COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Some Ohio policy experts, business leaders and parents are calling on Congress to create permanent paid-leave policies that will support working families through the pandemic and beyond.

During a virtual roundtable discussion about paid leave this week, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said the COVID-19 crisis is called the "Great Revealer" because it is telling the world so much about our nation.

"About this country's racial disparities, about wealth inequality, about the holes in our safety net, about the challenges we face because we're fundamentally the only rich country in the world that provides the kinds of family benefits that our country should," Brown said.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act created the first national paid-leave laws, but it expires on Dec. 31.

Elizabeth Brown, executive director of the Ohio Women's Public Policy Network, contends the impact of the pandemic differs greatly depending on a person's income, gender or skin color.

She added far too many women are caught between the demands of their jobs and the needs of their families.

"Equitable policies like paid family leave are critical to helping families recover," Brown said. "Particularly Black families and Latinx families, who've been hit hardest, first and worst, by the unemployment of the COVID-19 downturn."

Jon Gromek, a father from Cleveland, said he started a new job before the birth of his second child and had no paid leave available.

He said it was a night-and-day difference from the birth of his first child, when he and his wife had accrued a combined nine months of paid time off.

"Just to be able to be present, especially with our firstborn when we were really figuring things out, was life-changing," Gromek said. "Just to have those memories and experiences and not be stressed when one of us was at work to always know that the other was there, that we didn't have to worry, was the biggest blessing I've ever had as a parent."

Dora Anim, chief operating officer for the Greater Cincinnati Foundation, noted paid-leave policies are a win-win for employers. She said workers perform their best when they know they are supported.

"When employees know their families are taken care of, when they are at peace, they bring their best to work and they are high performer," Anim said. "And most employers don't end up needing to use all these benefits; they just find comfort in knowing that they are available. And this impacts morale, culture and productivity."

According to the latest government data, 17% of civilian workers, 16% of private-industry workers and 25% of state and local government workers had access to paid leave in 2018.

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Reporting by Ohio News Connection in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.


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A collaboration between the federal government and local communities works to create new career opportunities.

The Flint Environmental Career Worker Apprentice Readiness Training Program is funded by the Biden Administration's Justice40 initiative.

Tony Johnson, a Black single father from Michigan, credits the program with altering his family's future. He started his carpentry apprenticeship in April 2024 and is now on track for a union job in Flint. Johnson said this is the only program he has ever been part of which has created a career opportunity.

"Imagine going to college and after finishing your program, the instructor line you up with jobs and they keep in contact with you," Johnson explained. "They gave us connections and comfort and stability knowing that we're not in this alone."

Johnson stumbled upon the program by chance and thinks it needs promotion in more Michigan communities. It partners with community colleges, historically Black colleges and universities and apprenticeship programs, training more than 13,500 people. It claims a 70% job placement rate.

Johnson noted as a single parent, trying to work in retail or other jobs would not have been as beneficial for his family's future.

"It's hard living on a single income nowadays with a one-parent household," Johnson acknowledged. "Right now I got the funds, the ability to be able to not just provide but to save for their future instead of living check to check."

Johnson added the apprenticeship program is not only stabilizing but creates a pathway to long-term security and the opportunity to retire one day. He sees it as a valuable lesson and encouraged a positive mindset in his children, emphasizing what they can achieve. The opportunity affects his family both mentally and physically, shaping their outlook on opportunities and possibilities.


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The nation's billionaires have doubled their wealth over the past seven years, while working people in West Virginia and elsewhere continue to face economic struggles.

The collective fortune of America's more than eight hundred billionaires hit a record $5.8 trillion in April, according to a new report by Americans for Tax Fairness.

Gary Zuckett, executive director of the Citizen Action Education Fund, said the Mountain State is just beginning to see the ramifications of a deep income tax cut that was passed last year by state lawmakers.

He said the lack of funding has made it difficult to address steadily worsening problems.

"Like the child-care crisis in West Virginia, the corrections crisis - our prisons have been in the state of emergency for the last three or four years," said Zuckett. "There's a lot of things that we need to be using our tax money for, besides giving it to the rich in income tax cuts."

America's billionaires now own more than 50% more wealth than does the entire bottom half of the nation's households.

Under the current tax code, however, the staggering wealth gains made by the richest are unlikely to ever be taxed.

Trump-era tax benefits for the wealthy enacted in 2017 are set to expire at the end of 2025.

Zuckett explains that the laws cut the top income-tax rate from more than 39% to 37%, and cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.

"The mom and pop grocery stores and the people working in Walmart, everyday working people," said Zuckett, "pay taxes on every dollar that they earn, but the system is rigged to benefit people at the top."

According to the report, if the wealthiest Americans were taxed at the rate of average Americans, the nation would have new potential tax revenue of roughly $120 billion each year, which could help pay for more affordable and accessible health care.





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Michigan legislators are tackling predatory lending practices, aiming to set standards for payday loans and maximum interest rates.

In Kent County alone, with a payday loan volume of $60 million, the House Insurance and Financial Services Committee discussed Senate Bill 632, sponsored by Sen. Sarah Anthony, D-Lansing, which seeks to cap annual interest rates at 36% compared to current rates reaching nearly 400%.

The bill has passed the Senate and is part of a legislative effort including House Bill 5290, sponsored by Rep. Abraham Aiyash, D-Hamtramck.

Dallas Lenear, founder and executive director of Project GREEN, a grassroots economic empowerment network, highlighted concerns about the exploitative nature of these loans.

"Payday loans inevitably are designed in a fashion that is unaffordable for the majority of people who use those loans," Lenear contended.

Lenear pointed out many other states have already capped their interest rate or totally outlawed payday loans because of the financial damage they can cause their citizens and argued it is time for Michigan to do better.

Lenear noted while the payday loan industry believes it offers hope to borrowers in times of need, a study by project GREEN found 78% of respondents said payday loans either prolonged or worsened their financial situation.

"If they've had any experience with it, they'll start to shake their head and they'll say those things are terrible and I was caught in the trap and I would never use those things again. I'd use it out of desperation," Lenear reported.

Advocacy groups such as the Michigan League for Public Policy and the Michigan Catholic Conference testified in support of the bills, to end the predatory practices.