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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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?

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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 9^th and featured the CEO of CMHA, Jeffrey Patterson and senior administrator, Scott Pollock.

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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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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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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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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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Punishing Ohio Voters??

Ohio Secretary of State Wants to Disenfranchise Voters

Anyway, we had a hearing on the Ohio Secretary of State's attempt to eliminate the agreement we signed with the state in 2010.  Both the Plain Dealer and Dayton Daily News covered the story (Our name was mentioned in Dayton--thanks).  As we have described in previous posts, the last Secretary of State signed an agreement with us to correct a problem in which voters who had given bad information had their ballots thrown out.
Check out our voting section of the website here....
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Fair Housing Workshop

How Fair Housing Rights Can Help Your Clients/Consumers!
        Wednesday July 18, 2012
        1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

        Stephanie Tubbs Jones Community Center

        3450 Lee Road Shaker Hts. 44120

CEUs for Social Workers 

For more information go here....

Or you can go to the Inclusion and Stability Website....

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Panhandling Madness

People get so angry about panhandling.  It is a dividing point in our society.  There are passionate people on both sides of the issue.  There are those who love bypassing all the bureaucracy and administration of nearly every non-profit to give directly to a person in need.  Then there are those who hate seeing people have to beg for money, and know that most of the donation is going to feed a chemical addiction.  There are those that want to have a connection with a stranger who is struggling as directed by most spiritual texts.

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Homeless People Benefit from Expanded Health Care

A big victory for the uninsured in America today, and a big victory for homeless people.  Our own healthcare for the homeless in Cleveland, Care Alliance, serves nearly 10,000 people per year.  88% of their clients do not have any insurance, 9% have regular medicaid, and 2% have Medicare with only 1% having private health insurance.  Today the United States Supreme Court upheld the individual mandate, which will allow thousands of homeless people in Cleveland to find a health care home in America. There will be thousands currently living in subsidized housing who will now have access to affordable health care.  This is great news.

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What Can I do to Help?

Donations Needed this Summer

Dorothy wanted to pass along a summer donation opportunity especially for religious organizations.  How about a summer youth project collecting hygiene kits for homeless people?   The perfect hygiene kit is a "Glad Ziploc" bag filled with trial size bathroom items.  We are looking for toothpaste, a toothbrush, trial size soap, conditioner, and maybe some lotion.  A wash cloth is always great along with a razor.  A small size deodorant and maybe a comb or a trial size package of Q-tips.  Anything else is a bonus such a fingernail clippers or lip balm or some band aids.  All of these items are welcomed by the homeless community.

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My Time Volunteering at NEOCH

by Duncan Peters
When I first learned about NEOCH I was uninterested in coming here. I did not want to do my Project Real here at all. The reason for this was because I have a tendency to be a bit lazy and I do not like doing work. Especially writing papers or typing articles. When I arrived here, I tried to have a positive outlook on the situation. I knew I would be stuck in this for about a week so I had to make the most of my days here.
The first day was a little rough for me. I wasn’t expecting the work load that I was given.

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Key vs. the City of Cleveland

In February of 2000, we settled our fifth lawsuit against the City of Cleveland.  We were stuck in this game between homeless people and the City of Cleveland.  Every Thanksgiving, they would send out a press release imploring shoppers to come downtown and ignore the homeless living outside.  This was the trigger for the police to go out and demand that homeless people disappear.  In a time to give thanks and reflect on the story of a prophet or the son of God being born homeless in a manger when homeless people would have to pack up and move under bridges or any other place that is out of sight by order of the City.

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Derelict Paradise and Casinos

I love Roldo Bartimole.  He is a treasure for the City of Cleveland.  We are so lucky that Roldo agreed to stay in Cleveland despite our ineptitude, corruption and our inability to make decisions on big projects.  We need more Roldos in this city.  You would think with the ease of publishing today we would have more Roldos in every city.  After all, when Roldo was doing his best muckraking in the City, he had to type all this stuff out in his house and then pay to print off copies of his Point of View.  He had to pay to mail them to the movers and shakers in Cleveland to get his opinions circulated.  Now, he can post something on the internet and more people in one hour can read his stuff then read every Point of View he ever published.

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Fair Housing Statistics

At the May Cuyahoga Affordable Housing Alliance Meeting, Hilary King, executive director of the Housing Research and Advocacy Center, presented the results of the Annual report on Fair Housing in Northeast Ohio.  Fair Housing complaints continued to increase and here are few of the statistics. The full report is available on HRAC website at TheHousingCenter.org.  We will give an overview comparison between 2000 and 2010.  The six counties are Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina

We have posted a summary of the State of Fair Housing Report in our Information Blog...
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