June 1, 2020

County and Workforce Director Call COVID-19 Response Efforts Since May 26

• I will as usual get started with some high-level items, then move into programmatic areas, and then we’ll go beyond with our questions. • I know we all have been paying close attention to the events of the last few days. Now, more than ever, our work is critical to the Ohioans we serve. As an agency, we have always championed the cause of those in need, and we cannot turn away from the collective pain that our nation is experiencing. Black and brown people are in despair over the historical and present impacts of institutionalized racism. Over 100,000 people have lost their lives to an incurable disease. Millions are unemployed and experiencing food insecurity. The past 60 days have upended the entire fabric of our lives. We cannot let this crisis go to waste.

o Many people have asked me what they can do to help. Global solutions to our most complex challenges begin at the individual level. I’m proud to lead an agency that has always championed this work, and I’m proud to work shoulder to shoulder with all of you as you advance our mission at the local level. We will continue pressing onward. Through this pain, there can be growth. We would be wasting this moment if we did not come out better on the other side. That is my hope and expectation, at least within the sphere of influence that I am able to exert.

o As you may know, Governor DeWine activated the National Guard in both Columbus and Cleveland over the weekend. As the Governor said, he took this action “to drive out hate and violence and to instill order,” so that the “voices calling for justice and change” could be heard, so that “justice can prevail, and so that love, kindness, compassion, and peace can triumph over hate and violence.”

o These are emotionally charged times. As a society we still have some very difficult issues to resolve, but I know that we as a nation are capable of doing so. • Turning to ODJFS business, on Wednesday, I testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on H.B. 614, which aims to study and reform our unemployment system. I was grateful for this chance to tell what I believe was a comprehensive and compelling story about our response to the pandemic. My hope is that between the document we submitted and the nearly six hours of testimony, our lawmakers now have a better understanding of the unemployment system and the challenges that all states are experiencing. We know that the HB 614 work is continuing. Lawmakers are asking questions, and we are endeavoring to stay as helpful as possible. • Also last week Governor DeWine announced the formation of new Congregate Care Unified Response Teams to test residents and staff members in Ohio's nursing homes. • Lt. Governor Husted, who serves as Director of the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation, announced that 150 Ohio companies have been approved for TechCred funding. As you may remember, the TechCred program was launched last September with

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County and Workforce Director Call – June 1, 2020

the goal of helping businesses upskill their employees in areas such as software development, robotics, and cyber security. With last week’s approvals, a total of 500 Ohio employers have been approved for reimbursement, which will result in the earning of more than 4,000 technology-focused credentials by Ohio employees. • Just a quick budget update: We continue to analyze our options. The 20% that will be required to be put into a holding account will be only GRF lines that are not already exempt. We do have some flexibility. Our goal will be to minimize the impact, and we are committed to working closely with you throughout this process. We also were notified that all of our allocations should be moved to quarterly disbursement.

o I know we have a group of directors examining some fiscal recommendations in this space, and also eventually I will have a roundtable in this area, as well. I really want, in the context of that roundtable, to connect with our county partners who experienced the last recession so we can gather lessons learned and apply them to our strategies moving forward. • We are moving forward with our strategic planning process. As you know, our initial plans and timeline had to be adjusted. I will share more with you about this next week. We are working with the consultant Rama, who I know some of you may be familiar with. Right now, we are aiming for a June 12 kickoff. My goal is for this to be a comprehensive, integrated strategic plan focused on all of our program areas so that when the time comes, we can be at the leading edge of the new normal as we continue to move forward.

o Being a better partner to all of you will absolutely remain a priority. Our overarching goal is to move toward a more seamless system and achieve a more consistent service delivery statewide, to commit to service standards that every Ohioan can expect. I know ODJFS needs to be helpful to you in that. We need to look at what barriers should be removed, and which barriers should be examined, so that we can continue to move forward. • I have some bittersweet news to share. Office of Workforce Development Deputy Director John Weber will be retiring in August. I am sad that we will lose John’s leadership and his special brand of humor but I am happy for the well-deserved opportunity for him to retire and start an exciting new chapter. He has served this office, agency and state exceedingly well, with more than 34 years of state service, including the last 11 at the helm of OWD.

o I will be working with John between now and August on a transition plan and examining our organizational structure. We were already looking at that even before COVID. This will give us the opportunity for us to realize some of our high-level objectives. We will stay in touch regarding next steps. • As in past weeks, I will now provide some brief program-specific updates, and then I will be happy to answer any questions.

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County and Workforce Director Call – June 1, 2020

SNAP/TANF • P-EBT benefits have started to be issued. We sent the file on Thursday. That same day, families that had matching school data and SNAP account data received benefits. On Thursday and Friday, we issued payments of $302.10 to more than 321,000 children and payments of $239.40 to nearly 30,000 children.

o Children who were not matched to an existing SNAP case or who are not SNAP recipients will receive their P-EBT cards by mid-June. The card vendor has the file and is working as quickly as it can to create cards and get them in the mail.

o Families will receive one card per child; siblings were not grouped together. There may be families with one or more children matched to a SNAP account and other siblings in the home who were unable to be matched and will receive a P-EBT card.

o Updated flyers have been posted on our website in English and Spanish, along with other information such as Q&As and card image. • In addition, on Friday, we successfully sent the SNAP mass supplements for May. This time, we also sent supplements to households whose cases were approved after the process ran in March and April so that county agencies wouldn’t have to. We also extended by six months the certification periods for cases due in June to free up time for county agencies to focus on application processing and other pressing work. • Today and tomorrow, we will be conducting pilot testing of the SNAP Online Purchasing program. We hope to implement this with Amazon and Walmart within the next few weeks. • Over the weekend, we learned that FNS has approved Ohio to extend a number of our waivers through June 30th. This extension applies to the OWF procedures for interviews and erroneous payments described in Action Change Transmittals No. 273 and 274. The waivers described in Food Assistance Change Transmittal Letters No. 68 and 69 include the option to waive the interview in specific circumstances, extending the time frame for good cause if an individual is not able to provide a Social Security number due to closure of the local Social Security offices, and delaying collection on newly established overpayments.

o A new Food Assistance Change Transmittal Letter and Action Change Transmittal letter will be published shortly to formally document the extension. County agencies can continue to implement the waivers as described in FACTs 68 and 69 and ACTs 273 and 274.

Child Care • Yesterday was the reopening date for child care programs. In advance of that, we shared information with providers about the $60 million grant program. They will be able to apply for reopening grants this month. In addition, the Ohio Child Licensing and Quality System was updated so that programs can indicate when they will reopen. The Time, Attendance and Payment system also was updated so programs can begin tracking children’s attendance. • The Child Care team provided an overview training to county agencies and state licensing staff on new Employee Record Chart functionality that will be available at the end of June. This is expected to greatly enhance staff’s efficiencies and timeliness with inspections.

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County and Workforce Director Call – June 1, 2020

• They also continue to add to the “Transitional Pandemic Child Care Toolkit” on our website and created two best practices trainings, one for family child care providers and one for child care centers and day camps.

Children Services • Many thanks to all of you who completed the surveys about graduating foster youth. We learned that 405 young people in PCSA custody will be graduating from high school this year, in addition to 72 more in the Bridges program. Some former foster youth who now run a podcast have kindly offered to give each one a personalized congratulations letter and a swag bag. • On Tuesday, our children services team co-hosted the second biweekly Virtual Neighborhood Connections forum with local nonprofit and community organizations. The topic this time was behavioral health. The next forum will be on June 9th, and the topic will be child care. • On Friday, the team participated in the COVID-19 Call to Action from Ohio Foster Youth & Alumni. They met with foster youth and alumni to hear their recommendations, share updates and answer questions. • Pelotonia posted PCSAs’ contact information on its website this year, so that volunteers who couldn’t participate in the bike ride can still offer to do other good work in their communities, if they would like.

Unemployment • We have now paid more than $3.2 billion in unemployment benefits to more than 652,000 claimants since the start of the pandemic, and only 6.6% of claims are still pending. We have paid another $933 million to more than 150,000 PUA claimants. • Last week, we began piloting the ability for claimants to file their weekly claims by mobile text message, with 10,000 claimants participating initially. • We also began emailing claimants with pending claims, and we have increased the number of staff calling repeat callers to help them with their claims. • While we are still very high by historic standards, our continued unemployment claims have trended downward for four consecutive weeks, which indicates the resumption of economic activity across the state.

Workforce • As businesses across Ohio begin the gradual process of reopening, we are actively engaged in reexamining our ability to support our local workforce system in a coordinated way. We want to assist both employers and unemployed workers in what has become a very challenging economic environment.

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County and Workforce Director Call – June 1, 2020

• Our Bureau of Labor Market Information is working closely with a coalition of several states to expand the mining of unemployment and other data to effectively support economic recovery. We hope to gain a better understanding of the geographic and industry distribution of employment dynamics so we can help ensure that resources can be targeted. • In addition, last week, our Office of Workforce Development submitted an application to DOL for a $25 million COVID-19 Employment Recovery National Dislocated Worker Grant, which could fund career and training services for workers unemployed as a result of the pandemic. • They also worked with many partners to distribute approximately 12,000 masks, 100 thermometers and 300 gallons of hand sanitizer for as many as 4,000 migrant and seasonal farmworkers. Agriculture is Ohio’s leading industry, as you may know, and Ohio farmers rely on migrant labor to plant, cultivate, harvest, process, and package their produce. This important outreach effort will help ensure migrant workers’ safety as they perform this vital service for our economy. Other partners included the Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Department of Agriculture, Ohio Farm Bureau, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Ohio Latino Affairs Commission, and the Governor’s office.

• I hope this update has been helpful. I will be happy to answer questions.

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