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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Cleveland Homeless to Harvard

Margaret Bernstein is correct in her commentary about homeless students this weekend, but she really never gave us anyway to make sure that no student has to sleep on the bleachers again. This should be obvious and in a society that can build casinos, shining cathedrals, and beautiful courthouses, we should never have a child sleeping outside.  Unfortunately, there were very few solutions in Ms. Bernstein's commentary that would have prevented Boone from sleeping outside.
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Voting Hearing Part 2

The second panel that spoke were comprised of both supporters of the Ohio voting changes as well as those opposed to the legislation. Rick Nagin has a nice summary of the hearing here.
Daniel Tokaji--OSU Professor of Law and expert on voting
Professor Tokaji testified in opposition to the HB 194 in Ohio, which he identified as the "wrong direction."  He was especially critical of limiting early voting  and eliminating the ability to vote on Sunday at the Board of Elections offices, because African American and Hispanic voters turn out on Sundays.

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In Memorium: Roosevelt Darby

I had the privilege of serving on the National Coalition for the Homeless Board of Directors with Roosevelt Darby Jr. who represented the City of Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania.  He had previous experience with homelessness, but that was not what defined him or how he identified himself.  He was an amazing advocate for homeless people, and because of his history he knew what would make things better for those living on the streets.  There was actually a wonderfully written story in the Philadelphia Daily News here.

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Notes on Voting Hearing

Congressional Hearing on Voting

We posted our testimony submitted to the US Senate regarding voting changes in Ohio here.  We also have an entire section of voting on our website in order to educate our constituents about the new challenges to trying to participate in democracy for homeless people.  The bottom line message on all of this is that homeless people need to vote by mail or vote at the Board of Elections early, and the best time is the five day "Golden week" in Ohio.  Enclosed are some observations from the voting hearing held in Cleveland on May 7, 2012 to view those notes go here.

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Cuyahoga County Makes Improvements

Hunger Funds Overseen by United Way

In April 2012, the County decided to outsource the distribution of hunger dollars to the United Way and the Emergency Food and Hunger Committee that meets to distribute FEMA funds to shelters and hunger centers.  This is a great idea and an example of County Government functioning in a fair and efficient manner.  NEOCH has a board position on the Emergency Food and Hunger Committee, and have often wondered why it did not serve a more prominent role in the community.  They have every expert on food and shelter around the table and are overseen by the United Way.

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