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Job and Family Services director outlines caseloads, contact‑center fixes and federal policy risks
Summary
Director Kevin Gowen briefed the committee on Job and Family Services programs, giving caseload snapshots (Medicaid ~379,000; SNAP ~185,000), describing contact‑center staffing and queue changes that improved answer rates, and warning of federal and state policy risks including SNAP skimming and proposed Medicaid work requirements.
Kevin Gowen, director of Cuyahoga County Job and Family Services, gave a broad overview on March 5 of the department’s programs, current caseloads, contact‑center performance and two federal/state policy risks that could affect local residents.
Gowen listed primary programs the agency administers — Medicaid, SNAP (food assistance), Ohio Works First (cash assistance/TANF), publicly funded child care and employment and training supports — and said that, as of February, Medicaid enrollment stood at about 379,000 people, SNAP enrollment was just over 185,000, publicly funded child care covered more than 20,000 children, and the TANF caseload was about 8,500 individuals. "Medicaid is at 379,000," Gowen said, noting the county’s figures reflect post‑pandemic unwinding of federal protections.
Gowen acknowledged callers’ long wait times and described operational steps the agency is taking: hiring and training additional eligibility specialists, altering staff rotations so more agents staff phones between 8 and 9 a.m., and working with Deloitte consultants on contact‑center programming and queue design. He said initial results include roughly a 10 percentage‑point improvement in phone answer rates and that a targeted queue for callers who call on their scheduled interview day answered 99 of 114 prioritized calls in a two‑day trial.
On fraud and policy risks, Gowen warned of two issues. First, he described nationwide electronic "SNAP skimming" at some retail locations and said a federal program that allowed replacement of stolen benefits ended Dec. 20, 2024, leaving affected recipients with fewer immediate remedies. Second, he said the state of Ohio has proposed imposing Medicaid work requirements on the expansion population (locally about 101,000 people), and that while the state estimates up to 10% of that group might lose benefits under proposed rules, Gowen cautioned that the actual impact will depend on final policy details and exemptions.
Council members and Gowen discussed outreach and notification: county letters are printed in Columbus by the state printing center, which can create delivery delays; the department encourages use of a self‑service portal and community access sites and maintains a callback option for contact‑center callers. Gowen said roughly 5,000–7,000 SNAP renewals can be due in a cycle and that verification and documentation needs sometimes cause notices to appear to show a cutoff even when the case remains open.
David Merriman, director of Health and Human Services, praised Gowen’s use of data and said county relationships with the state helped secure disaster‑related benefit restorations and incentive dollars that the department used to pay overtime to reduce backlogs.
Gowen said the committee will receive follow‑up data on self‑service portal usage and breakdowns of Medicaid enrollment by population (seniors, children, ABODs) at a later date.
