United Way reveals its public policy agenda for the 2025 legislative session

Indianapolis, Indiana – With the 2025 legislative session on the horizon in Indiana, the United Way of Central Indiana revealed its public policy agenda on Monday, calling on lawmakers to prioritize certain key issues.

The United Way of Central Indiana has issued a statement urging lawmakers to enhance access to high-quality child care, alleviate medical debt, and tackle the issue of stable housing.
Authorities stated that these three items are “crucial necessities to guarantee individuals are prepared to achieve their maximum potential and participate in the workforce.”

“For Indiana to cultivate a robust workforce and economy, it is essential to have flourishing individuals,” stated Sam Snideman, vice president of government relations for United Way of Central Indiana, in the announcement. “Residents of Indiana are unable to achieve their full potential or provide for their families if they struggle to fulfill basic necessities such as child care, housing, and medical debt.” By tackling these issues, Indiana is enhancing its workforce and ensuring the state’s economic edge.

According to the announcement, in Indiana, 60% of children in need of child care have access to the service. United Way is working to address this by:

• Increasing families’ access to state and federal support for high-quality early childhood education
• Supporting models that bring together employers, governments and individuals to share in the cost of care
• Addressing the low pay for Indiana’s child care workers.

As for housing, United Way said that Indianapolis has one of the highest eviction rates in the United States. The organization wants to help increase access to stable housing through:

• Increasing the supply of affordable housing through additional development and reduced infrastructure costs
• Securing funding for home repairs and preventative maintenance
• Enhancing support for legal aid for renters so settlements can be reached between landlords and tenants.

As far as medical debt, the United Way states that Indiana leads the Midwest in its proportion of residents with medical debt. The organization states that it wants to collaborate with health and business groups to:

• Strengthen charity care policies by evaluating income requirement thresholds
• Ensure medical debt can’t damage patients’ credit scores and ensure wages can’t be garnished to pay for debt
• Increase price transparency and control the cost of healthcare.

The organization developed its agenda in collaboration with 90 community organizations across its service area, which includes Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Marion, Morgan, and Putnam counties, as stated in the release.