New Stats on Voter Registration Numbers

We posted information comparing voter turnout in countries from around the world.  It is embarrassing that the United States is on the bottom of the list next to Cameroon.  We need to figure out a way that every citizen is registered to vote or make it mandatory to register and vote in this democratic country.  We need to strip away all the barriers, the state rules that keep people from voting, the disenfranchisement to make it as easy as possible.  Those that choose not to vote should have to pay extra on their taxes for not participating.

Here is the list of counties and their percentage of people who are registered and actually voted...
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Cleveland Food Bank Expands Outreach

The Cleveland Foodbank Help Center is officially open.  They have 4 new full time staff dedicated to answering the phones, completing applications, and helping community members access a variety of nutrition based and other programs.  The rates of food stamp/SNAPs program is relatively low considering how many people are eligible for the help.  This is especially true among those who leave shelter who we find only 68% of the families leaving shelter receive food stamps.

For more information go here...
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A Couple of Events Coming Up

New Events posted on our blog

The MedWorks Medical Clinic is this weekend for more details go here...

There is a fair lending/foreclosure conference by Organize Ohio this weekend for more information go here...

There are a number of free legal clinics by the Legal Aid Society available to very low income individuals go here for more information....

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Free Legal Clinics Available

NEOCH assists with the Homeless Legal Assistance Program, and so we understand the importance of attorneys offering help to the homeless community. Here are a couple of free clinic times when a low income individual may be able to find help with their legal question or be assigned an attorney.  These are sponsored by the Legal Aid Society and complement the Cleveland Bar Association/NEOCH program.
The Legal Aid Society has many FREE legal advice events this week and into next month.  Attorneys will be available at each event, providing free advice to those in need.

For more information go here...
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HUD Issues Rules for Distribution of Shelter Dollars

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has issued new rules for the distribution of funds to the shelters.  These were issued in July 2012 and the comment period was extended until November 16, 2012.  It is important to add your own local statistics, experiences, and examples to influence the thinking of the officials at HUD in Washington.  We have a couple of pages of comments that NEOCH will be submitting here under September 2012 on our advocacy page.

For more information go here...
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Another Victory on Counting Provisional Ballots

Today, the federal appeals court affirmed the decision of Judge Marbley to allow the counting of provisional ballots even for those who are misdirected to the wrong precinct by the poll workers.  This was decided during this summer, but the State of Ohio and Secretary of State appealed to the US Appeals court.  Our position was clear, if a woman struggles to get the polling place and she is told to vote at the wrong table in the gym because of an error by a poorly trained poll worker her vote should still count.

To read more on this post go here...
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New Items on Website

We have updated the contact information for the school liaisons in Cuyahoga County.  Every school district must designate one person on staff who can assist homeless children when they lose their housing during the school year.  Every year we update this list on our site.  We have the new list on our site under "Find Help" at the top of the page. We have posted Issue 21 of the Homeless Grapevine archive. We have posted a second profile of Raymond the vendor.  This was written by a wonderful volunteer, Bernadette, who passed away in the last few years.  She had a great time sitting down and talking to Raymond.  Finally, we added some new stats comparing the number of vacancies in public housing to the number of units in various large cities in the United States.  We also have a similar chart on the Housing Choice voucher program.  We try to post various statistics about homelessness and housing in this section of our website.

For more information click on the above links or go to the new on the site section of our website.

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Nina Turner Attends Homeless Congress

As a first time attendee of the Homeless Congress meeting, I first of all thought that the turnout was great.  Many homeless persons came out to hear the concerns and to get responses from NEOCH , Northeast Ohio Coalition for the homeless, which brought in a guest speaker  Senator Nina Turner.  Senator Turner sat amongst the homeless people at the Bishop Cosgrove Center located at the 1800 block between Payne Avenue  and Superior Avenue.

For more information on this post go here...
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