Progress
In recent years, Ohio has made some promising progress on building bridges across benefit cliffs, including through the below initiatives:
Benefit Bridge Pilot: Established in the State Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Operating Budget, the Benefit Bridge pilot program uses state General Revenue Funds and federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to help Ohioans get past benefits cliffs. Ohioans in participating counties apply to be part of the 18-month program, which provides success planning, financial wellness curriculum, supportive services and work supports to help workers stay employed over benefits cliffs, and up to $3,000 in cash incentives if employment and performance benchmarks are achieved. The program began in 2021 with six pilot counties. After promising initial results, the pilot was expanded in 2024 to additional counties.
Publicly Funded Child Care: Ohio has steadily invested in Publicly Funded Child Care (PFCC), which helps eligible parents pay for child care. PFCC is unique from other benefit programs because of its maximum eligibility cap and initial eligibility floor. Families must be under a certain threshold to enter the PFCC program, and are able to remain on the program as their income increases to a certain threshold, during which time family co-payments also increase. If a family is below the eligibility cap but above the eligibility floor, that family is not eligible for PFCC.
In the State Fiscal Year 2016-2017 Operating Budget, the maximum eligibility for PFCC was increased from 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) to 300% FPL.
In the State Fiscal Year 2022-2023 Operating Budget, the initial eligibility floor for PFCC was increased from 130% FPL to 142% FPL.
In the State Fiscal Year 2024-2025 Operating Budget, the initial eligibility floor for PFCC was increased from 142% FPL to 145% FPL.
In April 2024, Governor DeWine announced in his State of the State speech that a temporary American Rescue Plan Act-funded program, called the Child Care Choice Program, would allow families between 146% and 200% FPL to receive child care support. If a family applies for PFCC and is found to be above the initial eligibility floor, that family is automatically considered for the Child Care Choice Program. Unlike with PFCC, however, when Child Care Choice families reach 200% FPL, those families are not able to continue on child care support until 300% FPL. The program ends at 200% FPL.
SNAP Off-Ramp: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides food assistance each month for low-income households. Currently, SNAP households must earn less than 130% FPL in gross income and less than 100% FPL in net income, after deductions for costs like child support, shelter, dependent care, earned income, and medical expenses. In summer 2024, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services recognized the impact of the benefits cliff and extended the SNAP off-ramp by allowing Ohio households to remain on SNAP until they reach 200% FPL in gross income. Households must still earn under 100% FPL in net income. This off-ramp will especially benefit households with high expenses, who have higher deductions and thus less money left for food purchases each month.