State Budget Training registration is closed; refunds cannot be processed after end of business Friday, December 6 or due to inclement weather. We hope you have secured to ticket for this advocacy training, overview of health and human services funding for advocates, panels focused on statehouse media, executive branch and legislative branch.
Tuesday, December 10th | 10:00AM - 4:00PM
Renaissance Columbus Downtown | 50 N 3rd St, Columbus, OH 43215
Agenda + Speakers
9:00am to 10:00am Registration and Grab ‘n Go Breakfast
10:00am to 10:15am Welcome and Setting Expectations for the Day
Douglas Lumpkin | Owner and CEO at InterConnections Consulting Group and Board Member of The Center for Community Solutions
10:15am to 11:00am Panel of Legislators
A bipartisan panel of members of the Ohio General Assembly will offer their perspectives on the next legislative session and their experiences with the state budget process, with a particular focus on how advocates can most effectively engage in the process.
Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Westlake)
Sen. Democratic Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood)
Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord)
Sen. Louis Blessing (R-Colerain Township)
Moderated by Emily Campbell | President and CEO of Community Solutions
11:00am to 11:45am Inside the Office of Budget and Management
Director Murnieks will detail the Ohio Budget process, providing the ins and outs of the executive branch process the results in the Governor’s As Introduced budget, and the role of the executive branch in getting the budget across the finish line.
Kimberly Murnieks | Director, Ohio Office of Budget and Management
12:15pm to 1:15pm Lunch and Celebrating 10 Years of Medicaid Expansion in Ohio
While attendees enjoy lunch, John Corlett will emcee a fireside chat to recognize the 10th anniversary of Medicaid expansion in the state of Ohio. The conversation will look back at the cross-sector work that happened to get Medicaid expansion across the finish line and the impact the program has made on Ohioans.
Greg Moody | Director, Professional Development and State of Ohio Leadership Institute, John Glenn College of Public Affairs, The Ohio State University
Marcia Egbert | Program Director, Thriving Families and Social Justice, The George Gund Foundation
Moderator: John Corlett | Visiting Fellow, The Center for Community Solutions
1:15pm to 2:00pm Health and Human Services Agencies Preparing for the State Budget
Representatives from four of the state’s health and human services agencies will discuss their and how the next budget will build upon the work done to date by the DeWine administration. They will also discuss the important role that stakeholders play in the policymaking process and the most effective ways to engage.
Bridget Harrison | Deputy Director, Ohio Department of Medicaid
Joel Potts | Chief Government and External Affairs Officer, Ohio Department of Children and Youth
Melissa Bacon | Deputy Director of Behavioral Health Policy, Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services
Alex Lapso | Legislative Liaison, Ohio Department of Aging
2:15pm to 3:00pm “Secrets of the State Budget” Budget and Advocacy 101
A panel of experts from around Capitol Square will share their experiences across the executive and legislative branches and working with coalitions to move policy. They will share their secrets to navigating the budget process, effective advocacy approaches and stories from the middle of the action.
Matt Carle | Partner, CHW Advisors
Sarah Hudacek | Coalition Manager, Advocates for Ohio’s Future
Gina Wilt | Advocacy Director, Coalition on Homelessness and Housing
Moderator: The Center for Community Solutions Policy team
3:00pm to 3:45pm Media Roundtable
A panel of statehouse news media representatives will talk about the vital role they play in connecting all of us with the Statehouse and the importance of connecting with state level policy. The group will also share ways in which advocates can connect with news media to help tell their stories.
Karen Kasler | Statehouse Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio
Susan Tebben | Author, Ohio Capital Journal
Noah Blundo | Executive Editor, Hannah News
Moderator: Patti Carlyle | Director, Strategic Communications, Community Solutions
3:45pm to 4:00pm Closing Remarks | Tara Britton
Speaker Bios
Legislative Panel
Bride Rose Sweeney
Bride Rose Sweeney is a three-term Democratic member of the Ohio House of Representatives representing portions of Western Cuyahoga County. She currently serves as the Ranking Member of the Ohio House Finance Committee.
Nickie Antonio
State Senator Nickie J. Antonio (D-Lakewood) is honored to represent District 23 and serve as Minority Leader in the Ohio Senate. Antonio, who was first elected to the Senate in 2018 and again in 2022, previously spent eight years in the Ohio House of Representatives representing District 13.
Jamie Callender
State Representative Jamie Callender is currently serving his third term in the Ohio House of Representatives. He represents the 57th House District, which includes the majority of Lake County.
Louis Blessing
State Senator Louis W. Blessing, III is serving his first term in the Ohio Senate. He currently represents Ohio's 8th Senate District, which encompasses a portion of Hamilton County. He began his career in the legislature serving as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives, representing the 29th Ohio House District.
Inside the Office of Budget and Management
Director Murnieks
Governor DeWine appointed Kimberly Murnieks the director of the Ohio Office of Budget and Management on January 14, 2019. Serving as the chief financial officer for the State of Ohio, Director Murnieks oversees the office that develops, coordinates, and monitors the budgets of all state agencies, provides the Governor and administration with policy analysis, and reviews all financial transactions made with state funds. Under the leadership of Governor DeWine and Director Murnieks, Ohio navigated a turbulent global fiscal landscape and implemented results-focused strategies while maintaining a conservative and structurally balanced state budget, delivering economic growth and AAA/Aaa credit ratings from all three major ratings agencies for the first time in state history.
Celebrating 10 Years of Medicaid Expansion in Ohio
Greg Moody
Greg Moody is Director of Professional Development at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs. He coordinates continuing education programs that are designed to serve public and nonprofit professionals across a lifetime of leadership in public service, including nonpartisan leadership training and education for current and future elected officials in state and local government. Greg joined the faculty after 24 years of public service in state and federal government.
Marcia Egbert
Marcia Egbert is the Gund Foundation’s program director for Thriving Families and Social Justice. Prior to joining the Foundation in 1998, she was vice president of the National Urban Policy Institute, a public interest policy analysis and lobbying organization in Columbus, Ohio. She also served as government relations director for the Cuyahoga County Commissioners and worked for the Speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives. She currently serves in leadership roles with a number of philanthropic organizations.
Health and Human Services Agencies Preparing for the State Budget
Bridget Harrison
Bridget Harrison serves as a Deputy Director at the Ohio Department of Medicaid supporting the Strategic Initiatives Office, including the Maternal, Child and Family Wellness Team and OhioRISE. Bridget joined ODM after serving as Regional Policy Director at a national managed care organization. In this role, Bridget advanced population health and business goals by as a strategic advisor to managed care organizations, state Medicaid agencies, providers and community-based organizations.
Joel Potts
Joel Potts serves as Chief Government and External Affairs for the newest state agency, the Department of Children and Youth. Joel brings more than 35 years of experience with state government and most recently served as the Executive Director of the Ohio Job and Family Service Directors’ Association (OJFSDA). During his tenure with the state, Mr. Potts was primarily responsible for managing the development and implementation of Ohio’s welfare reform program.
Tia Marcel Moretti
Tia Marcel Moretti is Chief Advisor at OhioMHAS with 22 years’ experience working in the community-based mental health and addiction space. Prior to joining the OhioMHAS team, Moretti was the Founder and CEO of The Ohio Institute of SUD Excellence, a nonprofit trade organization, collaborating to implement a standard of care in addiction treatment. She has worked for the Office of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine as Deputy Director of RecoveryOhio coordinating the $20 million investment in K-12 prevention education, managing mental health grants in all state departments, and tracking more than $200 million allocated for mental health and addiction services.
Alex Lapso
Alex Lapso joined the Ohio Department of Aging (ODA) in April 2018. As Legislative Liaison, Lapso represents the interests of ODA and the state’s 2.8 million older adults before the Ohio General Assembly. He serves as a wealth of knowledge about state government and the legislative process to ODA leadership. Lapso’s duties also include managing the department’s constituent and legislative inquiries, monitoring state and federal legislation, coordinating stakeholder relations, and facilitating ODA’s work alongside the Ohio Advisory Council for Aging.
“Secrets of the State Budget” - Budget and Advocacy 101
Matt Carle
After more than twenty years of experience in government affairs and political management, Matt has established himself as one of the top political operatives in Ohio through his management of a host of winning political campaigns, including George Voinovich’s reelection to the US Senate in 2004, and John Kasich’s reelection as Ohio Governor in 2014. Matt previously served as Director of Legislative Affairs and Senior Policy Advisor to Governor John Kasich. In this role, he worked hand-in-hand with the legislature helping pass many of Governor Kasich’s hallmark pieces of legislation
Sarah Hudacek
Sarah Hudacek is the Coalition Manager of Advocates for Ohio's Future (AOF), a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition of state and local health and human services policy, advocacy, and provider organizations. AOF’s membership covers a broad range of policy areas, including hunger, healthcare, child care, education, safety net benefits, child welfare, workforce, aging, Ohioans with disabilities, and more. Sarah also supports the newly-formed Economic Mobility Alliance Ohio (EMAO), an alliance of state and local advocacy, research, workforce development, and health and human service organizations and funders committed to ending the system of disincentives to work known as benefits cliffs that trap Ohioans in poverty.
Gina Wilt
Gina Wilt currently works to end homelessness and to promote affordable housing for our lowest income Ohioans as the Advocacy Director for the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. She has worked in state government affairs for over 20 years thanks to the opportunity of Legislative Service Commission Fellowship Program. Prior to this position she served as Vice President for CRN Consulting, Ltd., a bi-partisan government advocacy firm. She was trained and mentored in the Ohio Senate where she worked as the Senior Legislative Aide to then State Senator Scott Oelslager, the Chairman of the Senate Finance committee.
Media Roundtable
Karen Kasler
Karen Kasler is the Statehouse Bureau Chief for Ohio Public Radio. Since returning to Columbus in 2004, Karen has covered major elections and served as moderator for the Ohio Debate Commission's Republican US Senate debate in 2022, its Supreme Court debate in 2020 and its gubernatorial debate in 2018. In addition to other election-related debates, she's led forums on statewide issues including redistricting, tax policy, drug sentencing, marijuana legalization and the collective bargaining law known as Senate Bill 5.
Susan Tebben
Susan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow (KY) Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.
Noah Blundo
Noah Blundo is executive editor of Hannah News. He joined the staff as a reporter in 2008. Noah covers education, health- and health care-related legislation and public pension funds. He also is involved in compiling and updating the legislative hearing schedule, editing Capitol Review and writing the Week in Review section of The Hannah Report.
Andrew Tobias
Andrew Tobias is a state reporter for Signal, a startup, nonprofit news outlet with newsrooms in Cleveland, Akron and soon, Cincinnati. He has covered politics and government at varying levels in Ohio since 2008, and regularly appears on TV and radio to discuss state politics. He lives in Clintonville with his wife and two young children.
Contact Tara Britton with questions: tbritton@communitysolutions.com
