News & Updates

"Yesterday was the longest day of winter. Today, we feel hope that the darkest days of the pandemic and its devastating impact on poverty and food insecurity are behind us. We know the suffering from this once-in-a-generation crisis will not have subsided six months from now, and that more will need to be done. But we are also incredibly grateful that meaningful help is on its way."

We humbly applaud Governor Mike DeWine for seeking a fully funded extension for the National Guard response under Title 32, and we’re extraordinarily moved that Senators Portman and Brown would join with all of Ohio’s 16 House members on a bipartisan, bicameral letter to lift up and expedite that request.

"As public health risks and volatility in local economies and food systems remain widespread, so too does the food security crisis in our state and across the nation. But it’s abundantly clear that the large-scale return of community volunteers to support our emergency hunger relief response remains unlikely while pandemic conditions persist. The remarkable Ohio National Guard soldiers and airmen serving at our warehouses and in our communities remain indispensable to keeping our fellow Ohioans fed."

On Tuesday, food bank operators, the counties’ Ohio Department of Job and Family Services association director, anti-poverty advocates and others urged lawmakers against cutting the social safety net during a still-raging pandemic that has destabilized the economy and increased unemployment rates. They said more paperwork requirements on top of an already cumbersome application process would cause needy families to slip through the cracks.

Some of the most sweeping changes in SB 17 would be in SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SB 17 would require color photo identification of at least one adult in every household on Ohio Direction cards, the debit SNAP card. SNAP recipients would also be subject to more rigorous asset maximums. To continue to be eligible for SNAP, households would have to report changes in income within 10 days of learning of the changes, which is not currently required. Other changes in SB 17 would again force Ohio Medicaid to require many recipients of the joint state and federal health care program to work or go to school part-time.

The long, hard Ohio winter won't do any favors for residents already struggling to make ends meet, according to those on the front lines of a battle for COVID-19 financial aid. The Ohio Association of Foodbanks, the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio and the Children's Defense Fund of Ohio are begging Congress to pass a relief package in the next few weeks.

A legislator's guide to addressing hunger

A report highlighting the impact of the AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associates that served in 2020 during the COVID-19 era.