United Way of Greater Toledo (UWGT) is continuing its advocacy efforts around the ongoing partial government shutdown, with organization leadership expressing serious concern for local federal workers, individuals who rely on federal services and the mounting pressure for nonprofits to meet the growing needs of our community.
“We have over 250 federal workers across Lucas, Wood and Ottawa County,” said Wendy Pestrue, president and CEO of UWGT. “That’s a significant audience of residents who may be in dire need of health and human services.”
According to the New York Times, the impact of federal employees being out of work has caused a .13 percent weekly reduction in economic growth. “In quarter one of 2018, our national economy grew by 2.2 percent. That .13 percent may seem like a nominal number, but, nonetheless, has great impact on every community across the U.S.,” Pestrue said.
Per a recent survey, 15 of the 53 nonprofits UWGT provides program funding to have noted that they currently receive some sort of government funding, or that their clients heavily rely on one of the government departments currently affected by the shutdown.
“One of the greatest concerns United Way has centers on food insecurity and SNAP benefits. With the closing of the USDA, who administers SNAP…if the shutdown continues, it could result in a great deal of pressure on food-distributing nonprofits in Northwest Ohio, who will be looked at to meet the needs of additional hungry families,” Pestrue stated.
As of today, SNAP benefits have been administered through emergency funds from now until February. It is unclear if SNAP benefits will be administered beyond February if the shutdown continues.
“Even if all the United Way’s across the country came together and used the $3.6 billion dollars we raise to solely fund SNAP, we wouldn’t even come close to meeting the food needs of the 40 million Americans who depend on that service. And that’s just one government program that could be affected by the ongoing shutdown,” said Pestrue.
UWGT is encouraging individuals to call United Way 2-1-1 for any health and human service needs they may have due to the partial government shutdown. UWGT is also currently working with government entities and labor to help provide financial support to out of work federal employees. More details on that to come.
