Calling All Religious Organizations to Help Homeless Families

We are inviting Religious Leaders to a meeting on April 30, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. at 1744 Payne Ave. (the MHS administrative offices) to discuss opportunities for collaboration.  NEOCH is planning this meeting with the largest homeless social service provider in our community, Mental Health Services.  Our goal is to figure out what resources religious groups can bring to the table.  We would like to explain the new referral system for obtaining a shelter bed, and we want you to hear from us what we kind of help we need to serve homeless families.

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Housing 101 Workshop May 17, 2013

The first Housing 101 workshop was so successful we have scheduled a second one.
Friday May 17, 2013
10 a.m to 1 p.m. at
NEOCH 3631 Perkins Ave.
3 Social Work CEUs
There are only 10 spaces left, so we ask that you RSVP if you are interested in attending
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Danel Thompson Event This Month

On the eve of what would have been Daniel's 78th birthday, poets and percussionists will gather to celebrate the "Famous in the Neighborhood" poet.  Maj Ragain, Bill Kennedy, Ray McNiece, Larry Smith, James Onysko, and Ernie Krivda will gather to perform some of his poetry with a number of musicians at the Lakewood Public Library front porch.  Thompson toured with Drumplay belting out his poetry while the percussionists and saxophone players performed.

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NCH Looking for a New Executive Director

The National Coalition for the Homeless Announced last week that they were seeking a new Executive Director for the organization.  They have an announcement on their website here.  I am board member of NCH, so am somewhat biased here.  It is sad to see Neil Donovan leave the organization.  He has been with the organization since 2009 turning the organization around after a rough period.  He worked well with the staff and restored some of the credibility of the organization at the National level.

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New Uniformed Vendors to Compete Against Panhandlers

The Cleveland Street Chronicle vendors gathered on Public Square yesterday for their bi-weekly meeting and to meet the media.  Unfortunately, no television media showed up, but we took plenty of pictures for the upcoming issue.  We are working to professionalize the vendor crew and compete better with the panhandlers.  The vendors want to retake the Downtown against the panhandlers.  They went through a customer service training and have the bright green uniforms in the hopes that pedestrians view them as more professional and trustworthy. 

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Voting Champions for Homeless People

One of the most important things that NEOCH did in 2012 was our work registering homeless people and encouraging those individuals to step up to the ballot box to vote.  We have to recognize our main partner in this effort is Cuyahoga County.  The County is one of the only in the country that measures every shelter on how they encourage their residents to vote.  Ruth Gillett of the Office of Homeless Services has always made this a priority, and we certainly thank her for making this a priority issue.  We co-hosted a training in April 2012 with all the providers to discuss the proper procedure for registering and then assuring that voters actually show up to vote. 

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NEOCH Organization Highlights for 2012

Advocacy

• NEOCH staff did a great deal work on national and local level regarding the dramatic changes taking place with regard to funding for shelters, and the federal cuts to housing and services.
• NEOCH spent the summer and fall of 2012 working to register and then get homeless people to vote. We worked with all the shelters and housing programs to register their constituents and then mobilize them to vote.  NEOCH staff registered 324 voters and 93% of those individuals took the time to cast a ballot—only 2 people voted on Election Day.

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Annual Meeting Looks to the Future

At the NEOCH Annual Meeting last week approximately 30 people attended to enjoy Interim Executive Director Gino Scarselli's home made lasagna.  We have to thank Ohio City Pasta for donating the pasta for the Annual Meeting.  The NEOCH Board gave out awards which can be seen elsewhere on the blog. Gino also gave an overview of all the work we did in 2012, and the important role the Coalition has in the community. 

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Larry Davis Completes His Service

Larry Davis has worked as the NEOCH volunteer coordinator for the past eight years.  Here he is pictured preaching to guests at the 2012 Annual Meeting on March 20, 2013.  He has set up the Annual Blanket Drive and coordinated transportation issues for the Annual Homeless Stand Down.  He has scheduled volunteers to work here at NEOCH and the Street Voices speakers.

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NEOCH Annual Meeting Success

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless held its annual meeting for 2012 this week.  It is a time to reflect on the past and look forward.  The Board sets an agenda for 2013 and elects a new group of officers.  The most important thing that we do is give out awards to people who have gone above and beyond to serve homeless people over the last year or provided a lifetime of service to the community.

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The Rise of Disabled Americans

This weekend the entire hour of This American Life radio program was dedicated to the issues associated with Social Security Disability.  The program dedicated the whole hour to Chana Joffe Walt exploring the SSDI program after noticing a sharp increase in the numbers.   She looked at the lawyers who help get people the proper appeal, the children who are ruled disabled, and the states that are using the program as an alternative to welfare.  There are now 14 million currently living on disability which averages around $13,000 per year. 

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Legal Assistance to the Low Income

There was a nice article in the Atlantic this week regarding the right to legal assistance marking the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court case that guaranteed a right to counsel.  NPR also did a similar story this morning.  We wrote about access to legal counsel in the latest issue of the Street Chronicle by Greg and then a follow up question and answer article by a staff member of the ACLU about this issue.  This is a huge problem within the homeless community, and can significantly increase the stay in a shelter.

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Sequestration and Homeless People

We have a complete Advocacy Alert on our website here, but here is our best guess of what the impact on homeless people in Cleveland will be with the Sequestration.  We are most concerned about CMHA and the impact of this and the Continuing Resoltion has on Public Housing.  You can check out our advocacy alerts here.

Public Housing saw an 11% decline in the amount of money they were supposed to receive in March 2013.  This means for now they are not moving anyone into housing and freezing their budget with a hope that this will be resolved by the end of the month.
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Homeless Seniors on the Rise

NPR had a nice story about homeless seniors in Boston.  One of my favorite NPR reporters, Pam Fessler, was able to talk to a number of seniors who live outside in Boston. There was a follow up story on All Things Considered following a couple in Baltimore.   The morning story was going along really nicely with all the facts clearly laid out and then she talked to Dennis Culhane and the credibility of the story was undermined.

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New NEOCH Facebook Page

Just as Facebook is beginning to wane in our society, NEOCH has jumped in to reinvigorate our Facebook page.  We are now regularly updating our Facebook page which we have selected Clevelandhomeless as a somewhat convenient way to find us.  We hope to keep our members updated on the latest news and events with the organization. The page is updated regularly with the latest blog posts on what’s going on in Cleveland.  

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Senior Homelessness on the Rise

NPR had a nice story about homeless seniors in Boston.  One of my favorite NPR reporters, Pam Fessler, was able to talk to a number of seniors who live outside in Boston. There was a follow up story on All Things Considered following a couple in Baltimore.   The morning story was going along really nicely with all the facts clearly laid out and then she talked to Dennis Culhane and the credibility of the story was undermined.  We written before about how we do not trust the information from Culhane because he is also a paid consultant to many cities.

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What Does Sequestration Mean for Homeless People?

We have a complete Advocacy Alert on our website here, but here is our best guess of what the impact on homeless people in Cleveland will be with the Sequestration.  We are most concerned about CMHA and the impact of this and the Continuing Resoltion has on Public Housing.  You can check out our advocacy alerts here.
Public Housing saw an 11% decline in the amount of money they were supposed to receive in March 2013.  This means for now they are not moving anyone into housing and freezing their budget with a hope that this will be resolved by the end of the month.
 
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Why We Need Shelter Standards...

There is an awful story in the Huffington Post regarding the shelters in Tallahassee.  Another shelter director in the city went undercover and discovered abuse by the staff of women staying at the facility called The Shelter in Tallahassee.  Since there is very little oversight of the shelters, this could happen in any city in America.   These experiences could happen in Cleveland because the shelters govern themselves.   There are health inspections, but otherwise government takes a hands off approach to the monitoring of shelters.

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NEOCH Annual Meeting

The NEOCH Annual Meeting is next Wednesday March 20, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. at NEOCH (3631 Perkins Ave. Cleveland 44114).  Typically, at the Annual NEOCH Meeting, we:

• Release our Annual Report.
• Update the community on our 2012 Accomplishments.
• Talk to our constituents about our plans for the next year.
• Present Awards to the Social Service Voting Champions.

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Sequestration = Chaos and Confusion

Two CMHA officials gave their periodic update about the agency at the last CAHA meeting.  Media are not supposed to quote presenters at CAHA so that they can be free to be speak honestly.  But we can give you the basics of the meeting: Sequestration means chaos and confusion.  Throughout the federal government this week and with non-profit agencies receiving the bulk of their money from the federal government there are lots of meetings happening.  They are wasting human capital figuring out how to cut staff, travel, or other costs because Congress is so dysfunctional. 

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Street Chronicle Featured in the Plain Dealer

Mark Naymik wrote a nice commentary in today's Cleveland Plain Dealer about the 20th year of the Street Newspaper in Cleveland.   Mark focused on the history of NEOCH publishing a street newspaper from the Xerox copies in 1993 to the color newspaper of today.   He was able to talk to vendors Angelo and Mike (although Mike's comments did not make the final cut).   Mark did a good job with detailing the rough history of the paper in Cleveland.  From fights with the City of Cleveland to struggles keeping the vendors on the straight and narrow, we have had a tough 20 years.

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