The Community's Conversation

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation saw an increase in substance misuse, alcohol consumption, depression, and suicide rates. One in thirteen Ohioans live with addiction, and nearly 1 in 4 struggle with a mental health condition. To help address this crippling issue, Ohio has created the “Beat the Stigma” campaign on behalf of the Ohio Opioid Education Alliance, a public-private partnership focused on raising awareness of addiction and mental health and the need to address both issues through major initiatives. We mark Mental Health Awareness Month with an in-depth conversation about the steps Ohio needs to take to end this second and ongoing pandemic of addiction.

The panelists are:

Lori Criss, Director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services 

Juliet Dorris-Williams, Executive Director, The P.E.E.R. Center 

Ariana Hoet, Ph.D., Clinical Director of On Our Sleeves, Pediatric Psychologist, Nationwide Children's Hospital

Chad Jester, Vice President of Corporate Citizenship and President, Nationwide Foundation

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

CMC’s Optimal Health Series is presented by The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Nationwide Children's Hospital.

This forum was sponsored by the Community Shelter Board, Columbus Business First, and with support from The Grange Insurance Audubon Center.

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 in Columbus, Ohio on May 10, 2023.

The future of personal mobility isn’t yet clear, but it's not likely to be based on privately-owned gas-powered cars forever. Personal mobility will come many future forms: autonomous cars, improved mass transit, high-speed rail, new modes of electric aerial transportation, and urban street infrastructure that prioritizes pedestrians and bikes and makes cities green, walkable, and inviting. This CMC forum features an in-depth discussion about the future of personal mobility that might change the way you think about getting from A to B.

The panelists are:

Ted Angel, Aerospace Affairs Director, The Dayton Development Coalition 

Preeti Choudhary, Executive Director, DriveOhio

Harvey J. Miller, Ph.D., Bob and Mary Reusche Chair in Geographic Information Science, and Professor and Director, Department of Geography Center for Urban and Regional Analysis, The Ohio State University

The host is Walker Evans, Co-Founder & CEO, Columbus Underground 

CMC's partner for this forum was The 2023 COSI Science Festival. It was supported by the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. It was recorded before a live audience in Columbus, Ohio on May 3, 2023. 

How can we close the gender and pay gap and fuel Ohio’s workforce growth, particularly in high demand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields? Ohio’s high-tech employers will need ever-growing numbers of trained and passionate STEM employees as the state welcomes two Intel semiconductor manufacturing plants and an array of other new tech industries now experiencing rapid growth.

Women make up nearly half of the workforce, yet are drastically underrepresented in key lucrative fields, including STEM careers, where only 18% of leadership roles are held by women.  Women are underrepresented in other growing fields, with just 11% of construction jobs filled by women, 15% of engineers and architects, and only 6% of welders.

Contributing to the shortage is a disconnect between school curricula and relevant, practical workplace skills, resulting in a gap between worker capabilities and employer expectations. This CMC forum explores how Central Ohio can close the gender and pay gap for women and open career pathways for girls to high-wage and high-growth STEM jobs.

The speakers are:

Lori Gillett, CEO, Corna Kokosing,

Ayanna Howard, Ph.D., Dean, College of Engineering, The Ohio State University

Tammy Wharton, President & CEO, Girl Scouts of Ohio’s Heartland

The host is Sheri Chaney Jones, Founder & CEO, SureImpact, and Founder and President, Measurement Resources Company

This forum is CMC's annual Jeffrey Family Legacy Fund Forum to promote a thriving, equitable, and sustainable community. 

This forum was sponsored by Battelle, CK Construction, and The Jeffrey Company. It was supported by the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. The livestream was presented by The Center for HumanKindness at The Columbus Foundation and by The Columbus Dispatch. 

David A. Chikvaidze, Ph.D. returns to the CMC stage after five tumultuous years in the world of international relations and diplomacy.

Chikvaidze serves as the Chef de Cabinet to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva and has worked in foreign service for more than 34 years. Georgian by birth, Chikvaidze worked in the offices of Soviet President Gorbachev and Russian President Yeltsin, as well as the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C., before leaving to work for the UN.

Before assuming his current position, Chikvaidze was Director of the UN Library at Geneva and Chairman of the UNOG Cultural Activities Committee. He served as Senior Adviser to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and Chief of the Communications and NGO Partnerships Section in Geneva, and spokesman for the 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights and Human Rights Treaty Bodies.

The speaker is David A. Chikvaidze, Ph.D., Chef de Cabinet, Office of the Director-General, The United Nations Office at Geneva

The host is Colleen Marshall, Anchor, NBC4, and host of NBC4's "The Spectrum."

This forum was sponsored by Delta Airlines and was supported by The Columbus Council on World Affairs, NBC4, and The Grange Insurance Audubon Center. The forum livestream was supported by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

It was recorded before a live audience in Columbus, Ohio on April 19, 2023.

As reported by Axios Columbus last year, average annual temperatures in Ohio have increased by almost three degrees since the first Earth Day in April 1970. As Earth Day 2023 approaches on April 22, this week’s CMC forum looks at the impact of climate change in Ohio.

The panelists are: 

Ja’net Graham, Senior Manager for Energy Advocacy, IMPACT Community Action  

Luke Messinger, Executive Director, The Dawes Arboretum  

Alana Shockey, Assistant Director of Sustainability, City of Columbus 

And Dr. Aaron Wilson, State Climatologist of Ohio, Assistant Professor, Ag Weather and Climate Field Specialist, The Ohio State University 

The host is Marshall McPeek, Chief Meteorologist, ABC 6   

This forum was supported by the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. The forum livestream was supported by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

It was recorded before a live audience on April 14, 2023.  

This CMC forum features an in-depth conversation with former Ohio governor Richard F. Celeste, author of the recent book, In the Heart of It All.

Celeste rose from humble beginnings in northeast Ohio to reach the Ohio governor’s residence and beyond. His new book recounts Celeste’s childhood in Lakewood, Ohio, where his politically ambitious father eventually served as mayor. Awarded a scholarship to attend Yale University, Celeste studied history and later became a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford; while living overseas, he met and quickly married his first wife, Dagmar Braun. Upon returning from Oxford, Celeste expected to begin a teaching career but was recruited to serve as a liaison for Peace Corps volunteers in Latin America, and the young couple relocated to Washington, DC, where they became friendly with Chet and Steb Bowles. When President Kennedy appointed Chet Bowles US ambassador to India, he invited Dick to work as his personal assistant. There, under Bowles’s tutelage, Dick began to consider a political career of his own.

Celeste returned to Ohio and successfully ran for the Ohio House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1970. After serving two terms, he was elected lieutenant governor in 1974 but lost the 1978 governor’s race by a slim margin. Celeste worked in DC as director of the Peace Corps while plotting his next move, and in 1982, his gubernatorial campaign resulted in a landslide victory. He served two terms as Ohio’s governor, tackling an epic savings and loan crisis along with mental health reform and job creation. He considered but dismissed a presidential campaign in 1988. He went on to serve as ambassador to India under President Clinton, traveling there with his second wife, Jacqueline Lundquist, and bringing his career full circle.

The panelists are:

Richard F. Celeste, Former Ohio Governor, 1983-1991

Jo Ingles, Journalist/Producer, Statehouse News Bureau

This forum was sponsored by The Ohio State University and Event Marketing Strategies. It was supported by the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. The forum livestream was supported by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

It was recorded in Columbus, Ohio before a live audience on April 5, 2023.

According to a 2021 report, Ohio’s Latino community is comprised of more than a half-million people, accounting for 4.2 percent of the state’s total population. That’s according to a 2021 report released by the Ohio Department of Development. Ohio’s Latino population more than doubled since 2000 and has more than tripled since 1980. Ohio’s Latino community is younger than the state average, faces higher unemployment, but is growing rapidly and now owns some 2,200 businesses in the state. At this CMC forum, we dig into the state of Central Ohio’s Latino community for a discussion on the community’s points of pride and its common challenges. What are the unique challenges Ohio’s Latino business community faces, and also the unique opportunities? What are the connections between immigration policies in the U.S. and Ohio’s collective economic prosperity?

The panelists are:

Lourdes Barroso de Padilla, Columbus City Councilmember

Roland Medrano, Managing Director, Regal International LLC, Chief Executive Officer, La Mega Media, Inc., Board Chair, Hispanic Chamber of Columbus

The host is Jackie Orozco, Journalist and Co-Anchor, Good Day Columbus, ABC6 News & FOX 28

The forum partner was the Columbus Council on World Affairs. It was sponsored by the United Way of Central Ohio and Belle Harbour Management of Ohio and was supported by the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. The forum livestream was supported by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

It was recorded before a live audience on March 29, 2023.

This CMC forum digs into the state of Central Ohio banks. As Central Ohio grows, the Columbus banking scene is growing right with it. The city is home to banks large and small, including well-known consumer banking giants and an array of smaller banks, including new minority-owned and women-owned banks now in development. What role do healthy banks play in our economy? 

The panelists are:

Jennifer Griffith, Regional President. First Merchants Bank

Francie Henry, Regional President, Fifth Third Bank

Ilaria Rawlins, Proposed CEO, Fortuna Bank (in organization)

Jenny Saunders, President, FC Bank

The host is Don DePerro, President and Chief Executive Officer, Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

This forum was supported by the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. The forum livestream was supported by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

It was recorded before a live audience on March 24, 2023.

In much of the world, a major capital city without passenger trains would be unthinkable, yet that’s been the case in Columbus since 1979. With the last Amtrak train’s departure that year, Central Ohio bet all its transportation chips on cars, buses, and airplanes, and the area’s transit puzzle has been without passenger trains of any kind since then, earning Columbus the dubious distinction of today being the country’s second largest city without any passenger rail service at all.

Amtrak’s return to Central Ohio has been long-discussed and debated: former Governor Ted Strickland felt trains were important to the state’s economic development, but his successor John Kasich, did not, and in 2010, Kasich rejected a $17M annual subsidy to keep passenger trains running in Central Ohio as too expensive.

With the passage of President Biden’s new Federal infrastructure bill in 2022, which included $2.3B to expand Amtrak, plus encouraging signals from the administration of current Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, is the stage finally set for Amtrak’s return to Central Ohio?

The panelists are:

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

Erin Rosiello, Vice Chair, All Aboard Ohio

And Arun Rao, Director of Network Development, Amtrak

The moderator is Elizabeth Blount McCormick, President, Uniglobe Travel Designers.

This forum was sponsored by HNTB and was supported by the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. The forum livestream was supported by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

It was recorded before a live audience on March 15, 2023.

This CMC forum spotlights a pathfinding effort in Columbus to increase social equity and generate entrepreneurial success. Founded in 2018 as a co-working and entrepreneurial incubation space for women of color, Columbus-based Zora’s House recently announced a massive $5M expansion that will see the facility in Weinland Park grow to more than 10,000 square feet. The new space will expand on the non-profit’s mission to help inspire women of color to start, nurture, and grow their own businesses. Named for author Zora Neale Hurston, Zora’s House contains offices, meeting rooms, a library, and a coffee shop is planned for the new facility.

The panelists are:

LC Johnson, Founder and CEO, Zora’s House

Danielle Sydnor, CEO, Rise Together Innovation Institute

The host is Alison Marker, President and CEO, Marker.

This forum was sponsored by CoverMyMeds and was supported by the Grange Insurance Audubon Center. The forum livestream was supported by The Center for Human Kindness at The Columbus Foundation and The Columbus Dispatch.

It was recorded before a live audience on March 8, 2023.