Mahoning JFS gets kudos from state
YOUNGSTOWN
A state official handed out kudos to Mahoning County Department of Job and Family Services staff for dramatically increasing the percentage of local adult cash-welfare recipients who are working the required 30 hours a week.
“You guys are setting the example for the entire state, but especially for our large metro counties,” Michael Colbert, Ohio JFS director, told Mahoning County JFS workers Friday. “We don’t want people spinning around on welfare for three years not doing anything,” he said, referring to the three-year, benefit-entitlement limit.
Colbert appeared at a ceremony at Oakhill Renaissance Place, where 97 county JFS employees received certificates of commendation from the Ohio JFS Directors’ Association.
The county’s percentage of cash-assistance recipients meeting the work requirement rose steadily each month, climbing from 23 percent of the 1,803 recipients in December 2011 to 58 percent of the 1,370 recipients in April 2012.
The number of cash-assistance recipients declined steadily over the five months as those who didn’t meet the work requirement were eliminated from the program, explained Robert E. Bush Jr., county JFS director.
Last fall, the federal government issued an ultimatum to Ohio that it must meet the 50 percent threshold statewide by Sept. 30, 2012, or lose nearly $130 million in federal public-assistance funding and be fined an additional $130 million, for a total loss of $260 million, said Joel Potts, executive director of the Ohio JFS Directors’ Association.
“If we don’t meet it, the loss of funds would be absolutely devastating. It would hurt every community. It would hurt every poor family,” Potts said.
The statewide work participation rate now stands at 48 percent, Potts added.
The more-populous urban counties such as Mahoning play a major role in meeting the mandated 50 percent statewide because they have the highest caseloads, Potts said.