Policy Priorities

EMAO will focus on the following priorities to achieve its mission:

Mitigate and Eliminate Benefits Cliffs
(and improve existing programs)

To meet the needs of and stabilize families, public benefits must be easy to navigate and provide sufficient support. The following recommendations will help mitigate cliffs and improve core operations in Ohio’s public benefit programs.

    • Improve benefits administration by implementing changes that center user experience, optimize case management, and ensure cross-enrollment for those eligible.

      • Ensure the Ohio benefits enrollment process is client-centered and invest in making it accessible to all (for example, ensuring multiple points of access to account for a transient population)

      • Provide for Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) online applications and benefit loading through updated technology infrastructure for the WIC program

      • Implement strategic investments in workforce and infrastructure to allow technology to address basic client needs and staff to provide enhanced case management

      • Ensure cross-program enrollment for those eligible through expansion of the common application and improved self-service application processes

      • Provide for additional staff capacity at the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and County Departments of Job and Family Services to support public benefits administration.

    • Address “revolving door” challenges of churn and redeterminations in benefit programs by prioritizing client outreach prior to their redetermination period and expanding the income certification period over a broader time frame to prevent disqualification due to temporary income fluctuations.

    • Increase the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) minimum benefit level for older adults and Ohioans with disabilities to $50 per month.

    • Publish outcomes from existing Ohio benefits cliffs pilot programs, positioning them as a model for reform. Allow additional counties to opt-in to the Benefit Bridge pilot program using existing funding.

    • Address the benefits cliff within Medicaid waivers for Ohioans with disabilities

Reduce Disincentives to Work

Increased employment should enable individuals to take larger steps toward self-sufficiency. The following recommendations will alleviate disincentives to work currently present in public benefit programs.

    • Increase the Ohio Works First cash assistance eligibility level to 100% FPL. Currently, the 50% FPL limit prevents full-time employment while receiving assistance.

    • Strengthen the Prevention, Retention and Contingency program through enhanced one-time, emergency funding to prevent financial crises, job retention incentives, and transitional payments to those leaving benefit programs available in all counties.

    • Implement or increase earned income disregards in Ohio Works First, SNAP, and Medicaid, including allowing temporary income increases such as seasonal overtime.

Create a Pathway to Economic Stability

For Ohio to thrive, its workers need consistent and meaningful opportunities. The following recommendations will create an Ohio where individuals and families can make sustainable progress toward economic mobility.

    • Increase Publicly Funded Child Care minimum eligibility to 200% FPL and make deeper investments in child care infrastructure, including grant funding, increased reimbursement rates, capping family co-pays and workforce investments.

    • Expand Publicly Funded Child Care and Ohio Works First eligibility definitions to include kinship caregiver families. Ohio Works First child-only remains available only to kin related by blood or marriage, or kin with legal custody or legal guardianship.

    • Adopt a refundable Working Families Tax Credit or Earned Income Tax Credit to provide support to Ohio’s lowest wage workers.

    • Create employer incentivization programs or tax credits for investing in worker supports, such as employee savings accounts or providing on-site or near-site child care.

    • Support the child care and direct care workforce – the workforce behind the workforce – through training opportunities, job quality improvements, wage increases, and incentive and retention programs.