Lucas County Children Service’s Levy Campaign Gets Big Jump Start

By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor

“This s a do or die levy for children services,” said Robin Reese, executive director of Lucas County Children Services, explaining the dire circumstances the agency, and by extension the children and families of Lucas County, will face if the November levy is rejected by voters.

Reese made that pitch at a fundraiser on Tuesday at Our Brothers Place organized by Tina Butts and attorney Richard Mitchell. Reese had the opportunity to further explain why passing this particular levy is so important during a Thursday gathering at Pam’s Corner – 100 Women for Children Services – organized by Deborah Barnett.

“If you don’t invest in your children, then the future is bleak,” she said on Thursday morning to those in attendance – an attendance that exceeded the 100 benchmark. “Abuse and neglect are problems that can be solved. We need this levy.”
 

Children Services’ ballot issue – Number 20 – is a request for the renewal of the current 1.4 mill levy in addition to a 0.4 mill increase. If the levy is not renewed LCCS stands to lose $10 annually from the funds it allocates for the care and placement of abused and neglected children.

The new portion of the levy – which will cost the owner of a $100,000 home a little over $1 per month – will help LCCS provide additional services to address the increased burden the agency is facing, in large part due to the opiate and heroin epidemic – 55 percent of cases opened by LCCS involve substance abuse.

During the first quarter of this year, LCCS experienced a 54 percent increase in children entering agency custody, an unprecedented occurrence.

Laura Wilson, chairman of the LCCS board of trustees also addressed both gatherings and noted that the agency, as do all agencies in the state of Ohio, starts at such a disadvantage from a funding standpoint.

“Ohio is 50^th in the nation in providing funding for local child protection,” said Wilson on Thursday morning. “If they doubled it, we would still be last.”

The LCCS levy campaign will have the support of a number of local Democratic office holders. Lucas County Commissioners Pete Gerken, Tina Skeldon Wozniak and Carol Contrada were present at one or more of the past week’s events. Also lending their support will be City Councilmembers Theresa M. Gabriel and Yvonne Harper; State Reps Teresa Fedor and Michael Ashford; Lucas County Auditor Anita Lopez, Toledo Board of Education members Cecelia Adams, PhD. And Polly Taylor Gerken, State Senator Edna Brown, Toledo Clerk of Court Vallie Bowman-English and Washington Local School Board member Lisa Canales.

If the LCCS levy does not pass this November, the agency will lose about one quarter of its operating budget . Layoffs and furloughs will follow along with a massive reduction of services available to families and children.

“If we don’t pass this levy, we are missing the boat in helping kids in our community,” said Skeldon Wozniak as she opened the remarks at the Thursday morning 100 Women event.

“There are lots of issues out there,” said Gerken during the Tuesday event. “You’ve got to vote for this one first.”

Copyright © 2015 by [The Sojourner's Truth]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 08/16/18 14:12:40 -0700.

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