Vendor Mark Read Passes

West Side Market Vendor Dies on Friday

Mark Read had sold the paper for years including both the Grapevine and the Street Chronicle, and was a previous staff member at University Settlement.  He died on Friday evening after attending our every other week vendor meeting and after working his shift at the West Side Market on Friday March 2nd in the afternoon.  His wake will be on Thursday at Golubski Funeral Home in the the afternoon.  We believe that Mark died after a fall down the stairs, but we could not find a death notice in the paper to link to this story. We do not have an official cause of death at this time. He had just gotten over a sickness that had kept him away from selling the paper, but he was back last week.   Mark was always quiet and respectful to customers and other vendors.  He did write a story which will appear in the next issue of the paper.  He had a rough time in life with lots of struggles to overcome.   

Brian
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In Memory of a Friend

Gloria attended the 2011 Hand Up Gala

Gloria Wilson 1974-2012

The Bishop Cosgrove Center remembered Gloria at a memorial on Monday January 30, 2012.  Gloria helped us start a women's residence council at the Community Women's Shelter when the program was run by Catholic Charities.  Before health issues limited her ability to attend meetings, she was always vocal about her opinion.  Gloria attended Homeless Congress meetings, and encouraged others to speak up.  She attended the St. James church and sang in the choir.  She had found subsidized housing, which was the hand up she needed to find stability.  Gloria was very good at briefly and clearly telling an audience the problem and providing an avenue for others to help.  I remember that she testified about poverty at a gathering of advocates at Trinity Cathedral.  Gloria had five children and a loving family.   Gloria volunteered a great deal to help clean up at the Cosgrove and I always saw her at the Homeless Stand Down.  We will miss Gloria's voice at local meetings.

Brian
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Homeless Memorial Day 2011

We Remember Those We Lost

This is the 25th time that we have remembered those who passed away in Cleveland.  What began with a few advocates shivering on Public Square and protecting themselves from the wind remembering a handful of people who died over the past year has grown to a large vigil with 175 people attending every year. We join over 100 other cities with similar memorials on the first day of winter.  This year we were joined by State Senator Nina Turner (pictured above) who was moved by the emotion of the event.  We also had Rabbi Joshua Caruso of Fairmount Temple and Rev. Joan Gattuso from Unity Greater Cleveland who both said a prayer from their faith traditions.  Deacon Bill Merriman of St. Patrick's Catholic Church welcomed us and said a prayer to remember those had frequented the meal site, but had left us this year.  There were a number of homeless people who added names to the list and it was comforting to have other social service providers in attendance.  Thanks to William Gilmore for saying a few words and staff from Congressman Dennis Kucinich.   Our old staff person and current CSU social work student finished the sombre evening with a song.

Here are the list of names we read.  These are names from the community of individuals with some experience with homelessness who passed away in 2011.
Tommy Atkinson
Bobby B
Joseph Barnett
Gary Bolten
William Bowdry
Maurice Brent
David Burkes
John Carlyle
Robin Carter
John Cicero
Jason Collins
Ed Cox
Bobby Crabtree
Brian Cushner
Ariel Delgado
James Hartman
Bobby Henderson
Kevin Holdsworth
James Johnson
Joseph Kopp
Virginia LeCato
Twila Legg
Leroy Lewis
James Lloyd
Lorenzo  Longshaw
Robert Marsh
James Mitchell
Robert Moore
Richard Neil
Victor Nieves
Clarence Patterson
Lee Patton
William Reynolds
Renaldo Rias
Daniel Rose
Umber Samular
Alonzo "Sonny" Taylor
Ronald Tidwell
Mike Truskowski
Greg Truthan
Hung Van Dang
Brian Vaughn
Randy Vertocnile
Robert Williams
Jerome Willis
Debra Woody
Jacinto Wright
Jerry Wyse
Chico "Jose"

Friends of Homeless People who passed
Ken Hughes
Gloria Poindexter
Dana Budzinski
John Carlson

All will be missed and we honor those who left us over this last year.  We believe it brings some level of dignity to remember those in death who society has largely forgotten in life.

Brian

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**This is not a complete list because the largest provider in Cleveland has decided this year not to provide names of individuals that they know passed away. More on this later.

Death in the Homeless Community

Two Rough Stories for the Homeless Population

This weekend we heard two stories which only strengthen our resolve to continue our work to end homelessness in America as soon as possible. The first is the death within the shelter at 2100 Lakeside. A man we will call "Bobbie" had a seizure during dinner and never regained consciousness. He was transported to the hospital, but emergency staff could not revive him. This is nothing to do with the care he received in the shelter or a result of negligence, but it is none the less sad that a guy took his last breath in the crowded loneliness of a shelter. LMM's 2100 Lakeside shelter in fact has better access to health care professionals than most any other facility in the city with Care Alliance and the Cleveland Clinic operating medical clinics nearly every day at the shelter. Bobbie had long standing health complications and passed away at the facility without family or loved ones around him.

The other story was the bizarre tale of the Joseph Kopp being found buried in a backyard in Seven Hills. Kopp had been homeless and estranged from his family for five years. Kopp seemed to be living in a garage in Seven Hills, and many media outlets have said that the owner of the house wanted Kopp to move out and an argument broke out. Kopp's body was found near the house where he was allegedly residing. Police have arrested Frank Dienes and have stated that they are still investigating Charlya Dienes. It is dangerous being homeless. Sleeping in a large building with 300 people or sleeping outside without the safety of a locked door can have an negative effect on a person's health. A homeless person is constantly on edge and sleeping with "one eye open." There is sleep deprivation problems and the fear of being attacked. This is only going to put a new element of fear into the lives of homeless people. Will people be more likely to be fearful of accepting help from Good Samaritans? There are so many people sleeping at the shelter who are picked up by suburbanites from the shelters or downtown to do casual yard work or painting or other light work around houses. After this story, how many of the homeless population will be weary or will refuse to get in a strange car for work or an offer of housing?

Brian
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In Memorium

Fond Memories of Bernadette

I was honored to speak at the memorial for Bernadette Janes last week. The family collected a carload of canned goods for the Cosgrove Center. It was a nice celebration of Ms. Janes' life organized by her family. All the social justice warriors of Cleveland attended. One of her sisters from Women Speak Out for Peace and Justice sent me this memory. I know that Bernadette's family was collecting memories on a website, but here is one more from Ms. Ikuta.

One day, I met round-faced white haired woman from Whittier, California. She told me that she is new to Cleveland area. She just moved here because her only daughter and son decided to settle in Lakewood. She wanted to meet like-minded people and decided to try a few organizations like Women Speak Out, city Club and Peace action because she was active with several progressive organizations in Whittier.

I often picked her up to attend meetings and we had rather passionate discourse about peace and justice issues and mental health care accessibility.

I could feel that her passion went much farther into opera singing, extensive reading of progressive books such as written by Howard Zinn, Noan Chomsky and many other thoughtful writers. She also hummed some tune while driving to and from the meetings and told me how she wished she could have developed serious singing career but it was not in her card. She grew up in a large family where extra money for cultural development was scarce.

As she spoke of her lost dreams her tone of voice was neither sour nor bitter and took pride in surviving so many challenges including her stint in the US Marine Corp. I still cannot believe this small woman was in that tough Marine Corps outfit. In spite of her agreeable smiles, there must have been tough core person in her short body.

She often spoke of her daughter, Debby and son Corry with deep caring and affection no matter how life could get tough. Bernadette certainly was a brave woman as well as wise.

As a board member of Women Speak Out she contributed much. She offered good ideas and was willing to take on big jobs such as calling volunteers who might be willing to work at the Holiday Peace Festival and Bazaar every year.

She never failed to get work done as she promised and it was good to be able to count on her. Even when she suffered from excruciating back pains she did all she could to keep out work moving. She certainly was a rare person of commitment and devotion.

Bernadette, Thank you for all you have done for us. We miss you very much. I can imagine you singing away from the top of your lungs standing with angels on a fluffy cloud and watching over us as we continue our struggles.

Yoshiko Ikuta

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Bernadette Janes Passes

A Good Friend of the Coalition

Bernadette Janes, a diminutive grandmotherly type who spoke loudly with her pen, has passed away. Janes was a longtime friend of the Coalition, and wrote a number of stories in the Homeless Grapevine newspaper here and here and here. She was great at profiles of people like Sabrina and Arthur, and had a history of supporting social justice organizations in Cleveland. Every so often she published letters in the Plain Dealer. Janes supported the rights of women, opposed the attacks on poor people by government and marched against wars. She was a veteran and was a great volunteer for NEOCH. In fact, at the 2007 Annual Meeting, Bernadette was awarded Volunteer of the Year for 2006 for NEOCH. She would take the Community Response Transit bus every week or every other week depending on her health to NEOCH to volunteer. Bernadette had no problem with stuffing envelopes or entering data or doing a profile for the Grapevine. She realized that all of it contributed to improving the Coalition. Every mundane task freed up time for the director to issue an advocacy alert or the development director to send out a grant. She was happy just helping, and loved interacting with the staff.

Janes talked to us about homelessness and tried to understand how things had gotten so out of control in our society that families were the fastest growing population of homeless people. She wanted to learn from the people that she interviewed. Bernadette wanted to understand the health issues that led to Arthur becoming homeless, and then she was able to boil down those complicated ideas into a story for the Grapevine. She wrote advocacy journalism to educate the public about the holes in the US safety net. She tried to listen to Sabrina's story about family homelessness and capture that pain, anger and harm that this caused to put it all down on paper.

Another guardian of social justice lost in Cleveland. We miss Bernadette, and wish her family strength in this time of sorrow.

Updated 9/7/10: Text from the announcement at Busch Funeral Home. "Janes passed away on September 3, 2010. Memorials may be forwarded to Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH), [Address slightly incorrect, but corrected here] 3631 Perkins Ave., #3A-3, Cleveland, OH 44114. Memorial services will be at the funeral home at 12:00 noon on October 9th. For those attending, in honor of Bernadette's life, colorful attire is encouraged, and please bring a non perishable food item for donation to the Hunger Center. Friends may call from 11:00 - Noon at the BUSCH FUNERAL HOME, 21369 CENTER RIDGE RD, FAIRVIEW PARK. Cremation by Busch Crematory."

Brian
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Cincinnati Police Allowed to Run Over People

Another Reason to Boycott Cincinnati

There are so many reasons to stay away from the city of Cincinnati, and today the Cincinnati prosecutor's office announced one more reason. Prosecutor Joe Deters held a press conference to inform the community that Hamilton County would not pursue felony charges against police officer Marty Polk for running over and killing Joann Burton as she slept under a blanket in Washington Park in the Over the Rhine neighborhood. In Ohio, the County acts on behalf of the state to pursue felony (serious) charges, and the cities oversee misdemeanor cases. This is an unbelievable decision, and hard to make any other conclusion except that if this woman had not been homeless or had not been an African American or not been either this police officer would be waiting for a manslaughter trial to start.

Are homeless people so disposable in Cincinnati that police are free to kill them without criminal charges? Or is racism still alive and well within the Cincinnati judicial system? The prosecutor claimed the definition of a vehicular felony involved "heedless indifference to consequences and perversely disregarding known risks." This seems to be exactly what happened here. The police officer went up over the curb, and then drove off the path and then decided to drive over the blankets in the park in the daytime. How is that not a "disregard of known risks?" How is running over a person not considered ignoring the consequences of driving up on the grass? I just cannot imagine if a white baby were killed sleeping under a blanket by a police car while the parents were playing volleyball in the park, the the officer would have been immediately fired and charged with vehicular homicide. Besides not being homeless, what could Ms. Burton done to prevent her own death if this were an accident. She was asleep, and not bothering anyone. Should she have set up cones or flashing lights? Is the city going to provide traffic cones to indicate that a homeless person is sleeping to avoid these "accidents" in the future?

I don't understand how Cincinnati is so hostile to low income, homeless, and African American people. Elected officials have tried to close down the Drop In Center shelter for over 20 years. They have undercharged vicious crimes against homeless people on a regular basis according to the National Coalition for the Homeless hate crimes report. Officials never really healed the wounds from the 2001 riot in the Over the Rhine neighborhood. City Council has repeatedly passed laws directed at homeless people. The Cincinnati police have long been under the scrutiny of the Justice Department and community groups because of alleged racist behavior and an unusual number of deaths with young African Americans taken into custody. This decision this week to let Officer Polk off without criminal charges is just another in the long line of poor leadership within the City of Cincinnati, and another reason to steer clear of the City.

Brian
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Reflections on the Death at the Shelter

Aftermath of the Shelter Director Death

We now have some distance from the death of Rita Ciofani and it is time to focus less on the grief and start talking about causes. We also need to talk as a community about how to avoid this ever happening again. Before anyone gets the wrong idea, I have to say that I love the VOA Veterans Resource Center. I have been in the facility many times, and each time I feel a sense of pride that this is how we are treating our veterans. It is one of the best shelters in the community and a place that honors the service of those who are struggling after giving a period of their life to preserve and protect the United States. I also have to say that I have the utmost respect for the Volunteers of America as an agency. Their facilities are always clean and well managed. They provide some of the most important services in the community, and we work with them often.

I have begun getting calls about upgrades in security at the shelters locally. While homeless people and shelter workers want to feel secure, there is a danger that we will focus on devices and technology and not on the people. We can't turn the shelters into prisons. There are a great many people already who refuse to use the shelters because of the rules and the institutional environment. We cannot add to this number by making the shelters into jails. As the police said to us at the Homeless Congress meeting, "anything can be used as a weapon, and some times people just snap." So, we need to work on reducing tensions and defusing conflict in the shelters as a part of the security plans. I am sure that Ms. Ciofani was working on reducing conflict because of her background, but I don't know if all the shelters use a similar strategy.

My biggest concern was the article that appeared in the Plain Dealer on the day after the tragedy. I understand the need for the media to get the story quickly, but I was offended that the Volunteers of America responded to the story. The story was basically about the events of the day of the attack and the reason that Raymond Ice was thrown into such a rage. I don't understand why the VOA could not say, "We are not going to comment at this time, because we are focused on comforting the families and the residents at the shelter." Instead we got spin about how the shelter did not discharge Mr. Ice to the streets.

Out of respect for the families, I have held my tongue about this incident. The reality is that discharging someone to Lakeside is the same as discharging someone to the streets. See the way things work in Cleveland is that Lakeside does not turn people away, but those new to the shelter must leave everyday and do not have a standard bed. Mr. Ice had worked his way up to the VOA where he enjoyed semi-privacy and had a place to keep his stuff. Then he was discharged back to the beginning without a bed and without a locker. He had done all that work to get to the VOA and he had to start all over. To the public this sounded like the VOA had found an alternative for Mr. Ice, but in reality he was being kicked to the streets. Why did the VOA official feel the need on the day of the deaths to talk about the private case plans and the veteran's history within the shelters?

I have no idea what happened in this incident except that Mr. Ice tried to find help to prevent his discharge, but he was unsuccessful. He reached out to other agencies (not NEOCH), but no other agency is willing to interfere in the private management of other facilities. I don't know if we will ever know if Mr. Ice was in fact given two weeks notice, but we do know many shelters kick people out the day of the infraction. Since there is no government agency that oversees the shelters, there is no where that a person can go to challenge their discharge. This is a huge issue for homeless people and it came up two weeks later with regard to the scalding death of a toddler.

It is unlikely that anything could have been done to prevent the deaths within the VOA shelters, but there are many things that we could do to make sure that people are not put in this same position in the future.

Brian
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Another Homeless Advocate Passes

Ruth Berzins

NEOCH was fortunate to have Ruth Berzins as an intern as she was completing her master's degree over the last few years. She focused her career on advocating on behalf of individuals. She did all that she could for her clients. She gave her energy, time and all of her knowledge to the people that she worked to help. Ruth had a long career at the Cleveland Housing Network, and attended some of our demonstrations and events through the years. I think that Kate Monter Durban of the Cleveland Housing Network said it best in the Cleveland Plain Dealer guest book on the Cleveland.com website.

"I'd like to share my fondness and memories of Ruth. We worked together for many years. She was so sweet yet resolute in her incredible dedication to the homeless families with whom she worked. She led with her heart, and believed in the inate worth and infinite potential of every person. She loved us all. She gave me a poem a few years ago. It ended with this "May dawn find you awake and alert, approaching your new day with dreams, possibilities, and promises. May evening find you gracious and fulfilled. May you go into the night blessed, sheltered, and protected. May your soul calm, console and renew you". I will miss you, Ruth. Thank you for your beautiful dedication, and for everything you left us. We are so blessed to have known you."

~

Kate Monter Durban,

Cleveland, Ohio

Ruth was a volunteer with Women's Re-Entry network, and was one of the most soft-spoken individuals that I ever met. The homeless community needs another 100 Ruth Berzins working in the shelters and services, and we would have ended homelessness years ago. She sincerely cared about the people that she came in contact with, and was a pleasure to be around. At the end of her internship, she gave me a bamboo plant. She told me it needed a lot of water, but should do well in the office. It was a metaphor for her career. The people she came in contact with needed a lot of nourishment, which she provided, and they did well.

Brian
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Remembering VOA Shelter Director

Moment of Silence

The Volunteers of America staff have sent us this notice of a system wide moment of silence to remember Rita Ciofani. Here is the information from Volunteers of America:

"Tomorrow, Wednesday, February 17, marks one week since the tragic and untimely death of Rita Ciofani, program director of Volunteers of America of Greater Ohio's Veterans Resource Center in Cleveland.

We will observe a moment of silence tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. We ask that everyone in the homeless provider community pause for a moment at that time to honor her life with silent prayer and reflect on her tremendous contributions to people in need and to Volunteers of America."

Nicole Knowlton

Vice President of Development and Communications

Volunteers of America of Greater Ohio

www.voago.org

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Most Media Have Acted Responsibly

Shelter Tragedy in the Media

The last few days have been tough in Cleveland for homeless people and especially homeless service providers. The media has been surprisingly understanding over the last few days. I was impressed by the article done by Joan Mazzolini in the Plain Dealer on Friday. It was a nice feature on the family of Rita Ciofani-Kercher, and her amazing life. I thought that it was great to hear the words of forgiveness in the article.

"She was very, very interested in the veterans' cause," Barnes said. "She would say that they were not always treated the way they should be." It was this personality that leaves her husband with no doubt about Ciofani-Kercher.

"The person that did this?" Kercher said. "She would forgive him."

The Plain Dealer followed up with a story about the Community Women's Shelter today from Regina Brett. We hope that this tragedy will lead to increased awareness of the homeless problem locally. Only one local media outlet has focused on the sensational and the tabloid aspects of the story, and they will remain nameless so as not to draw increased attention. The Channel 5 WEWS reporters seemed to understand the shock of the story, and were willing to focus the story on the reactions of friends and co-workers.

The Fox News outlet, WJW Channel 8, took an interesting angle by talking to the family of Raymond Ice. It was not disrespectful or an accusatory type of story. It seemed to be done in a forgiving manner. Overall, the media did a good job, in my opinion, of presenting this in a fair and balanced manner. I hope that this is a first step to healing for the homeless community.

Brian
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Condolences to the VOA Family

Other Homeless Service Providers Saddened

This message came to NEOCH yesterday:

Dear friends and members in Cleveland:

I was saddened to learn of the murder of the VOA shelter director today, and of the death of her apparent killer at the hands of the police.


Please know that our thoughts are with you at this unsettling moment, together with our appreciation for the difficult and sometimes dangerous work that you do every day.

Wishing you Peace,

John

John N. Lozier, MSSW
Executive Director
National Health Care for the Homeless Council
www.nhchc.org


Health Care and Housing are Human Rights. Learn more about our work or donate at www.nhchc.org.

NEOCH had a regularly scheduled meeting yesterday afternoon with many of the shelters and social service providers including staff from the Veterans Administration. All were still in shock over the loss of one of our colleagues. We know that the VA and Mental Health Services sent grief/trauma specialists to the shelter yesterday. NEOCH has offered to host a memorial to begin the process of healing for the homeless community. We have heard that the family wants some privacy, and we will respect that. Some of the other service providers in the community have expressed a desire to have a time or place to grieve after the initial shock wears off.

Brian Davis
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Report from NCH

From Chester Commons (which is now under renovation). Unknown artist

National Homeless Report on Winter Shelters

The National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington DC released a report on the state of winter shelters in the United States. Cincinnati and Columbus are the two cities featured in the report from Ohio. The report goes into a great deal of detail about hypothermia and the importance of staying inside during extreme weather conditions. There are warnings for those who are resistant to shelter to stay dry, and the report urges politicians to work for a regional approach to solving the winter shelter problem.

Cleveland was not featured, because we do not have a winter-only system for shelter. This is one thing that puts Cuyahoga County ahead of the rest of the country. We have had a 20 year commitment to providing shelter to everyone in need. We do not turn people away from the two entry shelters in Cleveland. The County Commissioners, the Mayor and the staff of the Office of Homeless Services have always found the funding to make sure that no one is turned away. This is expensive and a tremendous undertaking for a community. We have had old schools opened, church basements, and government buildings to keep people from freezing to death on our streets. This has resulted in significantly fewer deaths of people who have experienced homelessness compared to other cities. We need to thank our elected officials for remaining steadfast in protecting those without housing through multiple administrations.

Check out the report from the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Brian
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What You Talking About Willis?

Don't Call Me Homeless!!!

I am not a big fan of the word homeless, but it is the word we all understand. Dick Feagler never understood the word, but the rest of society has the image of people sleeping in shelters or on the streets when we use the word. Anyway, homeless people hate the word "homeless." We never use the term in surveys, because it is viewed with such disdain by those experiencing housing instability. Last week, we saw had bad the term "homeless" is viewed by our society. Call me anything you want, but don't call me "homeless." The Detroit News found a guy in an elevator shaft two weeks ago, and identified him as homeless. There was some controversy about putting the photo of his legs sticking out of the ice on the front page, and the point of the story was the indifference by all the other people in the building who did nothing. What was amazing is the reaction in the Associated Press story by the family when the man's identity was discovered.

"Relatives said Redding was a one-time steelworker who worked as a handyman and moved around to the homes of relatives and friends. Older brother Homer Redding said family members don't know what Johnnie Redding was doing in an abandoned building, but they rejected authorities' speculation that he was homeless.

'That's what I don't understand. They are saying he was homeless. I couldn't understand it,' older brother Homer Redding, 59, of River Rouge, told the Detroit Free Press. 'He had too many places he could live.'

Johnnie Redding might have had places that he could have crashed, but he did not have a lease and was struggling with affording rent. It is not shameful, and the less we talk about it the longer the problem will persist. We need to start discussing homelessness in a more open and honest way so that we can start talking about solutions. People need to start admitting that they have had problems with homelessness so that they can take responsibility for the issues that led to their losing their housing.

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

Quick Takes

A Few Random Thoughts

Rough times....imagine waking up in the morning and the guy in the tent next to yours is dead. Then you find out that the guy was waiting for sentencing for an insurance scam in Indiana. Could you stay in that area after finding a guy who died? We have noticed an increase in the number of people sleeping outside since September, but we did not know that there were people hiding out from the law in these camps. I hope that this does not paint the impression that homeless people are a bunch of people hiding out for the law.

Web Stats from 2008... The NEOCH website had 40,210 unique users in 2008. Our best month was Feb. 2008 with 4,700 unique users. The largest day of the week is Monday, and there are more people who visit in the beginning of the month. People visit 3.27 pages per visit, and this blog is the top website linking to the main NEOCH website. We are going to continue to add content and new stuff to the website, so keep checking back.

Shelter cuts...The three big shelters in Cleveland are facing a 5.5% cut in 2009, because of the County financial issues. This means that 2100 Lakeside shelter will have a harder time feeding everyone and staying open 24/7. The Community Women's Shelter will have to drop the cleaning and kitchen staff as well as cutting back on bus tickets in order to stay within their reduced budget. The Disabled Men's Shelter is going to have to close down for a one shift during the day weekdays in order to survive. It is expected that the new North Point Transitional shelter will face cuts in October 2009. The other shelters receive most of their money from the federal government. They will not face a cut in 2009, but they have not had a cost of living increase for 9 to 10 years. How they continue to make it on the same amount of money as they had in 2000 is amazing to me.

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