7742-03 Support Human Services Levy

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RESOLUTION NO: 7742-03 BY: Corrigan, Dever, Dunn, FitzGeral George, Roth, Seelie. A RESOLUTION to encourage Lakewood voters to support passage of the Cuyahoga County Human Services levy on the May 6, 2003 primary ballot, and ensure that the necessary resources are available to adequately meet the vital human service needs of the citizens of our county. WHEREAS, passage of this levy would adjust the current 3.1 mil Human Services levy to current property valuations and increase funding an additional 1.8 mils; and WHEREAS, the citizens of Cuyahoga County have incurred the loss of significant support from the State of Ohio over the last several years, support for programs to help move people from poverty to self sufficiency, programs that help abused and neglected children, programs that help abused and neglected seniors, programs that help nursing home eligible seniors remain in their homes, programs to help the development of infants and early education of children; and WHEREAS, Cuyahoga County funding has been cut by $100 million and will likely be cut an additional $9 million dollars in Health & Human Services from the Governor's proposed 04-05 budget; and WHEREAS, programs to train people on welfare and place them in work have been cut by $10 million a year and represents a reduction in job search and job readiness programs in Cuyahoga County; and WHEREAS, an additional $38 million dollars of money designed to help people get work was cut by the state which had been successfully used to fund: · Job retention services helping people resolve personal and workplace issues to keep working; · Outreach efforts with churches and community agencies to inform their clients and members of the availability of healthcare, childcare and other benefits; · Constructive after school youth programs with education or career planning for children too old to use daycare; · Housing assistance for families on the verge of eviction to retain stable housing and counseling to accomplish better budgeting; · Parent support programs to educate parents on the need for more involved parenting and participation in children's schooling and activities; · Safety Net strategies to work with the families with children made vulnerable by the termination of the time-limited cash assistance benefits; and WHEREAS, the Cuyahoga County Early Childhood Initiative, one of the top 25 eany childhood programs in the country, which provides extensive home visiting programs for teen and inexperienced mothers, quality daycare and special needs childcare, programs which improve developmental outcomes for children and helps prepare them for school, was cut by almost $5 million dollars in the last state budget and faces an additional cut in the upcoming state budget; and WHEREAS, the local childcare system was cut $1.3 million by the State for parent support services in an expanded set of daycare services for families which included respite, parent education to prevent SIDS, first aid, CPR, behavior management, gang prevention and stress management; and WHEREAS, the State will rollback the daycare eligibility levels for working families which will cut 3,200 children off the daycare rolls in Cuyahoga County forcing parents to make choices between their children and work, forcing parents to choose to leave children with older siblings or even acquaintances in order to continue to work; and WHEREAS, the State will cut several categories of Medicaid eligible working poor adults and disabled persons, leaving over 6,000 more people in our community without healthcare; and