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Panel at Columbus Metropolitan Club urges action on disparities, highlights 'rest' and scaled solutions for Black men
Summary
Speakers at a Columbus Metropolitan Club forum urged policymakers and institutions to pair community healing with scaled policy action to close racial gaps, warning tech-driven job shifts could worsen disparities and stressing therapy, mentorship and restorative community supports.
A panel at the Columbus Metropolitan Club on Jan. 15, 2026, framed the challenges facing Black men in Central Ohio as the product of long-standing systems, not individual failings, and called for scaled policy action and community-based healing.
Matt Barnes, the forum host, opened the program at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum by saying the discussion would examine disparities in health, education, income and incarceration and spotlight resilience and leadership in the Black community. Moderator Corey Faber asked panelists what being a Black man in Central Ohio looks like today.
Jason Jenkins, identified by the forum as chief diversity officer and executive director of the City of Columbus Office of Diversity and Inclusion, described the moment bluntly: being a Black man is "hard," he said, noting the pressure to "show up better"…
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