Hello Friends!
Spring is almost here and with it comes a sense of renewal. Spring is also the time when we at JFS come together to recognize April as Child Abuse Prevention Month. We hope you can join us for two of our events that we will host in April. April 11 will be our Child Abuse Prevention Month Breakfast as well as Wear Blue Day. April 19 will be our annual Circus Night event that offers all families an evening of FREE fun and time together. Make sure to take a look at the articles below on both of these events.
We also want to take time to thank everyone for their support of our recent Holiday Donation Drive. What an amazing community effort that comes together every year to make the holidays special for our children and elderly.
Enjoy the new beginnings that spring offers.
Warmest Regards,
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Fairfield County Job and Family Services offers a unique program named S.T.A.R.S., which stands for Skills, Training, Attitude, and Readiness for Success. This program gives participants the opportunity to receive the skills needed to take charge of their lives in a variety of ways.
S.T.A.R.S. is facilitated by FCJFS success coaches over the course of three weeks.
Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin'-By World
, by Phil Devol, is the focus of one module. During this module participants learn about the differences in social classes as well as looking at their life, as it is now. Further topics include poverty, prosperity, and community sustainability. The success coach, a certified facilitator, co-investigates these topics and guides them through the workbook. By the end of the program, they will understand the “hidden rules” and language of social classes, be more knowledgeable of the resources in our community and where to find them, and have SMART goals for their future story.
“Some are focused on stabilizing their situations and building resources while others are working on going back to school and building social networks,” said Laura Holton, FCJFS Chief Deputy Director of Community Services and Performance Initiatives. “Our program goes over a variety of topics, encompassing many behaviors found in successful adults.”
S.T.A.R.S. also reviews how to write resumes, cover letters and thank you letters. They go over the most effective ways of job searching and “The Dos and Don’ts” of interviewing. Participants get the chance to practice interviewing with the help of our Workforce Development Department through mock interviews. Other topics include financial literacy and higher education. S.T.A.R.S. invites guest speakers from the OSU Extension Office for the topics of nutrition and work/life balance to explain the purpose of maintaining your health and how to deal with stress. All S.T.A.R.S. participants will leave with a completed resume, cover letter, thank you letter, and references.
By the end of the three weeks, participants who have successfully completed all the modules of both sessions will graduate with a S.T.A.R.S. certificate of completion and a Getting Ahead Graduation Certificate. A recent S.T.A.R.S. graduate shared “I really enjoyed S.T.A.R.S. I’ve learned a lot from the class. It helped me set goals for bettering my life. It also made me realize many people are in poverty, not just the poor. I think this program should be taught in schools to teach kids how to set goals and manage their money when they have bills. I was very happy with my teachers, they made things understandable for me. I’m very happy I got to be a part of this class and hope other people enjoyed it as much as I did.”
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April is Child Abuse Prevention Month
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Each year, Protective Services looks forward to Spring – not just for the emergence of flowers and warm weather, but to once again recognize April as Child Abuse Prevention Month. The events and activities planned by Protective Services will provide opportunities for members of the Fairfield County community to recognize the shared responsibility we all have to offer hope to those who have been victims of abuse and neglect.
Wednesday, April 11: Participate in the statewide
Wear Blue Day
(#OhioWearsBlue) - Wear BLUE to help raise awareness about child abuse and neglect. You can forward your pictures to
[email protected]
. Pictures will be shared on our social media.
As an initiative to recognize Child Abuse Prevention Month in April, FCJFS will once again hold our Annual Circus Night to provide families with free food, and an opportunity to play games and win prizes. The event provides safe, family fun while emphasizing the importance of preventing abuse and neglect of children. See flyer below.
Together we can strive to
PREVENT CHILD ABUSE – ALL KIDS DESERVE TO BE HAPPY, HEALTHY, AND SAFE!
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Join us Wednesday, April 11 for a Child Abuse Prevention Month Kickoff Breakfast!
The breakfast will be located at Life Church, 5550 Lancaster-Newark Rd NE, Pleasantville, OH 43148 from 8 to 10 am.
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The Ohio Means Jobs (OMJ) Center in Fairfield County works not only with job seekers, but also businesses. There are a variety of services available to employers who are hiring including posting and promoting job openings, collecting applications/resumés, pre-screening applicants, Job Fairs, job seeker referrals and hosting hiring events. Hosting hiring events has become increasingly popular over the last year. In the last quarter of 2017 alone, JFS and the OMJ Center hosted 26 separate hiring events where a total of 120 job seekers were interviewed.
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An employer who takes advantage of this service can determine the role that OMJ staff will play. They can opt to simply use the resources such as professional office space, telephones, printer/copier/fax, 20 computer work stations, etc. or they can have OMJ staff recruit potential candidates, collect applications, pre-screen for specified qualifications, schedule interviews, etc. Hosting hiring events at the convenient downtown location is particularly appealing to new businesses who have not yet acquired a location or are in the process of remodeling.
An example of one such business is AIT Environmental Technologies who recently secured a contract to serve as the maintenance provider for all Dollar General stores in the area. Their new location in Carroll will serve about 1,400 stores in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, West Virginia and Pennsylvania and will initially employ nine staff including technicians, administrative, and management positions. JFS staff worked closely with Economic Development staff to inform AIT of the business services that are available and once they decided to locate in Fairfield County, the OMJ Center hosted two hiring events and also assisted with promoting job openings, recruiting potential candidates and referring qualified job seekers. As a result, AIT was able to acquire the necessary staff to open their new location.
Any business interested in scheduling a hiring event can contact the OMJ Center at
740-652-7856.
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YMCA Offers Childcare Program at Sanderson
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The Robert K. Fox Family YMCA, in partnership with Lancaster City Schools Preschool and Fairfield County Head Start, is offering birth through preschool childcare. The center will serve ages six weeks to three-years-old at the former Sanderson Elementary School location.
For questions or more details, call Laura Staten, Child Care Director, at 740-654-0616, ext. 244.
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On Jan. 24, Johanna Pearce, Permanency Manager, received the Mary Good Humanitarian Service Award at the United Way Awards Banquet. She was honored for her dedication to the children and families of Fairfield County. Thanks Johanna for all you do to make a difference.
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At the United Way Awards Banquet on Jan. 24, FCJFS received the Fair Share Award for the Government Services Division for the support our staff gives to the United Way. Special thanks to all those who give to those in need. Your Fair Share Donation goes a long way!
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Social workers help people overcome life’s most difficult challenges and the troubles of everyday living. March is Social Worker Month, so let’s take the time to thank all of our social workers at JFS for helping to
transform the world.
Fairfield County is blessed to have such dedicated social workers who ensure people get the help they need from the best resources available. Join the celebration this month and help us spread the word about the critical roles our JFS social workers play in transforming lives throughout the world! Each day in March we will be featuring a social worker on social media who is an inspiration to us and to our community so, stay tuned!
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As we reflect on the 2017 holiday season, we can’t help but smile. We are so grateful for the community support we received during the Protective Services Holiday Donation Drive. Once again with your amazing support and generous donations we were able to fill the wish lists of more than 420 children and 22 elderly adults in Fairfield County.
Your partnership and sense of community spirit during the 2017 holiday season is an inspiration to our staff as we strive for child safety and family stability in Fairfield County. The donations of your gifts and your time have touched the lives and hearts of so many. Once again, we sincerely thank you.
Sincerely,
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Public Assistance Eligibility Systems Down for Two Days
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In early November 2017, Ohio Benefits successfully released SNAP (food assistance) and TANF (cash assistance) functionality to five counties - Clark, Fairfield, Licking, Summit and Warren - as a seven-month pilot with the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). In March, all of the cases in the five pilot counties will be moved to Ohio Benefits. This system change requires both the CRISE and Ohio Benefits systems to be down to perform this upgrade. Things to note:
- All Ohio Benefits portals (Self-Service, Worker, Presumptive Eligibility and Deemed Newborn, Business Intelligence and Provider) will be unavailable to Ohio counties, providers, advocates and individuals Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at 6 p.m. through Friday, March 23, 2018 at 6 a.m.
- Additionally, CRIS-E will be unavailable to Clark, Fairfield, Licking, Summit and Warren counties.
Because the eligibility systems are unavailable Thursday, March 22 and Friday, March 23, we will not be able to process any Medicaid, SNAP, or TANF applications. We will still be able to accept paper applications on those days during the downtime. Our Customer Call Center will also be closed on Thursday, March 22 and Friday, March 23 due to the system downtime.
Above is a flyer with information for families. Families will be able to apply online for food, cash, or medical assistance at the new website
https:\\benefits.ohio.gov
.
Remember if families or individuals are applying for or renewing
Medicaid only
they can call 1-844-640-OHIO to complete the application process over the phone.
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Pilot Program to Help Kids Stay Connected to Family
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Being able to keep children with relatives or strong family supports when they cannot be cared for by their parents is an important step to help minimize trauma and improve outcomes for those involved. In conjunction with the Ohio Attorney General’s office and Waiting Child Fund (a private non-profit organization who works to move children out of foster care), Fairfield County Protective Services has been selected to be a part of a state pilot project which aims to achieve the goal of quickly moving children with kinship as cases begin.
At a time when costs associated with children being in foster care and residential home placements continue to rise and available homes are at a premium, this pilot program will provide an opportunity to help increase opportunities for children to be placed with grandparents and other kinship options (both relative and non-relative).
As one of eight counties
currently selected for the project, Fairfield County will work to implement the 30 Days to Family® model, a highly successful program initially started in St. Louis, Missouri, but now being used across the country. The basic idea behind 30 Days to Family® is to locate 80 or more relatives in the first month a case is open and work with those individuals to identify placement opportunities for children currently in foster care.
Casie Stanton will be the Family Specialist for Protective Services, working to implement 30 Days to Family® along with other agency staff. Casie has been part of the Protective Services team for nine years (and part of the larger JFS team for 19 years), in a variety of positions, and her expertise will be valuable as this project begins. Combined with other agency programming, this will continue to increase Fairfield County’s strong support of kinship opportunities.
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