Ohio Benefit Bank opens site on Meridian Road

The local site is on Meridian Road and is open Monday through Friday.

STAFF REPORT

YOUNGSTOWN — The Ohio Benefit Bank, a Web-based counselor- assisted program that connects low- and moderate-income Ohioans with access to work-support benefits and tax credits, has announced the opening of a new local site.

The One Step to Life Inc. site is located at 238 S. Meridian Road. The benefit bank is a public-private partnership between the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks and the Governor’s Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives.

The Meridian Road site is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

“Growing unemployment, rising costs of food, and high fuel and utility costs are all factors forcing thousands of Ohioans into a position to find other means of support, such as the Ohio Benefit Bank,” said Glen Williams, executive director of One Step to Life Inc. “For many of our clients, there is no place left in their budgets to cut. Most have already cut back and are still unable to meet the demands of bills and keeping food on their dinner tables.”

Though many Ohioans are struggling, Williams said that each year more than $1.6 billion in tax credits and other work supports go unclaimed by eligible Ohioans who do not apply. More than 95 percent of these unclaimed funds are federal dollars.

At One Step to Life Inc., trained executives are available to help Ohioans find out if they might be eligible for potential work-support benefits, such as children’s health-care insurance, home-energy assistance, child-care subsidies, food assistance and tax credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Since its inception in 2006, OBB has grown to more than 950 sites with 4,000 counselors across Ohio trained to use the OBB to help low- and moderate-income Ohioans claim tax credits and work- support benefits for which they are eligible.

Since the program’s inception, OBB has helped more than 80,000 Ohioans potentially access more than $121 million in tax credits and work-support benefits, according to a bank-benefit press release.

For more information or to make an appointment, contact One Step to Life Inc. at (330) 259-3438, ext. 111, or go to the Web site at onesteptolife.com.