Each year, Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati donates tickets to Children’s Law Center for a special dress rehearsal performance of their holiday show. CLC sells seating and sponsorships to this fun-filled event and many purchasers choose to donate their tickets back as free tickets for CLC clients. This year’s performance is The Frog Princess!

A Factsheet by the Children’s Law Center, the Juvenile Justice Coalition, and the ACLU of Ohio shows that since 2016, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office has sent nearly twice as many children and cases to adult court compared to the previous five years. In 2016, 49 kids and 76 cases were sent to adult court; in 2017, 91 kids and 130 cases were sent to adult court. In 2018, rates increased again, to 100 kids and 156 cases. In the first half of 2019, 45 kids were sent to adult court, closely tracking 2018 rates. The numbers in 2017 and 2018 exceed those from 2009 and 2010, when alarmingly high rates in child “bindovers” prompted widespread reforms to Ohio’s juvenile justice system. The reforms led to historic statewide reductions in child bindovers: from 317 in 2009 to 152 in 2015. But the rates from the past three years show that Cuyahoga County has returned to and surpassed pre-reform numbers.

The Messer Construction Co. Foundation awarded a grant to CLC that will allow us to upgrade the first floor of our 150-year-old building. The upgrades include installing a lift to help those using wheelchairs or other mobility-assisting vehicles successfully enter our building, and creating a small, sound-proofed meeting room on the first floor. Thank you to The Messer Construction Co. Foundation for this tremendous opportunity!