Poverty law group question TracFone rates

A program in Ohio that gives free cell phone minutes to low income people is drawing the attention of the Ohio Poverty Law Center. The center says that people who use the program get gouged by the service provider TracFone.

From the Columbus Dispatch writer Tim Feran gives us more details about the public records request.

Under the program in question, TracFone Wireless Inc.'s SafeLink service, qualifying Ohioans can get a free cell phone with 68 free minutes to use each month. Once the free time is used, customers are charged 20 cents a minute.

Although that price is roughly the same as what TracFone charges the public under at least one service plan, two groups consider the additional cost excessive.

Lawyers for Ohio Poverty Law Center and Advocates for Basic Legal Equality Inc./Western Ohio filed a public-records request with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio last week to find out how many people exceed the 68 minutes and by how much.

The PUCO estimates that about 555,000 customers are using the Lifeline Assistance Program designed for low-income residents in Ohio. Slightly more than half use the wireless service option, with the rest using a landline-based service.

State consumer advocates have worried from the beginning of the Lifeline cell-phone program that customers almost inevitably would need time beyond the 68 free minutes, especially because the cell phone would be used as the primary phone line.

"In one or two other states, they're offering 200 minutes," said Michael Smalz, staff attorney for the poverty law center. "There's no explanation why they're offering such a terrible deal in Ohio."

Poverty in Marion County Ohio at 18 percent

A county just north Columbus, Ohio has 18 percent poverty according the US Census Bureau. The numbers continue to climb for Marion County, who has suffered even more job losses since the US Census recorded this data from 2008.

From the Columbus Dispatch writers Catherine Candisky and Alan Johnson take a look at the numbers and their devastating consequences on Ohio. The newspaper also has graphics that show the concentrations of poverty in Ohio and throught the US.

Marion County's 2008 poverty rate of 19.4 percent represents a jump of more than half in only two years for the county of 66,396 people about an hour north of Columbus.

New statewide figures from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey show that 13.4 percent of Ohioans were living in poverty in 2008, up slightly from the previous year and just above the national average of 13.2 percent.

Still, poverty holds a fierce grip on Ohio, particularly in the state's urban centers.

Of America's top 10 poorest cities, three are in Ohio -- Cleveland, Cincinnati and Toledo. No other state had more than one.

Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, said the poverty level is almost certainly worse than the numbers indicate because the statistics are for 2008, and things have gotten only worse this year.

"Ohioans are getting poorer every day," she said. "We know, from our food pantries, it has gotten worse day after day, week after week."

Ohio is in "a race to the bottom," Hamler-Fugitt said.
...

According to the census report, 19.4 percent of Marion County residents were living in poverty in 2008, up from 15.7 percent in 2007 and 11.9 percent in 2006. The poverty threshold is about $18,000 a year for a family of three and $22,000 for a family of four.

The survey measures counties with at least 65,000 population, meaning virtually all of Ohio's Appalachian counties are not included.

Poverty in Franklin County actually dropped to 15 percent from 16.3 percent in both 2007 and 2006.

Exhibit of a poor family home at the Ohio State Fair

This year the Ohio State Fair will have the home of a poor family as one of it's displays. The exhibit is sponsored by Habitat for Humanity and Thrivent Financial. After touring the home, visitors are encouraged to give donations to the two groups.

From this Associated Press article that we found at the Newark Advocate we read more details of the display. The home sounds a like your humble blogger's house in too many ways.

An exhibit at the Ohio State Fair depicts the home of a family in poverty, with light provided by a bare bulb hung from the ceiling and plaster off the walls.

Its sponsors said they hope people will be inspired into action by the display, housed inside a tractor-trailer near one of the fair entrances.

The grim scene also shows broken windows partially covered by tattered curtains, a 1970s space heater being used for warmth, and an electrical outlet packed with plugs.

Food Banks organize at the Ohio statehouse

Food Bank advocates are asking for more money from Ohio's state government to keep up with the demand for food.

Food Banks in the state saw a 25 percent increase in people asking for food during the end of 2008, that amounts to 1.8 million people.

The Ohio government has allocated 8.5 million dollars for food banks, but that is the same amount of money as prior years.

From the Columbus Dispatch, reporter Catherine Candisky was at the food bank event.

"The $8.5 million isn't going to do it," said Evelyn Behm, vice president of Mid-Ohio FoodBank, which serves central Ohio. "The demand will continue to grow as the economy continues to dive. We get calls every day asking how to access food pantries from people coming to us for the first time."

Gov. Ted Strickland's budget proposal would provide $8.5 million a year to the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, which distributes food and groceries to pantries across the state. The allocation is the same Second Harvest received from the state this year and last.

The money is used to purchase canned goods and grocery items and to buy surplus produce and meats from Ohio farmers at discounted prices.

Budget hearings set to begin this week in the House were postponed because of uncertainty over the federal stimulus package and lack of a bill detailing the governor's proposal.

"We are hopeful that any federal economic stimulus package will provide opportunities for additional funding for Ohio's emergency food programs," Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, Second Harvest's executive director, wrote in a letter delivered to Strickland yesterday.

She said of the 1.8 million Ohioans served between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, one in three households had at least one adult working. Nearly 705,000 of those served were children and more than 232,000 were senior citizens.

Ohio puts together an anti-poverty plan

Ohio is conducting a series of meetings to formulate an anti-poverty plan. A state government task force is conducting brainstorming sessions in each of the states 22 counties.

The results of the meetings will then be combined into a report to be presented to the states governor to begin to implement. The task force hopes to have detailed ideas on how to reduce the numbers in poverty to Governor Ted Strickland by April 30th.

The latest in the series of meetings took place in Hamilton County. The Cincinnati Enquirer sent reporter Mark Curnutte to cover the meeting.

More than 60 social service providers - public and faith-based - private citizens and representatives of charitable foundations met for two hours Wednesday morning at the Cincinnati-Hamilton County Community Action Agency in Bond Hill. They formulated the county's response to Strickland's request from 22 communities across Ohio for his anti-poverty task force.

Participants exchanged information about job-training programs, earned-income tax credits for the poor and services to the elderly.

"A lot of dots connected, but the themes of jobs and education kept coming up," said John Young, president and CEO of the Freestore Foodbank.

More than 3.4 million Ohioans live at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The federal poverty level for a family of six is $28,400. Ohio's task force will aim to provide practical and short- and long-term solutions to the state's poverty in the form of a five- to 10-year vision.

Poverty has deepened and spread across the state since the governor organized the task force in May by executive order. From the 22 discussions and sets of recommendations, the process will narrow to regional meetings. Then the anti-poverty task force will make recommendations to Strickland, said Amanda Wurst, his spokesperson.

This process through the state's community action agencies does not deal with federal economic stimulus money that might come into Ohio.
...

All major economic indicators for children show more strain on the Hamilton County's youngest citizens, according to a survey of the latest data available from the Children's Defense Fund and the Annie E. Casey Foundation's "Kids Count 2008" report for Ohio. The numbers and percentages of children under 18 living in poverty and receiving public health care, food stamps and free or reduced school lunches are up dramatically since 2001.

Census figures round up: Part 3

Here are some more localized stories on the nationwide census survey that was released yesterday. The data collected ranges from 2005 to 2007. Here are links to related stories from yesterday, part 1 and part 2.

First we stop by Ohio, Dana Wilson and Jim Phillips filed this story for the Columbus Dispatch.

Ohio University students might be short on cash, but the city probably is not as poor as the U.S. Census might lead one to believe.

Athens is atop the list of the nation's poorest towns and cities that have at least 20,000 people, according to newly released figures from the U.S. Census.

Numbers from the census' American Community Survey released yesterday say that on average for the period of 2005-2007, 52.3 percent of the city's residents were living below the federal poverty level.

The only community in the United States that ranked higher than Athens was a segregated Hasidic Jewish enclave in New York, Kiryas Joel Village, which in many ways is a statistical anomaly (its median age, for example, is 15).

Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl wonders whether the city's ranking might be skewed by the large portion of the city's population made up of OU students. His city, whose total population is listed in the census report as 23,814, includes a university with an enrollment of more than 20,000.

Given that many college students probably wouldn't report high incomes to the census, Wiehl suggested that when OU students are included as Athens residents, they drive up the city's poverty percentages.

Lastly for this post, upstate New York's York County, Carl Lindquist is a writer for the York Dispatch.

The number of York County people living in poverty is on the rise, according to new U.S. Census Bureau figures.

An average of 33,700 people were living below the poverty line between 2005-2007, according to three-year Census Bureau estimates released Tuesday.

That's up from 25,269 reported in the 2000 Census.

The figures show that nearly 8.3 percent of York countians living in poverty, compared to 6.7 percent in 2000.

The estimates were released Tuesday by the Census Bureau as part of its American Community Survey, which offers a variety of demographic, housing and population estimates. The information was averaged over three years.

It offers the first look since the 2000 Census at detailed socioeconomic and housing characteristics of mid-size areas with populations between 20,000 and 64,999.

York City, like the county as a whole, experienced an increase in poverty, according to the Census estimates. The newest figures show about 33 percent of the city's population living in poverty, up from 24 percent in 2000.

Everything 'that could be going wrong is going wrong' in the US

from the Daytona Daily News

By Lynn Hulsey

The people who help the needy try to describe the current economic crisis without using cliches like "perfect storm" or "vicious circle." But they are left grasping for better words.

Unemployment is on the rise, food stamp and cash assistance rolls are growing, home foreclosures are rampant, food pantries are running low, and it's getting harder to afford food, gas and health care.

The signs of growing need are everywhere, with social service and government agencies reporting an influx of people who've never had to ask for help before. And just as the need is growing, cash-strapped governments are cutting back, and the state may need to borrow money from the federal government early next year to pay unemployment claims.

There hasn't been this confluence of events in a long time, and it is unnerving.

"It's very difficult to be optimistic at this time when you look at all the things that are taking place," said Joel Potts, senior policy analyst for the Ohio Job and Family Services Directors Association. "Things are all coming into play at the same time. Every single thing you look at right now that could be going wrong is going wrong."

On top of a badly faltering national economy there's the home mortgage-fueled financial crisis and a newly approved $700 billion government bailout that could divert taxpayer money from needed social programs.

"Whoever becomes the next president is in for a rude awakening," said Chris Duncan, University of Dayton professor and chairman of political science.

He said the promises made by Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama to find new revenue by cutting waste, fraud and abuse "is not going to give you what you need to create a national health care program, to fix education or to fix all the other myriad problems we have."

Ohio, which never fully recovered jobs lost during the 2001 recession, now has its highest unemployment rate since 1992.

Montgomery County's 7.8 percent rate is even higher than the state's 7.4 percent, and the region stands to lose at least 10,000 jobs by next year from the closure of the Moraine General Motors plant and the proposed shift of Wilmington's DHL jobs to Kentucky.

That's on top of the 25,000 manufacturing jobs the region has lost since 2000.

Across the Miami Valley more people are falling into the social services safety net, which officials say is showing the strain. And the net isn't always able to help, because of eligibility limits on income and assets for those receiving cash assistance, food stamps, Medicaid, child care or one-time emergency help with rent, food or heating bills.

"We get a number of people who are requesting assistance but we cannot help them," said Dwayne Woods, employment division administrator at Montgomery County Job and Family Services.

For a family of four, the monthly income limit to receive cash assistance is $844 and the maximum in help they can get is $507 a month, Woods said. The food stamps monthly income limit for a four-person family is $2,297, and that family can receive $588 in stamps for the month, he said.

An applicant's savings and other assets also play into the eligibility calculation and can make an unemployed person ineligible for help.

"They feel that is their nest egg, that they shouldn't have to use it, because they have paid into the system all their lives," Woods said. "They're shocked at the low level of assistance they can receive."

Many people are turning to food pantries.

"We're seeing new families at the food pantries, we're seeing more working families, we are seeing families that really are just struggling to make ends meet with the economy as it is right now," said Linda Roepken, associate executive of The Foodbank, which serves 90 food programs in Montgomery, Greene and Preble counties.

She said the food bank's pantries, soup kitchens and other programs handed out 27 percent more meals in August compared to the same month last year.

At the Catholic Social Services pantry in Dayton, daily calls for help are up from about 30 to 125, said J. Elaine Jelly, executive director.

"We've had days where we have had to say, 'Come back tomorrow.' The shelves are literally empty," said spokeswoman Regina Estep.

She said the people who come in have multiple issues: evictions, foreclosures, lost jobs, health problems. Many seniors have had to choose between medicine and food.

"It's exactly what you read in the statistics," Estep said. "They're coming to life in the food line."

Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks, said the social services safety net is "shredded."

"We are asking these (presidential) candidates, if (they're) elected, to increase funding for the food stamp programs, increase the money allocations to allow people to purchase the food they need," Hamler-Fugitt said. "This is a crisis and we need a government response."

Perhaps one of the most telling statistics, even though it involves small actual numbers, is in upscale Warren County. In June of this year, the county had a 40 percent increase from June 2007 — to 482 people — in the number of people receiving cash assistance under the Ohio Works First program, according to the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Greene County had the second-highest increase in welfare recipients in the four-county area, jumping 12.9 percent. Montgomery's number went up 11.5 percent and Miami's was less than 1 percent.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Poverty extends to outskirts of Columbus

from the Columbus Dispatch

The Columbus Dispatch broke down the census bureau numbers from last week, to detail poverty numbers in the suburbs. - Kale

By Sherri Williams

Three weeks ago, Amber Browning of Delaware left her housekeeping job when her child-care arrangements fell through. Without employment, the single mother of four turned to a nonprofit agency to get her children shoes and supplies for the coming school year.

Delaware County is Ohio's fastest-growing, but pockets of poverty exist there and are increasing, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last week.

There were 1,428 more people in the county living below the poverty line last year than the year before, reflecting an increase from 3.7 percent of the population in 2006 to 4.5 percent in 2007, according to U.S. Census estimates.

It's not the 16.3 percent in Franklin County, or the 11.8 percent in Licking or the 9.6 percent in Fairfield.

The federal poverty threshold for a family of four was $21,203 last year and $20,614 in 2006.

Although the rest of central Ohio might consider Delaware County -- population 161,000, with its booming growth and large-tract homes -- an affluent place, not all of its residents are prosperous, said Jim Cesa, executive director of the Community Action Organization of Delaware, Madison & Union Counties Inc.

"We still have a population that is significant that is living below the poverty line," he said. "That translates to 6,000 to 7,000 people, and that's not a good thing. It also costs more to live in Delaware County."

Parents in Delaware County who are straddling the poverty line are staying there to keep their children enrolled in solid suburban schools, said Kevin Crowley, executive director of People in Need Inc.

"It is very expensive to live in Delaware," said Browning, 30. "I struggle a lot in trying to find a job close to home but also trying to keep up with the growing community. The rent goes up because the city is growing. Utilities are, too."

Crowley said other parents, such as Browning, who has three children attending Delaware schools, come to his agency for help with school supplies for their children.

"I can't imagine those kids going to school and can't afford new shoes in the Olentangy school district, which has the most humble and most affluent," Crowley said. "I'm sure it's got to be tough."

Although Browning's children understand their family's financial situation, their mother wonders how they handle having less than their peers.

"I worry about what my children are going through at school and what people are saying about them," Browning said. "We're not as well-off as other people are."

Last year, Crowley's agency received more than 160 more requests for emergency help with rent, utilities, food and medication than the year before, he said.

Generations of Delaware County families are coping with tough economic choices by "doubling and tripling up (in homes) and sharing expenses," Crowley said.

Higher gasoline prices are a barrier for needy families to get the help they need in Delaware County, he said. "We're getting calls from folks calling for food but (who) don't have the gas to come pick it up."

In the past two years, more than half of the people who have sought emergency food at the Lancaster-Fairfield Community Action Agency are new clients, said Kellie Ailes, executive director.

"Most of the people who come here are employed," she said. "They have lower-than-self-sufficient wages and benefits and need to depend on community resources to stabilize their families."

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Cleveland has second highest poverty rank in US

from Business Week

If you are curious, Detroit was number one. - Kale

By M.R. KROPKO

Cleveland was the nation's second most impoverished big city in 2007, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey released Tuesday.

The northeast Ohio city along Lake Erie is among U.S. cities which have suffered from job losses and a rising tide of foreclosures.

The data indicates Ohio has pockets of poverty statewide. Ohio's poverty rate was 13.1 percent, ranking it 19th among states nationally and tied with South Dakota, just a tenth of a percentage point above the national average.

Cleveland, with an estimated 29.5 percent of its population in poverty, is ranked only behind Detroit among cities with 250,000 or more people. Detroit had an estimated 33.8 percent in poverty last year.

The Census data put Cleveland's total up 2.5 percentage points from last year's report. A year ago, the American Community Survey using 2006 data ranked Cleveland as the fourth most impoverished city, with a 27 percent poverty rate.

Two of the three years before that, Cleveland had the highest poverty ranking in the nation.

In the Census data released Tuesday, Cincinnati ranked 10th nationally, with an estimated 23.5 percent of its population in poverty. In last year's report, Cincinnati's estimated poverty rate was 27.8 percent, or third highest nationally among big cities.

Two smaller Ohio cities, Youngstown and Dayton, were estimated to have poverty rates higher than Cleveland's but less that Detroit's.

According to the Census estimates, Youngstown's poverty rate in 2007 was 32.6 percent and Dayton's was 30.2 percent.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

If new jobs aren't where poor are, poverty persists

from the Columbus Dispatch

A new study from Ohio State University shows that the bigger the city the tougher the turnaround. - Kale

They found that a 10 percent increase in job growth lowered the poverty rate 50 percent more in metro areas under 350,000 population than it did in metro areas above 1.5 million population. Central Ohio has 1.7 million people.

A closer look led the researchers to conclude that new jobs don't help poor people unless the jobs come to their neighborhoods or policymakers figure out better ways to get them to distant jobs.

"Job growth can reduce poverty in a place like Columbus -- if we can get job growth near where poverty is," said Mark Partridge, an OSU professor and one of the authors of the recently published study.

For instance, jobs that are created in Delaware County are not a boon for residents of Columbus neighborhoods who don't have cars or bus service to get there.

High gasoline prices are another reason to create jobs near poor residents and to create a decent public-transportation system, said Bill LaFayette, vice president for economic analysis for the Columbus Chamber.

Partridge said those who live in central-city neighborhoods also might have a difficult time finding out about jobs on the outskirts through word of mouth, because they don't have friends or relatives there.

Partridge, a professor of agriculture, environmental and developmental economics, wrote the report with Oklahoma State University economist Dan Rickman. They studied more than 300 metropolitan areas to determine why poverty rates stayed the same in many large cities despite job growth over 30 years.

"What startled us was that (large) metro areas create more jobs but there was hardly any decline in poverty," Partridge said. "How can this be? How can job growth not raise all boats?"

Ohio has shed hundreds of thousands of jobs since the beginning of the decade. Forbes magazine reported just this week that Canton, Cleveland, Dayton and Youngstown are four of America's fastest-dying cities based on population loss and bad local economies.

Partridge said smaller metro areas such as Akron and Canton would be better able to reduce poverty with across-the-board job growth -- if they could create jobs.

He suggested that larger cities aim tax breaks at specific areas of town, rather than tailoring them to specific companies.

Companies asking for property-tax breaks in Columbus must agree to a goal of hiring 50 percent of their new workers from the city, but those jobs don't have to come from low-income areas, city Economic Development Administrator Bill Webster said.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Clinic opens to help asthma sufferers

from the Columbus Dispatch

This profiles a low income clinic in Ohio to help with treating asthma. - Kale

By Misti Crane

Breathing isn't supposed to be a struggle.

It isn't supposed to require medicine you can't afford and office visits with co-payments that cut into the grocery budget.

But for low-income people with asthma and other chronic lung conditions, that's reality.

Answering the growing need for free care tailored to lung conditions, the Central Ohio Breathing Association has created a clinic to serve those people with household incomes at or below 175 percent of the poverty level. Under current federal guidelines, that would be $37,100 a year for a family of four.

The lung-health clinic, open on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the association's offices on Old Henderson Road, technically opens this week but already is taking referrals.

Clinic director Teresa Allton, a nurse practitioner, expects to see eight to 10 patients each day.

Starting in late September, the association also will staff a mobile unit in collaboration with the Columbus Franklin County Community Action Agency. Details about its hours and locations are in the works.

Almost 8 percent of Franklin County residents have asthma, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

According to Franklin County data from 2000, those making $15,000 or less are 64 percent more likely to have received an asthma diagnosis than those making $50,000 or more.

Of 889 Franklin County households surveyed, 542 reported that someone in the household had asthma, and 214 said someone in the home had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is the third-leading cause of death in the county.

Poverty exacerbates asthma and other lung diseases in many ways, but most profound is the lack of access to regular medical care and appropriate medications, Allton said. "They need medications to control chronic inflammation, and many only have a rescue inhaler to open the airways," she said.

Allton, two volunteer physicians and other staff members, including asthma educators, are now available, and they are working to link patients to low-cost or free medicines. One day, she hopes she has the money to stock and staff a pharmacy at the clinic.

The $667,468 to start the clinic came from the association, the federally funded Home Energy Assistance Program, Franklin County, Columbus, the Ohio Association of Free Clinics, the Columbus Foundation and individual donors.

An additional $400,000 to keep the clinic open through August 2009 is coming, but the paperwork wasn't final as of last week, so the funding source couldn't be disclosed, said Marie Collart, president and chief executive officer of the breathing association.

The effort is a first-of-its-kind attempt to offer free, specialized pulmonary care and is a much-needed addition, said Marjorie Frazier, executive director of the Ohio Association of Free Clinics.

"We have a really pretty big unmet need within Franklin County," she said. "I think they'll become a model for the rest of the state."

Dr. Tom Houston, an OhioHealth pulmonologist, a clinic volunteer and the chairman of the breathing association's medical advisory board, said many people don't know they have asthma, or if they do, they might not know how to best manage it.

At the clinic, they'll be given asthma-care plans to help keep them out of the emergency department, where people often find themselves when uncontrolled lung disease leads to a crisis, he said.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Family of four needs $50,000

from the Columbus Dispatch

Another story on the federal poverty guidelines as it relates to Ohio. This is related to what New York Mayor Micheal Bloomberg has been saying about the guidelines. - Kale

New study finds federal poverty levels unrealistically low

By Catherine Candisky

A single mother of a preschooler living in Franklin County needs to earn $34,260 a year to pay for housing, child care, food and other necessities.

A married couple with two children -- one in preschool and one of school age -- needs an annual income of $49,818 to make it in Franklin County, more than twice the federal poverty level.

A report released this morning shows what it costs in each of Ohio’s 88 counties to pay for basic needs without government or private assistance. The analysis provides figures for 70 different family types, including childless adults, single parents and couples with children.

The Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies commissioned the report and hopes it will help state policy makers consider the real cost of self-sufficiency when they set economic development incentives and guidelines for job training and assistance programs.

Advocates for the poor also are pushing for a revision of federal poverty guidelines set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that they argue is outdated and simply not high enough.

“It costs a lot more to be poor than it used to,” said Philip E. Cole, executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies.

Authored by Diane M. Pearce, director of the Center for Women’s Welfare at the University of Washington, the report determined self-sufficiency by costing out housing, food, health care, transportation, child care and taxes, assuming all adults, regardless of household composition, are working full-time.

Link to full article. May expire in future.

Homeless students on increase in Toledo-area classrooms, schools say

from the Toledo Blade

By ANGIE SCHMITT

Josh Fowler may not have understood fully the gravity of the situation when he and his mother found themselves homeless, again, last year.

For 7-year-old Josh, being homeless meant a 40-minute ride on a city bus to and from his school. It meant two moves while his mother, Karen, 40, underwent a second stint in drug treatment. It meant sharing a bedroom with his mother and sharing his toys with unfamiliar children at Aurora House, a transitional home for women on Toledo's north side.

Meanwhile, the kindergartner was trying to absorb the basics of reading and math at East Side Central Elementary.

Initially, his grades suffered.

"It was always hard to struggle with consistency," Ms. Fowler said. "I was not able to parent him the way I should have."

As a housing crisis rages and the economy slumps, more students are finding themselves in the situation Josh did - and the experience could have lasting effects on the students' academic progress, researchers say.

As many as 2 million children nationwide, including 68,500 in Ohio and 65,700 in Michigan, are expected to be affected by the housing crisis as an anticipated 2.2 million homes purchased with subprime mortgages slide into foreclosure this year and next, according to First Focus, a nonprofit child and family advocacy group.

The Ohio Department of Education recorded a 12 percent increase in student homelessness between the 2005-2006 school year and 2006-2007 - the last year for which statistics were available, Tom Dannis, the state's homeless coordinator, said. A total of 13,610 Ohio school children had experienced homelessness at some point during the year - an increase of more than 1,500, Mr. Dannis said.

"It's our impression that there may continue to be an increase," he said, pointing to new state figures that will be released next month. "We're seeing an increase generally in many areas."

Homeless children, as defined by federal law, include runaways; victims of fires or floods; those who live in shelters, hotels, campgrounds, or cars, and those who are doubled up with friends or family.

"Poverty issues are one of the main causes, but a breakdown in the family, youth runaways, and even a house fire, these are all common reasons students become homeless," said Nick Bates, youth advocacy program coordinator with the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. "People have these perceptions [about the homeless] and don't recognize that families and youth are a large portion of that population."

Michigan is projecting a 16 percent rise in its homeless rolls as well, according to preliminary figures for last year, said Sam Sinicropi, a consultant for the Michigan Department of Education. An estimated 18,020 Michigan school children were without a permanent home at some point during the last school year - an increase of more than 2,500 over 2006-2007, he said.

Economic factors
Officials in Ohio and Michigan say school districts are getting better at identifying homeless students. Economic factors are playing a role in the increase as well, Mr. Sinicropi said.

"The economy in Michigan is not strong," he said. "We have people that are being affected by that, obviously."

Urban and rural districts alike are reporting rising rates of homelessness, said Angela Lariviere, youth advocacy director with the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing.

"Some districts say they're expecting 10 percent increases this year, if not higher," Ms. Lariviere said. "The housing crisis is what's going to make the biggest impact."

Tracking the problem
Toledo Public Schools reported its homeless population nearly tripled from the 2005-2006 school year to the 2006-2007 school year. Meanwhile, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District has reported 2,300 homeless students in 2007-2008, a 60 percent increase from state figures from the previous year.

When Toledo began monitoring its homeless population five years ago, 90 students were identified, said Emilio Ramirez, the former homeless coordinator for Toledo Public Schools. During the 2006-2007 year, the number had reached 641.

"Each year, it goes up," Mr. Ramirez said. "Part of it is our tracking [gets better], but I know part of it is the economy."

Mr. Ramirez reports as much as 80 percent of the homeless population is staying temporarily with friends or relatives. The remaining portion lives in the city's seven shelters, cars, or motels, he said.

A wide-ranging issue
Fostoria Community Schools, 40 miles southeast of Toledo, is one of the 20 districts in Ohio, including Toledo, to receive federal grant money to address homelessness within the district.

Since the district began monitoring homelessness in 2006, Fostoria has seen the number of documented cases increase from three to 83, said Rachelle Griffin, the district's homeless liaison.

Some of the district's homeless residents have been victims of a fire or flooding, she said. Most are living with grandparents or aunts and uncles until their family's financial situation is under control.

In Adrian Public Schools in Michigan, the homeless population is on the rise as well, said Chris Timmis, the district's new superintendent.

"Every year we see an increase," he said. "We have a lot of parents that are struggling, they're struggling to help themselves."

Most "homeless" students in Adrian don't fit the stereotype, he said.

"They have somewhere to go every night, but it's not their own home," Mr. Timmis said, "so stability is an issue for them.

"They're good kids, they're just not getting the right breaks," he said.

Addressing the problem
As a result of a 1987 federal law called the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, school districts are required to accept students claiming to be homeless without the traditional prerequisites: proof of residency, a birth certificate, and school records. The law also requires that homeless students be afforded all the services available to other students, such as after-school care, transportation, and free and reduced-price lunches, if they qualify. Each district also must appoint a "homeless liaison" to ensure compliance with the law and oversee support programs.

Toledo used the $165,000 it received last year through McKinney-Vento funding to offer homeless students one-on-one tutoring, assistance with supplies, and free city bus fare so they could avoid changing schools, Mr. Ramirez said.

Without a birth certificate, John Hammond, Jr., 10, was able to enroll immediately in Toledo Public Schools after his mother had fled a troubled relationship in Seattle and three months ago moved to Toledo to be near family. In addition, the district used its grant money to provide transportation for the fifth grader to go from the Beach House family shelter in North Toledo to Reynolds Elementary School on Norwich Road.

"It just really took a lot of stress off me," his mother, Arkeisha Brandon, 38, said.

Prior to the law, children could be denied access to school until the proper paperwork could be obtained. As a result, students might miss weeks of school. For older students, it could jeopardize their graduation, Ms. Lariviere said.

In Adrian, another grant recipient, the money was used, among other things, to help find housing for an 18-year-old boy with special needs who was evicted by his foster family midway through his senior year, Mr. Timmis said.

"We were able to find him somewhere to live - and he graduated," Mr. Timmis said.

A matter of obstacles
Homeless students face a host of special obstacles that can interfere with their studies, Mr. Ramirez said.

"The teachers, they're sending Johnny down complaining he doesn't have his homework," Mr. Ramirez said. Only later does he realize: "This kid hasn't eaten.

"They don't have their books, they don't have a computer. They don't have the amenities that you normally have in a residence," Mr. Ramirez said. "You need love, shelter, before you can get to the educational part, and these kids are still working on shelter."

Adding to the strife, many students' descent into homelessness involves at least one school change, Mr. Ramirez said.

Residential changes can reduce the chances a child will graduate from high school by 50 percent, according to First Focus.

The National Center on Family Homelessness reports that nationally, 48 percent of homeless students in grades 3 through 12 were proficient in reading. Only 43 percent were considered proficient in math. Additionally, more than 1 in 3 homeless students will repeat a grade, the center reports. Behavioral problems are common.

Gauging the effects
John Buckner, a child psychologist at Harvard Medical School who has spent 20 years researching the effects of homelessness on children, said the McKinney-Vento Act has improved homeless students' performance by improving access to school. With the proper response from the school district and community, many homeless students can perform academically, and many do, he said.

"Children who experience a lot of stress - sure, that can impact school performance and behavior," he said. "If their school experience is still pretty routine, I think kids can be OK."

In a study Mr. Buckner conducted, homeless students who had strong parental supervision and "self-regulation" skills, such as impulse control, organization, and attention, were often able to keep pace with their peers.

"It's hard to make really stereotypical claims about all homeless kids," he said. "There are kids who are having really specific difficulties and kids who are not."

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Fostoria youth serve in poverty stricken Boston suburb

from WTOL Toledo

By Shelley Lee,

FOSTORIA - Mission service in the suburbs. Sounds like easy work, help a few kids at a Bible school program, serve in a soup kitchen. No problem.

Not quite.

Just seven miles from prestigious Boston neighborhoods, working in the town of Lynn, Mass., where 11 Wesley United Methodist youth travelled last week was anything but easy.

With 53 percent of the population listed as low income, 80 percent of the school age children on the free lunch program, and a ranking of the fourth highest percentage of homeless in the state, this place was no walk in the park. Healthcare is also mandatory in Massachusetts which creates a serious financial problem for many.

Jenny Miller, youth director at Wesley U.M. for nine years, led the group with Paul and Krista Harrison, and Neil Ickes.

"Lynn has the highest number of shootings in all of Massachusetts," said Miller.

Why not then, the highest number of murders? Because the shooters are often inexperienced 9- and 10-year-olds recruited by gangs.

"That whole thing is just so horribly wrong!" says Miller about the heartbreaking lives of the city's children. "It was very eye opening for the [Fostoria] kids."

The week-long trip that began June 29 brought the group through a myriad of cultural experiences.

The high school youth went on this trip aware of certain restrictions. They were not allowed to bring cell phones ... at all. Gasp.

They could not bring curling irons, flat irons, etc. Deep breath.

ipods were allowed for the drive only. Phew.

Girls had to wear one piece swimsuits if they swam. OK, it is just for a week.

Two children of Brian Jones, the Wesley pastor, were part of the group. His wife, Kelly, laughs about one of the youth members not wanting to go on the trip. Yet, at the end of it she was one who did not want to come home.

Youth Works Community Ministry is the organization they worked with. This Lynn, Massachusetts 501(c)3 is housed at Washington Street Baptist Church. They invite youth groups from anywhere to volunteer for week intervals.

This particular week, seven groups came from Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and a Chinese Bible church in Boston.

The 70 youth served alongside eight chaperones at eight different sites, divided and mixed in with the other youth from around the country.

The five sites that Fostoria youth served at were varied and challenging (and did not have air conditioning).

My Brother's Table is a soup kitchen that feeds over 300 people daily with no federal funding, therefore, no restrictions on who can come to eat. The youth had to take stock of the pantry and prepare a meal that would serve 150 people the exact same meal for lunch.

Another group helped clean at Northshore Christian School. They take in children from the extremely overcrowded public schools at low tuition costs.

In the city of Lynn preschool is scarce and kindergarten is non-mandatory. Both are run on a lottery system. So, most children come into first grade not knowing basic letters, sounds and colors.

The Boys and Girls Club of America Camp was another location, this one 30 miles away from Lynn, getting inner-city kids away from it all.

The Youth Works Kid's Club located at their home base church is where another group served. They would run a mini vacation Bible school-type program providing free lunch and activities for needy children.

"The kids would just flock to this," said Miller, adding that there would be 4-year-olds wandering in on their own from blocks away.

The Wesley Youth will share a PowerPoint presentation and stories from their trip July 27 at 10:30 a.m. during the church service at 1200 Van Buren St.

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Different times, same mission

from The Columbus Dispatch

After 150 years, the Sisters of Mercy still dedicate their lives to serving the needy

By Meredith Heagney

CINCINNATI -- In 1858, they were a group of 11 young immigrant women who came to America to live in poverty so they could help others who had it even worse.

Today, the local order of the Sisters of Mercy operates a range of services that includes schools, hospitals and countless one-on-one contacts.

The past 150 years haven't changed the order's mission: to serve the poor, sick and uneducated, particularly women and children.

Sister Louise Huitink is one of the sisters carrying on the work of her predecessors. Her specialty is caring for the elderly poor, bringing them groceries, managing their finances and taking them out for their birthdays.

She and the other 261 sisters in the Regional Community of Cincinnati, which covers Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Jamaica, follow the path of those original women who emigrated from Ireland to serve southwestern Ohio.

Today, the sisters sponsor two high schools for girls and a Montessori school, offer job training for formerly homeless women and deliver food and medicine to the elderly poor.

Sisters help low-income people find psychological help and offer transitional housing to women and children in need.

"We're still helping poor women and children," said Sister Elaine Charters, a member of the order for 52 years.

"You just retranslate it for the times," said Sister Kathy Green, an administrator.

Much of the nuns' work has been handed off, by necessity, to laypeople.

In 1961, there were about 800 sisters in the Cincinnati-based regional community, said Sister Marjorie Rudemiller, president. The median age of the remaining nuns is 75. The youngest is 48.

The original members of the order who crossed the ocean were barely more than girls. Many of them never saw their families again after boarding a boat to America.

The 18- and 19-year-olds had been recruited by Sarah Peter, a wealthy Cincinnati woman who had gone abroad to find religious people to serve the city's missionary needs.

The nuns lived in a run-down house with a board set on barrels serving as a kitchen table.

"They were really pioneers, young women of great faith who didn't know where they were going, didn't know where they were going to stay," Green said.

Those early sisters opened a night school for young Irish women and a shelter to keep them from falling into prostitution. They taught them domestic skills so they could work as maids.

In the 1860s, they opened a laundry and paid destitute women to work there. Soon after, four sisters took over an elementary school for girls, laying the groundwork for the many teaching sisters who would come after them.

In 1892, sisters with no medical training opened Mercy Hospital in Hamilton, the forerunner of what is now the 30-hospital Catholic Healthcare Partners. Today's Sisters of Mercy are co-sponsors.

For the order's first century in existence, the sisters opened or staffed 46 schools, one college and eight hospitals. Sisters of Mercy nuns once taught at the now-closed Holy Family elementary and high schools in Franklinton.

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Making a difference in an unfair world

from The Lantern, OSU

Theresa Attalla

Sometimes people just want to be acknowledged for their work.

This is the simple goal of Global Gallery, located 682 N. High St. in the Short North. Established in 1991 by four local area churches, Global Gallery has taken it upon itself to spread the message of fair trade by selling products and educating the community about the importance of fair trade and the cultures it represents.

"The mission of Global Gallery has been an important driving force in my life," said Connie De Jong, arts scholars coordinator at Ohio State and executive director of Global Gallery.

De Jong began as a volunteer worker and fought to keep it open when at one point it was going to close. Now, there are four locations in the Columbus area: Short North, Easton, Yellow Springs and German Village. Boards of directors and local volunteers of the communities support the locations.

How it works at Global Gallery is simple. The gallery follows the fair trade guidelines according to the Fair Trade Federation: create opportunities for economically challenged people, create equal opportunity for gender classes, provide safe working conditions and environmental protection and give payment of full price to the producers of the product.

Global Gallery has been able to develop relationships with markets of countries that are marginalized in typical trading structures. Workers must demonstrate that they are able to meet market requirements for quality, consistency and continuity of supply. In addition, a minimum guaranteed price that covers the cost of production is established and paid to the company beforehand.

"It's an alternative method to conventional trade," said Megan Fitze, current manager of Global Gallery. "Nobody gets cheated."

The store sells items such as coffee, chocolates, jewelry, scarves and CDs of music from around the world. In addition to selling products, Global Gallery does numerous educational programs and activities to promote cultural awareness.

At the German Village coffee shop location, locals are able to listen to live music and practice yoga. At the Easton location, there have been workshops and activities involving paper making and Tibetan Monks.

International Fair Trade Day is another important event for Global Gallery and fair trade where numerous culture representatives come to show off their skills and educate the public.

De Jong and Fitze both have big plans in mind for Global Gallery and fair trade with the idea of expanding and increasing the education about the issue at hand. They said it is also important to them to open additional locations and continue to make a difference in underprivileged countries.

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City of Cleveland battles poverty, exodus

from the Toledo Blade

Like Toledo, city struggles to map revival

CLEVELAND — Even as chain stores like Ann Taylor are abandoning downtown’s Tower City Center mall, A.J. Ballard has no difficulty selling $35 T-shirts to young shoppers eager to mimic the urban look favored by professional athletes and pop music stars.

“If you have a good concept, you can do phenomenal business here,” said the 28-year-old man from Willoughby, Ohio. He helped develop and now oversees Ideal and two other mall boutiques that have attracted a wide range of shoppers from visiting pro athletes to pop star Miley Cyrus.

Since the 1970s, downtown boosters have expended lots of energy determining what to do with failing retail sites.

Now, they say, their efforts are beginning to show results.

Along famed Euclid Avenue in downtown Cleveland, its downtown portion clogged with the corpses of dead department stores and specialty shops, the transit authority is spending $200 million on beautification and improvements to persuade people to move into lofts and apartments being carved from old stores and offices.

In the depressed Flats District, a riverfront area long popular with young partiers, former hot spots like the House of Brews are being razed to make way for an office tower and specialty retail shops. Accounting firm Ernst & Young has signed on as the office building’s main tenant.

On tightly packed East 4th Street at Euclid, venues including the House of Blues, Pickwick & Frolic Comedy Club, and Wonder Bar are helping draw crowds to the cozy entertainment zone.

And at the Tower City Center, whose fate has been debated since 2002 when anchor store Dillard’s (formerly Higbee’s) closed, local shops like Ideal have replaced some national chains including Abercrombie & Fitch.

Today, the center, a former rail station along downtown’s Public Square, includes 80 specialty stores, an 11-screen theater, and six restaurants that draw brisk crowds on weekdays.

To address complaints about rowdy young people, the mall prohibits unaccompanied minors after 2:30 p.m. and stations security personnel at regular intervals.

On a recent spring day, a guard saw a youth wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up.

“Excuse me!” she exclaimed, pointing to the apparent rule violation. The youth uncovered his head without complaint.

‘Turned the corner’
“We think we have turned the corner and are making good progress,” said chief downtown booster Joseph Marinucci, who is president of the nonprofit Downtown Cleveland Alliance.

Bounded by highways, Lake Erie, and the Cuyahoga River, the sprawling downtown is the center of a 303,000-person municipality long derided as the “mistake on the lake.”
When Ohio’s second-largest city comes up in conversation, somebody invariably spouts off about the day an oil slick caught fire on the river. Never mind that the event lasted 30 minutes and happened nearly 40 years ago.

But like Toledo, Cleveland has struggled with population losses and poverty.

Since the beginning of the decade, the metro area lost 51,000 residents. With slightly fewer than 2.1 million people, it now ranks behind Cincinnati, which has become Ohio’s largest metro area.

And, in the city of Cleveland, 27 percent of people live below the poverty line, making the municipality the fourth poorest in the nation, according to a report last year from the U.S. Census Bureau.

But while many people in the city are struggling, downtown is seeing something of a revival, boosters say.

The population there grew by nearly a third to 9,599 between 1990 and the 2000 Census.

Officials predict that downtown residents will more than double to 20,000 to 25,000 in the next few years.

Nearly 3,000 condos and apartments are under way or have been OK’d for historic-preservation tax credits, which will reduce development costs, said Mr. Marinucci of the Downtown Cleveland Alliance.

On the commercial side, there is demand for at least three new office towers, he added.

Just last month, a Cleveland developer announced he will spend $180 million to erect a 21-story skyscraper at downtown’s Public Square.

“The office market is seeing a resurgence,” agreed David Browning, a downtown expert at CB Richard Ellis in Cleveland.

The overall vacancy rate downtown slipped in late 2007 to just below 18 percent, the lowest in four years, CB Richard Ellis said in a report this year. Vacancies for top-quality space, known as “Class A,” fell below 10 percent.

The improved market helped lead to the construction plans in the Flats District, where developers have announced the first privately financed office tower downtown in nearly two decades, real estate agents said.

Proposals are being considered for a new downtown convention center and a merchandise-mart-like facility for physicians and other medical professionals to purchase medical equipment.

Obstacles remain
Yet obstacles to downtown revitalization remain.

From the beginning of the decade to 2005, 353 businesses left the area around the downtown improvement district, a U.S. Census report last year shows.

The improvement district was established by downtown merchants under Ohio law. The area around the district had 4,069 firms, 8 percent fewer than in 2000.

They employed 115,941 people, or 5 percent fewer than the private-sector’s downtown work force at the start of the decade. The figure doesn’t include government workers.

It is unclear how many people government agencies employ downtown. But U.S. Labor Department reports show that they account for about 155,000 of the 1.1 million workers in metro Cleveland.

Downtown officials concede that the impact of lost businesses and jobs goes beyond those directly affected. For instance, fewer businesses mean fewer janitors and other support personnel.

As many as 10,000 jobs have been lost downtown since 2000, acknowledged Mr. Marinucci, of the Downtown Alliance.

Still, downtown retains four Fortune 500 companies: banks KeyCorp and National City Corp.; paint manufacturer Sherwin-Williams Co.; and Eaton Corp., a parts supplier to the aerospace and auto industries.

And neither job losses nor tougher times have stopped residential developments, said the Downtown Alliance president.

“The question is, ‘Can future deals for future projects get tied up by the national foreclosure crisis?’” Mr. Marinucci asked.

So far, he claimed, there is no sign of that.

Avenue District plan
Projects include the Avenue District, a $300 million collection of townhouses, condos, and retail space planned by Cleveland’s Zaremba Group developers for three city blocks at 12th and St. Clair streets. The project was announced nearly three years ago, but just 10 units of a planned 600 are completed and 72 are under way.

Spokesman Mandy Barney denies the plan is behind schedule.

“A couple years ago, this probably would have been at a faster pace,” she said. “But this project is not affected like our suburban developments. There is still demand for housing to purchase in downtown.”

Future construction, she explained, will depend on “when the market picks up and at what pace.” Most units are priced at $240,000 to $373,000.

When the last Census was conducted in 2000, downtown Cleveland had 3,818 housing units, 3 percent of which were owned by their residents, according to a Brookings Institution study.

Apartments and lofts — either new construction or office and retail conversions — have been added downtown at the rate of about 500 a year, the Downtown Alliance president said.

Despite growth in the housing market, there is skepticism about other downtown projects.

The Euclid Corridor transportation project will include street and sidewalk improvements, new lighting, and a new style of bus service offering faster trips. The project will cover 10 miles from downtown to suburban East Cleveland.

Backers hope the work will attract developers and tenants for the abandoned buildings along Euclid in the downtown area.

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Columbus' need for food aid outpaces other Ohio cities'

from the Columbus Dispatch

By Catherine Candisky

Demand for help putting food on the table has grown faster in the Columbus area during the past year than any other metropolitan region of the state.

The number of people receiving food stamps and public assistance is up 9.4 percent in the central Ohio area from a year ago.

Statewide, enrollment in the two tax-funded programs increased 7.3 percent between May 2007 and May 2008, according to state statistics compiled by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.

“Ohio families are struggling to pay their housing costs, fill their gas tanks and put food on their tables," Brown said. “It's alarming that the number of Ohio families in need of food assistance has risen so rapidly in the past year.”

Brown, who has been visiting food pantries across the state, said many of the families seeking help work full time or hold two or more part-time jobs but still struggle to feed their children.

“All the trends are going the wrong way — more unemployment, more stagnant wages, higher costs of fuel, higher costs of food.”

Those who not too long ago were donating, or even volunteering, at food pantries now are in need themselves, Brown added.

The increased demand in the Columbus area — which included Franklin County and 18 surrounding counties — outpaced metropolitan areas of Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo.

The Dayton area had the second-highest increase over the past year with a 9.2 percent jump, while demand was up 6 percent in the Cleveland area, the lowest in the state, according to statistics provided by Brown.

While the statistics are alarming, they are not surprising considering the increase in the number of Ohioans living below the federal poverty level, currently set at $21,200 a year for a family of four.

Between 1970 and 2004, Ohio's population increased 8 percent while the percentage of Ohioans living in poverty jumped 43 percent. About 14 percent of Ohioans have incomes at or below the poverty level and about a third earn less than 200 percent of the poverty level, an amount many economists view as necessary for a family to be self-sufficient.

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Feeding Ohio families

from the Wapak Daily News

Senator’s report shows more people need federal, state assistance

By WILLIAM LANEY

The number of Ohioans qualifying for a federally funded summer nutrition program has increased greatly in the past year, a U.S. legislator says, but only slightly more than 10 percent from the Buckeye State are taking advantage of the food assistance initiative.

“I have just issued a report and all the current trends are going the wrong way — there is more unemployment, more stagnant wages, higher cost for fuel, higher cost for food — and people are living with more expenses and no pay increases,” U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Mansfield, said Wednesday in a teleconference about a reason for the increase in those seeking assistance. “We have learned much of that is concentrated among the very young, almost half of Ohioans in poverty are under 24 years old, and that is where we have the opportunity.”

Brown released a report Wednesday from data compiled by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services which showed nearly 1 in 10 Ohioans receive food stamps, and the number of Ohio recipients of food assistance — public and private — increased by more than 7 percent statewide in 2008. The major metropolitan areas of Cincinnati,
Columbus, Dayton and Toledo reported increases of 8.49 percent, 9.35 percent, 9.21 percent and 8.86 percent, respectively, from May 2007 to May 2008 in the number of people requiring food and nutrition assistance.

Auglaize County, which is grouped with cities in the Dayton region, saw a 25.31 percent increase from May 2007 to May 2008, with 2,515 seeking assistance in May 2008, and increase of more than 500 people than the 2,007 people in May 2007.
Surrounding counties in the Dayton region reported increases, too. Logan County reported an increase of 12.87 percent, Mercer County reported an increase of 4.86 percent and Shelby County reported a 6.22 percent increase.

Allen County reported a 3.7 percent increase. In May 2007, 9,137 people were eligible for assistance and in May 2008, 9,475 people were eligible.

Brown’s report also showed Ohio’s population increased 8 percent between 1970 and 2006, while the percentage of Ohioans living in poverty increased by 43 percent. The federal poverty level is currently set at $21,200 per year for a family of four.
A family of four qualifies for assistance if they earn less than $27,560 per year, or 130 percent of the federal poverty level.

“It’s alarming that the number of Ohio families in need of food assistance has risen so rapidly in the past year,” Brown said. “We must provide immediate resources to families in need, particularly children that depend on the school lunch program for nutritious meals.”

Brown said of the approximately 500,000 children eligible for free or reduced lunches during the school year continued to be eligible for food and nutritional assistance during the summer months.

Children are eligible for as many as two free meals each day, but only 57,000 children, slightly more than 10 percent, take advantage of the program.

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New task force to tackle poverty

from the Lancaster Eagle Gazette

By TIERRA PALMER

LANCASTER - More than two-thirds of the 12,000 telephone calls Fairfield County Job & Family Services receives each month are from people who need financial assistance or access to health care.

"Many of these families have worked all their lives. They're not asking to own a house or even to send their children to college. All they're asking for is to be able to eat and to take their children to the doctor when they're sick and to be able to get to work," said Laura Holton, community services director for JFS.

Holton, like other local social service providers, hopes an initiative recently established by Gov. Ted Strickland will help identify solutions for the growing poverty problem.

Strickland signed an executive order May 28 establishing the Ohio Anti-Poverty Task Force, which will develop recommendations aimed at reducing the number of Ohioans living at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level - about $21,000 for a family of four.

The task force is part of an ongoing effort to "make Ohio a better place to work and to live," said Amanda Wurst, deputy communications director for Strickland.

"The governor is deeply concerned about the poverty issues that Ohioans live with and deal with each day. The purpose of the Anti-Poverty Task Force is to come with pragmatic solutions to poverty," she said.

The task force will consist of low- to moderate-income Ohioans, representatives from state and local social service agencies and advocacy groups and other stakeholders.

The governor's office plans to establish working groups throughout the state to discuss what can be done to help those in need.

Officials at local social service agencies already have started to weigh in about the issue, calling for increased funding for programs and services targeting that population such as Medicaid and the Home Energy Assistance Program.

"The governor needs to put money where he says his heart is," Holton said.

About 6 percent of Fairfield County's 140,729 residents live in poverty. Of those, nearly half - 47 percent - are female-headed households and one quarter are married couples. And there are about 17,000 Medicaid recipients, more than two-thirds of whom are low- to moderate-income children and families.

Community Action recently received a $30,000 technical assistance grant from the Ohio Department of Development aimed at helping individuals and families navigate the Ohio Benefit Bank - a web-based computer program designed to connect low- and moderate-income Ohioans with free tax preparation, tax credits and public benefits such as food stamps and childcare subsidies.

That money, along with a sizable grant from the United Way of Fairfield County, will be used to fund a new staff position to help residents access those benefits.