Larry Davis Talks About the Street Voices Program

This is Larry Davis our former Volunteer Coordinator and current Board Member talking about the importance of the Street Voices Program to the community.


To see what Larry Davis has to say click this link


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Funding Changes Announced

The United Way on June 19th announced that they were funding 70 fewer programs in the community. To find out more about the program funding the United Way is cutting click this link


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Street Chronicle Newspaper Personal Story

The Street Chronicle is our street newspaper. Ken Payton of NEOCH trains the individuals to sell the papers. To find out more about what he does click this link


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The Street Voices Program

Do you have people in your school or church who do not understand the struggle of poverty? Do you want to dispel the myths about homelessness to your students, friends, co-workers, and family? Then, the Street Voices Program brought to you by NEOCH is something you might to bring to your church, synagogue, school, or civic organization


To find out more information about the Street Voices program click this link
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"Make Your Mark" Nonprofit Voter Engagement Training

On July 17th we will be having a meeting that will teach you how to take advantage of your vote. For more information on the meeting click this link


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An Open Letter to City and County Government

We wrote an open letter to Mayor Jackson and County Executive Fitzgerald about developing an affordable housing plan.
 To read the letter click this link
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Proposals to Improve the Conditions in the Shelters

Passed on August 8, 2013 at a Homeless Congress meeting, a new shelter standards proposal was drafted and agreed upon. This proposal outlines the most essential shelter standards suggested by the Homeless Congress at earlier meetings.


To find out more about these proposals click this link
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Unfriendly Honolulu Push Homeless People Out

Honolulu is a beautiful place to live, but a horrible place to be homeless.  Honolulu police are officially cracking down on homelessness at the direction of the Mayor. They are confiscating personal belongings, closing public parks at night, banning tents and lean-tos in public spaces, imposing fines for public urination/defecation, and rousting those from sleep on the sidewalks.


To find out more click this link
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We had a really nice meeting with the homeless providers to talk about getting homeless people registered and ready to vote.  To that end, we have also updated our website with the above logo on many pages. To find out more information click this link


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New Street Voices Video: Debbie the IRS Agent

To read and watch the video about Debbie click this link
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Nice Note to NEOCH

We received a nice note from Carolyn at the Middleburg Heights Women's Club.


To read the note click this link




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Putting Together a Plan for Homeless Voting

For more information on the plan click this link
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CAHA Housing Meeting from June 2014

At the recent Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance meeting held on Monday, June 2 at the US Bank Centre, attendees discussed various changes, updates, and projects concerning public housing.


For more information on the CAHA Housing Meeting click this link
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Housing Cleveland Website is a Wonderful Resource

HousingCleveland.org is a website constructed by a whole host of non-profit and government organizations.  A FREE website for housing related needs. Helping people to have access to affordable housing in Cuyahoga County, Ohio.


For more information on HousingCleveland.com click this link
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Housing 101 Has Space for you

The next Housing 101 will take place at NEOCH on June 13 at 10 a.m.  We still have space for you to attend.


For more information on Housing 101 click this link
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New Street Chronicle Available for Sale

The new issue of the Street Chronicle (Issue #21.2) is out on the streets right now and being sold mostly at the West Side Market and downtown.


For more information on the new issue of the Street Chronicle click this link
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The Path Forward in the Police Shootings

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless is thankful for the indictment of the officers and supervisors in the shooting of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, both of whom were experiencing homelessness.


For more information click this link
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Fund to Help those Burnt Out in the Flats

To find out how to help those burnt out in the flats click this link
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New Video Posted for Street Voices

For information on the speaker and to see the video click this link
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Spice Alert Issued for the Shelters

The National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Health Care for the Homeless Council has issued a warning for the shelters to be aware of a dangerous new drug that is sending homeless people to the hospital.


For more information on this drug click this link
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Arsonists Arrested for Starting Fires in Flats

Two men and a woman who were homeless were arrested early this morning in connection with the fires of homeless encampments.


For more information on the fires click this link
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Fair Housing and How to Find Housing in Cleveland

Reminder that there is a Housing Forum for social service providers and clients to learn more about housing programs in Cleveland.


For more information click this link
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Bridge Support Archive Posted

We have added a newsletter tailored to those who go outside to serve homeless people.


For more information on this newsletter click this link
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Award Winners at Care Alliance

John Corlett and Brian Davis both received awards from Care Alliance at the Annual Meeting last week.  Francis Afram-Gyening (on left) presents the award to John Corlett (middle holding award) for all his work locally to expand health insurance for low income people in Cleveland. The Care Alliance Board also gave an award to Brian Davis Community Organizer for the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.  Afram-Gyening and outreach worker, Jim Schlecht, presented the award to Davis for his years of service to the homeless community in Cleveland.


For more information click this link
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Good News For Protecting the Rights of Voters

A Wisconsin judge has struck down the State law requiring the showing of identification in order to vote.  This is tremendous news for those who believe that voter ID laws are ways to restrict access to the ballot box.


For more information click this link
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Americans' Level of Worry--Independents 2014

This is a March Gallup survey on the concerns of Independent Americans about national problems (people who do not register as Democrats or Republicans).  It is interesting to note that hunger and homelessness is sixth and unemployment is fifth.  If our legislators went to work every day just to work on the top ten issues exclusively, we might be able to solve some these intractable issues in our society.


For more information click this link
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National Coalition for the Homeless Updates

The National Coalition for the Homeless has a new director, a new website, some new Board members and a renewed focus on community organizing and building a movement around housing and homelessness.


To find out all The National Coalition for the Homeless is doing click this link
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What is Happening in the United States Around Homelessness?

To find out what is happening click on this link


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Great Evening for Outreach Training

Last night was a first in Cleveland-a discussion between the students and religious folks who go outside and serve homeless people with the "professional" staff hired to serve the population. This was a chance for Labre students, groups representing various churches and other agencies to get together to talk about the goals and issues associated with serving people who live outside.


For more information on this article click on this link
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Updates on Laura's Home and Homeless Congress

We had new County Council Anthony Hairston as our guest at the Homeless Congress meeting this week.  As with most meetings of the Homeless Congress, there is a lot of anger within the homeless community over discharges and the treatment that they receive by the shelter system.  Hairston was good about patiently listening to his constituents and pledging to follow up on many of these issues.


For more information on this article click this link
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No Bathrooms in Downtown Cleveland

We received a complaint from a friend of the Coalition about a woman relieving herself behind a vehicle near the financial district of Downtown Cleveland (between East 6th St. and East 9th St. in the old Short North).   She was shocked that this homeless woman was outside using the bathroom.   I asked one of the full time social workers helping people in the Downtown area where people could go to use the bathroom.  Here is her response: "The answer is the Library, city/county buildings with ID, the courthouses, and Justice Center. All other buildings are private."  We have basically six locations downtown with public restrooms and two require ID and all require going through a metal detector. 


To read more on this article click this link
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Housing Homeless Vet staff, Ruth Fiala, Passes Away

Ruth was part of the staff working to end veterans homelessness in Cleveland.  She had worked to provide housing vouchers to homeless veterans and was a part of a number of trainings offered by the Coalition.  We are shocked over her death which came suddenly last week.  It is a big loss for the homeless community. 


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Bridge Support: Resource for Those Who Help

We have added a newsletter tailored to those who go outside to serve homeless people.  This newsletter called Bridge Support will be delivered weekly to those who go outside to serve the population, and we have added a section to our outreach section of our website.  This is a weekly update to those working with homeless people.  It has upcoming events and program updates.   This is part of the expansion of our outreach effort funded by the Community West Foundation.  The Bridge Support weekly update has resources available to homeless people and new or expanded programs. It gives information to those who are building trusting relationships with homeless people. 

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Updates on Voting Rights

A Wisconsin judge has struck down the State law requiring the showing of identification in order to vote.  This is tremendous news for those who believe that voter ID laws are ways to restrict access to the ballot box.  We discuss this in more detail in our voting blog.  We appreciate that the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty were a part of the legal team on this important victory.  In Ohio, the ACLU is leading a group to overturn new restrictions on voting. 

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Poll: People Are Worried about Homelessness

This is a March Gallup survey on the concerns of Independent Americans about national problems (people who do not register as Democrats or Republicans).  It is interesting to note that hunger and homelessness is sixth and unemployment is fifth.  If our legislators went to work every day just to work on the top ten issues exclusively, we might be able to solve some these intractable issues in our society.   It is also interesting to note that issues that are at the top of national media outlets don't even make the top issues like terrorism and natural disasters.  These are the registered independents.  We have posted the opinions of all Americans regarding the level of worry on our information log.  Check it out...

For more on this post and to see the graph go here...
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An Update on the National Coalition for the Homeless

 The National Coalition for the Homeless has a new director, a new website, some new Board members and a renewed focus on community organizing and building a movement around housing and homelessness.  There are so many national groups focused on homelessness, but NCH has a 30 year history of focusing on Civil Rights and representing the interests of those living in shelters or on the streets.  They have a strong past including leading the passage of the McKinney Vento legislation that protects homeless children and funds all the shelters.  They have fought against laws directed at homeless people and raised awareness about hate crimes against those who spend time sleeping outside.
 
For more on this post go here....
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Coordinated Intake Hurts Privately Funded Shelters

The Plain Dealer did a really nice overview of the problems homeless people are facing if they go to a private shelter before they go to the Central Intake site in Cleveland.  This is a huge issue that has brought Republican and Democratic lawmakers together to question this policy.  Democrats Fudge, Kaptur and Senator Brown as well as Republican Rob Portman have all written to the federal agency funding all these services to ask for a clear explanation. 

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More Information on the Daniel Event

Along with the fundraiser at the Algebra Tea House friends and activists will gather at Daniel's grave site in Lakeview cemetery.  Tuesday May 6 at 5 p.m. at the Mayfield Gate to walk to his grave.  See the flyer that James designed.

For more on this post and to see the flyer go here....
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Daniel Thompson Event and Fundraiser

Got this message from James regarding an upcoming Daniel Thompson event:  Hard to believe, but Daniel has been gone now for nearly ten years.  On May 6, 2014 @ 7:30 p.m., Ayman at Algebra Tea House has agreed to host Drumplay in a performance to honor Daniel's memory, and to raise funds for the Cleveland Street Chronicle - an empowerment project of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless. 
Algebra Tea House was a favorite haunt of Daniel's; and we gather there again for a worthy cause.

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Candidate Night for Democratic Candidates for County Executive

I attended the Candidates’ Night on April 10 co-sponsored by community organizations that included the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and the Homeless Congress.  The six Democratic candidates running for the County Executive position were invited to participate, and five of the candidates came eagerly to tackle the issues that affect everyone in one way or another in Cuyahoga County.  The event was held at the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry Richard Sering Center.
The panel included; State Senator Shirley Smith, high school principal Thomas O’Grady, former sheriff Bob Reid, Democratic operative Tim Russo, and neighborhood activist Walter Allen Rogers Jr.  Len Calabrese who recently retired from the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland did a wonderful job as the moderator.

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Fair Housing Training Scheduled for May 15

One of the last pieces of Civil Rights legislation to pass was the Fair Housing Act.  It has been expanded and renewed since the 1970s and protects renters from discrimination.  We will have a one hour training on the Act on May 15, 2015 at 10 a.m. We are hoping to have thirty people searching for housing at the event.  Those 30 people will receive a bus pass to attend.   Staff of homeless service providers would also benefit from attending this training. The forum will last one hour and will start at 10 a.m. on May 15 at the Cosgrove Center in Cleveland. 

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Training for those who Minister to Those Outside

If you belong to a church that goes out to feed homeless people or a student group that goes to the streets of Cleveland to help those sleeping rough, we have a training opportunity for you.  We have a group of experienced outreach workers who will provide resource information and answer questions based on their years of service.  They will talk about ethical issues and the philosophy of serving those outside.  It is tough to build a trusting relationship with those who have nearly given up on society.  Many have faced tough times and have seen the system fail for them.  Others have made huge errors in judgement that they are not willing to admit. 

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Update on Ohio Housing Trust Fund

The Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio has been leading the charge to lift the cap on the Ohio Housing Trust Fund.  At the March COHHIO conference, Bill Faith announced that they had made progress with an amendment to lift the cap on the Ohio Housing Trust Fund. The amendment had been included by Rep. Ryan Smith (R-Bidwell) in a piece of legislation known as the Mid-Biennium Review, HB 483. Previously, the money raised from the local Recorders fee when property transfers goes into the Ohio Housing Trust Fund to build and preserve affordable housing.   For years, Ohio has capped the revenue at $50 million with the rest going to the State's General Revenue account. 

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New Video of Simona on the Website

Thanks to Brent for putting together another video of one of our Street Voices speakers.  Simona recently found housing and is now stable.  She is available to talk to religious groups and civic organizations in the County. Here is a link to the Street Voices page of our website.  Call Ken at NEOCH to schedule a time for the Street Voices speaker to participate in a meeting or present to your group today (216) 432-0540.  Simona is a single mom who found herself homeless, but we have high school students, older males and retired single women who can speak to your group.

For more on this post and to view the video go here...
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Rally to Protest Benefit Cuts

There is a rally and March on Saturday April 12 at Noon at the Market Square Park on West 25th and Lorain Ave. across from the West Side Market.  The group will proceed down to St. Paul's Community Church on Franklin Blvd.  This is a grass roots efforts to call attention to the austerity measures taken by the federal government.  The Protest will ask the federal elected officials to:

• Extend unemployment insurance to the millions struggling to find jobs who lost benefits on January 1, 2014.
• Raise the minimum wage to meet the rising cost of food and shelter in the United States.
• Restore the cuts to the food stamps program made in August and then November 2013.

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Discrimination Report Issued by National Coalition

The National Coalition for the Homeless has issued a briefing paper this week in Washington DC on the opinions of homeless people in the nation's capital.  This was a summer project by students at George Washington University to interview homeless people about their treatment that they receive by law enforcement, private businesses, medical services and social services.
It is no surprise that law enforcement and private businesses were widely described as having discriminating against homeless people.

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Housing 101 Workshop Scheduled for June

NEOCH introduces another Housing 101 workshop for social service providers in the community.  This new workshop will be Friday June 13 at 10 a.m. at NEOCH.  We will only have space for 40 people to attend, so you will have to get your reservation in quickly.  We have a flyer and a webpage dedicated to the Housing 101 here.  The workshop will give housing case managers information about HousingCleveland.org, and the new process for getting shelter in Cuyahoga County.  There is a presentation about landlord tenant issues from the Cleveland Tenants Organization and one from staff from the Dept. of Veteran's Affairs regarding housing and homeless issues for those who served their country.

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Care Alliance Annual Meeting

Care Alliance is hosting their annual meeting in two weeks  April 23 at Noon.  They are giving an award to Brian Davis at NEOCH, and you are welcome to join them at this event.  Please contact them if you are interested in attending.  You must RSVP by calling Mary Kate Hannan at Care Alliance 216/781-6228.

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HUD Rejected Our Appeal Regarding Coordinated Intake

In April 2013, the County decided that anyone who does not go to the Coordinated Intake first would not be considered homeless and therefore not have access to the rest of the services in the community.  For men, you have to go to 2100 Lakeside shelter first before going to any other facility in the community for assistance with your homelessness.  Women and women with children must start their journey at the Norma Herr Center at 2227 Payne Ave.  If they go to one of the privately funded shelters in the community before going to Coordinated Intake, they lose their ability to access rental assistance, transitional housing or any other publicly funded homeless service.

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We Met with Cleveland Police About Hate Crimes

We had a meeting with many outreach workers and volunteers along with some of the victims of the fires down in the Flats and the Cleveland Police Department.  The new Commander of the Second District Thomas Stacho and Officer Petcak from the Downtown unit attended the meeting to hear our concerns that someone was targeting homeless people by burning down their campsites.  We heard of three active sites that were destroyed and a couple of abandoned camps.  This started the weekend of March 21 and continued last Friday March 28.   On Friday evening between 4 pm to 5 p.m.  there were a series of fires at the camps while they were away getting food.

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Candidate Night for County Executive Primary

Lutheran Metro Ministry and Organize!Ohio along with 30 social service and social justice groups are co-hosting a candidate night next week for those running in the primary for Cuyahoga County Executive.  The forum is Thursday April 10 at 6 p.m. at 4515 Superior Ave.  (parking is across the street or on the side streets).  The focus will be on health and human services, housing and other critical needs in the community.  We submitted a couple of questions for the forum.  Nearly all the candidates have confirmed for this event.

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Hate Crime Attack on Homeless Encampments

The Homeless Stroller Lady is famous in Cleveland.  You have probably seen her on a bus or walking around downtown, and some have even called the police worried that she has a baby in the stroller (she does not).   This weekend her campsite and two others were attacked in the Flats.  There were three or four tents set on fire over the weekend.  This is a terrifying prospect with all those flamable blankets lining the tents.  The Stroller Lady had gone to the president of a local construction company and received written permission to take scrap wood from the construction site for her campsite.

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New Street Video Posted on the Website

We posted a new video featuring Angelo Anderson on the front of our website and in our Street Voices section of the website.  Most people are aware of Angelo and his long affiliation with the NEOCH.  Angelo was one of the men who approached NEOCH about printing the street newspaper that they were calling the Homeless Grapevine 21 years ago.   Angelo has been a long term speaker for our Street Voices program.  He raised himself out of homelessness to join the NEOCH staff and then became staff at the Salvation Army/Lutheran Metro Ministry main men's shelter in Cleveland.  This is a short promo for the Street Voices project, but Angelo would love to come out and speak to your group.

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Award Winners at the NEOCH Annual Meeting

The Board of Directors of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless presented the Advocate of the Year award to Eileen Kelly at the Annual Meeting on March 19.  We also gave the David Westcott Volunteer of the Year award to Kimberly Fischer for her outstanding work last year.  Eileen Kelly invited a number of St. Colman friends with her to the annual meeting to help celebrate her social justice award.   Kelly helped start the Identification Collaborative in Cleveland nearly 10 years ago, and they have served thousands.   Last year, Kelly did a great deal of work trying to get the Social Security Administration and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in protecting access to identification for homeless people.  This year the hard work begins of trying to raise enough funds to keep the project going.

http://www.neoch.org/cleveland-homeless-blog/2014/3/20/award-winners-from-neoch.html
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Ione Biggs Award Winners

Jay Westbrook and Maria Smith were honored by the Homeless Coalition as the 2013 and 2012 Ione Biggs Social Justice Award winners respectfully.  We presented them with a plaque that they can display on their office wall.  We also have a recognition plaque in the office with the engraved names of the previous winners. We keep Ione Biggs name alive in Cleveland with this Social Justice award, and each of the winners knew Ms. Biggs and were fans of her advocacy and dignity. For those who do not know, Ione Biggs was one of the first female police officers in Ohio.  She had a long history of fighting for the rights of women especially women of color. 

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Annual Report Posted on our Website

We had a really nice Annual Meeting on Wednesday night with a full house of over 40 people.  We were proud to give lifetime achievements to Maria Smith and retired Councilman Jay Westbrook as the 2012 and 2013 Ione Biggs Social Justice Award winners. Both graciously tried to find others who deserved the award more than they did, but we finally convinced each to accept the award.  It was nice that both knew Ms. Biggs before she passed away.  We had some good food (thanks Jennifer) and around 40 people attended the Annual Meeting.

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Two Related Stories on the Criminal Justice System

There were a strange group of articles in the paper that point to the two different approaches to the criminal justice system in America.  The Justice Department announced a change in the sentencing recommendations for drug offenses then on the other end the Plain Dealer had a story that the Governor was asking for additional criminal justice money because they are running out of space in the jails.  Attorney General Eric Holder is asking for a reduction in the range of sentences for federal drug crimes.  At the same time, he is requesting that Federal Prosecutors not object to requests for sentencing reductions.  This will affect nearly 70% of the drug trafficking cases in the federal courts. Here is the NPR report on the issue. 

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At Least We Don't Live in Columbus

We have real problems with diversion as part of Central Intake mostly based on concerns of women at the shelter.   We do not believe that it is ever a good idea to return a woman to the place she was last night if there is a possibility that the women will experience domestic violence.   The County is following a trend in the United States to interview people and ask them where they slept last night, and then try to negotiate a place to stay with family, friends or landlord that is not in the shelters.  This is called Diversion and it is the latest trend out of Washington DC.  Over 20% of the people do not get a shelter bed and are relocated back to the community.   I am skeptical that a victim of domestic violence would tell a total stranger that she is being abused if she is embarrassed or ashamed that she has stayed with the abuser for an extended period of time.

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National News Updates

New York City
The new police chief of New York City, Bill Bratton, has tripled the number of arrests for panhandling as was done in the first two months of 2012.  This is a crackdown on those who sit by the subway asking for change which is annoying, but these guys need the help.  I have never understood giving people who are down on their luck a ticket for begging for money.  This seems like kicking a man when he is down.  Do they allow these guys to beg for the fine that they will be charged for asking for help?   Unless you provide an alternative for these poor people it will only perpetuate the problem.

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Radio Program Featured a Discussion on Voting

This morning on WCPN 90.3 was another good Sound of Ideas radio program on voting rights in Ohio.   Mike McIntyre did a good job trying to move beyond the spin and talking points regarding the big changes taking place in Ohio regarding voting.  It was nice that he asked Secretary of State Jon Husted my question that I submitted about the market wanting weekend voting and Golden Week voting so why won't government respond to the people instead of saying we have to respond to government?   He also asked Subodh's question about disenfranchisement of African American voters in large urban communities.   We never got to hear a debate about large populations like Cuyahoga County not being able to get the 700,000 registered voters through the lines when we have the same hours as the 14,000 voters in Van Wert County.

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More Limits on Voting in Ohio

A number of editorial boards have condemned these voter suppression bills. The Plain Dealer editorial is here. Toledo Blade has weighed in opposing the changes in February.  Democrats all opposed the changes, and have threatened lawsuits.  It looks like we will again spend the spring and summer engaged in many lawsuits over the process of casting a ballot in Ohio.  There is a perception that all these changes are being done for purely political reasons.   The picture on the side of this story is the line at the Cuyahoga Board of Elections on the Sunday before the November election in 2012.  These lines were replicated all over the state showing that there was demand for Sunday voting.

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NEOCH Annual Meeting 3/19/2014

We have not given out the Ione Biggs Award for a few years.  We typically gave them out during our annual fund raiser.  Since we are doing that event differently with the HandUp Gala, we have not really had a good venue to give out these Social Justice Awards.   This year, we decided that we need to give out this important award again.  We are going to recognize the long career of both Legal Aid lawyer Maria Smith and retired Councilman Jay Westbrook.

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Housing 101 Workshop

Here is a copy of the flyer that you can print out or distribute to your co-workers.
We are starting our Housing Workshops for 2014.  We hope to have four this year.   These will help housing case workers learn more about the resources available to homeless people.  We will discuss the landlord tenant law and the fair housing laws.  We will talk about appeals and denials from subsidized properties, and how to better use HousingCleveland.org.   There are big changes in how homeless people access shelter and permanent supportive housing, and we will have the agency responsible for these programs present.  You must send in or drop off your reservation (with payment) at 3631 Perkins Ave. Suite #3A-3, Cleveland, Ohio 44114.

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Golden Week and Early Voting Curtailed

We the people of Ohio have to wonder what is the reason that we are not allowed to vote in the evening in person?  If government is supposed to act more like the business world then why are they not filling the demand for weekend and evening voting?   These were all busy times for early voting in Cuyahoga Counties and other urban centers.  Government should respond to the needs of its citizens--not force the people to meet the needs of employees of rural boards of elections.   In another example of fixing a problem that does not exist,  Secretary of State Husted has decided to limit early in person voting to consistent hours throughout the state.

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New Street Voices Video Posted on the Site

Sheri West is one of our Street Voices Speakers, and available to come out to a church, synagogue or civic organization to talk about her experiences.  She had a rough marriage and wound up in a women's shelter.  She is stable now with a job and housing, but had to endure a year of trauma.   We have a profile of Sheri on our website here. 

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Five Years After Recovery Act: Cleveland Homeless Better Off

This week was the anniversary of the American Recovery Act signed into law to clean up the mess that Wall Street made of our economy.  The lax regulations of big banks and the unregulated housing market corrupted the financial industry.  A lot of ink has been spilled to complain that the ACA was a giant boondoggle because we still have a relatively high unemployment rate.  I don't know about the other areas of the ACA, but I can say that it was a life saver for homeless people in Cleveland. 

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New Street Chronicle Available Now

Cleveland Street Chronicle Issue #21.1 is now on the streets.  The vendors are very happy because the Winter festival on West 25th St. is today.  They have new content to distribute to shoppers of the West Side Market and the businesses over on the Near West Side.  They have become a staple over there even appearing in the history book documenting the first 100 years of the institution.

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Permanent Supportive Housing Featured on WCPN

David C. Barnett had a nice story on WCPN yesterday regarding the new permanent supportive housing projects.  We appreciated hearing from a resident "Joan" who lived at one of the apartments.  We know many people who have been on the streets for years living in these properties.   We have a former vendor who has a huge issue with alcohol living in the Broadway neighborhood.   His former residence was a tent next to the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland. 

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National Homeless Updates

Barb Poppe Stepping down at InterAgency Council
Our friend, Barb Poppe, from Columbus Ohio former shelter director and current US InterAgency Council on Homelessness has announced that she will step down next month.  She is the wife of COHHIO Director, Bill Faith and was the coordinator of funding in Columbus Ohio for years.  The InterAgency Council publishes reports on homelessness and was the first agency to push a housing first strategy.  They also have a really nice newsletter.  Barb put her stamp on the agency by focusing on the rise in family homelessness and beginning to talk about the problem of youth homelessness.  The InterAgency Council is supposed to work with all the federal departments (Social Security, HHS, HUD, Labor and others) that may have cross agency concerns with homeless people.

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A Few Quick Updates

CWRU Civic Engagement Conference and Learning Center along with the InterReligious Task Force on Central America had their 14th Annual Teach In conference on a cold snowy day in February.  I was one of the presenters regarding homelessness in Cleveland.  It was amazing how many students came out to participate.  Sarah Kalloch of Oxfam and Dr. Rhonda Williams of CWRU Social Justice Institute were the two keynote speakers for the conference.   100,000 Homes Campaign was featured on 60 Minutes on Sunday February 9.  It was a nice piece on the savings for the community in providing housing before wasting time with services.

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Social Security Administration Delays Changes

Since the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicle offices do not seem to have access to the internet or the E-verify system, we have no idea how they are going to deal with this problem of the Social Security Administration not providing a print out.  This is a huge problem for homeless people which are regularly having their important documents taken or they get lost with all the movement in and out of housing and shelter.  We are still waiting for a response from the Ohio BMV. 

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Housekeeping on the Website

On this cold wintry day in Cleveland, we have made some changes in the website.  We posted Don's message about the Street Voices program on the front of our website.  We moved the Homeless Memorial Video to the In Memoriam page of our website.   Brent has created a channel for NEOCH on You Tube here, which has four videos currently available.  We have added a gallery of pictures from the Homeless Stand Down 2014.  We know that over 1,400 people attended the Stand Down this year despite the horrible snow storm on January 25, 2014.

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Don Messitt Promotes Street Voices Program

Brent is going to post short promotional videos with our Street Voices presenters.  The first video is of long time speaker, Don Messitt, who talks about the value of this program to break stereotypes.   You can schedule a speaker by calling Ken at 432-0540 ext. 106 or by going to the Street Voices Section of our website.  We are hoping to schedule more engagements in the next year, and we will post all the videos on our website.

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People Seem to Be Sheltering in Place

Homeless people seem to be sheltering in place and not going outside.  Everything including some of the healthcare clinic sites and drop in centers are closed today, but most people are inside.  The brave and hearty outreach teams have gone around to campsites over the last 24 hours to make sure people were safe.  We have about 8 people who the local outreach teams are checking on regularly.   The students from John Carroll, St. Ignatius, and CWRU Labre projects are still going out to check on the people they have built a relationship with over the years.  The Frontline Services staff are covering the community and helping those with mental health issues or disabilities find safe places to live.  Jim Schlecht, Tim Walters, Carl Cook and the other staff from Metanoia are keeping their drop in center open in this extreme cold.  We are giving out handwarmers, thermal sleeping bags and thousands of blankets to keep people safe. 

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Added a Few Statistics to the Website

We have posted the 2013 statistics from the shelters.  These statistics show 8,300 people used the shelters in 2013 (Oct. 2012 to September 2013).   There were 6,000 single adults and 646 families who used the shelters in Cuyahoga County.   The average stay in an emergency shelter for a single adult is 18 days and for a family nearly 60 days.   69% of the shelter population leave the emergency shelter with some income (including non-cash income).   While only 15% of the single adults leaving the shelter have earned income.   Single individuals leave the shelter with 67% of the population go to a permanent destination. It is interesting that about 45% of the sheltered homeless have not experienced homelessness in the past.

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Don't Get Sick in Texas if you are Poor

The second most populous state in the union is not a good place to get sick if you are poor.  Texas has 17.9% of their population living below poverty and the state leaders have decided not to extend health coverage to poor people. That is 4.5 million people who do not have an ability to afford health care coverage.  They are too poor to afford health care through the Affordable Health Care Act, and will not have the ability to have 100% of their coverage paid by the federal government.  Some of those living in poverty are children or elderly and so already have health coverage.  Some are disabled or have health care coverage at a job that pays below the poverty rate, but none of the 4.5 million will be able to obtain Medicaid.

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Cold Weather Plans

The Metanoia Project plans to be open tonight, tomorrow and Thursday in addition to our regular week end hours.  We will open tonight and tomorrow in our regular space at St. Malach's at 2459 washington starting at 7pm staying open to about 7am.  Thursday we will open at St. Malachi Center moving over to our regular space later that evening as there are other activities from 7 to 9pm,  We will provide a light meal (at best) and our guests are encouraged to take advantage of regular meal sites for their evening meal.  I am sure that if you want to drop off hot food over the next couple of nights they would love the help.

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Martin Luther King Jr. was a True Revolutionary

I spent part of the day today reading a 1967 speech by Martin Luther King Jr. regarding his opposition to the conflict in Vietnam.   It is an amazing lengthy discussion of the merits of this war and the waste of blood and treasure on this conflict in Southeast Asia.  I was struck by how long and powerfully relevant this speech was for the time.  I cannot think of a venue today in which a non-politician would have opportunity to speak in such detail about a major issue of our time.  We have many 24 hour news channels that we did not have in 1967, and yet we never hear these long discussions of current events.  I would have loved to hear a similar speech by a community leader in 2007 about the War in Iraq or Afghanistan.  King was able to walk through the history of the conflict and the choices we were making in a "society gone mad on war." 

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Good News and Bad News for the Shelters

The budget compromise worked out in Congress over the last two weeks will allow funds going to homeless programs to increase by 9% for 2014.  The problem is that getting to that point will mean some tough choices, and those programs cannot be made whole in 2014.  This year and last we had to cut programs and reduce administrative costs.  Last year, every group took a 5% cut in funds.  Nationally, this is a $80 million above the pre Sequester level of $2.03 billion in 2013. This will mean an additional $2.16 million locally in 2014 for homeless and housing programs.  In the last month, the County decided to cut a number of programs and submit four projects that may or may not get funding. The rules do not allow going back and restoring the funds cut over the last few years, and a couple of projects will most likely have closed down over the last few years.

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Upcoming Events in Cleveland

IRTF's 14th Annual Social Justice Teach In
On Sunday February 9, 2014 the InterReligious Task Force on Central America will host their annual Social Justice Teach In from 11:30 am to 4 p.m. at the CWRU Thwing Center 11111 Euclid Ave., Cleveland Ohio on the campus of Case Western Reserve University.  $10 for the public and free to College and High School Students.  For more information call 961-0003 or go to www.irtfcleveland.org.

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Stand Down Coming Soon Here

January 25, 2014 at 9 a.m. at Public Hall--Everyone is welcome.
Stand Down Flyer was posted on the NEOCH Website here...
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Awful News Out of Orange County California

In 2011, two Fullerton California police officers beat to death a mentally ill homeless man named Kelly Thomas, 37.  The two officers were acquitted of all charges on Monday January 13 in an Orange County court room.  Thomas's mother was quoted in the Huffington Post as saying, "Part of me died that night...They got away with it."  Kelly's father, Ron, was a retired police officer who was devestated by his son's death especially with the release of the security videotape from a nearby building of the encounter with the police on that July evening.  (It is on the internet, but we will not provide a link. It is too gruesome to watch).

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Quick Takes

Everyday I drive by the former Ward Bakery construction site at East 47th and Chester and view the building going on to develop a new headquarters for the Third District Police and wonder will the new building be haunted by the ghosts of Edwardo and Chief.   If people don't remember we have a number of stories in our Grapevine archive about the property called "Camelot" by a group of homeless people who lived there in peace for a couple of years.  

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Sticking up for the Johnson's Poverty Effort

We had a nice story today in the Plain Dealer about activists wanting a new emphasis on poverty in the Plain Dealer.  Thanks to Larry at Organize!Ohio for putting together this event.   We also read about a press conference in Washington DC from Senator Marco Rubio bashing the "War on Poverty" and previewing the conservative response to the high poverty rates in the United States.  I would like to mark the 50th anniversary of the Lyndon Johnson announcement of the "War on Poverty" in January of 1964 as a big step forward for the United States. 

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Tough Day in Cleveland

We had a great plan.  We had so many people working to protect the poorest of our citizens in Cleveland.  We had safety forces, government, and social services all working together to help.  Yet we still lost someone due to the cold. Monday and Tuesday night and Tuesday during the day, we had many teams of workers and volunteers out working to protect people living on the streets.   We offered thermal sleeping gear, blankets, tents, handwarmers, shelter spaces and even nights in a hotel.  There were about a dozen people who refused to come inside no matter what we did.

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More Plans for the Extreme Weather

 The City of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County convened a conference call today with social service providers and the Red Cross to make sure that we are ready to serve people living in unstable housing conditions locally.   Here are some of the things we learned:
1. The Metanoia Project at St. Malachi, 2100 Lakeside Shelter and the Community Women's shelter are the points of contact for City and County safety forces.  The RTA, Downtown Cleveland Alliance, St. Paul's and Care Alliance can offer transportation help to get people to these locations. The RTA was offering bus passes to get the person back to their "home" after the crisis is over.
2.  The police and other Public Safety forces can offer a ride if the individual needs help to get out to the cold.

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Extreme Weather Plans Ready for Cleveland

Many are worried about homeless people during this extreme weather.  Most of the shelters and social service providers are on the job today working to keep people safe.  The shelters stay open when it is this cold.  They do not turn people away and they do not make them leave during the day.  There are overnight warming places available (St. Malachi and Seasons of Hope for Women) that serve those who do not go to shelter. The City is also opening the Recreation Centers as warming centers.  The Plain Dealer's Tom Feran has done a series of articles on the cold here, here, and here.

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Handson NEO Collecting Items for Stand Down

The 23rd Homeless Stand Down will take place Saturday, January 25 at Cleveland Public Auditorium from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.  This event provides members of the homeless community and those facing financial and housing uncertainty with medical and social services to assess and assist those in critical need.  Breakfast and lunch, warm winter clothing, coats, boots, personal hygiene items, and compassion are available to attendees as donations permit. 

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We are Still Collecting Blankets

The NEOCH Blanket and donation drive is November 15 to March 15, 2014.  With the weather expected to get down to dangerous lows over the weekend and then next week, we are ready.  We have had scores of people dropping items off this week.  The shelters are ready to keep people inside if necessary. Typically shelter residents leave in the morning and return in the evening, but if it is too cold the County declares an emergency and people stay inside all day.  We will open the overflow shelters so that we do not turn anyone away.  We will most likely open the Metanoia Program on Monday or Tuesday if the temperature continues to decline as is forecast.  All the shelters will do whatever it takes to keep people safe. 

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CAHA Meeting Cancelled in January

We have written about the desire by Cuyahoga Suburban Development staff to learn the addresses of those who live in the suburbs and receive rental assistance from EDEN (mentally ill and other disabled clients).  We have developed a petition to respond to this invasion of privacy on the Change.org website.  We are still collecting signatures here...http://chn.ge/1f8RF6A to sign in support of getting the suburban government out of the business of monitoring the addresses of the disabled.  The staff at First Suburbs Consortium after reading the petition and hearing concerns asked to be put on the agenda for the Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance Meeting.  There was not room on the December meeting agenda, but we made space for the Monday January 6, 2014 CAHA meeting for a fuller discussion.  Right before Christmas, staff of the First Suburbs Consortium dropped out of the meeting. 

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NEOCH Work in 2013

Here are some of the items NEOCH worked on in 2013:

• NEOCH staff worked with other groups to push an expansion of Medicaid in Ohio attending rallies, writing letters and writing editorials to assure that most of our constituents had access to health care.
• NEOCH was able to successfully settle our lawsuit over voter ID with the State of Ohio to extend it until after the 2016 Presidential election.
• Held 12 meetings of homeless people to talk about solutions to homelessness. This included meetings with the Cleveland City Council, County Council and State Representatives.  We also held a meeting with the Cleveland Police after the shooting death of two homeless people in East Cleveland in late 2012. We focused on shelter budget cuts and the impact of Sequestration locally on poor people.

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Names of Those Who Died Listed on the Website

Thanks to Jay Westbrook as one of his last acts of official business provided a few remarks for our Homeless Memorial Day 2013.  The event was at St. Malachi on December 21, 2013 at 7 p.m. as the Metanoia project was getting started for the night.  We had Rev. Dr George Jackson from Agape Renaissance Center and Fr. Tony Schuerger of St. Malachi both offering prayers for those who passed away.  Jim Schlecht of Metanoia Project read the names of those who passed away, and I gave a brief look at the current state of homelessness.  We have a video on the front of our website of the entire service.  We also have a posted the names on our Memorial Section of our website. 

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Homeless Memorial Day Video

NEOCH has posted a video highlight of the Homeless Memorial Day from December 21, 2013 at St. Malachi.  We remember those who we lost over the past year with a candlelight vigil.  This is to honor those who typically are overlooked by society.   This is the 27th Memorial Day for homeless people in Cleveland.  We have posted this on the front of our website as well.

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Medicaid Has Expanded But Just Barely

The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld Medicaid Expansion in Ohio, but by only a 4-3 margin.  Medicaid survives for another day.   It did not make it through the legislative process, but was resurrected at the obscure Controlling Board.  The process of signing up new people started on December 9 in Ohio by going to http://benefits.ohio.gov/ to apply for expanded Medicaid.  This now applies to nearly everyone living in poverty in Ohio no matter if they have children or if they have a disability.  After the information is verified by a staff person from the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, the person will have health insurance.  They will have access to preventative health care, and will not have to rely on emergency room care. 

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Shelters Face Cuts in 2014

There was a vote today on the recommendations for shelter funds for 2014.  These are federal dollars from the 2013 allocation from HUD which involves a 5% cut because of Sequestration.   To fully fund all of our currently funded shelters, services, and housing programs for homeless people we need $24,608,600 and HUD is only giving us $23,995,100.  This means that a few of the shelters will face a large cut in funding and another group of services/shelters will not know if they are going to get funded at all until February 2014.  For five facilities in Cleveland, they are going to wait to see if HUD picks their project based on the amount of money unspent at the national level and competition from every other city in America.

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Received a Strange Call Today

I got a call from a pedestrian who bought a Street Chronicle newspaper today from one of our vendors and wanted a few questions answered.  He confirmed all the information that is on page 2 of the paper (Code of Conduct and newspaper operations).  How much do they pay for the paper--$.35?  Where does the money go when a pedestrian buys a paper--into the pocket of the vendor?  Then he asked, "Do you verify where this money is going to assure that it does not go to drugs or alcohol?"   This is an amazing question. 

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