America is failing to help poor children

At a time when the federal government is giving banks $700 billion in bailout funds, our country has 6.3 million children living in extreme poverty and we are doing little to help them.
The updated report, “TANF: Failing America’s Poorest Children,” details how cash assistance and food programs are underfunded and do not get families up to even half of the federal poverty level. Shockingly, over the last 11 years, only three states have increased their cash assistance funding to keep up with cost of living increases, and 23 states have not increased their cash assistance funding levels at all.
In Ohio, more than 160,000 children currently rely on the Ohio Works First cash assistance program. At the same time, Ohio has nearly 245,000 children who are living in extreme poverty, which means their family income is at or below 50 percent of the federal poverty level.
Welfare reform placed strict requirements on families receiving public assistance. But this newly-released report shows how people on public assistance fall further behind every year while our government actually reduces cash assistance funding in some states and turns its back on poor people all across America. Government leaders often argue that they do not have the money to increase TANF funding or other programs to help poor people. They say they have to make “tough choices,” but the choices almost always leave poor children out in the cold. Meanwhile, the government chooses to spend money in other areas:
· Financial institutions are allowed to hand out billions of dollars of the federal bailout money to pay for bonuses and special compensation for employees.
· The federal government chose to use more than $17 billion to bailout the auto industry. That $17 billion is more than the entire annual federal appropriation for the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program.
· States such as Ohio have chosen in recent years to roll back income taxes at a time when state budgets are losing money and welfare programs that poor families rely on are being cut.
· The federal government just chose to spend $79 million to see if there is water on the moon, while families all across the country don’t have water in their own homes.
The assistance programs that are supposed to help our neighbors are failing miserably simply because our government won’t adequately fund these programs. Too many families are going hungry. Too many children are living in extreme poverty. We need to greatly increase the funding for programs to help poor people. We need to choose to do the right thing.

Waiting for assistance

Julie is an Athens County resident who proudly worked for the same company for the last 15 years.

She loved her job and the people she worked with, but recently lost her job because she does not yet have her GED. Julie is working to earn her GED and get back on her feet, but has not been able to receive the help yet that she needs from the safety net programs that are supposed to be in place for Ohio residents.

She has to wait at least two weeks just to talk to someone about the Food Assistance program, and she is also waiting for unemployment assistance and other types of assistance.But while she is forced to wait for help, it's nearly impossible for her to pay her bills and buy groceries for her children. Click here to read more about Julie.

Area residents line up for produce giveaway

When local volunteers began giving boxes and bags full of produce away at the Athens County Fairgrounds on Thursday, Aug. 27, the line of cars was at least 60 long.
“I couldn’t see where it ended,” said the Rev. Jim Jennings, associate pastor at Central Avenue United Methodist Church in Athens and one of the volunteers who helped during the day. “For the first hour, it was non-stop cars.”
The Friends and Neighbors Community Food Center in Lottridge organized the program after receiving the surplus produce from the United State Department of Agriculture. The organization received 26,620 pounds of produce worth a total value of nearly $44,000.
The volunteers gave food to 412 families at the fairgrounds, and then took the extra food to a food center in Little Hocking where they served an additional 100 families. When the giveaway started in Little Hocking at 5 p.m., 70 families were already waiting in line.
“It’s really nice that they are doing this,” one woman said after having bags and boxes of produce loaded into her car at the Athens County Fairgrounds. All families who met certain income guidelines were eligible to receive the produce, no matter when they had last had visited a food pantry.
Tomatoes, cucumbers, apples, corn, green peppers, green beans, pears and potatoes were all included in the giveaway, and each person received a generous quantity of the items. The bags of corn that were handed out, for example, each had 12 ears in them.
“I don’t get to buy all of this at the store,” one woman explained as she drove through the line with another family also in the car. Produce items can be very expensive, so while she would like to buy them for her daughter, she usually cannot.
“I like that I’m able to get this for my daughter, it helps her grow,” she said.
“It helps a million,” added another woman in her car.
Chrissy, who lives near Shade, was in another two-family car, and was also very thankful for the food items.
“This will last us a month or two,” she said. She was planning to freeze and refrigerate some of the produce items while also making meals ahead of time and then freezing those meals, too.
She is unable to work because of a disability, so her income is limited and things are very tough for her family of four. She has also been informed that even though prices are going up, she won’t receive any increase in her disability pay for at least another two years.
“We’re making it by the skin of our teeth,” Chrissy said. She visits the Friends and Neighbors Community Food Center twice a month for food and supplies, and finds ways to get food, clothing and other items at low prices in the community. For school supplies for her children, for example, she traveled to Gallipolis where she could receive the items she needed for not much money.
Last month, though, she was only able to go to the Friends and Neighbors Community Food Center once because she could not afford the gas to drive out a second time.

Lisa Roberts, director of the Friends and Neighbors Community Food Center, said that her facility is seeing more and more people needing help.
“It is scary we see so many new people. It has just grown and grown,” Roberts said. The number of senior citizens who need food and other items has increased especially rapidly, she added.
“So many senior citizens cannot afford to buy food because they have to buy their medicine instead,” Roberts said. “They’re going hungry because they can’t afford their medicine.”
Jennings explained that the members of his church have been volunteering at the Lottridge center for the last two years. And during that time, Jennings and the other volunteers have seen the need for help at the center go up as the economy has worsened.
“It has increased this summer,” Jennings said. “There are always new people.”
Many people are suddenly out of work or facing financial problems for other reasons, and now find themselves needing help from organizations such as Friends and Neighbors.
“Even in our (church) office, the calls for help have increased,” Jennings said. The Central Avenue United Methodist Church used to receive an average of one call per week for help, and now the church receives two or three per week. Usually the calls are from people looking for financial help to pay their utility bills or rent.
His church members also volunteer at the Kilvert Community Center, and Jennings said he also sees a great need there for assistance for people living in poverty.

Public school fees waived for Ohio children in free lunch program

All children who receive free lunch as part of the National School Lunch Program will no longer have to pay general school fees at public schools in Ohio. The new state budget includes a provision that waives these fees for children who receive free lunch.
The legislation does not apply to extra-curricular fees.
It is common in Ohio for schools to charge up to $100 in general fees just for students to attend school and take classes. Not all schools charge the fees, but the ones that do often hold back grade cards from the students who do not pay the fees. Some schools even contract with collection agencies to have the fees collected.
It is very difficult for families living on limited incomes to pay the fees, and very frustrating to see schools charging for a public education that is supposed to be free and open to all.
The change in school fees this year is a very positive first step, and Athens County Job and Family Services would ultimately like to see all fees waived for all children at public schools in Ohio. Click here to read more about the public school fees and the change in legislation this year.

Overcoming obstacles

Many the people who rely on public assistance in Ohio face a wide range of obstacles that make life very difficult. Reta and Jerald, for example, are a Nelsonville couple raising grandchildren and one great-grandchild while dealing with health problems. Jill is a single mother living in The Plains who is unable to work anymore because of her own health problems. Margaret and her family, who live in the Albany area, do not have health insurance, cannot buy the insurance because of a pre-existing condition and no longer qualify for Medicaid.
Reta, Jerald, Jill and Margaret are all facing significant challenges, but they are doing whatever they can to overcome these barriers and provide for their families. Click here to read about Reta and Jerald, click here to read about Jill and click here to read about Margaret. Click here for several other stories and videos of Athens County residents discussing how they are overcoming their own obstacles and explaining how much it would improve their lives if the state would provide more financial assistance.

State leaders need to raise revenue, not cut funding from social service programs

Representatives from local social service organizations met in Athens on Monday, June 15 in order to discuss how the next state budget could have drastic impacts on services for people living in need and to explain why the state needs to raise revenue instead of just cutting funding.

Advocates for Budget Legislation and Equality (ABLE), organized the meeting and is sponsoring similar meetings and press conferences around the state to discuss the current budget situation. Click here to read ABLE's budget platform, and click here for more information on ABLE.
Ohio leaders are currently trying to fill a $3.2 billion shortfall in the next state budget, which will begin in July. Representatives of ABLE and other organizations are concerned that in order to solve the budget crisis, state leaders will further cut funding for social services programs.

“We need to raise more revenue,” said Jason Denzin, a statewide organizer for ABLE. Programs that help Ohio’s most vulnerable populations have already had their budgets cut, and the state needs to find ways to bring in more funding instead of cutting spending for these programs, he said.

Kathleen Gmeiner, representative of Universal Health Care Action Network (UHCAN) of Ohio, said that if the state cuts funding for Medicaid, it would also lose federal funding for the program. In fact, for every $0.40 that the state pays toward Medicaid, the federal government matches with $0.60, Gmeiner said. So if state leaders try to fill part of the budget gap by cutting this funding, they will be actually losing more than twice the amount of money they cut, and it will be extremely harmful to the people who rely on Medicaid services.

Cindy Birt, representing Athens County Family and Children First, explained that she is concerned about the state cutting funding for the Help Me Grow program, which is an early intervention program for that provides health care and development services for children. Studies have shown that investing in early intervention programs actually saves the state money in the long run, because if the children don’t receive these important services they will likely need assistance from more expensive state programs when they are older.

Lois Whealey and Mike Turner spoke out against cutting funding for senior citizens. Whealey said the state needs to do more to help seniors stay in their own homes. Turner added that if the state had not started rolling back taxes in 2005, Ohio would not have these budget problems.
“The tax cuts did not work,” Turner said.

Cliff Bonner, a teacher from the Federal Hocking Local School District, said his district has already had to eliminate several teaching, administrative and staff positions. He would like to the school funding system changed to be more fair and equitable, and he is concerned about public schools losing money in the budget battle.

Bill Sams, who represents the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 8, said that the state has already cut funding to social service programs and has eliminated countless jobs with these programs at a time when unemployment rates are already very high.

In addition, at a time when more people are living in poverty and the demand for social service programs is increasing, the state is reducing the number of people who are working for these programs, he said. It is wrong both practically and morally for the state to be reducing the number of people working to help people in need during these economic times, Sams said.

William Peacock spoke out for the needs of the disabled in Ohio, and said he is concerned about cuts in funding for programs for these individuals.

Lisa Roberts, director of the Friends and Neighbors Community Choice Food Pantry in Lottridge, said food pantries are seeing their demand increase more and more as the economy worsens.

“I see people lining up for two or three hours before the doors open,” Roberts said. “I see senior citizens standing out in the snow or the rain.” People need to have their basic needs met first before anything else, and more and more people are being forced to visit food banks, Roberts said.

“If you are hungry, you really can’t be anything else,” she said. Roberts believes the governor and state leaders are trying to help the poor, but they are faced with a very challenging budget situation. She hopes that the state will not cut funding programs for food banks or for people living in poverty, though, because so many people rely on these programs.
“We see new people every day,” Roberts said.

Jack Frech, director of Athens County Job and Family Services, pointed out that even before the recession began, Athens County and southeast Ohio were already hurting economically. The poverty rate in Athens County, for example, has been nearly 30 percent for several years, and nearly 50 percent of the population live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level, Frech said.

“Children are going hungry in Ohio. There’s no excuse for that,” Frech said. The national recession has caused the economic problems to spread into parts of the state that have never experienced these types of poverty problems before, he added.
“This is a statewide issue,” Frech said.

People are facing problems with unemployment, lack of health care, hunger and numerous other issues, and now is not the time to cut funding for programs to help these people, Frech said. Instead, now is the time for people to pull together and share resources. The state needs to find ways to increase its revenue, not just cut funding, Frech said.

The people with more financial stability in Ohio and across the country have to work together and share with the people who have very little, Frech said. The gap between the rich and poor is widening, and our leaders need to make changes to help the poor and decrease this gap.

Denzin of ABLE pointed out a few simple ways that state leaders could raise revenue without hurting the poor. Currently, Ohio has $7 billion worth of tax exemptions, and state leaders need to look at some of these exemptions to see if any can be reduced or eliminated, he said. In addition, the state should roll back the tax cuts that were put into place in 2005 and then phased in over the next five years, Denzin said.

These are just two steps, but they would go a long way toward helping to fill the state’s budget shortfall.

TJ's amazing story

TJ is a 26-year-old Athens County resident who has overcome a very rare and dangerous medical condition. His family receives Medicaid, and they are thankful for all of the ways that the program helps them. At the same time, they see several other ways that it could provide assistance to TJ. For example, TJ's family cannot afford to add a bathroom onto the house that would allow him to take a full bath or shower. The Medicaid payments also do not pay for many of the supplies he needs, such as a simple straps and a new air mattress. To read about TJ and his family, click here.
To read stories about other Athens County Job and Family Services clients and the struggles they are facing and overcoming, or to watch videos about a few of the clients, click here.
TJ is shown in the photo with his neice, Paris. Photo by Rachel Mummey.

Testimony presented to an Ohio Senate subcommittee about Ohio Works First funding, state budget priorities and a proposal to eliminate school fees

Presented by Jack Frech, director of the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services on May 20, 2009.
Click here for a link to an Ohio Works First fact sheet that was presented with the testimony.
Click here for comments from several Athens County residents about the Ohio Works First cash assistance program and the need to eliminate school fees.

Chairman Carey, Ranking Member Dale Miller and members of the committee, I am Jack Frech, Director of the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services. I am here today to request that the benefit level for the Ohio Works First (OWF) Program be increased by at least $100 a month.

According to the Governor’s budget proposal, the average OWF benefit is $358 per month. Under his plan, these families will only receive increased benefits of about $19 a month over the next two years. Even when combinedwith food stamps, the total benefits are only slightly above the federal poverty level.

Today in Ohio, more than 140,000 children depend on the OWF program. Their families are faced with daily struggles to meet the most very basic of human needs. They are often hungry, cold and living in substandard housing. It must be remembered that these are the families who are living by all of the rules of the “reformed welfare” system. They have work requirements, time limits, and strict eligibility requirements. We go to great lengths to verify that they are dirt poor and then we give them half of what we know they need to live on. I know of no other government policy that is as intentionally harmful to children.

Half of these children live with grandparents or other relatives. In a typical situation, a grandmother would receive only $259 a month for the full-time care of a child, which compares to:
• An average per child per month cost for childcare of about $450.
• Monthly foster care payments of about $600.
• Monthly payments for the Early Learning Initiative are over $1000.

Intervention programs to help these families such as job training, education, parenting classes, counseling and substance abusetreatments are all unlikely to succeed when so much energy must be focused simply on surviving. When parents are worried about how they are going to feed their children or where they are going to sleep at night, it makes it difficult to succeed in these other programs.

Currently, only about one third of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant is spent on direct cash assistancethrough the OWF program. While an additional $100 would not solve the problems these families face, it would make a hugedifference in their daily struggle.

I would also ask that the committee restore the funds the Governor’s budget cut from the Counties. These funds have been used to provide a wide range of essential services to low income families as well as offer job and education support. Our agency is losing $1.3 million and 34 staff positions with the following consequences:
• Cuts in eligibility workers and job counselors will increase caseloads by at least 25%.
• Work support programs to repair automobiles, provide gas vouchers for new hires, and pay for training, tools anduniforms have been eliminated.
• Nurses to conduct home visits to help families whose caretakers are disabled have been eliminated.
• A very successful dental access and other supportive health programs have been eliminated.
• A program to provide computers for low-income children is gone.
• Contracts for Child Welfare Services, domestic violence intervention, home delivered meals, summer education campfor poor kids and Big Brothers/Big Sisters have been terminated.

All of these cuts have been made at a time when our caseloads for cash assistance, food stamps and other programs are increasing. More and more people need our help, but Ohio has reduced the funding for the programs that have proven to be successful in helping these families.

Our families also struggle with a lack of behavioral health services, especially for adults. Mental health and substance abuse issues are far too prevalent in our clients’ lives. We must commit ourselves to ensuring that the appropriate services are there when needed.

I would also ask that the committee consider the elimination of school fees. Currently, practice has created a regressive and counter productive form of taxation that disproportionately harms the same low-income families that many of the administration’s education reforms are intended to help.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of my testimony.

Ashley's story

Leslie's story