CLEVELAND — The state of poverty in Ohio is creating challenges for designated poverty agencies like Step Forward, which is experiencing a growing need for its services.
This comes after the state recently released new data showing the poverty rate has gone up from 12.7% to 13.4%.
Advocates understand it will take time for these numbers to go down, but one woman hopes her story can help others in need of assistance.
“I didn’t want this to happen. But it did, and the only thing I can do is to tell my testimony,” said Antoinette Osborn.
She tells News 5 life has dealt her a bad hand these last few years.
“I realized God is in control of all things, but there were still those moments when I’m like, ‘Okay, am I going to be evicted? What am I supposed to do?” said Osborn.
But through it all, Osborn says she takes it one step forward at a time.
“Even though mentally, your mind is telling you, you can’t, 'cause I was there,” said Osborn.
Osborn says everything went downhill in November 2021.
She contracted COVID-19, and her symptoms aggravated an injury in her arm, where she couldn’t work anymore.
“Then, it started to last longer, and then I got the eviction notice, and it was like, ‘Jeez, I don’t have a job, and my health is not getting any better,' so the reality of that started to kick in,” said Osborn.
Across Cuyahoga County, close to 200,000 residents are living in poverty, according to Douglass Bennett, vice president of community services and external affairs at Step Forward
“That means more than 36,000 families and children are also living below the poverty guidelines,” said Bennett.
Bennett says that means there’s an increased need for their services from people like Osborn, who is currently homeless and unemployed.
“I’m not trying to be homeless,” said Osborn. “This is not something I wish to do. I want the best for my life, but stuff happened to me that’s out of my control.”
“We try to serve them as best we can because we know right now. With the situation the way it is. They come to us for help, and they need somebody to lean on a little bit,” said Bennett.
He said the growing demand for their services, like their heat department, which alone has seen a 30% increase, to rental assistance and mental health services does create some challenges.
He believes offering more pathways to employment and resources for families that need assistance, getting people a livable wage in the area, and increased funding from the federal and state levels could make a difference.
“I don't know if we'll ever be out of business, but we hope that we have less of a need for our services in the future,” said Bennett.
Osborn tells News 5 she’s grateful she found Step Forward at the right time, so she doesn’t have to feel as alone in her fight, and she hopes her story lets others going through a similar situation know they aren’t either.
“That’s what I’m here for. It’s to show that you don’t have to fall. You can keep moving forward because that’s what God created us all to do, is to move forward,” said Osborn.
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