Notes from my Knapsack 2-23-23

Notes from my Knapsack 2-23-23
Jeff Gill

Should I help? How can I help?
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There are some impending rollbacks & unwinding of COVID-era benefits. You may not think this is relevant to you, but bear with me a bit.

First, some 16,000 Licking Countians will see cuts shortly to the SNAP benefits, aka "food stamps" that have given the last three years. Call that 9% of all residents in households receiving nutrition assistance. Who are SNAP participants?

Official data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: "Pre-pandemic data show that nearly 90 percent of participants are in households with a child under age 18, an adult age 60 or older, or an individual who is disabled. Children under age 18 constitute nearly half (44 percent) of all SNAP participants. About two-thirds of SNAP participants are in families with children; over one-third are in households with older adults or disabled people."

That other 10% of single adult able-bodied individuals, between ages 18 and 50, can only receive three months of assistance across a three year period, and must reapply to qualify each time. Further, our county's Food Pantry Network tells me over 80% of people coming to local pantries utilize them once or twice in a year. That's all.

On Medicaid, estimates are around 4,000 Licking County residents will lose coverage in April or May. That's 2% of our 178,500 citizens. Some will no longer qualify, many will simply not keep up with requirements to maintain coverage, often because they moved between March 2020 & 2023.
And while the number of children in foster care are just below 300, for the first time in about a decade, the total number of juveniles in foster care resident in this county is around 600 some. Of 34,000 children that's approaching 2%.

If you're worried about people living on the margins, and believe these benefit programs are in our moral & long-term national interests, you may wonder what you can do to help maintain & improve our social safety net programs: I have some simple suggestions.

1.) If you know anyone receiving SNAP or Medicaid assistance, remind them to keep their current address and contact info current with the relevant agencies. Non-response is the chief reason people get cut, and they find out when accessing services, setting them back weeks or months.

2.) Likewise, encourage in your circles of contact responding to notices & inquiries. People have automatically stayed enrolled for nearly three years; many of us in helping professions have forgotten the old patterns & processes. Help each other keep up!

3.) And in that same vein: discouragement, despair, & fatalism lose more people coverage FOR WHICH THEY QUALIFY than any other reason. Poverty — news flash — is hard work. Anything anyone can do to encourage, provide hope, and offer support, is going to be invaluable in this transition.

4.) Finally, let your elected officials know you support a measure of discretion & flexibility to local agencies. Ironbound federal & state rules handicap helpers both for providing support, and in managing complex issues.

This will not be a "disaster" like tornadoes or train derailments, but people will get hurt, almost always by accident, usually unintentionally, by losses of coverage and lower levels of assistance in this coming year. We need all the compassion & encouragement we can find to share, in order to find a firmer path to stable footing for everyone.


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's seen enough to know we need to help each other, maybe even love one another. Tell him where you find hope at knapsack77@gmail.com or follow @Knapsack on Twitter.