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We need well-functioning, reliable, stable health and social service systems so nonprofit organizations can provide needed services and supports to help Ohioans thrive. Recent policy choices have made our work more difficult. You have the opportunity to invest dollars targeted to areas of greatest need and biggest impact and to establish policy that can help us be more effective, ultimately serving more Ohioans, better.
Nonprofit organizations are the front lines of health and human services in Ohio
Many of these programs and services are federally funded, state sponsored, and county administered with local grantees or contracted organizations providing the services to Ohioans.
About 75 cents of every dollar invested in health and social services in Cuyahoga County came from public sources, the largest share representing funding originating at the federal level, often allocated through the state budget process.
There is no single state agency responsible for human services planning, funding, and oversight. Instead the programs are spread across the Ohio Departments of Aging, Behavioral Health, Children and Youth, Developmental Disabilities, Education and Workforce, Health, Job and Family Services, and Medicaid.
Adding to the complexity, nonprofits generally do their work by cobbling together public funding from government entities and private funding from grants and donations. All come with restrictions and regulations.
Over time, federal and state government have taken more responsibility for the safety net
Government administers SNAP for basic hunger relief, Medicaid health coverage for low-income and disabled Ohioans, TANF for very limited cash assistance, and publicly funded child care for low-income working families. According to estimates from Cuyahoga County, public health and social service programs directly and indirectly touch the lives of more than 500,000 residents in our community, or about 1 in 3 residents.
With basic needs covered, local entities were able to focus attention upstream, identifying and implementing innovative, locally-tailored approaches to breaking cycles of poverty, addressing social issues, reducing chronic disease and health disparities, and giving every child the opportunity to thrive. This complex tapestry is unraveling.
Federal cuts and other changes included in H.R. 1 passed by Congress last year shifted the burden of paying for basic needs to states, especially in SNAP.
Medicaid changes may mean that more than 10 million Americans lose health coverage not because their economic situation has improved, but because eligibility is so difficult to prove and application systems so complex that people can’t successfully navigate it.
These expenses do not disappear simply because the federal government has refused to pay for them. They are picked up by diverting state and local resources away from our priorities and upstream efforts, by health systems which bear the burden of uncompensated care, and in increased costs to society in workers who can’t maintain employment because of untreated mental health issues, children who don’t have access to high-quality preschool because their parents can’t afford child care, or the cost of preventable chronic diseases made worse because of inadequate nutrition.
Ohio has not exercised all the options allowed by federal regulation to ease the burden on our residents and those that serve them directly. For example, as Governor, you could request a one-year delay in implementation of new work requirements in Medicaid giving Ohio agencies, county government, health systems, and ultimately residents more time to roll out these complicated changes. The state could cover the full cost of federal cuts to SNAP administration, but instead is passing the pain to counties.
Nonprofit organizations need a partner in the Governor’s mansion who will put everyday Ohioans in the center of policy decisions.
We need someone who does everything they can to make systems easier for residents and service providers to navigate. And who ensures that every penny of our valuable public resources are devoted to programs and services which help Ohioans thrive.
We are ready to collaborate.
Sincerely,
Emily Campbell
President and CEO, The Center for Community Solutions
