Your Voice Ohio

A nonprofit focused on attracting and retaining young creatives and professionals in Dayton has a new director. UpDayton has announced entrepreneur Lauren White will lead the organization as it celebrates its 10th anniversary.

The group was launched in response to the economic downturn and a desire to boost Dayton’s creative economy and quality of life. A decade after its founding, WYSO’s Sheila Raghavendran looks at how UpDayton's mission has evolved, and what might be next. 

For young people across Dayton, September is a time to head back to school and share stories of summer vacation. This fall, some Miami Valley students can brag about building robots … at a new manufacturing camp. The summer camp is part of an effort to spark interest in high-tech manufacturing –– Ohio’s industry faces a shortage of skilled workers. 

And, as WYSO Community Voices producer Jason Reynolds reports, organizers hope some of this summer’s crop of camp-goers will get excited about working in the field.

Lori Erion knows about addiction. Erion is the founder and executive director of Families of Addicts (FOA), an organization dedicated to helping families who are on the front lines of the current opioid crisis. 

She is also a certified Ohio Peer Recovery Supporter. PRS is a program of the Ohio Mental Health & Addiction Services. The program is a convention of “peer specialists, recovery coaches, and peer supporters.”

Montgomery County health officials say the number of drug overdoses is rising.

Montgomery is among seven counties across Ohio that are seeing a spike in recent drug-related emergency room visits and overdoses this summer.

The county reports that between July 26 and July 30, there has been an increase in the number of drug overdose encounters in Butler, Hamilton, Lake, Lorain, Lucas, Montgomery and Stark counties, with a total of 63 drug-related emergency room visits, 39 accidental overdoses and 24 other drug-related visits.  

The Dayton City Commission recently passed a law effectively banning panhandling along 51 major roadways. It’s not the first time the city has passed laws curbing the practice. Now, some legal advocates are already raising questions about the city’s new pedestrian safety ordinance.

At the May 23 city commission meeting, Mayor Nan Whaley was clear: the ordinance is not about panhandling.

“Nothing in this ordinance criminalizes holding a sign on the side of a roadway,” the mayor said.

A Dayton artist is working on a new way to memorialize victims of the nation’s devastating opioid epidemic.

The project would create a memorial wall made of hand-cut mosaic tiles, called the  “Wall of Perseverance.”

The memorial is the brainchild of mosaic artist Jes McMillan, founder of the Mosaic Institute of Greater Dayton.