BY NICK EVANS
Ohio faith leaders are calling on lawmakers to fund safety net services like school meals, food banks, and Medicaid. They’re also heartened by the governor’s proposed child tax credit. But the slate of policies they’re backing are far from a sure bet, as the Republican-controlled General Assembly takes a skeptical view toward benefit spending.
The House speaker has expressed doubts about universal school meals — “huge amount of waste”— and the House’s budget chief is skeptical about maintaining funding for foodbanks after the COVID-19 pandemic — “just probably not gonna be what we do.”
(Photo by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.)
To faith leaders from the Hunger Network in Ohio, the way the state spends its money is a statement of its collective morals.
“Our budget here in Ohio is reflective of our values, is reflective of who we are as a people,” Bishop Tony Minor of Community Faith Assembly in Cleveland said. “It speaks to how we care about the poor, how we care about those that that are hungry. It speaks to our concern about public education. It speaks to our concern about the environment.”
[RELATED: Cuts to federal food assistance would devastate Ohioans, food banks that help supplement]
He and other organizers contend lawmakers are shortchanging vital programs and cite specific amendments to bring spending in line with the support they believe ordinary Ohioans need.
“Politicians, elected officials, can stand up and say what their priorities are,” Deacon Nick Bates said in a press conference Tuesday. “But before I believe them, let me see their budget.”
Health care
Che Gadison, an organizer with the Northern Ohioans for Budget Legislation Equality, said that Gov. Mike DeWine’s push for Medicaid work requirements is misguided. She’s a single mother, and she explained Medicaid expansion helped provide health services for her sons.
“If we did not have these programs, my son would not have glasses right now,” she said. “I would not have glasses right now.”
“These programs are imperative to poor Ohioans who don’t make a livable wage,” she continued. “Now with the work requirements that they are mandating that is going to limit access to even more Ohioans out here.”
She noted that previously incarcerated Ohioans often have a difficult time getting a job, and by extension, limited access to health care. In his recent State of the State address, DeWine urged employers to “give them a chance.” But at a policy level, the state is doing little to encourage hiring.
“Our health is not something to bargain with,” Gadison argued.
Food banks
The governor’s initial budget proposal dials back the funding for food banks by $7.5 million compared to the last two-year spending plan. DeWine’s office described that $7.5 million as a one-time supplement, in light of additional federal funding and heightened need from the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Joel Call, who heads up Lutheran Social Services food pantries, argued that Ohio should be going in the opposite direction. Instead of letting that one-time funding lapse, he said lawmakers should take up an amendment that restores the funding along with a substantial inflation adjustment of about $4.9 million.
“The number of individuals that we serve continues to rise year after year,” he said. “A 24% increase in unduplicated individuals two years ago, another 12% increase just last fiscal year. What was once 1.7 million meals per year is now 2.2 million meals per year.”
[RELATED: Ohio food banks warn over less funding in governor’s budget proposal]
Food pantries like the ones Call leads are downstream of the food banks state lawmakers fund — the banks are like regional distribution centers while pantries are community-facing operations.
And with that level of personal interaction, Call had plenty of experiences he could relate. Sticking to first names, he described Ivanna, whose daughter’s medical bills make it difficult to afford housing and food.
“I think of Sam, who’s retired and takes the bus because he doesn’t want to spend money on gas to get to the pantry,” Call continued. “Or Julia, whose cancer diagnosis and treatment completely wiped out her savings and is having to start over from scratch.”
“These are regular, hardworking Americans facing challenging situations that shouldn’t be the end of their story,” he argued. “It’s our obligation as their Ohio neighbors to support them.”
(Photo by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.)
Responding to skepticism
Presented with Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman and finance chair state Rep. Brian Stewart’s critiques of school lunch and food bank funding, Deacon Bates pushed back. He described a family in which one parent lost their job. Because they’re in Columbus City Schools, Bates said, the kids will still get a free breakfast and lunch.
“I’ve actually taken them to school, and they were super excited to tell me all about ‘we get free breakfast every day,’” he said.
“So, this is one of the things about making a universal program, you never know when tragedy is going to hit a family,” he said, “Just because somebody can afford (lunches) in August doesn’t mean they can afford it in October.”
One of the organizers piped up, “I would just like to add that eggs are still $6 a dozen.”
As for funding food banks, Bates argued that most Ohio families are “one broken furnace, one flat tire away, from struggling to make ends meet.” And he derided lawmakers for entertaining a $600 million loan package for a new Cleveland Browns stadium while quibbling over less than $40 million for food banks.
“That doesn’t make sense to me, if we believe we are a moral society,” he said. “We have money to give out tax cut, after tax cut, after tax cut, after tax cut, after tax cut, after tax cut — 13 in the past 20 years.”
“We can afford to do all of these things,” he added, “all of these benefits for those who already have enough — yet we are debating about whether or not we can feed a child who might go hungry?”
