Thursday, May 20, 1999
Agencies pinched by rising needs
BY TOM O'NEILL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Clermont County's short-term public-assistance agencies are seeing increased demand at a time when federal financial help is shrinking significantly.
The resulting squeeze, caused in part by welfare-to-work programs, has left many at the grass-roots level frustrated.
The United Way said Wednesday its 1999 funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) fell to $26,787. Last year, it was $34,068.
The United Way funnels the federal dollars to a wide range of food pantries, emergency shelters and agencies providing rent assistance and other short-term needs.
“The need is increasing, and the safety net is getting more holes in it,” said Deborah Allsop, United Way's di rector of field services and administrator for the FEMA program.
“All (federal) appropriations got cut. The budget gets reviewed and compromised,” she said. “Then by the time it gets passed down to us, unfortunately, we bear the brunt of those cuts.”
Yvonne Brown, program manager for Newtown-based Interparish Ministries, said the federal welfare-to-work mandates have had an unintended downside.
Many of the people removed from federal doles are placed in low-paying jobs at which they live “paycheck to paycheck.”
Thus, more of those workers at or near the poverty line need short-term assistance, such as for rent, a one-time car repair, groceries or child care.
That responsibility falls to many of the agencies receiving FEMA funds through United Way.
At Interparish, the cut this year was about $1,000. Interparish assists about 300 families annually in Clermont County and eastern Hamilton County.
“That's 10 families — if, on average, it's about $100 for rental assistance,” Ms. Brown said. “Welfare-to-work is working. But with the lower-paying jobs they're able to obtain, they're one paycheck away from poverty. It's a small crisis, but those of us in the trenches see where the big holes are.”
The cuts were spread around evenly, the United Way's Ms. Allsop said. The distribution began in recent weeks.
Other agencies receiving FEMA funds recently through the United Way and Community Chest are:
Clermont County Community Services; Salvation Army of Greater Cincinnati; YWCA; Goshen Food Pantry; New Richmond Food Pantry; Saint Vincent dePaul Society; and Seventh Day Adventist Community Free Store.
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