On January 10, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) submitted a request to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to update its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) work requirement waiver. The number of counties in Ohio that would be exempt from the work requirements would drop from 42 to 13 and...
Category: Strengthening the HHS Safety Net
January 6, 2020
The status of Ohio’s women: Access to safety-net family planning service
In October, The Center for Community Solutions released fact sheets on the Status of Women for every Ohio county. The fact sheets include health, economic, civic and education indicators. They allow people in counties to see how women – their neighbors – fare across a number of indicators. Through our presentations and media interviews, we...
December 2, 2019
Fact Sheet on Federal Proposal to Cut SNAP Benefit Levels in Ohio by Reducing the Standard Utility Allowance
By: Rachel Cahill Consultant for Cuyahoga County’s Benefits Access Partnership Background On October 3, the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) published a proposed rule that would impose a standardized methodology for calculating the Standard Utility Allowance (SUA) for SNAP.[1] The SUA plays an important role determining a household’s total shelter expenses, which in turn, significantly...
November 18, 2019
Poverty Speaks: Racial Disparities
November 6, 2019
Election Update: Ohio voters overwhelmingly approve health and social service levies. All but 2 Pass!
Ohio voters in communities across the state overwhelmingly approved renewals, replacements and increases of property tax levies that support health and social services. Few health and social service levy contests were even close, and in many cases 75 percent of voters cast their ballots in favor of the levies. Community Solutions compiled results by examining...
November 4, 2019
Nearly half of all Ohio counties have a health or social service levy on the ballot
Local property tax levies are an important source of funding for a variety of health and social service programs in Ohio. They fund everything from A (abuse and neglect investigations) to Z (Zika virus surveillance). Community Solutions identified 42 of Ohio’s 88 counties that have at least one levy for health or social services in...
October 7, 2019
Racial Disparities in Infant Mortality Focus of ‘Toxic: A Black Woman’s Story’
Last week, First Year Cleveland through their Pregnancy And Infant Loss Initiative (PAIL), debuted a short film that tells the story of infant loss from a black women’s perspective. As the film website explains, the film invites the viewer to “Follow Nina in this day-in-the-life drama, and see the world through the eyes of a...
October 7, 2019
Ohio’s single-mom households more likely to live in poverty than single dads, what does this mean for kids?
Being a single parent is hard. Without another adult in the family, responsibilities for caregiving, earning and household management fall on a single set of shoulders. There are more than 377,000 families with children in Ohio that are classified as “female householder, no husband present,” the Census Bureau’s designation for a single mother (or grandmother...
September 16, 2019
Ohio’s new budget includes funding for harm reduction, including syringe services programs
For the first time, Ohio’s state operating budget includes a dedicated line item that will fund harm reduction, including syringe services programs (SSPs) across the state. This funding was proposed and then ushered through budget deliberations by Senators Dave Burke (R-Marysville) and Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood). While many harm reduction initiatives, such as naloxone access and...
September 16, 2019
Many of Ohio’s older adults are actively engaged in the workforce
Earlier this summer, the Associated Press released a poll that showed 1 in 4 Americans do not plan to retire. This got me thinking about what older adults in Ohio are thinking about their own employment. Fortunately, we have some data about this very issue handy to look at. In the past four years, The Center...