January Newsletter
Economic Mobility Alliance Ohio
January 2025 | News and Updates
Welcome to Economic Mobility Alliance Ohio’s first newsletter! Thank you for signing up for news and updates for our work.
We are an alliance of state and local advocacy, research, workforce development, and health and human service organizations and funders committed to ending the system of disincentives to work known as benefits cliffs that trap Ohioans in poverty. As a collaborative, we raise awareness and advocate for positive solutions to mitigate and eliminate benefits cliffs, to reduce disincentives to work, and create a more seamless pathway to economic stability for all Ohioans.
Announcing the 2025 Economic Mobility Advocacy Day!
Economic Mobility Alliance Ohio, formed last summer, is a collaborative dedicated to raising awareness and advocating for positive solutions to mitigate and eliminate benefits cliffs in Ohio and create a more seamless pathway to economic stability for all Ohioans.
EMAO is led by Advocates for Ohio’s Future, The Center for Community Solutions, Greater Cleveland Works, the Greater Sandusky Partnership, the Ohio Workforce Coalition, the Ohio Urban Community Action Network, United Way of Greater Cleveland, and the Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation.
We are excited to invite you to join Economic Mobility Alliance Ohio in Columbus for our first ever Economic Mobility Advocacy Day on Wednesday, March 19, 2025!
We'll be advocating for all the programs that support economic stability and mobility, including a refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit, increasing Publicly Funded Child Care initial eligibility to 200% FPL, and continuing the Benefit Bridge pilot program.
Learn more about Economic Mobility Alliance Ohio on our website, and register to join our advocacy day HERE.
What Are Benefits Cliffs?
Benefits cliffs are the points on the path from poverty to economic stability where a small increase in earnings causes the loss of a public benefit. For many Ohioans, earning just a dollar more means they could lose access to benefits like Publicly Funded Child Care (PFCC), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or Medicaid, setting them further behind than if they did not have an increase in income.
Workers often make career decisions based on the cliff by turning down raises and promotions, keeping them trapped at their current wage. Businesses then struggle to fill open positions and retain workers, and taxpayers fund a public benefits system that traps Ohioans in poverty, rather than supporting growth towards economic stability.
This is a systemic problem - not an individual one. Ohio working families are experts in their own household budgets and know when the math just doesn’t work out. Systemic problems have systemic solutions that move the needle towards economic mobility for all Ohioans.
EMAO hosted a Benefits Cliffs 101 webinar last August. Check it out here.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta has a Career Ladder Identifier and Financial Forecaster (CLIFF) tool that models the interaction of public benefits, taxes, and wages. Check it out here.
Benefits and Costs of State Refundable Earned Income Tax Credits: The Women’s Fund of the Greater Cincinnati Foundation
Benefits Cliffs: Effects on Workers and the Role of Employers: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Research Foundation
Benefits Cliffs: Expert Panel Survey: Scioto Analysis
Cultivating a Healthy Workforce Grows a Thriving Economy: The Ohio Council of Behavioral Health & Family Services Providers
Strategies to improve family financial security: Health Policy Institute of Ohio
Benefits Cliffs 101: The Hidden Cost of a Pay Raise
Imagine you receive a pay raise at work, only to discover that the increase led to a decrease or loss of a much-needed public benefit. What would you do?
That is the dilemma many low-income workers face in Ohio, where earning even just a dollar more means potentially losing access to benefits.
These benefits cliffs can keep workers trapped at their current wages and on public support, keep businesses from filling open positions and retaining workers, and cost taxpayers who are funding a public benefits system that does not support individuals achieving economic stability.
Join our panel of local and national experts as they discuss the impact of the benefits cliffs on the individual, employer, and community levels, opportunities to reform public benefit policies to address the cliff effect, and ways individuals can achieve economic mobility.
Be part of the live conversation on February 25 at noon via Zoom. The event is free, but registration is required.
Economic Mobility Alliance Ohio, 175 S. Third Street, Suite 350, Columbus, OH 43215, USA