COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Substance abuse issues, available jobs and a lack of transportation are among the top barriers that people on welfare face in moving out of poverty, according to a recent survey of Ohio’s county job and family services directors.
The survey’s details are set to be included in a report by a workgroup tasked with studying Ohioans’ reliance on public assistance programs. The Associated Press obtained a draft copy of the report through a public records request ahead of its expected release on Wednesday.
The workgroup was created last year as state lawmakers became increasingly focused on moving people out of poverty and off public programs such as food stamps and cash assistance.
The panel’s draft report contains the results of the directors’ questionnaire, key findings from the workgroup’s research, a summary from focus groups with clients, feedback from advocates and others who assist the poor, and recommendations to reduce reliance on public assistance.
Most directors of the state’s 88 county agencies took the survey, which focused on cash assistance recipients.
The directors identified other top hurdles the recipients face, such as a lack of high school diploma or GED and a lack of motivation or commitment to success.
While the top issues were not the only barriers that needed substantial attention, the panel said in its draft report that those were areas that “Ohio must address in order to successfully reduce reliance on public assistance.”
The workgroup’s report comes as the Ohio Legislature is revising Gov. John Kasich’s two-year state budget.
One of Republican governor’s proposals aims to create a more comprehensive approach to address the needs of individuals receiving public assistance such as food stamps, childcare support, housing aid or cash assistance, so they can become more self-sufficient.
The workgroup’s recommendations support such a person-centered case management strategy.
“Everyone is anxious for us to spend some more time with our clients, help provide them the guidance and the resources to be successful,” Tim McCartney, the workgroup’s chairman, said in an interview Monday.
“Now we just have to come up with the resources and the mechanisms to do that,” he added.
The new case management approach would require a significant investment, the group members said, but they did not estimate a cost. McCartney said he expected that to be part of continued discussions.
The report also points to findings that the approach’s success in reducing reliance on public assistance is “modest and incremental.”
McCartney, who serves as the chief operating officer of the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services, said helping people overcome poverty is an arduous process.
“I think there has to be a recognition by everybody that people who are currently dependent on public assistance don’t leap out of poverty,” he said. “It is often a time-consuming, great effort to help people overcome barriers that they have; when they fail, that we don’t turn our back on them, that we continue to work with them and their families.”
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