COLUMBUS — As efforts to find a solution to the issue of welfare reform, Allen County may serve as a test site for a new approach to encouraging able-bodied people on government assistance to re-enter or advance in the workforce, helping them avoid a “benefits cliff” once they achieve a certain level of income.
A group of Allen County government and business leaders, including Allen County Commissioners Jay Begg and Cory Noonan, Lima-Allen County Chamber of Commerce CEO Jed Metzger and Ohio Means Jobs Allen County Workforce Development Coordinator Joe Patton made the journey to Columbus Thursday to meet with Ohio Rep. Bob Cupp, R-Lima, and Ohio Sen. Matt Huffman, R-Lima, to discuss new approaches to welfare reform.
“We have quite a few jobs here in Allen County — about 1,200 to 1,300 is what we’re averaging open — but we have quite a few people on public assistance,” Patton said. “We’re trying to bridge that gap to pull people into those jobs and try to incentivize work here in Allen County.”
However, those on assistance can face a difficult decision as to whether to advance in their job and lose potentially significant benefits or refuse promotions or raises to maintain the assistance they have. This is leading to less involvement in the workforce and fewer workers having an incentive to advance in their job or gain the skills needed to move on to better employment.
“We’re looking to make it a slope going down rather than a cliff, so it helps to bridge the gap,” Patton said. “As your wage grows, your benefits would reduce with it, rather than just dropping off.”
One of the issues with this idea, however, is that much of the government assistance funding comes from the federal level, meaning that state governments would be more limited in fostering these changes. According to Huffman, however, there is still some room for the state government to work here.
“In the short term, there’s a few things we can do, but in the long term, we need the federal government to take the reins off and let us solve these problems,” he said. “Under the Aid to Needy Families project, there are federal parameters and state rule. So the question is, how expansive can we be? If once you get to a certain point where you lose all your benefits and the state can supplement those dollars, it would be a way to keep people working.”
The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will begin working with Huffman, Cupp and local stakeholders in developing the “Allen County Project,” according to Huffman, to examine what can be done without federal involvement while still calling on federal legislators to give state and local governments more power to administrate this plan.
“Based on our meeting today, a lot of this are things that can take place with the state Department of Job and Family Services dedicating certain moneys they’re allowed to in certain ways, but I know that Bob Cupp and I are on the same page with this, and I think what we’re waiting for is the analysis that (ODJFS) needs to do, which they’ve indicated they’ll do in the next 30 days or so.”
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