The demand on local nonprofits and public services in Fairfax County is ballooning in key programs as the recession swells the ranks of the needy.
The county reports intense spikes in applications for food stamps, Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a federal grant program that offers short-term cash aid to low-income parents.
Food stamps applications nearly doubled from September 2007 to September 2009, rising from 845 to 1,596 for an 89 percent increase, according to data provided by the county. During the same period, caseloads for the program grew 51 percent.
“The need is out there,” said Kerrie Wilson, executive director of nonprofit Reston Interfaith, which offers shelter, food, child care and other services in northwest Fairfax.
The data serves as a reminder that Fairfax, while among the country’s most affluent jurisdictions, is far from immune to the effects of a nationwide economic downturn. The county is one of the few in Virginia to boast an unemployment rate below 5 percent.
“We’ve got our existing caseload, where you’ve got families who are typically what we’re dealing with every year, [and] you have this year-and-a-half-long march of a worsening economy, housing market, foreclosures all building up,” Wilson said. “Everybody’s numbers are up.”
Those who provide aid to the needy find themselves battered from both sides. A shrinking tax base will probably prevent any major new infusions of funds for local nonprofits next year, at a time when new residents are seeking out services.
Fairfax officials are mulling how to dole out emergency funds to nonprofits, which they set aside in anticipation of the crisis. The county hopes to use the $1 million in emergency reserves to leverage as much as $4.5 million TANF funds through the federal stimulus act.
Applications and caseloads for Medicaid, a federal health program for the poor, were each about 33 percent higher in September 2009 than the same month in 2007. TANF applications saw a 44 percent increase.
