More than a million Ohioans are stuck in a system where a small increase in pay leads to a large loss in public assistance.
CLEVELAND — Occurring when an increase in earnings disqualifies a person from receiving public assistance. These so-called"benefit cliffs" limit the economic mobility for a significant number of families in the Cleveland area, which already has a higher-than-average unemployment rate. However, non-profit leaders are trying to change that by bringing awareness and building policy changes on the grassroots level.
Jasmine Price, a floating teacher for the YWCA, knows this all too well. Upon being hired at the YWCA, her small increase in take-home pay ever so slightly put her above the upper limits of being eligible for public assistance. An extra $80 in income precluded her from being eligible for hundreds of dollars worth of aid.
“About 1.7 million people in the state of Ohio are right on this cusp of barely making ends meet and when they hit that increase in income, it drops them below that survival rate or ‘making ends meet’ rate,” said Renee Timberlake, the director of economic mobility at the United Way of Greater Cleveland. “It can be really really challenging for families and it ends up being a disincentive to work.
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