Sinclair Community College hosted a regional conference known as Impact Ohio. Attendees had the opportunity to observe government officials, business leaders and other experts discuss relevant issues relevant to the Dayton community.
The conference was structured around panel discussions regarding specific topics. Each panel had one moderator and a varying number of representatives to share their perspectives of the topic at hand. Attendees had the chance to write questions of their own and submit them to the panelists.
The first panel, a discussion of the relationship between politics and the media, featured local news media representatives. They shared their input on topics such as the failing of Issue 2, combatting fake news, and repairing the relationship between the media and the public.
Each speaker shared a personal experience in which they were threatened or attacked, to illustrate the hostile relationship that currently exists between some people and the media. “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life [before the election],” said Laura Bischoff, statehouse reporter of Dayton Daily News.
Following a brief break, the discussion was turned over to a new set of panelists who spoke about the opioid crisis in Ohio. They talked about how opiates work, how addiction starts, and how to combat the epidemic.
Opioid addiction can begin with prescribed painkillers, which can then lead to heroin and other drugs, according to Robert Sprague, member of the Ohio House Finance Committee and Chair of the Committee on Heroin, Opioids, Prevention, Education and Safety (H.O.P.E.S.) Committee. “[The opioid crisis] is a very important issue that we need to continue to address,” said Sprague.
Afterward, there was a panel regarding the importance of Dayton to Ohio politics. The panelists talked about the perception of Dayton in other regions of the state, as well as turnout and trends in voting.
The event closed with a dialogue about the state of the Ohio Democratic and Republican parties. It featured Matt Carle, President of Cornerstone Consulting and David Pepper, Chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party.
