WARREN - A third of Trumbull County's population is on some sort of public assistance, and they're not just living in the cities anymore, says the head of the Job and Family Services department.
Numbers show that as requests for aid increased in places like Warren, Niles and Girard so have they in the suburban areas, meaning people once considered to be America's working middle class need and are asking for assistance.
And it's happening at a time when funding for those programs is on the decline.
''People who would never have dreamed of coming down to welfare are now coming down to welfare,'' said JFS director Thomas Mahoney.
Mahoney blames the situation on the high amount of foreclosures; increases in utility costs, including gasoline; and job loss and unemployment, which according to the state JFS department, increased again in May from 5.6 percent in April.
''I don't know, I don't know what the answer is,'' Mahoney said.
The amount of new applications for medical cards, cash and food stamps rose 25 percent in 2007 from 7,504 the previous year. Through May of this year, there have been 3,409 applicants.
''We have no shortage of customers,'' said Kim Barrell, coordinator at Trumbull JFS.
It's not just happening in Warren and other cities across Trumbull County.
In May 2002, there were 14,172 recipients of food stamps and money for emergency car repairs, clothing, shelter and utility payments in the county. In April 2008, the number of recipients jumped 55 percent to more than 22,000.
Communities like Cortland increased 63 percent; McDonald 92 percent; and Mineral Ridge 85 percent, the numbers show.
In dollars and cents, $14.5 million in food stamps were handed out in 2002. Four years later, it was $21 million, and in 2007, it increased another 4 percent to $21.8 million.
''Poverty is rampant in Trumbull County,'' Mahoney said.
JFS has been receiving less federal money to help - about $2 million in the last three years, Mahoney said.
This year JFS got $2 million. Two years ago it was $4.2 million, Mahoney said.
It's not just JFS feeling the pressure.
''The economy that we are in, we are getting an increase in clientele needing more and varied services,'' said Carol Hewitt, program services coordinator with the Salvation Army.
The Salvation Army and other organizations around the state are dealing with more need and less money.
''Gas prices, food costs, there are a lot of things,'' said Dennis Evans, Ohio JFS spokesman. ''Rising fuel costs have trickled into other areas too. People certainly are feeling it right now.''
Hewitt said her agency gets multiple calls a day asking about money they have available for rent and electric bill assistance. They've also seen increases in the individuals coming to the soup kitchen for meals, Hewitt said.
In this area of Ohio, the number of people served with food vouchers, clothing and for other things by the Salvation Army increased 8 percent since 2004. Grocery orders increased by 30,000 and the clothing requests more than doubled to 225,000 last year.
''We've had more families, more single people even looking for food,'' Hewitt said, adding that during the summer children usually fed at school are coming to the kitchen.