Pancake Breakfast this Weekend

We hope that you will support the Coalition by attending the pancake breakfast being organized by the National Honor Society students at St. Josephs Academy.  It is Saturday May 4 from 9 to 1 p.m. at the Dining Hall on the St. Joseph's campus.  We thank CareSource for providing the funds to buy the supplies for this fundraiser.  This is the first year for this collaboration, and we hope to raise the issue of the increases in family homelessness.  We anticipate another rough summer and we hope to distribute additional resources to meet the demand. 

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Government Programs Do Work #2

The affordable housing website was created by funding from Fannie Mae (before they turned to the dark side) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.   There is a need for a list of housing that is available to the public in every city.   There must be a free resource available for landlords to list their apartments and those apartments that accept a voucher.  This service is a prime example of private--public partnership.   Socialserve.com is a non-profit organization funded by government and the quasi government organization in Fannie Mae Foundation.  We call it HousingCleveland or HousingOhio locally and it has been active in Cleveland since 2005, and in 2011 we crossed one million searches done in one year.

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We Mourn the Loss of a Good Reporter

I have met with hundreds of reporters about homelessness in the last 18 years.  Most are zoned out just doing their job in getting the facts.  There are some who are so burnt out that they don't care about anything you are saying.  I swear you could say, "Homeless people are planning an armed overthrow of the Human Services building" to some of these reporters and they would not even flinch or follow up.  There are a few reporters that care deeply about their subject matter and listen and try to interpret exactly what the subject of their interview is talking about.  I don't want to mention specific people, because I know that I will miss some.

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Day Care Horrors Featured on Fresh Air

There was a lengthy article in the New Republic by Jonathan Cohn about the crisis in the Day Care industry in America.  The story weaves in the tragedy of one Houston area home day care throughout the long expose on day care in America.  The Houston day care center had many children and the lone care taker left oil heating on the stove and went to Target and Starbucks while her house caught on fire and four of the children died.   This may be the extreme, but the facts surrounding day care speak for themselves.

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Drumplay Plans Second Daniel Thompson Concert

The Drumplay folks are doing a second show to remember the poetry of Daniel Thompson.  April is the anniversary of his birth (also national poetry month), and so there is always a great deal of activity.  Of course, poetry in the spring is always the best time of year to be open to the creative uses of the English language. 

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Rally in Columbus for Medicaid Expansion

 On Tuesday, April 9^th, a bus load of Cleveland lobbyist, assembled and organized by Northern Ohioans for Budget Legislation Equality (NOBLE),  headed to Columbus to voice their concerns on the items that were going to make up the 2013 Ohio State budget.  The headlining issue was the Medicaid Expansion suspected of being removed from the budget.  Teams of delegations were formed and we headed out to either planned appointments or several unscheduled stop-ins on officials that could not meet with a delegation.

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Thanks to Forest City Employees for the Donations

Thanks to the staff at ForestCity Enterprises in Cleveland, Ohio for collecting hygiene items and delivering six big boxes today to our offices.  They have a "Jeans Day for Charity" program in which staff pay for the ability to wear jeans to work.  They took our list from our website and collected items such as soaps, toothpaste and deodorant, blankets, towels, and hand sanitizers. 

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Vendors with New Uniform Featured in PD

One good reason to buy the paper today is to get a look at the nice Gus Chan photo on the front page of the Plain Dealer Metro Section today.  I know that you can see it on-line or on your tablet, but it looks best on the printed paper.  Plus there is a special bonus picture on page B3 today. We have included our own pictures on the new uniforms here, but the Plain Dealer featured a nice article about the changes in Public Square and our vendors trying to regain a foot hold in the Downtown.
 
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Government Can Solve Problems 1

Government has taken a beating beginning with "government is not the solution to our problem;, government is our problem" and continuing with "the era of big government is over;" falling dramatically from the lofty ideas first collected in 1787 as the preamble to the Constitution.  Government has figured out a way to heal after a Civil War, a way to regulate against food that killed, destroy an evil political ideaology that had swept Europe and put a man on the moon after a 10 year goal was set.  They have developed a way to bring states back from the brink when they refused to enforce court ordered integration of schools with the Civil Rights Act and the important Voting Rights Act.

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Organize!Ohio Bus Trip to Columbus

Organize!Ohio and the Advocates at NOBLE are planning a trip to Columbus to lobby state officials on state budget issues including Medicaid expansion and more dollars for the local community.  The advocates want an increase in support for safety net services such as health care, public transportation, and food programs.  You can reserve your space on the bus by calling Kameelah at 216/651-2606.  The bus leaves Tuesday April 9 at 8 a.m. from Merrick House in Tremont. 

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Summer Internships Available

NEOCH has a couple of interns already assigned to work on solutions to homelessness this summer, but we still have two additional spots available.  You can apply by sending an e-mail to NEOCH to request an application.  We have a flyer below to entice you to participate in our internship program and we have a web page with descriptions.

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Legal Assistance Schedule Released

The Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless have released the schedule for Homeless Legal Assistance for 2013.  We lost one site on the East Side, but the basic schedule remains the same.

We are looking for additional attorneys to volunteer to expand the number of clinic sites.  We would love to see a monthly clinic at the new Veterans Resources on Euclid Ave. or one at the Domiciliary over in University Circle.  We would also love to find an attorney for the Carl B. Stokes Center where there are two homeless programs.

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Calling All Religious Organizations to Help Homeless Families

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

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Housing 101 Workshop May 17, 2013

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

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

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NCH Looking for a New Executive Director

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

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New Uniformed Vendors to Compete Against Panhandlers

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

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Voting Champions for Homeless People

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

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NEOCH Organization Highlights for 2012

Advocacy

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

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Annual Meeting Looks to the Future

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

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