The Athens County Department of Job and Family Services stands to lose about $1.3 million in food assistance program funding this November, continuing what county officials say is a trend of less compassion for the poor.
As a result, about 11,000 residents in the county enrolled in a federal food assistance program will receive less aid starting this November, said Nick Claussen, spokesman for the department.
Struggling to manage the money it does have, the department has been forced to shed almost half its workforce, an action that critics argue will contribute to the poor waiting longer for less assistance.
Although money losses are devastating, Jack Frech, the department’s director, said he’s all too familiar with shrinking supplies. The department already lost $1 million in food assistance programs this year.
“I’m not surprised at all,” Frech said. “I fully expect even more cuts.”
Even though it wasn’t directly affected by the across-the-board federal budget cuts this year — also known as sequestration — he said the department has consistently been short-changed by the government for at least 13 years.
Since 2008, the department lost more than $5.25 million in state and federal funding, according to a Post analysis of data provided by the department.
“There is a lot of bipartisan agreement over these cuts, even going back to the Clinton era,” Frech said. “…There’s less compassion for the poor.”
Department officials say that the cuts haven’t only affected the poor but have also left the agency in a precarious position.
The department had 144 employees in 2009 but now has only 85 workers, Claussen said.
With the number of department employees cut so drastically, Claussen said impoverished Athens County residents have to wait longer than ever to get cash and food assistance. A household of four is said to see monthly food assistance drop by as much as $36, according to a department news release.
But the state argues that perhaps Job and Family Services officials got too comfortable with money coming in from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services spokesman Ben Johnson said the money now being cut was coming from that federal stimulus package, of which money is running out.
To prove the state was attempting to fill that void, Johnson pointed to a line item in the new state budget expanding the annual funding for work support services by $42 million. He said that’s enough to leave Ohio’s poor in good hands.
Claussen disagrees and doesn’t see an end to food assistance cuts anytime soon.
“(The U.S. House of Representatives) is talking about additional cuts for food assistance next year,” he said. “…People think people are just living a great life and choosing not to work. It’s not true. People want to work and people want to provide for their family.”
Frech said he thinks the county’s impoverished residents are worse off than they were five years ago, and bipartisan support for funding cuts will only exacerbate the situation.
“It sends a message that there are a lot of people out there who don’t care about poor people,” he said. “When was the last time (a politician) supported a new or increased funding for poor people?”
sh335311@ohiou.edu
@SamuelHHoward
