Talking Points

Rabbi Areyah Kaltmann shares with us the mission behind LifeTown Columbus and Kitchen of Life that provides the youth of central Ohio opportunities to overcome developmental and mental health challenges.

LifeTown is NOT simply a “field trip” – it’s where students with developmental challenges apply the lesson plans they’ve worked on in advance in the classroom… and where they develop life skills they’ll be able to transfer to their natural community environments.

Kitchen of Life offers flexibility to work with every classes' schedule and size. We aim to create new and positive experiences outside the classroom in order to grow competence, confidence, character, caring, and connection that will be used inside the classroom.

You probably know someone who suffers from mental illness or addiction – a family member, a friend, a coworker.  Ohioans are suffering from addiction and mental illness in unprecedented numbers.  Approximately 2.3 million Ohioans suffer from mental illness.  Substance abuse disorders have hit Ohio very hard, especially its rural areas.  These issues are affecting residents of all ages and ethnicities. Thrive Peer Recover Services is helping to address these issues.  Learn about Thrive’s services and jobs available throughout Ohio on this podcast with Brian Bailys, co-founder and CEO, and Human Resources Director, Emily Pastorius. 

More than ever before, it’s critical to ensure that families stay on track for children’s routine checkups and recommended vaccinations following disruptions from COVID-19. A CDC report released in May 2020 found a troubling drop in routine childhood vaccinations because of families staying at home during the pandemic and not maintaining their vaccine schedule. The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommend that children stay on track with their well-child appointments and routine vaccinations. On-time vaccination is critical to provide protection against potentially life-threatening diseases. Pediatrician Dr. Denise Warrick offers her perspective on the importance of vaccines in protecting children and the need for strong public policies that support that effort.

It started in 2006 with a golf outing to raise money for cancer research. Sixteen years later, Families for a Cure has raised more than $1.5 million to help local cancer support organizations that help make things better for families and individuals coping with a cancer diagnosis. 

Throughout the year Families for a Cure host events and activities that bring together friends, families and supporters to celebrate the lives of the people who are battling, have battled and won and those who have lost to cancer. Many of these events are fundraisers that provide support to organizations committed to helping those fighting their own fight against cancer.

For more information visit www.FamiliesforaCure.org

More than a year ago, the City of Columbus announced plans to establish bike lanes along Indianola Avenue between Weber and Midgard Roads on Columbus’ north side.  For the city to move forward with the plan it would require a reduction of the street parking. The question is how much.

 Those familiar with this unique, three-block area knows that the businesses there draw customers from all over central Ohio and they rely on the street parking that is available.  

A number of the businesses came to the table and supported a plan, “Option 4,” that proposed to eliminate almost half of the parking but would preserve parking on both sides of the street. The city however revised its plan and is now looking to leave only 30 parking spaces near the businesses with no parking allowed on the east side of Indianola.  

 Those businesses are very concerned with how eliminating the parking could negatively impact their business. Eric Brembeck, owner of Studio 35 Cinema & Drafthouse, joins us to talk about their concerns and the effort to strike a balance between the planned bike lanes and the survival of locally owned businesses.

This week is National School Choice Week. In our last podcast we spoke with Great River Connections Academy Principal and School Leader Jason Swinehart about school choice and what that means from the school’s point of view.  

This week we wanted to get a parent’s point of view. In this week's episode we’re joined by Rose Lynn of Salem Ohio. In 2018 the Lynn family was among the first families to enroll their children in Great River Connections Academy when the school first started serving students. According to Rose, they chose the full-time online school because as local small business owners they found the flexible schedule enabled their family to have more time together. Since then, all five of the Lynn children have attended Great River Connections Academy with their oldest, Angelina, graduating last spring and is now a freshman at Kent State University. 

School choice is the process of allowing every family to choose the K-12 educational options that best fit their children. Every child is unique, and all children learn differently so some may need a different learning environment to succeed. That is what School Choice is all about.

Great River Connections Academy is a tuition-free, full-time virtual public charter school that serves students in grades K-12 from all over Ohio.  In this episode of Talking Points, we discuss with GRCA Principal and School Leader, Jason Swinehart how students are engaged in the virtual classroom and what kind of student might benefit from this approach to learning.

As National School Choice Week is the week of January 23rd, we also discuss the importance for parents to have the option to choose the learning environment that best meets their child’s needs.

School Choice is the process of allowing every family to choose the K-12 educational options that best fit their children. Every child is unique, and all children learn differently. Some children might succeed at the neighborhood public school, while others might fit in better at a charter, magnet, online, private or home learning environment. That’s why school choice is so important.

 For more information about Great River Connections Academy visit www.GreatRiverConnectionsAcademy.com

For more information about National School Choice Week visit https://schoolchoiceweek.com/

In March 2021, Pearson and Connections Academy released the results of a new opinion poll of US parents to gain insights into family living and learning during the pandemic. The survey revealed that 84% of dads said they became more involved in their child's education, and it was an experience they found "gratifying." With Father’s Day this weekend, we spoke with a local dad who is very involved in his daughter’s education. Kevin Patillo is the father a Jaiya Patillo, who just completed the sixth grade at Great River Connections Academy. Jaiya competes in track and field at a very high level so Kevin, and his wife Sheree, enrolled Jaiya in GRCA last fall because they needed a more flexible learning environment to fit around her training and competition schedule. As Jaiya's "Learning Coach" Kevin describes how he has become more involved and closer to his daughter.

Maria Gilmour is a 7th grade Social Studies and Language Arts teacher at Great River Connections Academy. She joined the faculty at GRCA this year after teaching for 14 years in a traditional classroom. Maria shares a little about her transition from a traditional classroom to the virtual classroom, how students are engaged in an online environment and what are some of the factors that are critical to their success.

RALI Ohio supports and promotes Ohio organizations that offer addiction prevention and education programs, as well as recovery services. RALI Ohio recently released a new podcast, moderated by Candace DeMatteis, focusing on the complex and interconnected issues of substance misuse and addiction, mental health disorders, and public children services in Ohio, all of which have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Joining in the conversation in Ohio State Representative Susan Manchester, who sponsored a new law aimed at improving Ohio’s system for training and approving potential foster caregivers; Scott Britton, Assistant Director of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, who manages the Ohio START program; and Joe Abdalla, a former law enforcement officer who now dedicates his time and expertise to help prevent substance misuse and addiction.