JFS challenged to meet increasing needs

A $400,000 program aims to help the poor with gas costs this winter.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
The picture of an average struggling family in the Mahoning Valley has been changing in recent years as government programs to serve them change.
"Are people working? Yes. Is the number of people in poverty up? Yes," said Thomas Mahoney, Trumbull County's Department of Job and Family Services director.
Welfare reform has changed the emphasis in the past eight years from giving handouts to giving people help in finding work. People who might have been on welfare in the past are working for low wages now.
"Though welfare reform has been a success, the number of people in poverty is the highest ever," Mahoney said.
One reason is the high cost of health care. People without company-sponsored health care who qualify can get health benefits from Medicaid.
"More and more employers in the county are not offering benefits," Mahoney said, explaining that "Medicaid becomes the hospitalization" of the working poor.
Financial impact
Trumbull County's JFS statistics seem to support his contention. Medicaid payments for the department rose $19 million in a year's time -- from $281 million in 2003 to $300 million in 2004.
Medicaid is such a large program that it accounts for about 92 percent of the JFS department's total budget of $347 million, statistics show. Food stamps rose $2 million in the same period -- from $17 million to $19 million. The county share of the budget is about $1.2 million.
Mahoney said this burden for serving the poor is taxing the state's resources. One result is that agencies are having to go to voters to ask for more money at the ballot. This year, there are Trumbull County ballot issues for children's services, senior citizens, the mentally retarded and developmentally disabled, and the county library system.
Deborah Shurilla, social program administrator for the Mahoning County Department of Job and Family Services, said this trend has been ongoing for six to eight years and has produced increases in a program called Health Start Healthy Families, which provides health care to families with children who qualify.
"We are going to see more people eligible, because there are people working because of welfare reform -- and they are eligible for Medicaid," she said. That program saw an increase from 4,995 families in 2003 to 5,092 in 2004.
Targeting urgent needs
Job and Family Services has local control over funds it can distribute to people to help with emergencies.
At a recent meeting of the Trumbull County Human Services Department Community Planning Committee, an advisory committee, members discussed gas and clothing programs it is running to help with serious needs.
Mahoney explained that $400,000 has been made available to help with gasoline and natural gas. He described these to be the "greatest need" for the area's poor. The program involves giving $100 per month to those who qualify.
Another program is providing $200 in vouchers to each household that qualified so families can shop at Super Kmart for clothing. Each household needed to have children between age 5 and 17 to qualify. The program had $100,000 available and was for the "poorest of the poor," Mahoney said.
Kim Barrell, new intake coordinator for the agency, reported the agency is seeing a steady increase in the number of people requesting assistance: In August, the agency served 1,087 clients per week but has seen an increase to 1,220 per week in the weeks since then.
Gladys Velez, administrator of the seniors division, reported that the agency helped eight families and 10 other individuals who asked for help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
The agency was able to give victims $1,500 in assistance for families and $500 for individuals with the state reimbursing all of these expenses.