The head of Welcome House, a Westlake, Ohio-based nonprofit that provides assistance services for people with developmental disabilities, has called for a permanent increase in his state’s Medicaid funding that will enable nonprofits to pay staffers a wage competitive with chain stores.
In an editorial published on Cleveland.com (https://bit.ly/3YoOy2q) Executive Director Tony Thomas wrote: “We, along with the other 200 organizations throughout Ohio who also serve adults with disabilities, are seeking a $749 million increase in Medicaid funding,” Thomas wrote. “These funds will be fully allocated to front-line wages of direct support staff – allowing us and other organizations to raise wages for these vital positions from $12 an hour to $20.”
Thomas opined that with “each year that passes, we grow more and more worried about how we will be able to continue to attract and retain the right staff if we’re unable to compete with the offerings of big-box and fast-food establishments.”
“[W]e’re only able to offer $12 an hour,” Thomas wrote. “It’s near impossible to find qualified, dedicated staff when a more comfortable job at a big-box retailer or chain coffee shop pays almost double. Not being able to pay our staff an adequate wage means we must turn down families and individuals who are in desperate need of our services.”
Thomas’s editorial was published shortly after Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) spoke about his state’s proposed budget. https://bit.ly/3YoOSya) In all, the proposed budget represents an $87 billion outlay over a two-year period, according to 91.3WYSO, an Ohio radio station (https://bit.ly/3Hz2no9). Medicaid represents the largest percentage of the budget, according to WYSO’s coverage.
The budget includes what the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities called “an historic $579 million into provider rates for the primary purpose of increasing direct care wages to stabilize the workforce.” (https://bit.ly/3HBb5Ci) But Thomas indicated that amount was not enough for nonprofits to provide competitive wages.
There is still time for organizations to lobby the state for the additional funds. The budget approval process has moved to a consideration phase by the Ohio Assembly, and changes to allocations are part of the process. The deadline for budgets to be passed is June 30, which coincides with the end of the state’s fiscal year.
Thomas was not immediately available to respond to requests for additional information. “As for sending you the list of all the other organizations, that’s not something we can do,” a spokesperson wrote in response to a request from The NonProfit Times. The spokesperson declined to state whether Thomas or other representatives from Welcome House had any direct interactions with the DeWine Administration.
