Community forums help guide opioid coverage

The first question of the evening was: "What does the opioid epidemic look like in our community?"

About 70 people, sitting around small tables in groups of five or six each, wrote an answer on bright pink sheets of paper.

"My neighbor," wrote one. "Too much hate, not enough hope," said another.

"Syringes in bathrooms, in the park and along the walking path," wrote another. "Kids," said yet another. That one stopped me cold. It had the same sobering effect on a lot of us attending a community conversation in Washington Court House last week about the opioid crisis in that city about an hour southwest of Columbus. It's really no different there than in other communities, but in a small city in a rural area, the crisis is pronounced and alarming.

The conversation was sponsored by Your Voice Ohio, a collaborative effort by nearly 40 Ohio news media outlets, including The Dispatch, driven by the priorities and perspectives of Ohioans. Read more about it online at YourVoiceOhio. org.

The coalition also held a forum in Wilmington last week and has been holding them across the state, primarily in the Miami and Mahoning valleys. The goal is to make sure that journalists are hearing from — and then reporting about — people all over the state, and that the thoughts and experiences of workaday Ohioans are guiding our coverage of topics that are important to you.

It's a deliberate effort to make sure that you (or your family, friends and neighbors) literally have a seat at the table when it comes to helping guide our coverage. In the earliest days of Your Voice Ohio, we focused on issues that Ohioans wanted