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Program: Kellijo Jeffries, director of Portage County Jobs and Family Services, said there are four groups of people most in need of services: single parents, children emancipated from foster care, senior citizens, and people dealing with substance abuse. The seniors sometimes have to choose between buying food and taking their medications. Some of the most effective ways to help them are to expand public transportation and to provide more affordable housing. In a brief but wide-ranging talk, Jeffries described the work of Portage County’s social welfare agency, which serves one-quarter of the county’s population and is funded primarily by the state and federal government. Something unique to Portage County, however, is the taxpayers’ long standing support of a local levy to augment the child protective services budget. “We see a lot of tragedy at Job and Family Services,” Jeffries said. That’s one of the reasons the average time it takes a social worker to burn out is about 18 months. These are people who might get woken up in the middle of the night to remove a child from an abusive home. There is the risk of secondary trauma among the workforce. Retention is a challenge. But the county leaders have tried various ways to keep staff, including a proposed in-house childcare center and retention bonuses (funded by the state for this purpose). Some of the agency’s proudest programs are a manufacturing internship program that pays people to work at local businesses and learn their trade. The program is in its sixth year. On Nov. 2, there will be a Senior Forum, where agency representatives will meet with seniors to let them know about the services available to them. Portage County will also be one of several Ohio counties to pilot the Benefit Bridge, a program that helps people weather the transition off of social welfare programs. Typically, she said, when a worker’s salary starts to increase above minimum wage, they begin to see reductions in their housing and food subsidies, such that workplace success results in financial penalties. JFS will help Portage County residents avoid falling off the benefits cliff. “We ask questions about what the needs are and we meet them head on,” Jeffries said. She added that Portage County is “by far the most wonderful community I’ve ever worked in.” A testament to that is the holiday toy drive for children in foster care. Their goal is to provide at least three toys to each child. Every year, toys line the hallways of the administration building. Responder was Roberta O'Keefe.
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