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DJFS Will Help Food
Assistance Recipients Find Work
COLUMBUS,
OHIO – The
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) has asked the
federal government to waive work requirements for low-income Ohioans
on federal food assistance in 16 counties still struggling with
especially high unemployment. In Ohio’s 72 other counties, where
the economy is recovering more quickly, ODJFS will work with county
departments of job and family services to ramp-up efforts to help
able-bodied adults without dependents find work.
“It is
important that we
do more than just provide a monetary food assistance benefit,” said
ODJFS Director Michael Colbert. “As the economy improves, we owe it
to adult Ohioans to provide job training and work experience that
will lead to a career and a pathway out of poverty.”
According
to federal law,
able-bodied adults without dependents may receive Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for only three months in
any three-year period, unless those individuals work or attend job
training for at least 20 hours each week. The 20-hour-a-week
requirement was waived in Ohio during the recession, but as the
economy recovers and the job market improves, ODJFS will reinstitute
that requirement in most counties. The change will affect
approximately 134,000 Ohioans out of the more than 1.8 million who
receive food assistance.
The work
requirement
applies to adults between 18 and 50 years old who are physically and
mentally fit for work and who are neither pregnant nor have children
younger than 18.
The 16
counties in which
the work requirement will be waived are Adams, Brown, Clinton,
Coshocton, Highland, Huron, Jefferson, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan,
Muskingum, Noble, Ottawa, Perry, Pike and Scioto.
Beginning
on Oct. 1,
county departments of job and family services will have three months
to ensure that able-bodied adults without dependents are attending a
qualifying work or training program for at least 20 hours each week.
Individuals who are not meeting the 20-hour-a-week requirement after
three months risk losing their SNAP benefits.
SNAP is a
federally funded
program that provides approximately 1.8 million Ohioans with an
average benefit of $132 per month. More than 40 percent of recipients
are children. SNAP benefits can be spent only on eligible food items
and cannot be spent on alcohol, tobacco, restaurant food or other
prohibited items.
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