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Happy Holidays from everyone at the Greater Ohio Policy Center! This week, we are dedicating our final #GOPCThread of 2020 to looking back at the past year, as well as looking ahead to 2021.
2020 has been an unconventional year. Most of us at GOPC have been working remotely since March 16, but that has not stopped us from continuing to pursue our vision of a revitalized Ohio. #GOPCThread
On the policy front, Ohio lawmakers unanimously passed HB168, a bill that makes it easier and cheaper to redevelopment brownfields. The new law took effect in September. #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/387qDfH
The BFPD law is a policy GOPC has championed as a means to encourage brownfield redevelopment. HB168 will encourage more private investment in brownfields and is an important first step in statewide remediation efforts #GOPCThread https://www.greaterohio.org/ohio-bfpd-law
2020 also saw the introduction of the first bill to provide dedicated funding to the Clean Ohio Revitalization Fund (CORF) in seven years. House Bill 675 (HB675) would provide nearly $40 million for the CORF Program beginning in July 2021. #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/2LBO4WM
CORF was a highly successful program, recognized as a community-responsive tool for brownfield redevelopment efforts that provided a 4-1 return on investment. While HB675 has not received a hearing in 2020, we are optimistic about future prospects in 2021 https://bit.ly/2KkOfoK
The unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many organizations to rethink the way they operate and the services they provide to the communities they serve. GOPC was not immune to these changes #GOPCThread
In the weeks and months since the pandemic first disrupted the routines of normal life across Ohio, GOPC has provided a continually updated list of available resources to individuals and the communities that we serve on our website #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/2LsXVxW
We have also joined with many other statewide organizations in advocating for a number of important policies at the state and federal level, including rental assistance and increased funding and other resources for public transit agencies #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/37ng9K1
GOPC also hosted a series of webinars over the summer, along with our partners in the @NatlResourceNet focused on best practices & ways that communities can respond to the COVID-19 pandemic #GOPCThread
These webinars ranged from discussions about re-forecasting governmental budgets in times of economic uncertainty, planning for recovering from the impacts of COVID-19, & a discussion regarding strategizing to receive state & federal-pass through funding https://bit.ly/3a76ZTz
2020 has also seen an important discussion about racial equity in our state and nation rise to the forefront. We believe that it is important, as an organization, to do a better job acknowledging how racism has created and maintained neighborhood disinvestment in Ohio…
and that equitable redevelopment creates sustainable revitalization. GOPC has also pledged to do our part in dismantling structural inequities. We continue to work internally to determine how best to do this, and continue to update our progress #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/2K3LOam
Back in January, GOPC released its latest analysis of the economic and demographic performance of Ohio’s 22 legacy cities #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/3njFdab
GOPCs analysis concluded that many of Ohio’s small and mid-sized legacy cities are showing signs of improvement since 2014, but they require support from the state to be as strong as they were in 2000 #GOPCThread https://www.greaterohio.org/legacy-city-regrowth
To better understand the impacts that the pandemic has had on Ohio’s communities, GOPC started to track unemployment claims & WARN-reported layoffs. These figures provide a snapshot of the impact the pandemic has had on the state’s economy #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/3gJw1JK
This year, GOPC partnered with Champaign County community leaders to release Open for Business: Comprehensive Housing Market Analysis for Champaign County, Ohio. This study was completed by GOPC in early March 2020 and released in April #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/34f8MSJ
This study provides an in-depth analysis of the market rate and affordable housing markets in Champaign County and its four largest communities: the City of Urbana and the Villages of Mechanicsburg, North Lewisburg, and St. Paris #GOPCThread
GOPC was also part of a study— overseen by the Dept. of Community Development & the Equitable Community Development Working Group, a multi-sector advisory group— to better understand the historic usage of the tax abatement program in the @CityofCleveland https://bit.ly/2K2cR5K
The study which included work from @ReinvestFund, @NeighborUpCLE and #PFM found that while the #CLE housing market remains fragile and abatements have been concentrated in fewer places, they have resulted in substantial economic activity #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/2WeKEey
This year, @APA_Planning Small Town and Rural (STaR) Planning Division has recognized Ohio’s Reinvention Cities Network (RCN) for excellence in planning. The Network received the Merit Award for a Planning Initiative. #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/3nmrn6X
An Awards Committee judged nominated projects based on their innovation, quality, implementation, transferability, collaboration, and long-term sustainability. The Network excelled in all categories. #GOPCThread
The RCN is working to share best practices throughout Ohio and across the country for states who wish to create a similar network. GOPC is proud to be the steward of this important coalition of communities across Ohio. #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/386BWEL
Of course, as a way to communicate all our work and share finding of our research, this year we inaugurated the #GOPCThread. If you have not been following since the beginning, no worries, we have all the threads archived on our website https://bit.ly/3mlAkMo
Looking ahead, be sure to join GOPC staff for an overview of our 2021 Policy Platform & learn more about our top legislative goals for the 134th Ohio General Assembly. You must pre-register to attend our January 13, 2021 webinar. Click below now. https://bit.ly/3r5zvLl
If you too believe in creating vibrant, sustainable cities and regions in Ohio, consider supporting GOPC with a year-end contribution. #GOPCThread https://bit.ly/3mokLUh
We thank you for your generous support and wish you all the best for 2021! #GOPCThread
