher incarceration rates, and there is also a higher likelihood that their children will drop out of high school and start the cycle anew. Unfortunately, research suggests that nearly one out of three public high school students won’t graduate. As outlined in our Turnaround Ohio proposal Learning for Life: High Quality Education for High Quality Jobs, a Strickland-Fisher Administration won’t ignore school dropouts. Instead, it will challenge educators, families, and communities to give these young people a second chance. By identifying those at risk for dropping out and expanding programs that are targeted at our students in danger of leaving school, we can work with students to ensure that they remain engaged.

• Ensuring Stable, Secure Funding for Education

For many years, Ohio has experienced an education funding crisis in both K-12 education and in the continued decline of state support for post-secondary education. The Strickland-Fisher Administration will bring all parties together to craft a new method of funding schools that is consistent with the demands of the Ohio Constitution.

• Encouraging Young Ohioans to Overcome Alienation and Raise Aspirations

Many young African American students, especially low income urban males, begin to form opinions about their opportunities in life at a very young age. They look around and see disinvestment in their communities, lack of job opportunities, and an emerging peer culture that reflects survival, not long-term planning. Regrettably, at the beginning of this decade, more African-American men were in Ohio’s prisons than were in our college and universities. We can engage at-risk students through after-school, culturally specific, and academically focused programs. We can also infuse professional development and teacher education programs with cultural competency components so teachers will know their students and build on what their students bring to school.

We must also provide all Ohioans, especially those most at risk, real opportunities for higher education. Unfortunately, over the last decade state support for higher education has diminished while tuition costs have increased. This puts more of the financial burden of higher education on the student and puts higher education further out of reach. We can no longer go in this direction. In our Turnaround Ohio proposal Learning for Life: High Quality Education for High Quality Jobs, we lay out our commitment to a number of proposals, including Ohio’s Knowledge Bank, that will raise aspirations and make college a reality for more Ohioans.

• Recognizing Schools as Centers of Our Communities

Ohio’s schools have the potential to be more than solid academic centers. Schools can serve as the centers for community life. The Strickland-Fisher Administration will support using our high schools after school hours for recreation, adult training classes, social service and health programs, cultural activities, and as a gathering place for the surrounding community. Having the school open late and year-round for community activities can also increase the safety of our neighborhoods by providing our young people alternatives to deviant behavior.

To achieve this goal of making schools the centers of our communities, we must look at how we construct and renovate our schools. Ohio currently spends billions of dollars through the School Facilities Commission to build and renovate our schools. Unfortunately, the Commission uses a design model that fails to fully recognize the needs of communities, which often results in schools that are disconnected from neighborhoods. In fact, some of the design requirements even rule out new school building in urban neighborhoods. A Strickland-Fisher Administration will take steps to revise these rules so that they are friendlier to urban school development and redevelopment.

3) SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

Our neighborhoods must be safe, healthy, and nurturing places for young people to learn and grow. In our Turnaround Ohio plan, we have articulated very specific initiatives aimed at improving access to basic healthcare services and expanding the number of Ohioans with health insurance. Some of these already released initiatives are reflected below.

A Strickland-Fisher Administration will work to end health disparities by:

• Increasing Access to Affordable Healthcare Coverage

Lack of health insurance is a growing national problem, but it is more pronounced for the African-American community. The Strickland-Fisher Administration will work to close the gap and make affordable health insurance available to more Ohioans. We will also pursue policies to both fully utilize and expand the number of our community health centers to increase access to under-served populations.

• Providing Preventative Care

In the United States, we have the most advanced healthcare system in the world but must endure the disgrace of having one of the least healthy populations among industrialized nations. One of the reasons for the embarrassingly low ranking is that our health and social service systems, which share a mission to assist those at risk and improve health, do not share a broad-based strategy to identify and treat those most at risk. In Ohio, many of those most at risk for catastrophic outcomes associated with pregnancy, diabetes, and hypertension enter our system through our emergency rooms. This system short-changes preventive care and neglects wellness. It focuses on treating preventable diseases after they occur, rather than promoting good health up-front. A Strickland-Fisher Administration will invest in the kind of front-end, preventive care that we know lowers overall healthcare costs and keeps people healthy.

• Working to Increase the number of Minorities in Health Professions

African-Americans remain underrepresented in health professions. In 2004, only 2.3% of all non-federal physicians in Ohio and 6% of Ohio’s medical school graduates were African-American. A Strickland-Fisher Administration will seek to improve quality of care for all Ohioans by encouraging medical institutions to recruit more minorities into their programs and to ensure all training meets the needs of diverse patient populations.

We must also ensure practitioners’ abilities to treat patients regardless of race, gender, ethnic background or language barriers and find ways to provide the additional resources needed by healthcare professionals to ensure quality care for all populations.

• Investing in Urban Healthcare Facilities

Investment in healthcare facilities in African-American neighborhoods is low. Work must be done with all healthcare systems to encourage investment in impoverished neighborhoods, especially for the delivery of preventative services. Creating community healthcare centers in retail shopping complexes can offer patients a vast array of services during convenient hours and easier-to-access locations than isolated medical complexes. Research shows that patients have a greater propensity to utilize services that are co-located with grocery and other retail stores.

• Investing in Community Safety

With strong state leadership, community safety programs will be developed to revitalize neighborhoods by bringing together local businesses, schools, faith based organizations, the justice system, police and most importantly the individual members of the community. We will work with local leaders to reduce bureaucracy and empower them to adequately address the social and criminal elements that drag their communities down and disenfranchise local residents and businesses. The city of Akron and the Akron Community Foundation have created a neighborhood partnership program designed to encourage new creative neighborhood efforts. This program provides small matching grants to local organizations wanting to improve their neighborhoods, with programs that address safety, education, cleanup and/or vacant lot improvements. A Strickland-Fisher Administration will support such successful programs and as mentioned earlier in this document, will encourage the use of our schools after-hours so that communities can provide alternatives to deviant behavior.

• Helping Communities Cope with Crime, Victimization and Prisoner Re-entry

As a former psychologist in Ohio’s prison system, Congressman Strickland has worked with inmates and understands the detrimental effects of incarceration on families, communities and the state. Those who are incarcerated are not providing for their families, employed in their communities, or positively contributing to their neighborhoods. They also cost the state $25,280 per inmate annually.

Research shows that education and economic opportunity contribute to a reduction in incarcerations. Many of the policies laid out earlier in this document can create these opportunities and, when implemented, will prevent the number of incarcerations.

Ohio is also faced with the challenges of reintegrating inmates into our communities. Urban areas are frequently the areas that must bear the costs of reintegration; Cuyahoga County alone received over 20% of state prisoners released in 2001. If opportunities to become productive, law-abiding citizens are not available in a community, the likelihood of a recently released inmate returning to prison is increased.

As a member of Congress, Ted Strickland is a cosponsor of HR 1704, the Second Chance Act of 2005, introduced by Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, which would provide federal funds for a variety of programs including housing, employment and family support services aimed at allowing those reentering our communities to become productive citizens who contribute to their families and local economies. Additionally, Ted has authored legislation to establish mental health courts and has been a vocal supporter of drug courts, both of which divert clients to the appropriate treatment and supportive services in the community. As Governor, Ted will continue to encourage such supportive services in Ohio’s cities and towns.

We must also do more to ensure our youth offenders do not go on to become incarcerated adults. The Ohio Department of Youth Services (DYS) reports that the three-year recidivism rate for youth offenders is 50%. We must provide prevention and support services such as education, after school programs and drug treatment to help with the reintegration of juvenile offenders so that they avoid the cycle of incarceration. Many of our cities are taking great steps to provide a successful reintegration of juvenile offenders, and a Strickland-Fisher Administration will support programs that work.

• Develop a Long Term Plan to End Homelessness and Support Affordable Housing in Neighborhoods

Because Ohio has not developed a long term plan for ending homelessness, we have paid the price through higher healthcare, emergency shelter, and criminal justice costs. We know that supportive housing that is permanent with services to help people become healthy and employable is more cost-effective and humane, and we have examples in Ohio that prove that it works. It takes leadership at the top levels of government, however, to coordinate the resources of housing, mental health, employment, and other services to create supportive housing that works.

There are three critical components to a supportive housing strategy: capital funding for the facilities; operating funding for management, maintenance, and utilities; and supportive services such as case management, alcohol and drug treatment, and employment readiness. Unless all three are available and coordinated, supportive housing won’t develop on a scale that will end long term homelessness in Ohio.

The Strickland-Fisher Administration will significantly increase the number of supportive housing units by prioritizing state funds to increase the production and demonstrate the effectiveness of permanent supportive housing. Additionally, we will provide leadership to the Interagency Council on Homelessness. With leadership from the Governor’s office and cabinet members, this council should focus on removing barriers to accessing mainstream resources for residents of supportive housing, including: Medicaid, Workforce Investment Act, Mental Health, and Alcohol and Drug Treatment. Finally, the Strickland-Fisher Administration will develop a long term plan for ending chronic homelessness that focuses on prevention as well as affordable housing and services.

A long term plan, with commitment from the top, will focus policy on the systemic changes that are needed to align affordable housing and access to supportive services to achieve better individual and community outcomes. The Strickland-Fisher Administration will work to reform some of the state’s housing programs, such as the administration of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. This change will ensure that some housing units are built in “areas of opportunity.” State policies will also be made and enforced to remove obstacles keeping citizens from affordable housing.

• Build Assets in Our Neighborhoods and Combat Predatory Lending and Foreclosures for Residents

Ohio is first in the country in foreclosures with a rate that is triple that of the nation and second in personal bankruptcies. Increasingly, the cities of Ohio are being ravaged by predatory lenders who make loans, grab quick profits, and then abandon properties and homeowners. Our cities are littered with abandoned homes that are vacant because of predatory lending. These lenders particularly target the elderly and minorities.

The legislature has recently taken action to combat these predatory lenders and we are committed to strong enforcement of these new laws to assure that Ohio’s consumers are protected from unscrupulous lenders.

Additionally, a Strickland-Fisher Administration will also enforce HB 254 which expedites the process of getting foreclosed homes either fixed up and sold or torn down. Help will be given to victims of foreclosure to save their home, if possible, or to move on if not possible.

Finally, a Strickland-Fisher Administration will work to prevent foreclosures and bankruptcies from happening it the first place by educating consumers. State Representative Joyce Beatty has introduced a bill that would add, as a graduation requirement, that all Ohio high-school students receive a minimum of 10 hours of instruction in the field of personal economics including: financial planning, financial decision-making, and consumer credit. By educating students about such financial issues, predatory lenders will have a smaller chance of taking advantage of Ohio consumers.