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Ohio community centers for the deaf warn funding cuts will reduce services across rural counties
Summary
Leaders of Ohio's community centers for the deaf told the Senate Medicaid Committee that reductions in Department of Opportunities for Ohioans with Disabilities funding will devastate staffing and services that help deaf and hard-of-hearing families access early intervention, ASL education and healthcare navigation.
Leaders and families connected to Ohio's seven Community Centers for the Deaf (CCDs) told the Senate Medicaid Committee that a House budget reduction will cut core services and jeopardize outreach to rural counties.
"Without this level of stable funding, all of this that we currently have is at risk," Elizabeth Welp Dale, manager for services for the deaf in Cincinnati, told the committee. She described CCD programs that provide American Sign Language instruction, family supports, navigation of health and educational systems, and travel to remote counties.
Welp Dale said Ohio Rehabilitation Services (OOD) previously allocated $5,520,000 plus $772,400 in reimbursements across the seven centers, funding roughly one full-time employee per center. She said OOD leadership recently informed centers of a major funding reduction for fiscal year 2025 that will be ‘‘devastating’’ and could force staff reductions and elimination of traveling services that reach rural counties.
Parents described the centers’ practical effects. Jennifer Smith recounted driving an hour to appointments after her newborn Ava's hearing-loss diagnosis and said the CCD provided free or low-cost ASL immersion, playgroups and referrals to providers who use direct ASL with deaf children.
Welp Dale asked the Senate to add $800,000 per fiscal year to preserve the CCD network and sustain mentoring, outreach and early-intervention work. Testimony argued that cutting these services would increase long-term costs by worsening developmental outcomes and increasing emergency needs.
Senators asked about the funding mechanism and urged coordination with OOD; the committee did not adopt changes during the hearing.
