Earlier this month, Gov. John Kasich introduced his Jobs Budget 2.0 –– a move that has divided the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.
The proposed budget has been praised for supporting employment programs but has also come under fire for taking unfair action against welfare.
Incentives that encourage welfare recipients to work –– such as a new summer youth employment program –– are a key part of this new stability, said Joel Potts, executive director of the Ohio Jobs and Family Services Directors’ Association, in the department’s release.
Though these incentives will benefit impoverished Ohioans, the finances needed to run these programs will be deducted from food stamps and cash assistance that normally goes to the poor, said Jack Frech, director of Athens County Department of Jobs and Family Services.
“They could have easily not given a tax cut to people who make more than $250,000 a year,” Frech said. “The poor people they are intending to help shouldn’t have to put up a dime to pay for those things. They are draining the money out of these poor families.”
Ohio Works First, which provides cash assistance to families with a monthly gross income of $773 or less, will see particularly significant cuts, Frech said.
“The OWF line item will drop from $490 million in 2013 to $300 million in 2015,” Frech said, adding that this is just the latest in a long line of cuts made by the state.
In 2012, an average of about 2,000 Athens County residents received cash assistance and 11,375 received food stamps on a monthly basis, said Nick Claussen, community relations coordinator for Athens County Department of Jobs and Family Services.
Though the Athens County department has maintained steady assistance numbers in recent years, Claussen said that other counties have been scaling back their benefits programs.
“Some counties are throwing people out of the programs,” Claussen said. “We’re trying not to do that here.”
Even the families that do receive benefits need more help than the state currently provides, Frech said.
“The average family is getting $450 a month and another $500 in food stamps,” Frech said. “The amount of credit they are getting is about half the poverty level, so they still can’t afford their basic needs. It’s a stingy program to begin with, and now they’re cutting it back.”
sh335311@ohiou.edu
