New Staff at Critical Social Service Agencies

Diane Gatto was appointed as the Director of First Call for Help/211 in Cleveland.  This is a United Way critical program for the community that is often forgotten because it works so effectively.   They offer essential referral help to those looking for food, shelter, health care, job training or legal assistance. They regularly update treatment services available and they can provide for all the hotlines numbers (domestic violence, rape crisis, suicide prevention, and veteran's services) anytime.   211 operates 24 hours and they have a fantastic website that is regularly updated.  All the information that they provide is verified on a regular basis.  Diane has been with the organization for years and knows everything about running a telephone referral system.

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Update on Legal Assistance for Poor People

If you want to see one of the  biggest casualties of the 2008 financial downturn visit the lobby of the Legal Aid Society on Tuesday mornings.  You will see long lines, many turned away, and the harm inflicted on legal assistance programs for the poor in the United States with the cut in the interest paid in trust accounts and a decrease in public assistance.  Just when millions were in need of a lawyer to help them weed through the foreclosure crisis and battling the big banks and mortgage companies, the legal aid societies across America reduced staff.  In Cleveland, they had to layoff 8 staff last year and had to limit their services.

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Sewer District to Present at CAHA

We have all seen the fee added to our Sewer District bills to improve the storm sewer overflow system in Northeast Ohio, but how will these new fees impact the preservation and development of affordable housing in Cleveland?   At the August 5, 2013, Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance meeting we will have staff from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District present to talk about the fees and what commercial entities can do to reduce costs.  Businesses are being assessed for every square foot of concrete and the water that comes off buildings going into the sewer. 

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Josh Memorial Featured Thunderstorm

There are no words to express my inability to understand what happened with Josh.  I found this nice picture of Josh in our archive from 2006 or 2007 from a happier time.  I was able to attend a respectful memorial last week in Cleveland for Josh, and everyone who spoke talked about his dedication and commitment to social justice.  It was a hot and steamy evening in Cleveland on Friday July 19, 2013, and at the close of the ceremony the sky opened up for a short thunderstorm. 

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Grapevine Vendor, Linda, Passes Away

We lost Linda, a Grapevine vendor this last week.  Her service was July 18, 2013 at Carey's Funeral Home on Lorain Ave.   You may remember her at the West Side Market selling the papers.  She also wrote for the paper.  She was an environmentalist who loved cats.  She had a great deal of trouble keeping stable housing throughout her life, and she was overtaken by cancer this last year.  Linda had a rough life and struggled with behavioral health issues.  I remember that she met a lot of politicians at the West Side Market when she was selling the paper, and she always offered her opinions on the state of the nation.

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How Do We Respond To the Extreme Heat and Homelessness?

This has been a rough week in Cleveland for those who are homeless and do not want to go into shelter.  Five days of heat advisories have been tough on the population.  On Monday evening, a man died outside of the main shelter, and we are waiting for the Medical Examiner to make a decision on the cause of death of this 70 year old homeless individual.  The men’s shelter has opened earlier in the day all this week, and is trying to keep the lines down and has offered water to everyone around the facility.  The Volunteers of America outreach are handing out gallons of water this week as they conduct their outreach on the streets.

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Social Security Makes it Harder for Homeless People

Cleveland is one of the few communities in the United States to have a collaborative ID program for homeless people.  This was organized way back in 2005 by one of our VISTAs, Joseph, at NEOCH with most of the homeless programs in Cleveland participating.  The program is led by staff at West Side Catholic and St. Colman's Catholic Church.  Last week, we were notified that the Social Security Administration had tightened their rules and will not give a printout indicating the individual has a social security number without proof of citizenship and identity. 

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Do We Believe that the Ohio Secretary of State Will Help More People to Vote?

There was nice coverage of the hearing yesterday in federal court by Associated Press Reporter Ann Sanner in the Akron Beacon Journal and the Columbus Dispatch and the Cincinnati Enquirer.  Why, in the home city of the lead plaintiff, NEOCH, was there no coverage?  I do not know.   But anyway, it was an interesting court hearing down in Columbus.  Our lawyers were in Federal Court asking for an extension of the agreement we finalized with the State of Ohio in 2010.  We have signed an agreement with the State over voters use of Identification before every election since the law was passed in the lame duck session of 2005.

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Medicaid Expansion Rally in Columbus

 Late Tuesday morning we boarded the van at NOBLE/Organize!Ohio offices and headed to Columbus for the Medicaid Expansion rally.  Knowing in advance that the politicians of the House and Senate were on their respective breaks, I did not think this was going to be much of a trip.  The rally was being held indoors in the atrium of the Capitol, which in hindsight should have sounded off bells and whistles.  After taking the elevator to the first floor, we approached the entrance to the atrium and immediately ran into a wall of humanity.

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Voting and New Statistics Added to the Website

We have added the press release on our site regarding the temporary victory over the state to extend our voting agreement.  We have a hearing in Federal Court this Friday at 2 p.m. in Columbus.  We hope to extend the consent decree from the 2008 election beyond this year.   There are new circumstances and the law has not changed.  We all thought that the state would reform their voting law by now.  We thought with the long lines and all the lawsuits the state would have forced a compromise on a new law.

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Family Pets and Homelessness

We received a call in the office today from a woman who was in need of rental assistance to prevent an eviction.  This is not unusual since we get about four of eviction calls per day.  This is by far the single greatest need in the community, but what made this especially difficult is that she had a pet.  She was looking for a shelter that accepted pets.  There are none.  All shelters will, of course, accept service animals, but none will accept a pet.  There are allergies, health regulations, and liability issues that make it impossible for the shelters to allow animals.

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Family Overflow Shelter Constructed This Summer in Cleveland

Over the past few months, NEOCH, Frontline Services, formerly MHS Inc., and Cuyahoga County have been working to address the rising problem of family homelessness. Each May, Cuyahoga County sees a rise in families in need of housing—a rise that continues to increase throughout the summer and lasts into early fall. Many reasons can cause this rise in homelessness, ranging from relocation in warmer weather, an end to the school year for kids, or personal reasons unique to each family. For more information on the causes of family homelessness, see our past blog post here. 

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Advocates Push for Medicaid Expansion in Ohio

Despite advocates, health care professionals, business leaders, and social service providers agreeing that Ohio needs an expansion of Medicaid, the Ohio legislature failed to include the expansion in the 2013-2015 budget.  This will mean that at this point 275,000 additional Ohioans will not be able to take advantage of Obamacare in 2014.  On Tuesday July 9th at 1 p.m. advocates will gather at the State Capital Atrium in Columbus to urge the Governor to push Medicaid expansion through the legislature.

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Joshua Kanary Event Planned for July 19

The family and friends of Josh Kanary will gather on Friday July 19, 2013 at 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Community Church 4427 Franklin Blvd. (near St. Herman’s) on the Near West Side of Cleveland.  Rev. Jim Link will officiate and his friends Emily and Sarah (pictured next to Josh here)  will organize the program to remember Josh.   There was a memorial in May in Toledo and many of his friends in Cleveland were not able to attend the services.

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Councilman Brancatelli will Speak to CAHA on Monday

Councilman Tony Brancatelli, the Chair of the Community and Economic Development Committee, will attend the next Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance meeting to present to the group.  CAHA is at the lower level of the HUD offices at 1350 Euclid Ave. in the US Bank building on July 8 at 1:30 p.m.   He will talk about the City of Cleveland's efforts to clean up after the foreclosure crisis.  He will talk about the City Budget for community development in light of federal austerity and budget cuts from Sequestration.  Finally, he is expected to answer questions regarding the development of affordable housing in Cleveland.

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Atlanta Race and Politics and Nonprofits

The June 16, 2013 edition of the Atlanta Progressive News has an interesting article about Race, Poverty and Non-Profits in Atlanta.  I am no fan of Atlanta, but Matthew Cardinale has a "devastating critique" of the city and the leading non-profits.  He makes the point that Atlanta Georgia is the "birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement" with the King Center a wealth of history in the new Capital of the South, but is also the city that has led a war on poor people.   He lists an amazing resuscitation of crimes against the poor by the City of Atlanta including prioritizing both the public hospital and the schools, destroying public housing, and making it illegal to be visibly homeless. 

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County Council Awards Funds for Veterans

I don't know how we missed this, but the County redirected Veteran's Service Commission money to other veterans programs in Cuyahoga County.  Who knew that the Veteran's Commission money (as much as $1 million per year) was being returned to Cuyahoga County general revenue fund every year.  The new government decided that these funds should go to veterans as they were intended.  In June, the Council approved $733,000 to various government and charities that serve veterans locally.

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