New Resources on the Website

Veteran's Street Card and Legal Schedule Updated

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless updated our website with the new Veteran's Street Card for 2010. Our website features the regular Street Card from 2009 and the 2010 East Cleveland Street Card. We are working on getting the Street Card printed. In addition, we are working on a Family Street Card to assist families that are experiencing problems with their housing. These should both be updated by the end of the summer.

In addition, the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association in partnership with NEOCH have added an additional clinic to the schedule for 2010. We have found attorneys who will staff the clinic at Trinity Cathedral beginning in August 2010. This clinic will offer legal advice to those who are in danger of being homeless or who are currently homeless on the third Wednesday of the month. The updated legal schedule is now on the website for distribution.

Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Legal Assistance Schedule Posted

Where to go for a Street Lawyer?

NEOCH has struggled over the last three years having had to layoff nearly all of our employees and relying more on volunteers and national service members, but one thing that we are proudest is that the community of homeless people have not suffered because of our financial issues. We were able to transfer all of our programs to other social service providers and maintain those services in the community. Our housing program and voice mail system are under the direction of other agencies and are still providing services in the community. We are working on finding funding for the Homeless Grapevine newspaper.

One program staff that we were forced to eliminate in 2009 was the director of Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance, but with the help of the Metropolitan Bar Association and volunteers from a bunch of local law firms and the Cuyahoga County Law Library we have kept the program in operation. We still have volunteer attorneys going to the shelters and drop in centers and offering legal help. We will also have an intern this summer working on strengthening the program.

The schedule for the Legal Program is on our website now here. If you are homeless and need to discuss non-criminal matters with an attorney, you can go to the Wednesday clinic at the May Dugan Center. If you are staying in the 8 shelters that have a monthly clinic, you can talk to the attorney about a security deposit that you may not have gotten back or a check from an employer that was held. In addition, the Bar still maintains a monthly divorce clinic to teach people how to file for divorce on their own. The lawyer can answer questions about visitation of a child in custody of the County or a child support order. They can help with an expungements or landlord tenant issues for those who are currently homeless or in imminent danger of becoming homeless. This is a wonderful service that serves over 300 people per year.

Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Veterans Street Card Available

Photo by Cheryl Jones of the NEOCH Photo Project. Call NEOCH if you want a print.

Homeless Veterans Street Card Available on the NEOCH Website

We have updated the Street Card dedicated to the services for Veterans in Cleveland. This is an 8.5 inch by 11 inch double sided piece of paper with all the information that you might need if you became homeless in Cleveland. Please feel feel to print and distribute the Veterans Street Card as much as you want.

Speaking of the website...

1. The Homeless Legal Assistance Clinic has been updated.
2. We have added a section on the Movable Wall exhibit that is available to educate the public about homelessness.
3. We added the new regular Street Card to the site.
   
4. The About Us section has been updated for accuracy.
   
5. We added a report on the Voting activities from the 2008 election. We will blog about this in the future.
6. There is a better search function on the site.
   
7. Finally, we added our 2008 Annual Report and some of the items from the report to various sections of the site.
   

Tell us what you think, and what we should add. We have an intern this summer working on the site. Daniel from CSU has been great at improving the site. What do you think?

Brian
Posts reflect the opinion of those who sign the entry.

Local News

A Few Updates from the Homeless Community

Here are a few updates that did not fit in the last Homeless Grapevine #86, which is currently on the streets of Cleveland.

North Point Transitional

North Point has moved to its second class of residents. This transitional shelter opened at the beginning of 2008, and featured a six month time limit to encourage individuals to find jobs, housing and move out quickly. The facility started out without a kitchen and place to serve a hot meal. The kitchen is in place and North Point is full as of mid November. As of October 1, 163 people were placed in a job or training program with an average wage of $9.00 per hour and 67% of the original residents securing a new job. Fifty to eighty found permanent housing with between 23 and 35 having returned to the entry shelter, 2100 Lakeside.

Overflow Needed

One of the hopes with the opening of North Point would be a decrease in the need for an overflow shelter in the community. The entry shelter, 2100 Lakeside, has struggled to keep down the numbers and shuffle beds throughout the night, but has remained full. The County was forced to open the basement of Volunteers of America again on November 17, 2008 with 35 people traveling across the river to sleep at the overflow shelter. On the Sunday before overflow opened there were 35 men sleeping in the hallways at Lakeside Shelter. Experts predict that without a huge infusion of jobs for Cuyahoga County, the overflow needs will only increase. The women’s shelter has also seen high numbers resulting in women sleeping on mats.

County Budget Cuts

As the major media outlets have documented, the County will face a huge budget deficit in 2009. This will have an impact on the homeless shelters in Cuyahoga County. The Disabled Men’s Shelter, 2100 Lakeside, and the Community Women’s Shelter will have to take a 5.5% cut next year. This could result in reduced staff or a reduction in the time the facilities are open. In addition, the transitional and permanent housing programs that serve homeless people will reach a milestone in 2009: they will use every dollar allocated by the federal government just to renew their budgets for one year. There will be no more room for new programs or any additional housing vouchers to serve homeless people with a disability. North Point will not have to face a budget cut until September 2009, and it is hoped that the economy will have improved by that time.

Homeless Death in Akron

The Akron Beacon Journal is reporting on the death of Wayne Anthony Tyler who was found hanging from a tree near the Ohio Erie Canal. His hands were bound, and his body was badly decomposed. He was tied to the tree by a noose. Tyler had struggled with a mental illness and homelessness. Police are investigating according to the Akron Beacon Journal.

Self Help Law Center Closes

The Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance Program has had a pro se clinic at the May Dugan Center for the past year. The center allowed people to go in and print out legal proceedings and do legal research. The Center will close in December 2008, because only a few used the facility every week. The Legal Assistance program will maintain a weekly clinic at the May Dugan Center on Wednesday mornings to offer legal advice to homeless people and those in danger of homelessness along with nine other clinics in the community. The main Coalition office on Perkins will have computers available for use, and there is a hope that a new self help center will open closer to the courts next year.

Brian

Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

Ribbon Cutting a Success

(Left to Right) Joan Burda--Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance Program Director, Rob Anderle--Justice For All Committee member with the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, Marcia Egbert--Program Officer of the Gund Foundation and Meg Wilson--NEOCH Board President cut the ribbon on the new Self Help Legal Clinic.

Self Help Legal Center Opens

On a cold day in February 2008, the Homeless Legal Assistance Program officially opened their Self Help Center. I kept meaning to post this picture and a brief description. Sorry for the delay. Anyway, this facility will allow very low income and homeless people to go into the center and print out their own proceedings for the Court. They can print out a poverty affidavit, or a simple divorce filing, or a defense against an eviction if they cannot find help from an attorney. The Center will start out open on Monday afternoon or Wednesday mornings until we find more volunteers to staff the site. This has been a dream of Burda for years, and is finally taking shape. The St. Luke's Foundation and Gund Foundation have long supported this program. Every year, we serve between 500 and 700 people who cannot find anyone else to help them with their legal problems. We are one of the only programs going into the shelters to help people directly with their legal obstacles to housing.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.

NEOCH Annual Awards

Annual Meeting Held on the Ides of March

The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless issued its Annual Report last night at Franklin Circle church. It will be available on our website in the near future. We elected our new Board for 2007-8, and gave details on our plans for 2007. The treasurer gave his report on the state of the NEOCH finances, and Teri' Horne did a summary of the activities undertaken over the last year. Finally, the Board elected a new executive committee for the Coalition. The most anticipated part of the Annual Meeting was the awards ceremony. There is no red carpet or band to play the winners off the stage, but it is nice to recognize people who have gone above and beyond the call of duty. In addition, NEOCH gave out one notice of condemnation to the City of Akron.

Joan Burda--Five Years of Service
We celebrated Joan's five years of service to NEOCH as the Director of Cleveland Homeless Legal Assistance Program. She has doubled the number of clinics operated by the CHLAP lawyers and is now working on establishing a pro se legal clinic on the near West Side. This facility would allow low income people to come in and print out their legal documents and file themselves court proceedings. She has served thousands of homeless people over the last five years, and the Board appreciates her dedication to the job.

Jim Schlecht--NEOCH Advocate of the Year
Jim is the outreach worker for Care Alliance, and has worked with homeless people for decades. He is also a noted peace activist and champion of those abused by capitalism. The Board proclamation cited his tireless service to protect fragile populations from the elements. They thanked him for his compassion and steadfast work for social justice in forwarding solutions. NEOCH recognizes Jim Schlecht's work to oversee the 2006 Housing Stand Down, and his work to develop a 24 hour drop-in center in presenting the Advocate of the Year award.

Bernadette Janes--NEOCH Volunteer of the Year
Bernadette volunteered with the Cosgrove Center and for the Coalition as a writer. She was recognized by the Board for her distinguished career assisting organizations throughout the community. The Board cited her countless hours working with the Homeless Grapevine in documenting the struggles that homeless people face everyday.

City of Akron--Roadblock to Progress 2006
The NEOCH Board condemned the City of Akron for their efforts to make it illegal to be poor within the city limits by passing the worst law against pan handling in the United States. For providing criminal backgrounds to the long list of barriers a person living in Akron must overcome if they fall on hard times, and for not forwarding solutions to homelessness were a few of the reasons cited by the Board in proclaiming the City of Akron as the Biggest Roadblock to Progress in 2006.

Brian
Posts by Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless staff and Board.