Ohio desires new way to help state’s unemployed

By Marc Kovac

news@vindy.com

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 to help 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 age 16 to 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.

Private companies also are involved, working directly with the state to pinpoint and teach the skills needed in prospective employees.

The goal is to help unemployed residents gain the skills and habits needed to return to and remain in the workforce.

“It’s a lot of personal responsibility,” Dungey said. “We are focused on personal engagement, but the outcome is different. The outcome isn’t to sign you up for a program. The outcome we’re looking for is for you to become successful and on your feet, being self-sufficient and able to take care of yourself and your family.”

The good news, said Ben Johnson, an agency spokesman, is that there are jobs out there for people who want to work.

“There are jobs available in all income brackets,” Johnson said. “Our data also shows that the majority of people who become unemployed are not unemployed for very long. But there’s a smaller minority that, once they become unemployed, they stay unemployed for a very long time.”

The challenge for the state is to help unemployed Ohioans get the skills required to fill the job openings that are available.

“We have to now begin to look at the employer demand and what they need and begin to supply that. … Our markets change,” Dungey said. “We have to be able to respond to those.”

CHILD CARE

State officials aren’t focused only on job training, however.

Another change approved as part of last year’s biennial budget was an increase in child-care benefits for needy Ohioans, upping eligibility to 130 percent of the federal poverty level but allowing recipients to continue to receive assistance up to 300 percent of the poverty level.

That means a family of four can earn up to $72,750 before the benefit is terminated, though there is a co-payment required as income levels increase.

The program is important, Dungey said, because Ohioans looking for work often need assistance with child care while they establish their careers.

According to Johnson, the change will mean about 1,900 more children receiving subsidized care in fiscal 2017, or about 120,000 youngsters in total.