Low-Income Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Job Training Would Be Required For Grocery Benefits Under Bill

A bill under consideration in the West Virginia Senate would require participants in a grocery assistance program receive job training if they are currently unemployed.

Job training may soon be required for unemployed participants in West Virginia’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Each month, SNAP provides eligible low-income households with a monetary supplement to their food budget, with the goal of reducing food insecurity. SNAP is a nationwide program administered in West Virginia by the Department of Human Services.

Currently, adults who receive SNAP benefits in West Virginia are eligible to receive employment training through the program.

Senate Bill 562 would make job training a requirement for adult participants employed for less than 30 hours per week, provided that they do not have certain disabilities or meet other exemptions.

At a meeting of the Senate Workforce Committee on Tuesday, lawmakers discussed a new version of the bill that expanded the age requirement for this new provision to age 60. An earlier draft of the bill would only have required participants ages 18 to 51 to participate in the training.

Sen. Rollan Roberts, R-Raleigh, who serves as chair of the committee, described the job training requirement as an opportunity to support residents in need.

“It’s my opinion, after researching all of this and dealing with everyone, we have more resources than ever to help folks,” he said. “I think it’s a great time to be able to help them.”

The committee voted unanimously in favor of the bill, sending it to the Senate Finance Committee for further discussion.

Huntington Home Repair Project Has Statewide Potential

A home repair program in Huntington that brings nationwide volunteers together with hometown groups continues to grow on several levels.

Huntington’s successful Project Shine program served 101 homes in three neighborhoods last year. This year, the program is going city wide. The free housing rehabilitation program provides qualified homeowners with minor home exterior repairs including siding, gutters and windows along with accessibility upgrades like wheelchair ramps and safety additions such as security lighting and weatherization.

Project Shine coordinator Ben Newhouse said more than 1400 youth and adult volunteers from four workgroups across the country will partner with local churches,nonprofits and public schools. He said residents get housing upgrades, young people will learn skills and West Virginia becomes a showcase.

“Kids learn skills when they build and work on homes,This will never be taken away from them,” Newhouse said. “They can pick up a hammer, work on stairs or porches, whatever. Some of them come back to vacation and maybe hopefully go to school here at Marshall or another institution in the area.”

Newhouse said there are numerous work groups across the country that want to get out again and help now that COVID-19 restrictions are lifting. He said there are many groups and resources that could help other towns and counties across West Virginia. Several versions of Project Shine are underway throughout the state.

For more information on how you or your community might get involved, email projectshine@huntingtonwv.gov.

Medicaid Savings to Apply to Other W.Va. Programs

West Virginia Health and Human Resources Secretary Bill Crouch says $160 million in savings from the state’s Medicaid program will be applied to other programs.

Crouch cites program changes that have improved efficiencies in the program providing health care coverage to low-income West Virginians.

State budget officials say the nearly $4 billion Medicaid budget, about 73 percent federally funded, has belatedly received an increased share of federal support, freeing up state money.

Crouch says the unused state money will be redirected to other areas in the department including child protective services and cost increases at state hospitals and economic development.

Two Head Start Programs Receive Federal Funding

West Virginia’s Head Start programs in Beckley and Oak Hill will receive $3.3 million in federal funding.

United States Senators Joe Manchin and Shelley Moore Capito made the announcement Monday.

The funding comes from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.

Manchin and Capito say the state’s Head Start programs are vital to help mold the minds of young West Virginians as well as provide a strong foundation to succeed.

$2 million will go to the Fayette County Child Development Center, and the other $1 million will be given to the Raleigh County Community Action Association, Inc.

West Virginia Head Start was founded in 1985 to help promote child development and care for low-income families. The program serves more than 8,000 children and families in the Mountain State.

Lawmakers Begin Pushing for State Earned Income Tax Credit

While lawmakers discuss ways to fix the state’s projected budget deficit, a related piece of legislation is beginning to take shape — the creation of a state earned income tax credit.

An earned income tax credit, or EITC, is an extra lump of cash refunded to low-income, working families every year at tax time. The amount a family receives varies, but it’s based on a person’s income and the number of children in the home, but only working adults qualify. The credit is meant to help struggling families get ahead and many use the extra funds to make major purchases like cars, or large appliances.

West Virginians are currently eligible for a federal EITC, but the state doesn’t offer its own. Twenty-six other states and the District of Columbia offer EITCs, according to the national Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Delegate Matthew Rohrbach, a Republican from Cabell County, is pushing a state EITC in the House.

“We’ve got to get our workforce participation level up,” Rohrbach said, “but it’s important to support these families as they do it.”

But with such a large budget gap to fill for fiscal year 2018, nearly $500 million, the credit would only increase the budget gap, costing the state between $60 and $80 million, according to most estimates.

Still, to balance next year’s budget, Governor Jim Justice has proposed almost $30 million in cuts and $450 million in tax increases. It’s for this reason Rohrbach says creating a state EITC is imperative.

“If those taxes do get increased as he sees, I would hope that we would realize a lot of the taxes he’s proposed are consumption taxes; that will hit the people at the bottom levels of our economy the hardest,” he noted.

Rohrbach’s bill has bi-partisan support in the House. A similar bill is in the works for the Senate.

Obesity Rate Increases in W.Va. Children from Low-Income Families

Obesity rates among West Virginia children in low-income families have increased by 2 percent from 2010 to 2014.

West Virginia’s obesity rate among young children from low-income families increased from 14.4 percent in 2010 to 16.4 percent in 2014, according to the national Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The study was published Thursday in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Obesity rates, however, significantly decreased in 31 states and three territories. Those rates however, did increase significantly in Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia among 2 to 4 year-olds enrolled in WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.

West Virginia’s obesity rate is ninth highest in the nation.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation.