Last week’s publication of the Funding Review Advisory Committee’s report and recommendations is a critical step toward sustainably funding the health and human services sector in the Columbus Region. We thank each of the members, especially Chair Doyle-Ahern and Vice Chair Bartley, for their service.

We applaud the FRAC for recognizing the essential role of the health and human services sector in ensuring a prosperous and equitable future for our region. The FRAC also recognized that significant additional resources will be required to meet current and future needs in our communities. That’s why the FRAC recommended an aggregate of $220 million in new annual revenue-generating ideas for our sector.

This represents a proportional investment that would strengthen the regional economy, and our social safety net, by helping individuals and families stabilize through employment, housing, health care, education, and more.

Implementing the committee’s recommendations will require mobilization and collaborative work with local officials, business executives, and philanthropic leaders, to achieve their intended and much-needed benefits with all deliberate speed.

Other funding strategies must be identified, in the immediate term, to support existing and urgent needs as well.

As the report suggests, this isn’t just a local government challenge. This is an all of us challenge. Let’s rise to it with the same urgency our nonprofit community brings to work every day.

To learn more about the FRAC, its recommendations, and next steps, please review media coverage from Columbus Business First and The Columbus Dispatch, as well as the below: