DeWine delivers message of hope for all at Lincoln dinner
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine talked at length about developing state programs that enhance the education and character of the state’s youth during the Holmes County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner.
To say the members of the Holmes County Republican Party committee were excited about having Gov. Mike DeWine come and speak at the annual Holmes County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner would be an understatement.
“We didn’t have an annual Lincoln Day Dinner until starting about 30 years ago,” presenter and Republican Party committee chair Rob Hovis said. “And from that point forward, we’ve had an annual Lincoln Day Dinner. I know who the speakers have been for those 30 years, and it’s never been the governor until tonight. We have a record attendance of 165 people here, and it’s because our governor decided to come to Holmes County and talk to us.”
DeWine, the 70th governor of Ohio, has focused on the future and children throughout his tenure in office, whether that was as a prosecutor, state senator, U.S. congressman, lieutenant governor, U.S. senator or attorney general.
During his Lincoln Day Dinner speech, he continued to look toward the future with the young people at its foundation as he shared his vision of where Ohio is headed and what he hopes to accomplish in the coming years.
“I’m very optimistic about the future of Ohio,” DeWine said. “My wife Fran says anybody with eight kids by definition is an optimist. So Fran and I are optimists, a little crazy probably, but we’re optimistic, and I’m optimistic about the future of this state. I cannot think of a better place to raise a family. I cannot think of a better place to live. I can’t think of a better place to start a business. This is just an amazing place to live.”
DeWine said his biggest hope is every Ohioan will have a chance to pursue their dreams and live the lives they choose to live, not the lives they are forced to live.
“The future of our state is really going to depend on this: how well we do to make sure every single Ohioan — no matter where they’re born, no matter what circumstance they grew up in — to make sure that every single person has the opportunity to live their version of the American dream, whatever that is to them,” DeWine said, “and to make sure that every single Ohioan has the opportunity to live up to their God-given potential. Today the future of Ohio depends on everyone being in the game, everyone being off the bench and everyone living up to their potential. We’ve accomplished a lot of things we’ve done by working together.”
DeWine then moved into the importance and value of early childhood education for all kids. His wife Fran has implemented the Dolly Parton Imagination Library program that is hoping to put children’s books into the hands of every child for free.
He said they also are doing something of great value that has never been done in Ohio to his recollection, and that is getting out into the state’s schools and talking with teachers about what they want to see in schools that will enhance every child’s educational opportunity.
DeWine said whether the topic is children’s health, foster care, education or how the state deals with people who are aging, there are people who add great value to each conversation who can offer vision and advice. Thus he said they have tried to reach out and get the ideas from the people of Ohio.
“Part of our culture is to be good listeners,” DeWine said. “So we’ve listened to what teachers have said. We heard from teachers all across the state of Ohio. Here’s what they say: ‘I can teach; kids can learn.’ That’s not the problem. The problem is what goes on outside of school or what does not go on outside the school. Mary comes to school hungry because she’s had no breakfast. Johnny comes to school, and he’s been traumatized because he’s living with an alcoholic or he’s living with a drug addict at home. What do we do about that?”
In response to that question, DeWine said the state has worked with the legislature to set aside $35 million dedicated to the schools as wellness money. He said the funds were put in place to allow schools to compensate and provide aid for struggling children.
“We understand that you could help that child, that child who’s having medical problems, that child who’s maybe having mental-health problems, that child who’s been traumatized at home, a child who’s living in a difficult circumstance,” DeWine said. “We now have schools that are setting up good mentoring programs where schools are literally putting clinics in because its kids are not getting the care that they need to get. We have schools that are hiring people who have an expertise in mental health and are starting to make a difference.”
Adding to the struggles of youth today, DeWine touched on the topic the state is facing in combating the drug issues that are inundating not just Ohio, but also the nation as a whole.
“We have a drug problem,” DeWine said. “Law enforcement needs our support, and we’re giving some help to our drug task forces around the state. We’re doing some different things. We’re doing more with people to give them access to treatment. But the most important thing we can do is prevention so that we have fewer people who go down the pathway of addiction, and we know what works.”
DeWine said it’s not so much teaching kids about drugs as it is implementing social-emotional learning to give each child self-worth and the ability to help make decisions. He said the schools serve as a secondary option to providing that self-worth, where it hopefully begins at home.
“If it’s not taught at all in the home, then that makes a huge difference,” DeWine said of developing programs where it can happen at school. “For the first time we provide money for every school, for every kid k-12, every single year, to do something in regard to prevention. We will make a huge, huge difference, and there will be fewer kids later on to go down the pathway of addiction.”
DeWine said he told legislature a year ago he knew he was going to be asking something where Ohio would not experience immediate results, noting that is always tough.
“We all want immediate results,” DeWine said, “but we’re going to have to plant the seeds and have the vision of the future and where things would go. That’s what our obligation is. I think Ohio has an amazing future. Every single day we have the opportunity to make a difference. Each day we try to work and to make a difference for the state so that our children, our grandchildren, our great-grandchildren, can have this wonderful state that we can turn over to them. That’s really what our moral obligation is.”