Families wait while power draws its borders
House Bill 442, the proposed ‘People’s Map,’ seeks to realign representation with Ohio’s actual voting patterns.
Ohio Civics Essential
Ohio Civics Essential was created to improve the civics knowledge of Ohio adults and published from July 2018 – July 2021. Civics Essential is a multimedia program which includes relevant feature stories, resource guides, in person and virtual learning tools, quizzes and surveys, plus virtual panel events. The series has reached over 3.8 million people with over 48,000 engagements. Find the series in Ohio Issue Media Group publications Soapbox Cincinnati, Fresh Water Cleveland and Hub Springfield. The Ohio State Bar Foundation (OSBF) awarded their first strategic grant initiative to raise the civics knowledge of adult Ohioans to Issue Media Group (IMG), through Cincinnati Development Fund acting as our fiscal agent. We appreciate the Ohio State Bar Foundation for the support to make this series possible; for our outstanding volunteer editorial advisory that met regularly over 3 years; and for the scholars, legal experts, active and retired lawyers, judges, and nonprofit professionals who participated and continue to advocate for civic education, participation, and engagement. Press Club of Cleveland’s 2022 All Ohio Excellence in Journalism Awards recognized Civics Essential contributing writer Bob Sandrick who covered challenging topics in year three of the Ohio Civics Essential series that continue at the top of the headlines today. He earned 2nd place for Analysis, a category competition that “displays fine examples of work diving deep into important topics. They demonstrate commitments to providing service for their communities.” The judges commented “This collection of reports analyzes such vital issues as justice reform and the electoral college. Details from numerous sources help deliver solid work that informs the public.” Sandrick’s work was additionally recognized by the Greater Cincinnati Pro Chapter 2022 Excellence in Journalism for the Written Communication awards for Government and Community Issues Reporting.
The lines between us
Gerrymandering shapes everything: who funds your schools, which neighborhoods share resources, and whether your community gets heard at all.
Ignite Peace update on the Cincinnati immigrant landscape
There’s only so much that people can do to advocate for immigrants. However, there is more than nothing. Start here to get informed.
Agreeing to disagree: How can we put civility back into civic discourse?
Ohio groups are trying to turn the heat down on political discussion and find the ability to compromise that once made America and its political system a model for the world.
The history of the Electoral College: What is it and why do we use it?
Neither the U.S. Constitution nor federal law requires electors to vote for the presidential candidate in their own political parties. Those who vote against their party’s candidate are known as “faithless electors.”
Soapbox recognized for excellence in journalism from Cincinnati SPJ and Press Club of Cleveland
Writers David Holthaus, Bob Sandrick, and Jessica Esemplare honored in six categories for 2021 work.
Ohio women credit second chance education and support for successful reentry to society
As the pandemic pushed incarcerated people out the prison door, many rallied with hand up services including legal, housing, counseling, workforce training and jobs.
Checks and Balances: Join us for this important Civics Essential virtual discussion
The virtual panel will cover the biggest issue yet: How do we balance power?
Ambitious data collection project to advance criminal justice in Ohio
Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice O’Connor, Justice Donnelly, the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission, and an ad-hoc committee are gathering information from courts statewide to build a database to eliminate bias and help with more consistent, fairer sentencing.
Getting to Yes: Ohio has been a leader in the development of Alternative Dispute Resolution
“We’re used to thinking of everything as a win-lose scenario. But how do you reach win-win resolutions to conflict? That was how we looked at it. Conflict resolution initiatives take a certain frame of mind, and patience.” - Gov. Richard Celeste
