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Big Brothers Big Sisters warns TANF cuts would leave more than 1,000 Ohio children without mentors
Summary
A Big Brothers Big Sisters representative told the Ohio Senate Finance Committee that proposed cuts to TANF funding in HB 96 would reduce statewide mentoring capacity and leave over 1,000 children without mentors across two years.
Elizabeth Martinez, speaking on behalf of Big Brothers Big Sisters State colleagues, told the Ohio Senate Finance Committee on HB 96 that the organization’s $1 million-per-fiscal-year TANF allocation has supported more than 500 new mentoring relationships annually since 2014 and helped the program serve more than 6,000 children across Ohio. Martinez said the DeWine administration’s executive budget included $1 million per fiscal year but that the House cut TANF funding by half and the Senate finance committee removed the funding entirely. She said that without the dollars “over a thousand children statewide go without a mentor over the next 2 years.”
Martinez framed mentoring as an investment, citing research she attributed to Harvard and the U.S. Department of the Treasury showing improved college attendance and lifetime earnings for mentored youth. She said the Central Ohio agency serves as fiscal agent for 17 affiliates across the state and that the cut would reduce services statewide, including in Hamilton and Butler counties. When asked by Senator Chavez whether programs would “completely shut down” without state funding, Martinez replied the agencies would not close but “would not be able to reach the capacity that we need” and that more than 2,000 children statewide are on waiting lists.
Why it matters: The testimony ties a specific line-item change in House Bill 96 to an immediate reduction in the nonprofit’s statewide mentoring capacity. Committee members asked for details about caseload and the flow of funds to affiliate programs, and Martinez repeatedly emphasized that the Central Ohio agency functions as fiscal agent for multiple statewide affiliates.
The committee did not take a vote during the public testimony portion covered in the transcript. Martinez offered to answer follow-up questions and urged the legislature to preserve the appropriation in the budget.
Ending: Martinez closed by asking committee members to reflect on people who believed in them and urged continuing the funding as “a lasting investment in our state’s future.”
