The Community's Conversation

Next November, Columbus voters may be asked to approve a 0.5% sales tax increase to generate $6 billion of the estimated $8 billion cost the massive long-term transit improvement project known as LinkUS.

LinkUS promises to better connect parts of Columbus though significant transit improvements that include new bus rapid transit (BRT) lines and infrastructure improvements for pedestrians that include new trails and sidewalks. BRT is a mass transit alternative that can deliver some of the amenities associated with light rail – dedicated lanes, easy boarding at stations, fast and frequent service – without the higher cost and longer construction time of rail projects.

Three new LinkUS transit corridors are now on the horizon – a West Broad Corridor from Prairie Township to Downtown Columbus, an East Main Corridor from Downtown to past Reynoldsburg close to Etna, and a Northwest Corridor from downtown Columbus along Highway 315 to Bethel Road on a route that includes The Ohio State University and major employers. If voters approve, work would begin on the West Broad Corridor as early as 2025, and it could be operational as soon as 2028.

Will Columbus voters see the value of investing in these corridors to finally give Columbus commuters new mobility options that could serve as models for the entire region?

Featuring introductory remarks by Andrew J. Ginther, Mayor, City of Columbus

With panelists:

Shannon Hardin, President, Columbus City Council

William Murdock, Executive Director, Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission

Stevie Pasamonte, Chair, Transit Columbus

Monica Tellez-Fowler, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, COTA

The host is Curtis Jackson, Evening Anchor, Spectrum News 1

The sponsors of this forum were COTA, The Robert Weiler Company, and HNTB.

This forum was supported by The Ellis.

The livestream presenting sponsor was The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation. The livestream partner was The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic Italian Village on March 6, 2024.

Developing a Dynamic Downtown Series

Is Columbus ready for its next big transformation? The past two decades have brought transformative change to Downtown Columbus, including a reimagined riverfront, one-of-a-kind cultural attractions and experiences, and new retail and housing offerings. A modern downtown will demand even more to thrive. The Downtown Columbus Strategic Plan aims not only to add structures, but to create a more inclusive and connected experience that hopes to attract 40,000 residents and 120,000 workers by the year 2040. Marc Conte, Executive Director of the Capital Crossroads and Discovery Special Improvement Districts presents his annual "State of Downtown" report, plus panelists Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and Edwards Companies President and CEO Jeff Edwards discuss the work already underway and what's yet to come, including a new way to enhance connectivity in the core of our city: the Capital Line, a new multi-mile loop connecting downtown's key cultural attractions that will be exclusive to pedestrian and bike traffic.

Featuring:

Marc Conte, Executive Director, Capital Crossroads and Discovery Special Improvement Districts (opening remarks)

Andrew J. Ginther, Mayor, City of Columbus, Ohio

Jeff Edwards, Chairman, CEO, & President, Installed Building Products and Edwards Companies

The host is Stacia Naquin, News Anchor, ABC 6, Fox 28 Columbus

The presenting sponsor of CMC's "Developing a Dynamic Downtown Series" is The Columbus Downtown Development Corporation and Capitol South, with series sponsor Thompson Hine.

The sponsors of this forum were Huntington, Schneider Downs, The Edwards Companies, The Robert Weiler Company, Installed Building Products, AECOM, Marker Construction, and COSI.

This forum was supported by The Ellis.

The livestream presenting sponsor was The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation. The livestream partner was The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic Italian Village on February 28, 2024.

With the November 2023 passage of Issue 2, Ohio became the 24th state – plus the District of Columbia – to legalize recreational marijuana. Pot's approval means the state's cannabis industry is poised for major expansion, with predictions that the first year of sales could reach $2B, with annual sales potentially climbing to $4 billion within just a few years, according to industry monitor MJBizDaily.

Ohio is seen as fertile territory for the pot industry to take off, with multiple major companies vying to dominate the Buckeye State's enormous new and as-yet untapped market for marijuana sales. Yet the State House isn't yet done making changes to the citizen-initiated statute passed by Ohio voters – with everything from the number of plants home growers can possess, to the tax to be levied on pot sales, to the legal levels of THC permitted in plants and extracts – still to be determined by lawmakers.

One thing is for sure: recreational marijuana is poised to become both incredibly lucrative and pervasive in Ohio. With an expert panel, we unpack the present and future of Ohio's blooming pot industry.

Featuring:

Gus Burns, Cannabis Industry Reporter, MLive

James Canepa, Superintendent of the Division of Cannabis Control, Ohio Department of Commerce

Ariane Kirkpatrick, CEO, Harvest of Ohio

The host is Kate Siefert, Reporter, ABC 6 and FOX 28 Columbus

This forum was supported by The Ellis.

The livestream presenting sponsor was The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation. The livestream partner was The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic Italian Village on February 21, 2024.

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) was sworn into the United States Senate on November 15, 2010 to fill the seat left vacant by the late Senator Robert C. Byrd. Born and raised in the small coal mining town of Farmington, W.Va., Manchin served as a West Virginia state legislator and Governor of West Virigina before stepping into his current role as the state's senior U.S. Senator. A centrist Democrat, Manchin announced last November that he would not seek reelection but would instead embark on a national listening tour supported by the nonprofit organization Americans Together and aimed at determining if "there is an interest in creating a movement to mobilize the middle and bring Americans together." This is his first appearance at the Columbus Metropolitan Club.

The speakers are:

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), United States Senate

The host is Karen Kasler, Bureau Chief, Statehouse News Bureau

It was supported by The Ellis.

The presenting sponsor of the livestream was The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation. The livestream partner was The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic Italian Village on February 15, 2024.

Just how broken are the economics of childcare? It's no secret they're preventing Ohio's childcare providers from meeting the current demand for their services from employers, parents, and families.

A stunning recent report from Action for Children, The Child Care Provider Survey, uncovered critical issues facing child care providers in central Ohio, including concerns about staffing, capacity, and tuition increases. More than half of providers reported that their monthly revenue does not cover expenses.

With the ending of pandemic-era support funding, recent findings by Action for Children emphasize the need for sustained, flexible investment in central Ohio's childcare centers and Family Child Care programs.

This mixed picture produces a domino effect – not enough staff limits enrollment, which reduces revenue and causes tuition to rise – an unstable reckoning that shortchanges families, employers, and communities.

This CMC forum unpacks the deeply set factors causing central Ohio's childcare providers to struggle. We'll look at how the region can chart a path to a more equitable and sustainable future for the childcare that's ideal for children, parents, and employers together.

Featuring:

Eric Karolak, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Action for Children

Kara Wente, Director, Department of Children and Youth, State of Ohio

Aslyne Rodriguez, Director of Government Affairs, COTA

Carol Haynes, Executive Director, Kiddie Academy

The host is Cierra Johnson, Anchor and Reporter, NBC4

This forum was sponsored by PNC Bank, The Franklin County Board of Commissioners, and Columbus State Community College.

It was supported by The Ellis.

The presenting sponsor of the livestream was The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation. The livestream partner was The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic Italian Village on February 14, 2024.

Sports betting for adults over age 21 became legal in Ohio on January 1, 2023, and is now a $7 billion industry. Thirty-six states – plus the District of Columbia – now permit legal sports betting. Nearly every sports bet in Ohio – some 97% of bets – are placed online, although in-person bets can now be placed at casinos, stadiums, bars and restaurants.

Overseeing the state's enormous sports gambling industry is the Ohio Casino Control Commission; with jurisdiction over Ohio gambling, the Commission has already levied fines on the industry for gambling advertisements that don't comply with the state's strict rules.

The industry's explosive growth has come with a human cost too, with calls to one support line for problem gamblers up 150% in the first seven months of 2023, according to WOSU Public Media. With the Super Bowl right around the corner, we dive into the impact of a full year of legal sports betting in Ohio to ask: who's winning and who's losing?

Featuring:

Dan Dodd, Vice President of Government Relations, ZHF Consulting LLC

Stacey Frohnapfel-Hasson, Chief, Office of Prevention & Problem Gambling, Ohio Department of Mental Health & Addiction Services

Oyauma Garrison, President & Chief Executive Officer, Maryhaven, Inc.

Matt Schuler, Executive Director, The Ohio Casino Control Commission

The host is Rob Oller, Sports Reporter & Columnist, The Columbus Dispatch

This forum was sponsored by Maryhaven Inc., The Problem Gambling Network of Ohio, and Taft Law.

It was supported by The Columbus Dispatch and The Ellis.

The livestream was presented by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic italian Village on February 7, 2024.

Art in its most highly visible public form can serve as a point of pride for residents and a draw for tourists. In the era of Instagram, public art can enliven neighborhoods with color, joy, and inclusiveness, reflecting what a community values and holds dear.

It can be a means for a society to showcase creativity and wonder, but can also be used to send a not-so-subtle signal of cultural, economic, or social dominance. It can be highly controversial (think Columbus' now-removed statue of Christopher Columbus) or even illegal (think graffiti). What messages should public art in Columbus convey, and who gets to decide whose art becomes public art?

This week we're joined by a panel of art leaders as we discuss the release of the new State of Public Art Report by the Greater Columbus Arts Council with a passionate conversation on the role, message, and future of public art in Columbus.

The panelists are:

Adam Brouillette, Artist, Muralist, and Public Art Advocate

Celeste Malvar-Stewart, Fashion Designer & Performance-Based Public Artist, and Adjunct Faculty, The Columbus College of Art & Design

Marshall Shorts, Creative-N-Chief, Artfluential, and Creative Director, Ohio Organizing Collaborative

Shelbi Toone, Public Art Commissioner, and Project Manager, Poindexter Village Museum and Cultural Center

The host is Corey Favor, Senior Director of Community Engagement, Talent, & Culture, Orange Barrel Media, and Columbus College of Art & Design Alumni

This forum was sponsored by The Greater Columbus Arts Council and The Columbus Museum of Art. It was supported by The Ellis.

The livestream was presented by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and by The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic Italian Village on January 31, 2024.

Central Ohio's healthcare giants are galloping to keep up with the region's growth, building new facilities that'll need to be staffed by legions of trained healthcare professionals that don't yet exist. As reported in Columbus Business First, Central Ohio's four major hospital systems are right now trying fill more than 2,200 open positions in nursing alone. Rural Ohioans too are suffering from the ill effects of too-few healthcare professionals, with "care deserts" leaving entire Ohio counties without critical specialists. What's being done to close the huge gap in the ranks of Ohio's healthcare professionals? That's the subject of this week's CMC forum.

This forum's expert panelists are:

Dr. Todd Ambrosia, President, Mount Carmel College of Nursing

Dr. Karen Rose, Dean, The Ohio State University College of Nursing

Susan Beaudry, Vice President, The Osteopathic Heritage Foundations

Dr. Chynna Smith, Family Medicine Resident, OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital

The host is Greg Moody, Director of Professional Development, The John Glenn College of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University.

CMC's Optimal Health Series of healthcare-focused forums is presented by Nationwide Children's Hospital, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, and OhioHealth. This forum was sponsored by Epstein Becker & Green, Mount Carmel Health System, The Health Policy Institute of Ohio, The Center for Community Solutions, Cardinal Health, The Association of Independent Colleges & Universities of Ohio, and The Central Ohio Health Sector Partnership. It was supported by The Ellis.

The livestream was presented by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic Italian Village on January 24, 2024.

What makes a city beautiful, livable, walkable, and simply a desirable place to call home? And on the other side, what mistakes can destroy a city's appeal to residents, visitors, and investors? For the last six years, Cal Poly Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning Dave Amos has been exploring answers to these questions through his hugely popular YouTube channel, City Beautiful.

City Beautiful embraces a mantra: that cities are amazing, and then seeks to understand what makes some cities succeed while others stumble. Amos' inquisitive, fast-paced, and approachable style has earned his channel more than 651,000 subscribers, with his videos about cities and city planning regularly attracting millions of views.

Amos has explored what happened when cities banned cars, why high-rise public housing projects were once thought to be part of the answer to America's chronic housing projects, and even what urban planning looking like in the former Soviet Union. With an expert panel, we explore the factors that shape the cities we call home.

Featuring Dave Amos, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of City and Regional Planning, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, and City Beautiful YouTube channel creator, producer, and narrator; Manuel Santana Palacios, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning, The Knowlton School of Architecture, The Ohio State University; and host Belkis Schoenhals, Principal Planner, The City of Columbus.

This forum was sponsored by Moody Nolan and Burgess and Niple.

The forum was supported by The Ellis and by The Columbus Dispatch. The livestream was presented by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic Italian Village on January 17, 2024.

What if Columbus committed to becoming the largest US city to completely eliminate homelessness? How much would it cost? What specifically would we do with the money?

As Columbus works to hone a distinctive identity that differentiates it from other American cities, could its unique quality be that no one in Ohio's capital city lacked a place to call home? We'll soon know more about the current scope of homelessness in our neighborhoods: every year, a "Point-in-Time Count" of Columbus' homeless population occurs on a single day in January. The next count will be held on January 25, 2024.

In January 2023, Community Shelter Board's (CSB) count revealed the single largest increase and an all-time high in the number of people experiencing homelessness at a single point in time in Columbus and Franklin County. That count revealed an overall 22% increase of those who were experiencing homelessness in our community, and that 71% of the people were Black or African American (compared to being 29% of the general population).

According to the CSB, this inequality is the result of discriminatory "redlining" lending practices, restrictive covenants, structural racism, classism, and gender injustice. Predictions by a national research firm, Focus Strategies, show the housing availability crisis Columbus is experiencing locally will drive a decline in program outcomes and increase entries into homelessness, with those earning 30% or less of the area's median income being the most vulnerable population.

With an expert panel we dive into homelessness in Columbus and ask the big question: what it would take to end homelessness in Central Ohio once and for all?

Featuring Shannon Isom, President & CEO, Community Shelter Board, Sheli Mathias, Director, The Open Shelter, Bob Weiler, Chairman of the Board, The Robert Weiler Company, and Letha Pugh, Co-Founder, Bake Me Happy, with host Ann Bischoff, CEO, Star House.

This forum was sponsored by The American Electric Power Foundation, Bath & Body Works, The Ohio State University, and The Community Shelter Board.

The forum was supported by The Ellis and by The Columbus Dispatch. The livestream was presented by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

This forum was recorded before a live audience at The Ellis in Columbus, Ohio's historic Italian Village on January 10, 2024.