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Columbus Underground Messageboard » General Columbus Discussion
1 in 10 Ohioans receiving Food Stamps
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ladyryokomuyo
Fiddler Green
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Posted 4 years ago # -
Cyclist
Peach District (State of Mind)
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I applied for food stamps in January and got a rejection notice last week. It said that I never showed to my caseworker appointment, but they never scheduled me. Did you know that the current poverty guidlines for food stamps/assitance are based on 1960 data?
Posted 4 years ago # -
ARH
w. beach
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dealing with welfare is incredibly hard. i applied for food stamps and was denied 3 separate times. at the time i was making $8.00/hr working 30-35 hours per week, definitely below the archaic poverty guidelines. i was 19 and the reason for their denial was because "my parents should have been supporting me." even though they were not.
i don't envy anyone who has to deal with ODJFS. it's all bullshit.
Posted 4 years ago # -
lifeliberty
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this program takes like 5 minutes to apply for. It's stupid easy to apply for and easy to get. Loans, savings, living off credit card are not counted as income so there are so many college students that could get this benefit that don't even know about it.
Income guidelines (HEAP) are on the application.
Size of Household/ Total Household Income Twelve Months
1 up to $17,867.50
2 $23,957.50
3 $30,047.50
4 $36,137.50
5 $42,227.50
6 $48,317.50
7 $54,407.50
8 $60,497.50
http://www.odod.state.oh.us/cdd/ocs/heap.htm
download and print off the application
fill it out and sign it
include income docs and copy of gas and electric bill
mail it in
they will put a one time payment(once a year, you have to apply each year) onto your heat bill. if you heat with gas $ gets put on Columbia Gas bill, if electric then AEP and so on.
Posted 4 years ago # -
UncommonSense
Hilliard
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Joy of Joys! CNN was talking about this Dispatch story yesterday afternoon on their financial segment. Wonderful press for the #1 up and coming Tech City in America! Or is it the Indie Art Capital? I keep getting mixed up. :cry:
Posted 4 years ago # -
Cyclist
Peach District (State of Mind)
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[quote="lifeliberty"]
Size of Household/ Total Household Income Twelve Months
1 up to $17,867.50
2 $23,957.50
3 $30,047.50
4 $36,137.50
5 $42,227.50
6 $48,317.50
7 $54,407.50
8 $60,497.50
quote]
I make $10,500 annual before taxes. What level does that put me? I make like $5.04 an hour. More than $2 less than minimum wage.
I did poverty simulation yesterday for VISTA work training. It was pretty interesting. I was a single father with three kids. I worked at a hospital for $8.50 an hour. The game simulated 1 month's time. At the end of the month I owed $920 to the check cashing place, and never got my mortgage paid, plus one of my kids got kidnapped by a drug dealer. It was put on by some consulting group out of Missouri. The game certainly demonstrated the "tyranny of the moment" that some 40 million Americans go through every day.
Posted 4 years ago # -
lifeliberty
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it goes by household income, for 1 person in house the yearly gross(before tax) income limit is $17,867.50 ; therefore if you make less than that $17,867.50 in a year you qualify.
Posted 4 years ago # -
ladyryokomuyo
Fiddler Green
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Cyclist:
plus one of my kids got kidnapped by a drug dealer.
HAHAHAHA! Everyday life is a bitch.
Posted 4 years ago # -
brothermarcus
West Siiiide
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ARH wrote i don't envy anyone who has to deal with ODJFS. it's all bullshit.
these are federal programs with federal guidelines handed to the state to administer who then hands it off to county agencies guided by ohio administrative code. if you live with your parents at 19 the federal guidelines say they should be supporting you getting your eat on and you will be included in an assistance group with them and their income for food stamp benefits. if you are independant and do not live with your parents you could be eligible if your income and resources meet standards. depending on your income through employment/self-employment you may be required to participate in the food stamp employment and training program in order to be eligible for the benefit you've applied for.
there are hoops to everything, don't want to jump through them- don't apply for the benefits. the taxpayers, the ones that don't smoke and don't like strip clubs that turn out to vote in overwhelming numbers, they don't like any notion that the welfare system is easy or anything more than temporary - so it's not (to a certain extent).
things are only bullshit when you fail to look beyond them, manure has it's purpose.
Posted 4 years ago # -
Cyclist
Peach District (State of Mind)
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Walker wrote
Cyclist wrote I did poverty simulation yesterday for VISTA work training.
From your description it sounds like a modern day Oregon Trail. :lol:
hahahahaha :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
It was so much like Oregon Trail. But more sobering.
Posted 4 years ago # -
UncommonSense
Hilliard
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Walker wrote
Cyclist wrote I did poverty simulation yesterday for VISTA work training.
From your description it sounds like a modern day Oregon Trail. :lol:
Thanks alot, Walker! Not that I need help wasting time, but I just downloaded an emulator, and will probably be playing for the rest of the evening. This takes me WAY back! :)
Posted 4 years ago # -
Manatee
The eternal present
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I'd like to point out that just because a person is eleigible for government benefits, hardly ever means they'll get them in the state of Ohio.
I'm pretty sure they (BJFS) throw about 2/3 of their paperwork in the circular file.
Or maybe they have some kind of other randomizer that picks who gets what, like they throw all the applications on a lazy Susan and spin it really hard. The applications which land in the paper cup on Bob's desk get selected for benefits?
At any rate, they have about enough money to keep 3 of the four office walls standing, so I think they have to be giant A-holes about who they give aid to.
My favorite is when really, really handicapped and impaired people are made to fill out really complicated paperwork and get things notarized. Then get denied like 3 times in a row, over the course of 2 or 3 years.
Posted 4 years ago # -
lifeliberty
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firstly, it's now ODJFS(Ohio Dept. of Jobs and Family Services.)
2ndly, they have TONS of money, it's not the shoestring budget you are thinking. they just don't want to spend it.
And also, make sure you aren't confusing ODJFS with Social Security Administration(in regards to the handicapped)
Posted 4 years ago # -
Manatee
The eternal present
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lifeliberty wrote firstly, it's now ODJFS(Ohio Dept. of Jobs and Family Services.)
2ndly, they have TONS of money, it's not the shoestring budget you are thinking. they just don't want to spend it.
And also, make sure you aren't confusing ODJFS with Social Security Administration(in regards to the handicapped)
Why would they not want to spend it on eligible people? And I've always, always heard that they were broke as hell.
I'm just talking about my own extensive experience in the past, with ODJFS, and all the people I saw there, which was horrifying beyond belief. I've probably spent a full 3 months of my life waiting around in government buildings for someone to talk to me.
Sorry for venting :( , I'm done now!
Posted 4 years ago # -
brothermarcus
West Siiiide
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lifeliberty wrote 2ndly, they have TONS of money, it's not the shoestring budget you are thinking. they just don't want to spend it.
every dollar has a specific purpose from the feds, even if someone in the state or county wants to spend something on someone if that client doesn't meet the criteria set up by your representatives and their appointees regardless of how big the pot is there isn't a dime there for them. I know it sounds odd, but if you want things to be different you have to communicate to your representatives to make them different. Some representatives, however, are representing groups of people who hate welfare with a passion and only want to see these dollars earmarked for children, pregnant women, and very old people. Some states fund things on top of minimum federal medicaid guidelines for single able-bodied adults without children, ours is not one of them.
And also, make sure you aren't confusing ODJFS with Social Security Administration(in regards to the handicapped)
exactly, SSA had to take the burden of the welfare reform act when a lot of people (i'll be polite) with marginal observable barriers could no longer have sustainable welfare income... the SSI component got flooded, and thanks to several factors here in Ohio we have a GIANT backlog of SSI claims resulting in what appears to be a process where things are just denied a few times before a hearing is set where legitimate disabilities are considered... and if you falter at any point in the determination process you have to start all over. a bunch of the backlog has been shipped to chicago and seattle for processing from what I've heard.
Disability determinations take FOREVER, unless they don't. it's a crapshoot with SSA. the ODJFS disability determination unit is quite a bit faster, but they aren't approving SSI claims- just interim assistance for disabled individuals which amounts to not much of anything outside of a Medicaid for the Disabled card and a minimal monthly stipend if the client is eligible.
Posted 4 years ago # -
brothermarcus
West Siiiide
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I'm sorry you were in that position alone. I don't envy the position of a client or worker in any metropolitan county department of job and family services -if you were even in a metro county at that time- the struggles involved on both sides are unrealistically hard. The level of bureaucracy needed to deal with large volumes of people almost defeats the purpose of social service, but you have to try your best.
I always hope that social agencies try to identify and hire helpers, and for the most part they do... but sometimes even helpers don't respond well to the volume, pace, and nature of the work especially if the environment is not supportive or the workload unmanageable.
I would recommend, however, that anyone who is frustrated to the point of needed to vent regarding any government policy or agency write a letter to an appropriate representative... if they don't even know you're angry they don't even have an opportunity to decide if your cause is important to their constituency?
Posted 4 years ago # -
Zenperson
\o/hi\o/
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There is actually a substantial surplus of public benefits money in the state of Ohio at the moment that is well over a billion dollars. Since this is federal money that has been earmarked for benefits, it can't be used for other purposes, so it gets returned when it goes unclaimed.
With that said, there is also a massive campaign in Ohio currently to fix the broken application system by which people apply for the various programs such as food stamps and medicaid. This program aims to make the application process easier to understand and complete and eventually particiapte in electronically, bypassing the need for paper applications.
It's called the Benefit Bank. http://www.obb.ohio.gov
:D
Posted 4 years ago # -
brothermarcus
West Siiiide
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Zenperson wrote With that said, there is also a massive campaign in Ohio currently to fix the broken application system by which people apply for the various programs such as food stamps and medicaid.
:D
Yep, the current system (in it's many forms and splendours) took forever to develop and is still buggy as hell after more years than I care to mention and doesn't respond well to legislative changes... the new system will also take forever to develop and will likely be buggy as hell and not respond well to legislative changes...
my expectations are not high and I expect a roll-out somewhere between 4 and 10 years from now.
There is also a movement against the current state job matching system which took forever to develop and is still buggy as hell after more years than I care to mention.
notice a pattern? the data is a mountain, moving it is a huge task and involves demolitions and collateral damage - hopefully the new system is streamlined and fool-proof, I'll believe it when I see it.
Posted 4 years ago #
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