Slim Pickings for Recent College Grads

Today's Columbus Dispatch cover story featured our very own AmeriCorps*VISTA member, Alesha Rademan. We asked Alesha to tell us more about her story as a recent college graduate and her struggle to find work in the current job market:

"I graduated from Capital University in May of 2009 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management & Leadership (Human Resources). I thought I was going to be able to just walk into the job market and find something related to my degree with almost no problem. Boy, was I wrong.

I was approached about becoming a VISTA right after graduation, but I repeatedly said no because I just knew I would find a job. I sent out anywhere between 30-50 applications, most in Ohio but some in other states such as Washington, Michigan, and Indiana. In the end the out-of-state companies did not even respond. Most of the positions in Ohio expected the applicants to have 5 years of prior experience or more. There were not very many entry levels positions and if there was they were not positions I could really see myself enjoying and lasting very long. I did have some responses from companies about a few positions I applied for and even made it to an interview, a second interview, and in two cases a job offer.

Unfortunately, the two job offers I did receive were for a call center and as a telemarketer for a student loan company. Neither position was something I could see myself lasting in for more than a couple months. The whole situation just made me uncomfortable. So it was back to the drawing board. I attended two or three job fairs in Columbus. I made a few connections but for the most part I felt they were a waste of my time because they were primarily meant to build skills, skills I already acquired at Capital. I remember standing in line for a job fair held at Vets Memorial for about an hour and a half to only spend an hour inside. Most of that hour unfortunately was spent waiting in line to talk to three companies.

The next thing I knew a year had gone by since I had graduated and I was still only working part time and still living at home. I was approached again about becoming a VISTA and the idea seemed a little more appealing. The final decision really did come down to I needed a better job, something more than part time. I participated in community service while in college and it was something that I wanted to continue doing after I graduated so becoming a VISTA made sense. The pay rate was a little intimidating but it was such a good opportunity for connections and a resume booster I couldn’t really come up with a reason to say no. I honestly had no idea what I was getting myself into when I began my year of service in June, but now I am completely happy with my decision and can’t wait to see what the rest of my year of service will bring."

Alesha is currently serving as a Community Trainer with The Ohio Benefit Bank, helping people in similar situations in Southeast Ohio. Visit the OBBservations in Southeast Ohio blog to learn more about Alesha's work.

Ohio Sees Steep Rise in Poverty and Income Loss

Decreases in Employment, Increases in Assistance Plague State’s Economy

It comes as no surprise for those who advocate for Ohio’s poor and working classes that Ohio was hit hard by the Great Recession in 2009. Data released today from the United States Census Bureau in the American Community Survey shows that more than 1.7 million Ohioans, representing 15.2 percent of the states population were living at or below the federal poverty level in 2009, an increase of over 217,000 Ohioans or 1.94 percent when compared to the same data in 2008.

The American Community Survey paints a bleak picture of Ohio for 2009 in many respects. The data shows there was a drastic increase in the number of Ohioans who were unemployed from 2008 to 2009, climbing an additional 4.1 percent or over 239,500 Ohioans when comparing the state’s civilian labor force. As the labor force decreased substantially, the average income for Ohio families decreased as well, showing that the recession is a multi-edged sword. In 2008 median household income was $47,428 annually, but in 2009 that annual income decreased to $45,395.

With the increase in the number of Ohioans who were unemployed along with the annual income of Ohioans decreasing, it comes as no surprise that the number of Ohioans who were receiving government assistance increased substantially. Over 7,800 additional Ohioans were in receipt of government cash assistance (Ohio Works First) in 2009, while the number of Ohioans in receipt of Food Assistance (formerly known as Food Stamps) climbed to over 1.4 million Ohioans in 2009, an increase of over 27.8 percent from the number in receipt of Food Assistance in 2008.

Through no fault of their own, Ohioans are being forced to make tough decisions each and every day. Data released by the Mathematica Policy Research Institute in their Hunger in Ohio 2010 study aligns with the stark picture of Ohio painted by the American Community Survey. The Hunger in Ohio 2010 study showed that more Ohioans than ever are being forced into the lines of the emergency food network due to lack of employment, wage stagnation and choices that no individual should be forced to make. In 2009 over 1.4 million Ohioans turned to the emergency food network for assistance with their nutritional needs, while at the same time, nearly 1 in 4 children in Ohio under the age of 5 were considered to live in a home with low food insecurity. This data is matched by the findings of the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, which shows that 21.9 percent of Ohio children are living in households that are at or below the federal poverty level.

Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director at the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks, is alarmed, but not surprised by the data in the American Community Survey. “The data released today may catch some off guard, but for many, it comes as no surprise. We each know someone who has been affected by this recession and we must now stand up together for the betterment of Ohio and its citizens, especially those who are most vulnerable. It is both wrong and unaffordable to leave such a large number of Ohio families poor and threatened by hunger and sickness. Today’s poverty report should be a wake-up call for urgent investments in helping parents get back to work and to meet the basic needs of Ohioans.”

From Nora Nees, OASHF Director of Senior and Child Nutrition

Please take 5 minutes today and call your Congressperson on signing on to our back pack waiver request and funding a child nutrition bill that increases access and does not use SNAP/food stamps as an offset! Send this message on!

Back Pack Waiver
Today is the last day for our Congressional delegation to sign on to the waiver allowing federal reimbursements for meals taken off site. The letter is being circulated by Sarah McHugh in Congressman Driehaus’s office. Please call at the numbers listed below and urge your representative to sign on to the letter. They can contact Sarah McHugh at 5-2216.

Even if they have committed to signing they need to hear from you on the deadline and the urgency.
Dennis Kucinich—Yonatan Zamir (202) 225-5871 yonatan.zamir@mail.house.gov
Steven LaTourette—Sarah Cannon (202) 225-5731 sarah.cannon@mail.house.gov
John Boehner—Katherine Haley (202) 225-4000 katherine.haley@mail.house.gov
**Jean Schmidt—Matt Perin (202) 225-3164 matt.perin@mail.house.gov
Michael Turner—Joseph Heaton (202)225-6465 joseph.heaton@mail.house.gov
Jim Jordan—Wesley Goodman (202) 225-2676 wesley.goodman@mail.house.gov
Robert Latta—Bethany Peck (202) 225-6405 bethany.peck@mail.house.gov
Steve Austria—Courtney Temple (202) 225-4324 courtney.temple@mail.house.gov
Zack Space—Dan Farmer (202) 225-6265 dan.farmer@mail.house.gov
Pat Tiberi—Kelli Briggs (202)225-5355 kelli.briggs@mail.house.gov

Ask Senator Brown and Senator Voinovich to send a letter as well:
Sherrod Brown—Jonathan McCracken (202) 224-2315 jonathan_mccracken@brown.senate.gov
George Voinovich—Dana Smullen or Heather Homan (202) 224-3353 dana_smullen@voinovich.senate.gov or heather_homan@voinovich.senate.gov

Send a big thank you to signers!
Charlie Wilson—Heidi Ross (202) 225-5705 heidi.ross@mail.house.gov
Betty Sutton—Allison Abney (202) 225-3401 allison.abney@mail.house.gov
Tim Ryan—Michael Julian (202) 225-5261 michael.julian@mail.house.gov
John Boccieri—Justin Palmer (202) 225-3876 justin.palmer@mail.house.gov
Marcy Kaptur—Matt Kaplan (202) 225-4146 matthew.kaplan@mail.house.gov
Marcia Fudge—LaDavia Drane (out of the office) please email: ladavia.drane@mail.house.gov (202) 225-7032
Mary Jo Kilroy—Reginald Barker (202) 225-2015 reginald.barker@mail.house.gov



CNR Call In Days
We have a matter of days before the House goes home for the election. House members are being urged to pass the Senate version of child nutrition reauthorization funded with SNAP cuts before they leave!
Message: Far too many children - especially low-income children -- lack the nutrition they need to be healthy and successful. Urge the House to fund and pass a strong child nutrition bill now that increases children's opportunities for healthy meals both in and out of school -- and do so without cutting SNAP/Food Stamps.

Call In Days: From now through September 24th, make your CNR calls to Members of Congress toll-free via 1-877-425-4810 (courtesy of Voices for America's Children). In conjunction with the CNR Call-In Days, FRAC is hosting a "Tweetdown to CNR" to convey messages to Congress and the White House.

FRAC Resources: Watch for more detailed messages for the CNR Call-In Days and legislative updates to be posted to FRAC's website.

Sign and Circulate Letter Opposing Cuts to SNAP: More than 1,600 national, state, and community-based organizations have signed the letter opposing cuts to SNAP benefits. Help grow the list of signers. Click here for details.

Hard Facts in Northeast Ohio

In Summit County, home to the city of Akron and the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, our friends at the Job and Family Services office are taking steps to respond to the ever-growing crisis in the communities they serve.

Read more about those steps and what they mean to Summit County residents.

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: In Cuyahoga County, the number of households receiving some form of public assistance has hit 160,000 and continues to grow by about 1,000 per month, said Joseph Gauntner, director of the Employment and Family Services agency.

A broader geographic measure comes from the Cleveland Foodbank, which serves Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Astabula, Ashland and Richland counties.
The agency is on track to distribute more than 32 million pounds of food in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, an increase of 50 percent from two years ago.

Read the whole story, which highlights findings about health insurance from the recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

OASHF Press Release 9/16/2010

The number of employed Americans dropped by over 8 million when comparing the nation’s workforce in early 2008 to the same workforce in late 2009. More alarming and showing the correlation between the national recession, long-term unemployment and poverty is the fact that 61 percent of those jobs were lost before the Recovery Act was enacted in February 2009.

For the state of Ohio, the numbers are dismal, but this is not new news for our state’s emergency food network. “Though alarming, these numbers are not one bit surprising,” said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks. “In 2009, more than 1.430 million different Ohioans turned to the state’s emergency food network to supplement their everyday nutritional needs. The statewide hunger study, Hunger in Ohio 2010 gave us a real sense of what the forecast looked like for Ohio and it was not good. The Census Bureau’s data backs the same projection that Hunger in Ohio gave us, which is that more and more people need our help, which is why it is crucial for our network to be stronger today than ever.”

See the full press release

Just Released: New Poverty Statistics from the Census Bureau

From the Associated Press: "Given all the unemployment we saw, it's the government safety net that's keeping people above the poverty line," said Douglas Besharov, a University of Maryland public policy professor and former scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

That may be true, but unfortunately today's release of new U.S. Census Bureau poverty statistics for 2009 also show the continuation of another trend: more Americans are falling below the poverty line. OASHF and its member foodbanks and partners are on the front lines of the fight against poverty every day, and these statistics speak to what we are witnessing in communities across Ohio.

Among the working-age population, ages 18 to 65, poverty rose from 11.7 percent to 12.9 percent.

Child poverty rose from 19 percent to 20.7 percent.

Read more about the most recent statistics and help someone you know to find the help that they need.

"Front Lines in the Recession-Wracked Economy"

A recent editorial by the Cincinnati Enquirer highlights the need to support those social service agencies, like OASHF and its member foodbanks, that are on the front lines during these tough economic times.

Clearly, a lot of families are struggling in our community with job loss, underemployment and other effects of the current recession. All this is putting great pressure on our region's social service agencies. Those agencies need our support more than ever to help keep families stable in difficult economic times.

Read the full editorial, which highlights the Freestore Foodbank and its mission to fight hunger.

Operation YP to host "2010 Hunger Summit"

"In conjunction with the Mid-Ohio Foodbank’s 30th Anniversary and Hunger Action Month, Operation YP presents the 2010 Hunger Summit to be held on Wednesday, September 29, at Mid-Ohio Foodbank. This is an opportunity for community members of all ages and backgrounds to explore the issue of hunger, make a meaningful contribution to how the community responds to hunger, provide useful feedback for organizations involved in hunger-related work, and learn about ways to take action and make a difference, both personally and professionally."

The Mid-Ohio Foodbank is one of 12 OASHF member Foodbanks across the state. Find the OASHF member Foodbank serving your county!

A Success Story to Smile About

"Regina came in to do a SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) application in June. Through that process one of the OBB ODJFS case workers discovered she has been eligible for unemployment since March of this year, however we were unable to reach her for sometime due to the nature of her living situation and the fact that she does not have an address or phone. (At the end of last year she was laid off and then lost her apartment. She and her daughter have been homeless since the beginning of the  year, however somehow she managed to have her daughter graduate from high school.)
 
After we finally tracked her down (with the help of some of our other homeless clients, out on the street looking for her!) she was able to set up a mailing address through our office, and we worked with the unemployment office to straighten everything out.
 
She just stopped by to check her mail, and received over $4000 in back unemployment!
 
This is a HUGE success story folks! She is on her way to go look for an apartment. Keep doing what you’re doing everyone, it is important! We hear doom and gloom all the time: take a minute to smile about our impact in this family’s life!”

- Emily Forsee, OASHF HarvestCorps (AmeriCorps*State) Member

Join the Paper Plate Campaign!

There is no better way for local legislators and the media to understand the hardships faced by millions of Ohioans than to hear from the Ohioans who are currently faced with making tough choices. To give a glimpse into the lives of what a staggering number of Ohioans are facing because of the Great Recession, we are asking that you join with us in the Paper Plate Campaign!
We ask that you distribute paper plates to your clients and ask them to write down their current situation or circumstance, including what choices they have been forced to make and what would happen if they did not have access to a foodbank or food pantry.

OASHF will provide each organization who would like to participate with the following:

1) Requested/specified number of paper plates
2) Writing utensils
3) Prepaid postage to send back the completed paper plates

Just fill out the Paper Plate Campaign registration form to join us!