Belmont County DJFS programs receive more than $770,000 in contracts
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- The Belmont County Board of Commissioners passed three motions involving the Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services during the board's weekly meeting.
First, the board signed and approved a purchase of performance of services contract between DJFS and the Jefferson County Community Action Council Inc. for $85,000 for the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment program, effective July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027.
Commissioner Jerry Echemann said certain people receiving unemployment compensation are required to meet with a worker and complete an assessment to develop a reemployment plan.
He then moved to approve and sign a purchase of performance of services contract between DJFS and the East Central Ohio Educational Service Center for adult mentoring for in-school youth and out-of-school youth in an amount not to exceed $224,205, effective July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, for program year 2026.
Lastly, he moved to approve and sign a purchase of performance of services contract between DJFS and the Community Action Commission of Belmont County for work experience, leadership development opportunities, tutoring, study skills, dropout prevention, adult mentoring and financial literacy for in-school youth and out-of-school youth for $461,058. Echemann said the motion will become effective July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, for program year 2026.
Following the passage of the three motions, the board gave the floor to DJFS Fiscal Advisor Jack Regis Jr.
"All three of these contracts deal with workforce innovation opportunity programs that are provided by our agency. The first contract, the Reemployment Services and Eligibility Assessment, is area wide for all four counties in our workforce area, Belmont, Harrison, Carroll and Jefferson counties. Jefferson County CAC [Child Abuse Council] provides this service to the individuals who are at risk of losing their unemployment benefits without finding unemployment. They kind of case manage these individuals and refer them to the individual based on their residency, the individual OMJ [Ohio Means Jobs] center and other services to get them, hopefully get them re-employed and re-entered into the workforce before their unemployment ends," Regis said. "It's an $85,000 contract right now, that amount may change throughout the course of the program year, based on if there's additional funds issued through the federal budget process or if other areas within the state do not use their funding that are approved for this service."
He added that if the contract needs to be changed, he will reach out to the board and inform it of any revisions.
"The next two contracts are specific to Belmont County workforce programs for our in-school and out-of-school youth. With the youth programs under WIOA [Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act], the job and family services workforce entity is required to determine eligibility for the programs, but the services that are actually provided to the youth have to be contracted out through a third party under the Child Care Choice Voucher program. There are 14 elements that are encouraged to be provided to the students in the school youth."
He added that DJFS chose adult mentoring, leadership development and work experience.
Regis said the adult mentoring, leadership development and work experience programs were determined 10 years ago and were the most needed services for the area's youth.
"CAC provides work experience. They're the employer of record, so they take the eligible youth and actually find them third-party employment opportunities through maybe a public entity, school district and whatever. It could be a private employer, but they basically pay these people," Regis said. "We use the allocations to reimburse them and in the course of these individuals, or these kids that are found eligible, they all refer to leadership development and adult mentoring, which is adult mentoring one-on-one mentoring programs between an adult mentor through the educational service center and the student meet to go over goals and objectives of their case plan. If there's any issues, try to overcome those barriers and work past them and develop them for whatever their future holds after they graduate high school, and leadership development is basically working with the youth to develop them into potential leaders once they exit the program."
He added that those programs are funded with federal and state dollars and no local monies are used for the programs.
The programs are funded through three different funding sources: WIOA, CCVP and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families dollars.
He added that they also receive some Ohio General Revenue Fund dollars, which run through Area One for Appalachian counties.
"There are different funding sources, and basically our responsibility is to source based on eligibility for these kids to get them in the program and hopefully become a successful exit from the program to reach their future goals," Regis said.