Replacement benefits will upload automatically for those who qualify

CUYAHOGA COUNTY, OH – Cuyahoga Job and Family Services (CJFS) has been approved for a federal waiver that allows mass replacement of SNAP benefits for many Cuyahoga County residents. CJFS has been working diligently with the state of Ohio, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Services, and Northeast Ohio utility companies in order to obtain the waiver, ensuring customers can quickly replenish lost perishable food supplies.

This waiver allows for an automatic replacement of benefits for all SNAP recipients in 52 ZIP codes within Cuyahoga County covering the vast majority of County SNAP recipients. See the map of eligible ZIP codes below.

“We are grateful this waiver has been granted for our residents,” said Cuyahoga Job and Family Services Director Kevin Gowan. “Many Cuyahoga County residents were without power for days, and lost refrigerators and freezers full of perishable foods. This waiver allows almost all SNAP recipients to receive replacement benefits quickly and efficiently.”

The ZIP codes included are based on the Cuyahoga County municipalities in which at least 50 percent of the residents experienced an outage for more than four hours.

For customers who receive this automated replacement of SNAP benefits, the amount of benefit will be pro-rated based on their Ohio Direction Card benefit load date. The amount will be a percentage of the monthly allotment of benefits based on the following chart:

Customers who lost food due to an outage of 4 hours or longer and either do not receive an automatic benefit replacement or whose losses exceed the automated replacement have until Sept. 5 to report the loss to CJFS.

Customers must complete the ODJFS Form 07222: Statement Requesting Replacement of SNAP Benefits to request replacement benefits. The amount of replacement is based on the amount of food that was lost, as reported on the form, up to a maximum of one month’s allotment. All JFS 07222 applications that have already been received will be reviewed and processed and may result in an additional issuance if the amount lost exceeds the automated replacement.

Customers can submit the completed form to Cuyahoga Job and Family Services:

• BY MAIL: 1641 Payne Ave., Cleveland, OH 44114

• BY EMAIL: CJFSDocs@jfs.ohio.gov

Additional resources for residents regarding the August 6 storms provided by the Cuyahoga County Office of Emergency Management are available here.