Human Rights

Our first volume of the Ohio Migration Anthology, “Far From Their Eyes,” was a huge success! Check out some of our media coverage and pick up your copy here.

Last year the Columbus Free Press republished a chapter from the first volume of the incredible and harrowing survivor tale of Bol Aweng, who now lives in Hilliard. Aweng, an artist among other talents, is one of the “Lost Boys of the Sudan.”

The Ohio Immigrant Alliance is publishing Volume 2 in 2023. Learn more in our FAQs below and submit your contributions for consideration here. 

The deadline for submission is January 2, 2023. This is a competitive selection process, so read the guidance below to have the best chance of being chosen for Ohio Migration Anthology, Volume 2.

If you’re an Ohio medical marijuana patient, you may have received a 2022 survey from Ohio State University’s Drug and Policy Center (DEPC). If you took the survey, what did you think? 

MedicateOH spoke with the DEPC to learn more about what goes into how they developed their 2021 and 2022 surveys, what questions they chose to ask, and what knowledge they hope to gain. 

DEPC 2022 Survey: Take Now Through End of May 2022 

MedicateOH spoke with Jana Hrdinová, Administrative Director for the DEPC, about the current survey, which you can take by clicking here. It’s open through the end of May, but the DEPC says they may extend it depending upon response.

If you look at the steroid epidemic that has plagued the United States and the rest of the world for over 40 years, it is easy to see it was caused by what has been a bipartisan failure since the days Arnold Schwarzenegger opened the Arnold Sports Festival in Columbus, Ohio in 1989.

It began as just a bodybuilding contest back then but has expanded to become the largest public event in Columbus every year.

Many of the events at “The Arnold” are made up of youth competitions, but his core events cater to what I call “Steroid Nation.”

Strongman, bodybuilding and most powerlifting competitions at “the Arnold” have no credible testing for steroids. These freak show events dominate his advertising.

“The Arnold” steroid events have qualifiers in virtually every state in America. These local competitions are run by federations loosely aligned with “The Arnold.” I have seen myself that these events are where many young athletes are introduced to the “Dark Side” of steroid use.

Google recently announced its new post-pandemic work policy, requiring employees work in the office for at least three days a week. A survey of over 1,000 Google employees showed that two-thirds feel unhappy with being forced to be in the office three days a week, and many intend to leave.

Google recently announced its new post-pandemic work policy, requiring employees work in the office for at least three days a week. A survey of over 1,000 Google employees showed that two-thirds feel unhappy with being forced to be in the office three days a week, and many intend to leave.

Google recently announced its new post-pandemic work policy, requiring employees work in the office for at least three days a week. A survey of over 1,000 Google employees showed that two-thirds feel unhappy with being forced to be in the office three days a week, and many intend to leave.

A group calling itself the Columbus Coalition on Rent Control filed a petition this week with the city to officially begin a citizen-led ballot initiative which would create a rent control ordinance and establish a new city office named the Department of Fair Housing.

While the petition for rent control or rent stabilization may not be a first for the state of Ohio, this would be Ohio’s first-ever rent control ordinance if the citizen initiative were to win at the ballot.

The Columbus Coalition on Rent Control is driven by several well-known progressive and political activists, such as Jonathan Beard, Joe Motil, Tyrone Thomas, and Noel Williams, Chair of the housing committee for B.R.E.A.D, the local faith-based activist group.

Seemingly overnight, the cost of housing in Columbus went from relatively affordable to now putting tens of thousands under extreme pressure to keep a roof over their family’s heads. 

Affordable housing is at an impasse nationwide, but many believe Columbus, while late compared to other major cities, is now staring a homeless and affordable housing crisis in the face.

The Caravan for Water and Life has run through much of central Mexico, backed by the National Indigenous Congress (CNI). The Caravan’s goal is to raise awareness of how the subsidiary of Danone multinational corporation, Bonafont, for years has pushed first peoples aside to take over their wells, then sell the water in those infamous little plastic bottles that cost a large fraction of a day’s pay at minimum wage.

At the Caravan’s launching next to an appropriated well in Puebla state, on March 22 spokeswoman and former presidential candidate María de Jesús Patricio Martínez denounced how government complicity continues unabated four years into López Obrador’s six-year presidential term — and that complicity includes not only government and business, but criminal elements as well.

A press statement and photo by La Jornada can be seen here.

To the lawmakers who would ban discussion of “controversial topics” in Ohio classrooms,

Ohioans see you. We see the unconstitutionality of HB327 and HB616 and how you are perfectly fine wasting money passing and later defending these restrictions on the freedom of speech. We see that you claim the banner of “pro-life” while you limit our children’s education, and you do this after loosening restrictions around guns, which are most definitely implements that often harm or take children’s lives.

Policy Matters Ohio, the non-profit lobbying for progressive values at the Ohio Statehouse and across Ohio, is mobilizing against HB 327 and HB 322, two bills that could ban “divisive teaching” such as Critical Race Theory or CRT.

The Ohio legislature has been pushing the whitewashing of American history. Critics of HB 327 say that besides censoring schools and teachers, the bill could result in school districts losing funding, schools losing their AP (Advanced Placement) designation, teachers facing civil litigation from parents and the further degradation and privatization of our public schools, especially those in urban districts.

Policy Matters Ohio is a founding member of Honesty for Ohio Education, a statewide coalition of over 30 organizations,which held a press conference on Wednesday at the Statehouse.

Honesty for Ohio Education has a simple mission: “Defend Ohio students’ freedom to learn and educators’ freedom to teach a full, honest history of our nation.”