What did we find?

• Overall
• In each of the five communities, the demand for basic needs assistance has increased significantly since 2007.
• Food
• A jump in first-time user demand on food banks ranging from 9 - 46% across all five urban areas.
• Decreased capacity of food banks to respond to the needs given the 5.5% increase in food costs, 50% increase in distribution costs, 8% decrease in donated food and funding cuts.
• Increase in individuals receiving food stamps in the range of 4-15%.
• 3-5% increased participation in the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Program.
• Housing
• 12% - 22% estimated increase in rental assistance requests to nonprofit service providers in order to avoid eviction.
• Approximately 50% increase in calls for mortgage assistance to avoid foreclosure to local United Way helplines and other service providers.
• Utilities
• Requests for utility assistance to utility providers and other nonprofit service providers spiked from 25% in some communities to a high of 75% in Toledo.
• childcare
• The waiting list for child care subsidy is currently 14,000 families across Pennsylvania, which is up 100% from last year (approximately 7,000) at this same time.
• Transportation
• Increased calls for transportation assistance range from 38% - 70% in these five communities.
• In Philadelphia, like Pittsburgh, the Traveler’s Aid Society offered stranded travelers basic assistance to find temporary lodging or to continue traveling. Due to the recent City of Philadelphia budget shortfall, the program has been defunded and will shut down entirely by the end of 2008.

Based on this increased demand in these five cities alone, we estimate that:

• In the five urban areas included in this study combined, $1.79 billion in supplemental funding is needed for safety net services administered by public agencies and community based non profits over the next two years to support the “new” demand resulting from the economic downturn. This figure does not include services to meet historic “chronic” needs.
• Based on our formula, 5% of the $1.79 billion in funding ($89.5 million) needs to be directed to the community based programs administered by local nonprofit organizations such as the food bank feeding programs and transportations subsidies in these five urban centers. This estimate does not include projections for publicly administered programs such as food stamps, Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and child care subsidies.
• Based on the distribution of $89.5 million, each of the 5 urban communities would receive financial support in the range of $6.6 million - $38 million for 2009-2010 based on their number of unemployed persons.

Using these figures, and the projected national unemployment rates, we estimate that by 2010, there could be as many as 1.1 million persons unemployed across Pennsylvania and Ohio. This unemployment level would indicate a need for supplemental funding statewide of:

• $1.61 billion in Pennsylvania and of $1.69 billion in Ohio through 2010 for safety net services administered by public agencies and community based non-profits.
• Again, using our 5% guideline, funding of approximately $80.3 million in Pennsylvania and $84.6 million in Ohio needs to be directed to local nonprofit organizations such as food banks or transportation assistance agencies.