Fall 2025

Timely workforce thoughts and actions that advance Towards Employment’s Policy Action Plan – to promote economic mobility, especially for those most impacted by systemic racism, through education and advocacy for a more equitable workforce system where everyone has access to family sustaining wages and quality jobs.

Budget Impacts

Recent changes to the federal and Ohio budgets could lead to major cuts in programs that help people stay fed, housed, and healthy, especially through Medicaid and SNAP (food assistance). These changes could impact hundreds of thousands of Ohioans, including many right here in Cleveland.

438,000 more Ohioans could be uninsured by 2023
Federal Medicaid funding is expected to drop by $33 billion
Urban residents may see premiums increase by $786 per year
New and expanded work requirements could cause 319,000–493,000 Ohioans to lose Medicaid
717,000 households, including 45,000 veterans, could lose some or all of their SNAP benefits

Thank you to Policy Matters Ohio for providing key data and insights that helped inform this update.

What you can do:

Help spread the word to prevent surprise benefit losses
Share this update with community partners and participants
Stay informed: We’ll update our Policy Page with developments

Visit Our Policy Page

TE Tackles Housing

At Towards Employment, we see every day how housing instability directly affects a person's ability to find and keep employment. When someone doesn’t have stable housing, it creates stress, uncertainty, and makes it nearly impossible to focus on long-term career goals.

To help address this barrier, we created a Housing Sprint Team and developed a tailored Renters’ Success curriculum to support participants on their journey to secure safe, stable housing.

What’s in the Renters’ Success Curriculum?

Our curriculum is designed to give people practical tools and confidence to navigate the rental market.

Topics include:

How to search for rental housing
Understanding lease agreements
Budgeting for household expenses
Knowing your rights as a tenant
And more!

Everyone deserves a safe and stable place to live. Without it, individuals face increased barriers to accessing jobs, education, and opportunity. Stable housing is foundational to long-term success and we are committed to supporting our participants every step of the way.

If you believe you’ve experienced housing discrimination, contact the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research.

If you’re facing homelessness or housing insecurity, visit the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH) for local resources and support.

Interviews with Towards Employment staff, partners, participants, and graduates about relevant and timely workforce topics.

Real-Time Takes: Life with a Suspended Driver’s License

Access to housing is a key factor to economic mobility. Without a place to live, the wellbeing and safety of thousands of Clevelanders is compromised. Towards Employment sat down with Austin Cummings, Senior Researcher at the Fair Housing Center for Rights & Research shed light on housing injustices within Cuyahoga County.

Read the full Real-Time Takes

Policy Out & About

Be part of a reentry discussion after the Work & Reentry Experience!

Seats are FREE, only an online RSVP is required.

Join us Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Doors open at 6pm

Performance begins at 7pm

(Panel discussion after performance)

at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Campus of Cleveland Public Library

10601 Euclid Ave, Cleveland, OH 44106

Towards Employment and international jazz artist Dominick Farinacci and the Modern Warrior EXPERIENCE created an evening of powerful storytelling and music: TE staff and alumni Ronnie Cannon, Greg Reaves, and Linda Butts share inspiring stories of resilience and reentry, set against live jazz and multimedia.

The evening includes 6:00 PM networking with refreshments and a 7:00 PM performance followed by a panel discussion with the storytellers moderated by Judge Suzan Sweeney.

The performance is free, but reservations are required - RSVP below!

RSVP to the October 7 Performance

Citizens for Efficient Courts (CfEC) members Justice Michael Donnelly and Legal Works’ Paul Hergenroeder briefed the Northern Ohio Municipal Judges Association about CfECs’ initiative to clear dormant warrants. Tens of thousands of such warrants have been cleared by the Cleveland Municipal Court and several other jurisdictions in Northeast Ohio, reducing unnecessary and time-consuming interactions between police and citizens, and removing barriers to employment, housing and record sealing created by warrants that will never be prosecuted.

Founded and hosted by Towards Employment, CfEC taps leaders from the NEO legal community to improve the criminal justice system in Ohio.

Learn More About CfEC

Contributing Authors:

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Gabrielle Fortin (she/her) is a TE Policy Associate, previously Towards Employment’s Summer 2024 Cleveland Foundation Policy and Advocacy Intern. During her internship, she has been supporting TE’s 2022-2025 Policy Agenda with a focus on collateral sanctions. Some of her responsibilities include collaborating with community coalitions, tracking legislation (SB37, HB460, HB464) as well as researching and compiling data to advance TE policy initiatives.

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Brian Balogh - TE Policy Fellow and retired professor and award-winning cohost of a public radio show - interviews TE graduates and staff about interesting workforce topics. Brian combines written text, live words, his research, and community resources n simple stories for workforce friends and supporters to share.

Coalition Spotlight

Drive to Justice

Drive to Justice is a coalition of community-based organizations advocating to end debt-related driver’s license suspensions in Ohio. By providing education and support while connecting with policymakers, Drive to Justice aims to mobilize and empower community members around the issue of debt-related driver’s license suspensions ensuring that public policy is informed by the views of Ohioans most affected by these policies.

Drive to Justice hosts information sessions every third Wednesday. Check out the website for more details.

Learn more about Drive to Justice

TowardsEmployment.org

(216) 696-5750

info@towardsemployment.org