Hello Friends:

Fall has always been my favorite season. The weather turns a little cooler (but not too cold). Football season begins. Every conceivable food and drink is available in pumpkin flavor. And last, but certainly not least, it’s time for the Fairfield County Fair!

Things are also very busy at Job and Family Services where we prepare our annual budget for the coming year, begin a number of year-end activities, and host our annual Job Fair. In this edition of the JFS e-Link, we highlight activities from Child Support Awareness Month, provide a status update on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and introduce a new reporting portal for abuse and neglect referrals called TEAM Ohio.

I hope you’ll take a moment to review our newsletter and as always, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions or feedback.

Take care and stay safe,

Corey Clark

Fairfield County Job and Family Services Director

CHILD SUPPORT AWARENESS MONTH PARTNER VISITS

The Fairfield County CSEA’s efforts to recognize Child Support Awareness Month this August focused on strengthening our relationships with local partner resource organizations. Realizing that our customers are often experiencing challenges and barriers well beyond the confines of their child support cases, and in an effort to more comprehensively serve these individuals and their needs, we continually strive to enhance and enrich our relationships with Fairfield County’s many public service and charitable organizations.

In early August, CSEA employees, accompanied by volunteers from other JFS departments, spent their evening at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Fairfield County during their monthly Big for a Day event. At the conclusion of this fun-filled evening of games and mentorship we provided new backpacks full of school supplies and a Walmart gift card to all of the participating children. All of the distributed items and supplies were donated by our staff. We have a wonderful group of employees here at JFS who repeatedly donate their valuable time, effort, and money to benefit our county’s most vulnerable.

To conclude the month, on August 24th, the entire CSEA staff spent the day visiting local service agencies to gain a better understanding of their offerings. Some of the organizations we visited included: Fairfield County Juvenile Court, Fairfield County ADAMH, Fairfield County Workforce Center, Lutheran Social Services, Foundation Shelters and Dinners, and Lancaster-Fairfield Community Action. The knowledge and connections developed will help our team better assist and connect our customers, while also providing us a greater appreciation for Fairfield County’s magnificent resource organizations and the work they undertake to reduce homelessness, hunger, mental illness, and drug and alcohol abuse in our community.

JFS STAFF WEAR GREEN FOR CHILD SUPPORT AWARENESS MONTH

TEAM OHIO

TEAM (Taking Early Action Matters) Ohio is a new web-based reporting portal for child welfare agencies to receive referrals. ODJFS contracted with Salesforce to develop the online portal as another avenue for partners and community members to provide timely information regarding concerns for abuse and neglect. Currently, the portal is in active development while it’s being piloted by counties and mandated reporters.

The pilot started in May of this year with only one county. Fairfield County will join the pilot in early September, working collaboratively with some of the buildings in the Lancaster City School District as referral sources. This will allow the opportunity for feedback on the development and roll out of the portal. Nationwide Children’s Hospital was one of the initial pilot participants, and once Fairfield County is added, they will be able to send us referrals as well. ODJFS hopes to have TEAM Ohio live and available to all counties in late 2024.

SNAP UPDATE

SNAP Application Timeliness is a performance measure monitored by the Federal Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). FNS considers a SNAP case processed “timely” if the household is approved within seven days of the application date for expedited cases and within 30 days of the application date for regular processing cases. Expedited service is provided to households with zero countable income after allowable expenses. FNS considers an approval rate of 95% and above to be acceptable performance.

In 2022, Fairfield County staff determined 97.27% of new SNAP applications within the required time frame; we approved 3,358 new applications for SNAP for the year, and 3,268 of those applications were processed within the required time frame. For comparison, the overall average for all counties in the state of Ohio in 2022 was 93.27%.