New Ohio jobs initiative targets finding employment for young people

Staff report

COLUMBUS

Last October, Gov. John Kasich sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services seeking a waiver to allow Ohio to move forward with a new way of helping the state’s unemployed residents.

Specifically, the Kasich administration wants more flexibility in programming aimed at helping residents find and keep jobs.

“Ohio is poised to move forward quickly with a program recently signed into law and cannot afford to wait for Congress to act and lose this important opportunity,” the governor wrote.

Months later, the state is still waiting for an answer from federal officials.

In the meantime, Director Cynthia Dungey and the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, the state agency she oversees, are moving ahead with plans to offer a more comprehensive approach for the state’s unemployed.

They’re targeting a midyear start, with an initial focus on residents ages 16-24, thanks to language included in last year’s biennial budget creating the Comprehensive Case Management and Employment Program.

The ODJFS wants to better coordinate job training, substance-abuse counseling, high-school equivalency courses and other subsidized programs.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.