Thursday, July 26, 2012

Updates on Voting Events

NEOCH staff will be going around every week to pick up completed voter registration cards to drop off at the Board of Elections.  We dropped off blank forms this last week to every homeless social service provider in the community.  Many shelters are sending their registrations directly to the Board, but we are helping out some of the big shelters to get these returned in a timely manner.

For more information go here...
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Website Updates

We have made a number of upgrades on the website that we invite you to explore.  We have regular updates of our blog, our information blog, our portraits of homeless people, and press releases.  We have a section of the website dedicated to homeless voting that also has regular updates of new events.  We have added a survey to the site for members of the Coalition to complete.  This survey will allow us to revise our programming to meet the needs in the community.  We hope that you will take a few minutes to complete the membership survey
For more information go here....
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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Los Angeles Hate Crimes Against Homeless People

While our attention has been rightly focused on the senseless killings in the Denver suburbs at the movie premier, a frightening number of attacks on homeless people while they slept came to an end.  Starting around Independence Day, a man attacked a homeless man with a knife and left a "death warrant" with the man.  The homeless guy who was not named wandered into the street and was taken to the hospital.  Three homeless individuals were stabbed while sleeping in Greater Los Angeles, and two homeless people were suspected of being stabbed in Santa Barbara.

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Friday, July 20, 2012

Secretary of State Appeals Provisional Ballot Ruling

In another waste of public dollars and time, the Ohio Secretary of State is appealing the ruling that went against the State of Ohio two weeks ago.  Secretary of State Jon Husted announced that he was appealing our victory regarding the counting of provisional ballots.  I could not find much in the media about this story and there was not a press release on the Secretary of State's website yet.

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Thursday, July 19, 2012

Bogus Solicitors in Coventry

During the nice summer weather, we have seen people out claiming to solicit donations to support homeless programs.  There is a gang of women operating mostly in the eastern suburbs of Cleveland who pray upon the goodwill of shoppers and restaurant patrons by asking for donations for homeless shelters or services.  This is a scam, and none of the money goes to any of the shelters.  Only the Salvation Army bell ringers with their familiar red kettle and the Street Chronicle newspaper vendors are out on the sidewalks asking for monetary support. 

For more information go here....
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Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Obama Campaign Sues Ohio over Early Voting

The Obama campaign and the Democrats have sued the State of Ohio over the hours the polling places will be open for early voting. .  This is great news, but why does every thing have to be so political in allowing people to vote?  There is no way for non-partisan groups like NEOCH to push an agenda that homeless individuals in our society will have the opportunity to vote without looking as though we are siding with one political party.  It is hard for the League of Women Voters, COHHIO or other groups to not appear as fronts for the Democratic Party.

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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Rally to Extend Voting Hours in Cuyahoga County

Union members, clergy, and advocates were called together by Congresswoman Marcia Fudge and Congressman Dennis Kucinich over the decision last week to limit the number of hours the Board of Election will be open for early voting.  Congresswoman Fudge complained that this was an attempt to "point shave"  a couple thousand voters from actually casting a ballot.  Representative Sandra Williams complained that this was familiar to many in Cuyahoga County who migrated north because of the Jim Crow laws of the South.

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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Fewer Hours to Vote for 2012

At the end of last week, Secretary of State, Jon Husted weighed in on a tie vote in Cuyahoga County over the hours the Board will be open.  Unions and churches are going to hold a demonstration at 10 am on Monday July 16 to oppose this decision to limit the hours for early voting.   The Board voted last week in two to two tie to extend the hours on the weekend and into the evening to allow voters plenty of time to vote, as had been done in Cuyahoga County in the primary this year and in the 2010, 2008 and 2006 elections.   Why wouldn't the Secretary of State and every member of the Board of Elections want to offer every single chance for voters as possible in order to avoid the lines we saw in 2004 on election day, and the lines we saw on Saturdays and Sundays in 2008 presidential election?

For more information go here....
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Check out New Items on the Website

 There are a number of new items added to the NEOCH website.  We hope that you will visit the site on a regular basis to keep informed about homelessness in Cleveland and we give a summary of the changes here.   One of the new updates is a profile of one of our speakers. We try to provide inspirational experiences of people who overcome homelessness.  Here is a piece of the story from Don:
A conversation with Street Voices Speaker Don is so open, honest and compelling that it is an experience to remember. Don holds nothing back. He tells of his failures and his triumphs in the same low key. The quality of frankness in his speeches at High Schools, churches and community centers is certain to be highly inspirational, especially to people mired in lost hopes, loneliness, or tough addictions.  (More on the website.)
One of our interns, Grace, has created a page on the Hand Up Gala in which we are working on for the fall 2012.   Finally, we regularly provide statistics and provide information about the State of Homelessness in Cleveland.  That information can be found here.  There is something for everyone on the website.  We have statistics for policy wonks, profiles for those who like the personal stories, and wonderful photographs many taken by formerly homeless people. 

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CMHA Update

Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Meeting


The community does not give enough the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority enough credit for successes.  But for the last four years, they received millions in support and quickly and efficiently built or re-built a number of properties adding hundreds of affordable housing units in Cleveland.  The monthly meeting of the Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance was  July 9th and featured the CEO of CMHA, Jeffrey Patterson and senior administrator, Scott Pollock.

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Thursday, July 12, 2012

Another Voting Rights Victory

In another stinging rebuke of attempts to limit the number of voters in Ohio, the Secretary of State was denied his ability to cast aside the agreement signed with the NEOCH from 2010.  This is the third time that our agreement on counting all provisional ballots has withstood a challenge.  We hope that the state of Ohio will stop challenging this agreement and instead focus on getting as many people as possible to vote and then figuring out a way to assure that all those who take the time to show up to vote have those votes counted.
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Sunday, July 08, 2012

News Updates on Homelessness

Heat and Homelessness
Extreme weather is always dangerous for those living outside.  Most people remember homeless people when Cleveland gets a big snow storm, and the media calls for more help.  But when temperatures reach over 100 degrees those outside are in nearly the same danger as those outside in January.  Dehydration can come on quickly.  The world starts spinning and the individual becomes disoriented, and can quickly pass out.
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Friday, July 06, 2012

Boycott Western and Southern

The advocates in Cincinnati are asking for a national boycott to remind this national corporation that every community needs to find a home for women struggling in our society.  We have to send a message to Western and Southern- women and affordable housing are valuable and contribute to our society and should not be pushed to the fringes.   One of the largest insurance companies in the United States must stop the legal actions against Anna Louise Inn

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Thursday, July 05, 2012

Statistics on Shelter Residents

Shelter Statistics for 2012
Provided by the Office of Homeless Services using Homeless Management Information System data.
  • Number of people who were newly homeless single adults in Cleveland in 2011 who sought shelter:       3,496
  • Number of people served by both emergency and transitional shelters in Cuyahoga County in 2011:       8,280
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We have also corrected the broken link to submit comments to the website here.
We have added a page on the site about the Homeless Congress, one of the best programs NEOCH helps to coordinate here...
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Bob Dyer Hates Panhandlers

Some children see a shadow in the night and transform it into the Boogie Man or they hear a strange noise and it becomes the "monster under the bed."  Bob Dyer, columnist for the Akron Beacon Journal newspaper (or the shell of what previously was a newspaper) must have had a one-eyed man with a wooden leg bump into him as a child while Christmas shopping at Higbees, and he has forever had a vendetta for the downtown fixtures known as panhandlers

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New Street Chonicle Published

The new issue of the Cleveland Street Chronicle is on the streets right now and being sold by the vendors just in time for Independence Day.  We have an interview with Ohio native, Barb Poppe of the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness.  There is a discussion about the new policy of attempting to divert people as they enter shelter featuring both interviews from the defenders and critics of the program. Most of the vendors submitted stories for the paper.

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Upcoming Events in the Community

On Monday July 9 at 1:30 p.m. the Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance meets at the US Bank/HUD offices at 1350 Euclid Ave. in Downtown Cleveland. This meeting is a way to educate the public, housing providers and government about new programs or new resources in the community.
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