Everyone at the Table. A Mid-Ohio Food Collective podcast
Everyone at the Table. A Mid-Ohio Food Collective podcast
What The New SNAP Changes Mean for Ohio Families
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SNAP requirements changed in March, and the hard part is not just the policy: it’s the paperwork, deadlines, and confusion that can knock eligible people off benefits. We sit down with benefits and advocacy leaders from Mid-Ohio Food Collective, the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, and Cincinnati’s Freestore Foodbank to explain what the new federal rules mean right now for Ohio families. If you or someone you love relies on food assistance, this conversation is built to help you keep your footing.
In this episode, we dig into expanded SNAP work and volunteer reporting requirements, with a close look at why adults ages 55 to 64 are likely to feel the biggest impact. We talk through real barriers: limited tech access, transportation, anxiety about scams, and the simple reality that it can take older workers longer to find a new job. You’ll also hear how food banks are adapting their approach so people can gather the right documents, understand exemptions, and communicate clearly with county case workers. Plus, as is always the goal, walking people through the process with dignity.
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Food Bank Mission And Welcome
SPEAKER_01Yes, we're a food bank. We collect and distribute an impressive amount of food. But that's not all.
SPEAKER_03We're a hub of caring people doing all we can to end poverty and hunger and improve health.
SPEAKER_01Welcome.
SPEAKER_00Welcome.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the Mid Ohio Food Collective Podcast. Everyone at the table.
SPEAKER_00Welcome everyone to Everyone at the Table. I'm your host, Scott Light. Our March episode is especially timely to keep meeting the needs of our friends, neighbors, and families out there. This is the first month when changes in SNAP requirements kick in at the federal level, and that's going to affect millions of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Ohioans too. We are going to really dive into these details, folks, with my guests. But the top line is really this now that March is here, recipients must verify they are meeting expanded work and volunteer requirements. Joining us today, Juanita Burden is the Director of Benefits and Customer Outreach at the Mid Ohio Food Collective. She is right here beside me here at MOFCHQ, a role she has held since 2021. She's held various roles in serving customers with the collective sense and works with internal and our external partners to address food insecurity, healthcare access, and the availability of nutritious food. Cam McKenzie is a SNAP program manager with experience in federal and state benefits regulations and direct support for individuals and families accessing assistance. Among many things, she serves as a liaison between free store food bank clients and the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services. Jessica Semanchko joined the Greater Cleveland Food Bank in 2023 as Director of Advocacy and Public Education. She leads that organization's advocacy and government relations efforts and oversees public education initiatives that increase awareness of food insecurity and certainly strengthen community relations throughout her area as well. It's good to have all of you. Welcome all.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Scott. Nice to have you here.
What HR 1 Changes In SNAP
SPEAKER_00Well, Anita, let me start with you. And why don't we start with a couple of baselines here, just to set the table for our listeners and how we got to this point? The change is coming to SNAP, and they're here, as I mentioned. Um, it's from passage of what was called the Big Beautiful Bill. Can you go through some of those changes?
SPEAKER_02Thanks for the question. First and foremost, thank you also for inviting uh me and my peers here to have this opportunity to have this discussion about the changes. Prior to the HR 1, um 12% of Ohioans were recipients of SNAP. And yes, due to these changes, we will see an impact for access and the ability for individuals to maintain and keep these SNAP benefits. But when we talk specifically about the changes, there are several of them. Some are more present than others, but um those changes consist of elimination of the SNAP education uh program known as SNAP ed. We will also see changes around SNAP administration cost shifts. Um this basically, you know, is the share of uh of costs that the state will have to provide to have the program or administer the program. We'll see uh changes around SNAP benefit cost share. And the two that I would like to point out that we are seeing um executed and implemented in real time right now is SNAP eligibility changes uh around the expansion of Ohioans who must report work activity, as well as elimination of uh SNAP for lawfully present immigrants, asylumes, refugees, and victims of trafficking.
First Reactions And Staying Ready
SPEAKER_00That is a great setting of the table with multiple things we're gonna talk about here. So let's go through exactly what you just teed up there, Juanita, one at a time. So let's get into it. Jessica Cam, let me come to let us come to both of you. Give us your visceral thoughts on on what's happening this month. Cam, would you start us off, please?
SPEAKER_01I've been in this um this uh career field for 20 years. And one thing that is common is just change. And uh we have a solid team that has been around for a while, and so we are used to being fluid and embracing the change. And although we know that there will be some negative impact to those who will be potentially eligible now and receiving benefits, we are prepared to continue to offer the same support we have been doing year after year. Anytime there's any changes within legislation that has to do with SNAP eligibility and how our folks are able to navigate that process. Um, the biggest thing that um Anita had uh alluded to about the expansion of work requirements for the older adults. Um, now we just have to make sure that we specialize in that area and that we're still providing that support and assistance and helping them to get supporting documents and also how they explain their situations to caseworkers to ensure that they still can get connected to those benefits and possibly meet some of the exemptions that may be in place for them. Okay, Jessica?
SPEAKER_03No, I think to Cam's point, if there's one thing that's a constant in food banking, it's change. And so we have from COVID to today, we have had to pivot to respond to changes in policy and regulation. So it's something that we are used to. What we've really been focusing on as uh these changes roll out is how we educate our neighbors, um, making sure that they understand what these changes are, understand how they can connect with local jobs and family services, helping them uh navigate the process and making sure that they have consistent information. I think the one thing that we've seen since uh the passage of the bill is there's a lot of information out there, um, and it's a complicated issue. So we've really focused on providing clear, consistent information to our neighbors. Um and then also, you know, really focusing, it's gonna be hard to determine exactly what this impact will be long term, but what we can do now is um really focus on public education of our neighbors, of other community members, and even our legislators.
Food Insecurity Since COVID
SPEAKER_00Let me come back around the horn to all three of you. Um, Jessica, you just mentioned COVID. Uh again, just a baseline for our listeners. Can you kind of give them a sense of what the needs are like in your respective areas when it comes to food insecurity since COVID?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, absolutely. So I think the thing that surprises many people is that we are seeing the same need that we saw during COVID. I think need has remained consistently high. We know that 65% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. Last year, about 25% of the neighbors that visited the food bank or a neighbor were a first time were receiving benefits for the first time. So what we know is that need remains high, that many individuals because of food costs and other economic factors are just a little bit more vulnerable to food insecurity. So we see that need has not diminished since COVID, but has remained constant.
SPEAKER_01I think Jessica pretty much covered it. Um, again, these are new faces, new families and situations. Um, whether it's the food bank or it's a SNAP program, people don't want to ask for help unless they need help. And what we're seeing now is that, especially with our um our older Americans, which is ironic because now there's an extended work requirement for them as well, is that they have always been prideful and said that, you know, these benefits belong to children and, you know, mothers, small families, and now they're in situations where every day they're making life decisions where it comes to food and nutrition, housing, transportation, uh, medical costs, and um, they need our help. And it's a it's different to explain benefits and processes and things like that to someone in their 20s and 30s than explaining it to somebody in their 50s and 60s. It's a totally different world. And so we've been having to kind of tailor our approach and our messaging to make sure one, that they get the information that they need, like Jessica was talking about, but also doing it in a way where they still have their pride and their dignity at the end of those conversations.
Seniors Face New Work Rules
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I would just add to um both of these um excellent um answers, and that for our particular team, when we are engaging specifically with older seniors, um we find that sometimes technology we find um may be a barrier. We find that sometimes inform um understanding information and having to explain things in a more thorough and clear way. So it's important that we all have teams that help individuals, particularly our seniors, um, be able to navigate these changes and challenges that we know that they will face it.
SPEAKER_00I can't imagine what you do have to do in in that respect. I I this is goofy, but my 80-year-old mother calls me with her IT issues, and I'm an IT idiot. And so I but you know, you do have to uh the language that I share with her versus if my sister and I are talking about IT, it is, it's very different, right? Uh in terms of how you have to talk about this stuff.
SPEAKER_02And I would even add, you know, with these changes, particularly as we talk about the 55 to 64-year-olds, uh just being aware of what those changes are and how to understand them, how to navigate, how to get the uh documents you need. I mean, when you have a work requirement, you have to actually provide documentation that you're working. And so imagine being, you know, 64 or 63, now having to um collect that information, either submit it electronically or take it down. So even transportation barriers, barriers, mobility issues, all the things that we know come with that golden age that we all hope to be able to get to.
SPEAKER_03No, I think just in terms of our um our older neighbors, is we're trying to figure out the best way to connect with them. Um and is that through social media? Is that through um, is that through uh other nonprofits in the space that focus on seniors? Is that through text messages? Um, you know, there's also been a lot of focus on fraud with older, um older adults. So we want to make sure that when we're communicating with them, that um we are not spiking anxieties, that we are providing information that's clear and that we're connecting with them in the most efficient and effective way. And so I think we're still navigating um how best to reach um different groups as we look at getting information out.
SPEAKER_01I also wanted to just say that we have to remember that this these are not the 54 to 64 individuals who were working at five fortune companies and they're retired, you know, close to retirement, they're needing help. These are individuals that are under the poverty guideline level. So they're already in a space where they don't have enough. And it's expensive to be poor. The processes are expensive. If you don't have transportation, getting bus fare, asking for rides to get to places for these appointments, um, the technology piece, the access to technology, um, it it's it's a different world, right? And so we're taking those individuals to say, hey, we already have a difficult system and we're here to help you with that difficult system, but now there's an extra component to that system. And so I think we have to remember that you know, this isn't um a groups of individuals who were already maintaining um the income poverty guidelines are low. And with the cost of living and everything else, these are really desolate situations that these individuals are dealing with. And so we're not only are we coming in in a time where there's so many changes, but we're also coming in a time where people need, um, even though we're not social workers, they're coming to us with a lot of trauma and just, you know, desperation when they're in those situations. And so a lot of times before we can even get to application assistance and meeting that need, we have to go through just getting them comfortable enough to share with us to be able to start that process.
Language Access And Clear Messaging
SPEAKER_03I think that is so important is building that trust with our neighbors, especially our seniors. Cam spoke about um how our seniors are often hesitant to take benefits, for example, help they want to say that for the younger mom, for the kids. Um, so even having them ask an employer for income verification can be something you're hesitant to do. And then I think as we think about the work requirements, what we know for certain is that 55 to 64-year-olds have much longer periods between unemployment than younger workers do. We're talking about individuals who may be having to try a new job or a new skill set and all of these things. So I think there are the barriers of technology, there are employment barriers, there are generational barriers for our seniors. And we know in Cuyahoga County in particular that of the individuals that will be impacted by the changing work requirement, the majority of them are 60 to 64. So we are very focused on our older neighbors and um providing them not only um uh support with navigating uh the changes to SNAP, but also working to provide work supports, work training, other um other supports and benefit supports to be able to help connect them to employment or help them navigate um a healthcare exemption because all of that is so complicated.
SPEAKER_00Here's the other thing I'm thinking about in real time language barriers. How many different languages do all three of you have to put out information?
SPEAKER_02You know what, Scott? I would say we track how many languages that my team engages with. Last year we engaged with over 50 different types. And so, yes, we do um try to make sure that we're putting out information in various languages. We also have individuals on our team that speak different languages to engage as many individuals as possible. We all three use, and I say three, all three of the food banks here, we use language lines to help communicate um with uh individuals and families as well.
SPEAKER_01We also have the support of the Ohio Association of Food Banks when it comes to translating messages and being able to put out materials to be able to share into our community. And uh myself and Juanita, we work closely with the state of ODJFS about messaging and things like that to make sure that we're kind of on the same page. Um, we are a little bit more accessible than state offices, and so we encounter a lot of the questions when these changes um are made. And so we're just trying to make sure one, that we're all saying the same thing, and that two, that our number one thing is that we are here to support.
Immigrants Losing SNAP Eligibility
SPEAKER_03We have a very diverse community in Cleveland, um, but we are very lucky that the Ohio Association of Food Banks uh provides that support, um, and that we have a uh we have multilingual staff who are able to um support our neighbors, and we've been really focusing on uh making sure that the information we have is accessible to everybody in the community.
SPEAKER_00Juanita touched on this at the top of our conversation. Let's talk about another hurdle out there, and that involves our immigrant population. This bill further restricts immigrants' access to SNAP benefits. Uh, Cam, why don't you start us off here? How so?
SPEAKER_01First and foremost, it affects legally present immigrants. Those have been the only ones eligible for benefits. You had to be here legally present, and there there has always been rules in place to um to verify and support that. And Wadina mentioned earlier, like the refugees and asylumes, um, survivors of um human trafficking, and then there's some other groups that got put into that, those are no longer under that um banner of folks who met the exemption. And so now you have to be a U.S. citizen or have a um permanent resident card or better known as like a green card and some um Cuban and Haitian um entries, and there's a couple other groups. The biggest thing is that there were laws into play to say that if you were legally present here under those exemptions, you could potentially be eligible for benefits. And now those groups, even though they're still legally present, they're just not eligible anymore. And that has been something that we have been involved with with that messaging and what that process looked like as they were um um let off of those benefits because they were eligible, you know, for those benefits, um, because they they did have a legal status to receive them. Um, and so now we've seen we've seen a decline, and there's so many like mixed status families. So just that education piece, too, that if there's children that are U.S. citizens and maybe the parents, they have a legal presence, but they no longer fall under those specified categories, we can still help the children that are um U.S. citizens to be connected to benefit. So just making sure that we're explaining those things and providing that support has been the biggest change.
SPEAKER_02Now, if I can add on to what uh Cam is stating, I think the biggest call-out that Cam pointed out is that individuals who are uh lawfully present are those that were able to receive benefits. Sometimes there's a misnomer that um individuals who are maybe in the uh country without documentation are receiving benefits. And that is not uh a true or the case. Um so I just wanted to make sure that you know we we point that out.
Nutrition Education And Food As Medicine
SPEAKER_00Let's also talk about funding for an obesity awareness program. And and obesity rates in America, by the way, they they've been going up for about three decades now in adults and in children. Um, what did this grant program do and what are the changes in it moving forward?
SPEAKER_03I can't speak specifically to that grant, but what I can say is that you know, 72% of the food that the Greater Cleveland Food Bank provides is healthy and nutritious food. And we have been, through our food is medicine and our nutrition programs, very focused on community health. We know that uh hunger does not live uh alone, and that one of the uh drivers of food insecurity is um access to healthcare and um our neighbors' uh overall health. So we've been very focused through those programs with um helping our neighbors access nutritious food and understand, which I think is so important, understand um how to uh prepare some of the food that we offer to be able to expand their dietary options. You know, um I did not always know how to cook a lentil. Um, I did not always know how to um cut open a spaghetti squash without sending myself to the emergency room. And so, you know, we've been focused on providing those resources to our neighbors to help um improve their overall health. And so any changes to funding that um that leaves that gap for nutrition education, for healthy access to food, um, really it just is another driver of food insecurity and hunger in our community.
SPEAKER_00Jessica, I uh I throw that spaghetti squash in the microwave for about a minute or two before I take a knife to it, softens it up a little bit. I don't know if you have any other secrets you can share, but that's that's my one.
SPEAKER_02That's my secret, Scott. You got it.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. Okay, on the same page. Awesome.
SPEAKER_02You know, if I can add, uh, Scott, is that as a former family consumer science teacher in my former life, I used to be a what a home ec teacher. So nutrition education is near and dear to my heart. But I think what Jessica points out, that when we reduce or take away these types of programming, it does just put additional responsibility on the food banks of making sure that we're educating the individuals that we're serving rather is through recipes, rather, is through crock pot or cooking classes, is just an additional resource that we have always provided, but now the responsibility becomes a little greater.
SPEAKER_00Juanita, you mentioned this at the top of this episode. Changes are also enshrined in this legislation regarding energy assistance. So, what do our communities, our neighbors, our donors need to know about when it comes to this?
SPEAKER_02So basically, what um this means is that prior to um HR one, you were able to use your heap or PIP or any type of energy assistance as a way to say, hey, I I'm under a Certain income limit and I pay a utility bill, including being able to use like internet. This process not only benefited the recipient, but it also benefited the administrative offices of job and family services because it was less paperwork they had to do. They already could say this individual receives the benefit. So why belabor them with providing documentations of bills that, you know, may go up one month, down another, but um in general, um, if you receive HIPAA PIP or this benefit, you were able to receive a bit uh a reduction in in your calculation for your SNAP benefits, which, you know, who does not want, I mean, I'm just thinking as a job and family service uh caseworker, that releases them from having to do all the paperwork associated with it.
SPEAKER_01I think you explained that well. That part just said that if you were eligible for one thing, then you was automatically eligible for the other without additional paperwork. And now the responsibility of producing that paperwork and verifying that paperwork now find falls on our participants and community as well as the state staff who has to process those cases.
SPEAKER_03I was just gonna say that I think that that is one of the things that isn't spoken about enough, is that this additional paperwork burden and the administrative burden on both the uh county jobs and family services and our neighbors and then on um food banks and other assistors in the community. You know, our county JFS is in Caiogua County is answering up to 2,000 calls a day with additional verification of exemptions. That's an additional burden on an already stressed system. So as we think about not only how these changes will impact our neighbors who will need to navigate this new system, but as we think about individuals as they are filling out their application for the first time or recertification, how is all is the system overall impacted by these additional administrative burdens? Will it create barriers for um neighbors who are accessing these programs for the first time because the system becomes so stressed with this additional paperwork requirement that um that they have to navigate now?
Admin Costs Shift To Counties
SPEAKER_00Boy, did you tee up my next question? Because I wanted to come in and talk about the the admin side to all of this. And and we think that's something else is not getting a whole lot of attention uh because now more administrative costs for SNAP will have to be covered by the states instead of being covered by the federal government. So are we as a state prepared for this?
SPEAKER_03I mean, our concern, we are one of the few uh county administered states in the country. And so, you know, as we look at counties who are already facing budget, um, budget shortfalls and budget burdens, um, we're concerned about what this additional um what this additional funding burden on counties will mean. For example, um for Cuyahoga County, um, this administrative cost shift will cost the county seven million dollars. Um, and when we think about what that means in terms of case workers at the call center and impact to other programs, we're really concerned about what that budget impact will mean for um for uh county government and how that impact will, what that impact will be um on our neighbors and the programs that they know I know that they rely on.
SPEAKER_01And we are currently um trying to get um that start time of that um cost share to get pushback a couple of years to give time to be able to come with with those resources and allocate that appropriately because it has to come from somewhere. And um, so I know myself and I think Jessica, that is something that we are we'll be talking about in DC um to try to see if they're if we can get an extension on when that has to start.
SPEAKER_00Why don't we wrap up the conversation this way? Uh, at least according to AI, I didn't triple check it, but AI says that the big beautiful bill is somewhere between 850 and 950 pages. So obviously there's a lot of headlines. We've talked about a few of them here, but uh, many things buried in that piece of legislation not getting attention. To all three of you, are there other parts of that legislation related to SNAP that we should know about?
SPEAKER_02You know, Scott, you know, I wouldn't say that this is a specific um call-out in the big beautiful bill, but I will say one of the things that I don't don't think we're putting much attention on is how will the reduction of SNAP or access to SNAP benefits affect children and how it relates to free meals or reduced meals, uh, free meals at school, because qualify individuals or children particularly is if the family is receiving SNAP. So I really don't think that we have a true understanding of what that how that will fully impact children receiving lunch at school.
Kids School Meals And Slow Rollout
SPEAKER_01Spot on with that, um, Anita, because um the biggest change when it comes to with the expanded um work requirement is the dependent age. And so before one of the exemptions were if you had a minor child under the age of 18 and now that's 14, which are still school age that could benefit from the free or reduced lunches. And um a lot of people that are eligible for SNAP benefits are not participants of SNAP benefits, and one of those reasons are um access, and then also it's all of the red tape and the supporting documents and to be able to prove your situation. And I think that is gonna um be impactful um during this change is being able to prove that you have some of those exemptions and things like that. And while that is happening, um those kids and those vulnerable seniors are going to be caught in the middle of that period of proving that you have, you know, exemptions from this work requirement and not. And so I think the kids are the biggest ones that will fall in that gap.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think that a lot of people don't understand that this is a slow rollout that the changes that we see today to work requirements phasing in is just the first stage of the changes to this bill. So, you know, we are seeing work requirements, you know, start in March. We'll see the impact of that uh in June as individuals hit that three-month mark. When we get to the end of this year, we'll look at that administrative cost shift to uh to the state and by extension to the counties. And then a year from now, based on uh the state's error rate, uh, the state is gonna be responsible for covering a certain percentage of uh SNAP benefit costs, which could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars. So today uh we're talking about work requirements and will continue, but this is something that is gonna be rolling out over the next year and a half and will have different impacts at different times. Um, so making sure that um we kind of keep up the dump drumpeat of uh information for individuals, I think is going to be important.
Where To Get Help And Closing
SPEAKER_00You know what, Jessica, you maybe just prescribe some more content for future episodes. Maybe we all all of us come back here at the end of the year. And like you said, a year from now, we do these check-ins just to make sure what's going on. And again, we're getting the word out with everything that's going on with SNAP. Just a terrific conversation. Thanks to all three of you. And we always say to our listeners out there, for more information on anything you heard today, all you have to do is visit our website, mofc.org. Until the next time, this is the Mid Ohio Food Collective Podcast. Everyone at the table.