Streetvibes August 2008 Edition

Carnival fun for all p.6

“Eight Minutes” p.3

STREETVIBES

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A u g u s t 2 0 0 8 • I s s u e 1 4 5 • C i n c i n n a t i ’s A l t e r n a t i v e N e w s S o u r c e

Can’t Afford to Get Sick Referendum would mandate paid sick leave

By Gregory Flannery Editor

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oters in Ohio could decide Nov. 4 that workers have a legal right to paid sick days.

Under current law, employers decide whether to pay workers when they are too ill to work. Aside from workers covered by a union contract, employees are subject to their bosses’ policies.

The proposed Ohio Healthy Families Act would require employers with 25 or more employees to provide seven paid sick days each year to employees working 30 hours or more per week. Employees working fewer hours would have a pro-rated amount of paid sick days.

But putting the referendum on the ballot hasn’t been easy. The Ohioans for Healthy Families Coalition, a network of more than 190 community organizations

and leaders, collected more than 275,000 signatures on petitions supporting the proposal last year. In December 2007, Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner certified the petitions as having

By Lynne Ausman Staff Writer

T

The resolution describes the number in terms that might be used to describe drug abuse or infectious viruses.

“The unchecked proliferation of these agencies has the potential to negatively impact the residential character and the neighborhood

he abuses associated with day labor are well known: Senseless fees.

Long waits. Long rides.

Moldy lunches. Buses that seems about to fall apart.

Waiting in line at 4 a.m.

Unsafe conditions. Hard work. Long hours. Dirty work. Inadequate or nonexistent restrooms. Small paychecks. Check-cashing fees. The DNR list – “Do not return.”

One Cincinnati man and his co-workers had been packaging pizzas for For more 12 hours information straight – about Day no break, Labor go to no lunch. dlop.org As the rest of his “line” started to leave, he followed, ready to get on the van to go back to the labor hall, get paid and hopefully get some rest.

But he was shocked when there was no van to pick him up, no phone call to the factory saying the van had been delayed – nothing, no one; just the uncertainty of being left in the middle of nowhere, with no money, no resources, not even a pay phone to use.

He and the rest of the line sat and waited – waited for a ride, a phone call, the sight of another person. It was freezing cold at 1 o’clock in the morning. No one came until 6 a.m.

The van was dropping off another group of day labor-

See SERVICES p.6

See LABOR p.12

“A number of independent studies have been done that show this will save employers money.” well over the 120,000 valid signatures required.

Under a provision in the Ohio Constitution, however, the state legislature got the first crack at the measure.

“They then had four months to pass the bill or pass something we found acceptable,” says Dale Butland, spokesman for the coalition. “They refused to even schedule a vote on the bill. They held a perfunc-

Luke, a volunteer, collects signatures for a ballot referendum that would require employers to pay workers for sick days.

Photo by Andrew Anderson.

tory hearing, on which we impossible. The bottom got 24 hours’ notice. We wanted to bring in expert See SICK p.6 witnesses, but that made it

An Excess of Good Deeds

Council moves to limit human-services agencies

By Gregory Flannery Editor

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ver-the-Rhine has too many people trying to help other people, according to a resolution passed last month by Cincinnati City Council.

The resolution establishes a policy “that social-service agencies and programming shall not be concentrated in a single geographic area and shall not locate in an area that is deemed impacted.”

The resolution doesn’t define “impacted,” an ambiguity that is one reason a

“Some of the people who are trying to degrade us have never even visited us. To make judgments about us without even knowing what we’re doing is pretty unfair.”

consortium of non-profit groups is contemplating a lawsuit challenging the resolution, according to Georgine Getty, executive director of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

The resolution, sponsored

by Councilman Christopher Bortz, won approval in an 8-1 vote. Councilman Cecil Thomas was the lone dis-

Nonprofit Day Labor Hall Coming to Cincinnati

senter.

Over-the-Rhine has too many charities, Bortz says.

“There are 120 socialservice agencies in Overthe-Rhine, more than one per block,” he says. “That doesn’t seem a very balanced way of approaching it.”

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STREETVIBES August 2008

The Vibe

Streetwise

By Gregory Flannery

I Am Not an Animal!

Words matter. Otherwise sexist language, racial slurs and the linguistic trickery of right-wingers -- “family values,” “welfare reform” and “death tax” come to mind -- wouldn’t be worth getting upset about.

A recent word fight among community activists in Cincinnati wasn’t so serious as any of that. In fact, it wasn’t a fight at all, but rather a spirited discussion among allies about terminology.

The issue was how to help homeless people vote (see “Organizing the Homeless Bloc,” page 10.) If someone is going to educate potential voters, that person must first be educated about the procedures, no? That’s all Stacey Hall had in mind when she distributed an e-mail announcing a meeting.

“The voices of the homeless and our collective service populations should be heard in the coming election,” she wrote. “The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is sponsoring a Train-the-Trainer session to give organizations the information and tools they need to do voter registration activities with their constituencies.”

Josh Spring, a social worker at Over-the-Rhine Community Housing, supports the idea. But in a response to Hall’s e-mail, he objected to her choice of words.

“I do believe that this title needs to be changed to something more humane,” Spring wrote. “Humans train animals, not other humans. It sounds demeaning to the people referred to in the flyer. It also puts certain people above others.”

Hall, director of the YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter, was quick to say she’d meant no offense. But she didn’t hide her surprise – or cede the point.

“Wow. Well, certainly not intended … It refers to training people to do voter registration, not be potty trained, obviously,” she wrote.

Spring explained his motivation in another e-mail.

“If I sounded angry at anyone in the last e-mail, I was not,” he wrote. “Language is just so important because without sometimes even consciously being done, language shapes the way people think and act toward other people.”

Them’s Fightin’ Words Language is at the core of a fight between CityBeat and a group of 29 prominent people organized by Citizens for Community Values (CCV). Now the conflict has landed in federal court, with the alternative weekly newspaper suing the anti-gay, anti-porn lobby and its supporters. The defendants include Cincinnati Police Chief Thomas Streicher Jr., Hamilton County Sheriff Simon Leis Jr., prosecutors from Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana, ministers and others.

In June, CCV convened a press conference in Cincinnati City Hall, calling on CityBeat to drop the “adult” category in its classified ads, arguing the ads promote prostitution. CityBeat’s lawsuit, filed last month, says the CCV group violated the newspaper’s First Amendment rights and interfered with legitimate business activities.

“As a direct result of the CCV coalition’s campaign, CityBeat’s advertising revenue, and in particular the revenues generated from adult-services classified advertisements, has been reduced by nearly 25 percent,” the lawsuit says. “In addition, CityBeat lost a longstanding advertiser – a family-owned restaurant – as a result of the CCV coalition’s campaign against the paper.”

The lawsuit could raise interesting questions: Do people who dislike CityBeat have a constitutional right to criticize the paper? Does the use of City Hall and the involvement of Streicher, Leis and the prosecutors turn the coalition’s efforts into a government attack on the free press?

The newspaper has a heavy hitter on its side – renowned First Amendment lawyer Louis Sirkin.

Streetvibes is a newspaper that provides relevant discussions of homelessness, poverty, and other related social justice issues. It is published monthly by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 Phone: 513-421-7803 x 12 Fax: 513-421-7813 Email: streetvibes2@yahoo.com www.cincihomeless.org Streetvibes Staff Editor Gregory Flannery

Contributing Writers

Lynne Ausman, Margo Pierce, Larry Gross, Angela Pancella, Greg Olkhovsky, Michael Henson, Charles Cole, Mack Russell, Patricia Garry, Rachael Lawson, Tyrone Williams, Daniel Horner

Photography/Artwork

Andrew Anderson, Andrew Freeze, Anthony Williams Antonio Hodge, Berta Lambert, Bethany House Services, Angela Pancella

Advisory Committee

Joe Wessels, Steve Novotni, Andrew Freeze, Georgine Getty, Michael Henson, Stephanie Dunlap, Steve Gibbs

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Programs include Streetvibes, “Voice of the Homeless” Speaker’s Bureau, Cincinnati Urban Experience (CUE), Homeless Curriculum, and Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project. All donations support these programs and are taxdeductible to the full extent of the law.

We are Members of:

Go ahead: Do something You want to make a difference, right? If you’re not sure where to start, check out “JustNews,” a comprehensive online calendar for peace and justice issues compiled by the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center. The calendar lists nonpartisan events that are “in the spirit of justice – whether economic, social, civic, or environmental.” For information about activities and events that can use your help, visit cworkers.org/webcal. To publicize peace and justice events, write to calendar@cworkers.org.

International Network of Street Papers

STREETVIBES August 2008

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Local News

Eight Minutes with the Breakfast Brigade

By Margo Pierce Contributing Writer

Making sure day laborers have a meal

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he volunteers of the Breakfast Brigade face the harsh reality of day labor and try to address one aspect of that experience – hunger.

The college students who make up the Breakfast Brigade set up shop in front of two day labor halls every Thursday morning. Tables loaded with fresh bread, hard boiled eggs, fresh coffee and oranges offer free meals to anyone who wants one.

“It is about being in solidarity as best as they can with these folks,” says Michael Schreiner, campus minister at St. Monica/St. George Newman Center.

“After understanding the difficulties of the men and women in day labor – how early they have to wake up to go to the labor hall and not necessarily get a job – and understanding a lot of them won’t be able to get a breakfast because it’s so early in the morning, (the students) wanted to be able to provide that.”

Inspired by a spring break “mission trip” to the Catholic Worker in Gainesville, Fla., a group of Cincinnati students wanted to emulate the Breakfast Brigade they saw at work there.

“They asked, ‘Are there day labor halls in Cincinnati? Is this something that we can do?’ ” Schreiner says. “It was really the students’ enthusiasm and the students’ desire to make this happen is how it got off the ground.

“We’ve been doing this for about 15 months now, and when we first started (the workers) were wary.

And we still get this from people who don’t know who we are; they ask us how much we’re charging. When we say, ‘Noth-

ing,’ they say, ‘Where are you from?’ We say, ‘From St. Monica/St. George and University of Cincinnati students.’ They’re really receptive.”

The TLC and Minute Men day labor halls have neither welcomed nor discouraged the effort, which works well for the Brigade.

“Our Catholic social teaching tells us that each person has dignity by the very fact that they’re created … so we do this out of a call of faith. There’s no question about that and we

“It is about being in solidarity as best as they can with these folks.” are not ashamed of that,” Schreiner says. “But we’re not proselytizers or evangelizers. I could care less what their religious persuasion is. I want them to get a good meal in their belly and

know that there are people out there that are concerned about their well being – as best as we can, walk with and walk for each other.”

Preparations begin at 2:30 a.m. when volunteers meet at the kitchen of the Catholic Center. Every week – with the exception of a few weeks when students’ schedules made it impossible – eight loaves of bread are baked while the coffee brews and the eggs boil. Before loading up two cars, the group pauses.

“We eat one loaf … our celebratory loaf, our way of sharing in the meal with them in solidarity as best as we can.” Schreiner says. “We put all the food together on table and we pray a prayer to St. Vincent DePaul, and then we head out. We’re there until 5 a.m. Sometimes we leave a little later, if there’s enough people and we have enough food. Sometimes, if it’s a busy day, it might be 10 till five and we’re out of food

Students from St. Monica/St. George campus ministry bake fresh bread and cook hard boiled eggs to pass out to day laborers on Thursday mornings before most people are awake.

Photo courtesy of Michael Schreiner.

Students from the University of Cincinnati prepare breakfast for day labor workers. They meet at St. Monica/St. George at 2:30am to begin preparations of their freshly made food.

Photo courtesy of Michael Schreiner.

already. We’ll drive back and clean up and people go home and go to bed.”

The number of volunteers can range from four to 12.

Given the cost of resources and a fluctuating roster of volunteers, the group has to limit its efforts to the current locations. But that’s OK with Schreiner.

“I don’t want to see it become formalized,” he says. “I’d rather see it stay grassroots. I don’t want to see it be a 501(c)(3) kind of thing.

“If people are interested in coming by and seeing what we do and how we do it, they’re more than welcome to come. We would really love to have people feel energized about this and say, ‘We can do this, too,’ and maybe do some other labor hall or do the same labor halls on different days. We can only do two labor halls. When we were doing three, it was really tough because we’d have to have a least six people come every week, and costs were getting pretty big. We’re very fortunate in terms of purchasing our food because we’ve been given a lot of assistance.”

Members of the Breakfast Brigade have talked to schoolchildren, churches and other groups looking for a service project.

“What we feel we’re doing is we’re trying to encourage our students to go beyond their boundaries, their safety zones, to minister to folks that maybe they wouldn’t, but also, as poorly as we do it, to show the workers that we’re standing with them in solidarity and we support them and we back them,” Schreiner says.

“With a lot of our students, they’re like, ‘A labor hall – what is that? I don’t understand what that is.’ If you didn’t know you, could drive by Minute Men or Quick Staff or any of them and you might not even blink. It’s just a business.

It’s one of those things that a lot of people don’t know about; and if they did, I think it would just open some eyes.”

While working to educate people about the reality of day labor, Schreiner says he has a message for the workers, too.

“We understand and we honor the hard work that you do,” he says. “We just want to show you that we appreciate that.”

To request a speaker, make a donation or volunteer to help the Breakfast Brigade, contact Michael Schreiner at 513-381-6400 or ucnewma@yahoo.com

Many people work hard to make a difference for the less privileged in Greater Cincinnati. “Eight Minutes” is an effort to learn who they are and what motivates them.

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Community News

STREETVIBES August 2008

Mercy in Over-the-Rhine For the mentally ill, a place to call home

By Larry Gross Contributing Writer

Protecting the neighborhood

oslyn lives in one of the six Tender Mercies apartment buildings in Over-theRhine. A cheery person who likes to prepare meals in the cooking facility in the lobby of her building, her face lights up when asked what she enjoys fixing the most.

“Pork chops,” she says.

“Candied yams, turnip greens and collard greens.

I’m a good cook.”

She’s only responsible for preparing her own meals, but she cooks for others in her building, too.

“I can’t stand to see somebody hungry,” Roslyn says, “so I share.”

She’s lived at Tender Mercies since her arrival from Birmingham, Alabama, five years ago.

“It takes the pressure off, knowing that you’re not homeless,” says Roslyn, 51. “It’s just a warm atmosphere. The staff here is superb.”

Since 1985 Tender Mercies has provided housing for homeless people with chronic mental illness or emotional disabilities and also provides support to residents, allowing them to live independent lives.

“This organization stays true to its mission,” says Russell Winters, chief operations officer of the agency.

“It doesn’t try to stray away from doing what it does best.”

Tender Mercies, a nonprofit organization funded by various social service agencies, was founded by three clergymen working among the homeless in Over-the-Rhine. The Rev. Chris Hall, its first director, was working with two women who had been released from a local psychiatric hospital. He found the women housing in an apartment building on Race Street.

Within two months one of the women was raped in her own apartment. The other was murdered. Realizing people with mental problems needed to be protected, Hall and the two other clergymen, Randy La Fond and Edward Slater, met with the owner of the building.

The owner allowed them to manage the building, which eventually became home for 12 previously homeless women with histories of chronic mental ill-

R

“We’re out on the sidewalk serving breakfast to anyone who wants it, and we’re letting the drug dealers know that they’re not welcome on 12th Street.”

ness. Along with this came 24-hour staff protection.

Now Tender Mercies provides permanent and transitional housing for 150 adults. Rent is on a sliding scale.

“It’s based on a resident’s income,” Winters says.

“Technically we charge 30 percent of their income. If their income is zero, they pay no rent and we work with them to help establish a source of income.”

Residents are free to come and go as they please and can stay for as long as they like – providing they’re not violent, don’t sell or use illegal drugs on the premises and live by Tender Mercies’ community living guidelines.

While Tender Mercies has a relaxed, friendly atmosphere, one thing they’re not relaxed about is illegal drug sales in the neighborhood. They stand up to the challenge.

“Over-the-Rhine has definitely changed a lot in the past few years, and at Tender Mercies we see ourselves as being part of the solution here,” Winters says. “The corner of 12th Street and Republic used to be one of the busiest streets for the City of Cincinnati Police Department to patrol – lots of drug activity. Our staff put up a sign that said, ‘Do not sell or buy drugs here.’ ” This banner, put up in 2005, helped curtail a lot of the selling of illegal drugs in the area, according to

Winters. Tender Mercies continues that fight.

“We’re holding a community breakfast the first week

“I don’t think a person really knows what community means until they come here and visit and get immersed in Tender Mercies.” of every month,” he says.

“We’re out on the sidewalk serving breakfast to anyone who wants it, and we’re letting the drug dealers know that they’re not welcome on 12th Street and that we’re here and we’re watching.”

Winters says Tender Mercies has a strong working relationship with the police department.

“Recently on Baldwin Alley, right here next to our transitional housing building, there was lots of inappropriate activity behind a dumpster, and we worked with the Cincinnati Police,” he says. “They installed a camera, and it was motionsensored. It actually had a recording that would say ‘Stop, look up. Your photograph has just been taken by the Cincinnati Police Department.’ ”

‘What community means’ Tender Mercies has 45 employees. It’s often difficult to tell who are the residents and who are the employees, as the approach is one of friendship and togetherness.

Rickia Cooper of Walnut Hills, a single mother of five young children, has worked in the facilities department at Tender Mercies for four years.

“I’m a ‘people person,’

and this gives me the opportunity to interact with a certain group of people that some would stray away from,” Cooper says. “Some don’t understand this group of people. I just happen to be a person who does.”

Derrick, 37, has lived at Tender Mercies for almost 10 years.

“I became homeless, living on the streets, living under bridges, and then finally I went to the Drop-In Center,” he says. “I then went to the hospital, because I was hearing voices; and they diagnosed me with paranoid schizophrenia, and I ended up at Tender Mercies.”

Now feeling better, Derrick was one of the first residents chosen to be on Tender Mercies’ board.

“If residents had any problems, they would come to me,” he says. “Then I would take that problem to the other board members and help resolve it.”

Derrick has been cutting hair since he was 12 years old, and that’s how he makes his living. Clients go to his room to get their hair cut. He has no plans to leave Tender Mercies.

“I love it here,” he says.

Tender Mercies doesn’t work out for everybody, Winters says.

“Some people don’t do well in this environment,” he says, “and if it’s not a right fit, we’ll help them find more traditional housing in the community.”

With 23 referrals from social service agencies in the past year, word-of-mouth about the agency is clearly positive.

“I don’t think a person really knows what community means until they come here and visit and get immersed in Tender Mercies,” Winters says.

Tender Mercies holds its summer festival from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Aug. 23. For more information, visit www.tendermerciesinc.org.

Check out the new Streetvibes blog at streetvibes.wordpress. com

STREETVIBES August 2008

5

Community News

The Face of Hospitality Student photos highlight ministry’s guests

By Angela Pancella Contributing Writer

here every day. It just felt like we were intruding at first, but then they really accepted us and were like, ‘Yeah, we love taking pictures.’ It felt like, to me, they became models; they loved it. It just brought a lot of joy.”

In the end, the students had about 400 prints to give to guests, and each student had five photos framed to hang on the wall. They plan to also exhibit their work in a gallery later in the year.

A

long one wall in Our Daily Bread’s dining area hang a series of photos of guests.

They were taken by Norwood High School students who signed up for a photo workshop through the St. Elizabeth Arts Foundation.

The students — Sara Daugherty, Amanda Glasgow, Tori Herre and Sylvia Hoyt — worked with lead artist Michael Wilson, a Norwood native who has done projects with Lyle Lovett, Emmylou Harris and the band Over the Rhine. He credits two members of the foundation for his involvement.

“I got involved with this because Douglas (Horner) and Juli (Thompson) asked,” Wilson says. “I think Douglas just asked me, and I don’t remember us having long, drawn-out ramblings on how to make the workshop work. I remember him presenting this idea, and it sounded great.”

The idea was to take students to Our Daily Bread to volunteer in the serving line one day, spend three days taking photographs and then hand out prints of the photos on the last day. They would also hang their best work for permanent display in the food and hospitality center. Throughout the week the students met in the afternoons in the Kids Café room at Our Daily Bread to learn photography techniques.

On the last day of the workshop, June 27, Herre said she was surprised by the guests’ reaction to the students. “You expected people to not like you being here … but everyone was really nice,” she said.

“They’re like, ‘Oh yeah, take my picture! Take my picture!’ It just made for a better experience, because if they didn’t really feel OK with your presence, it would have made it a lot harder.

It made it nice to just be able to say, ‘Do whatever you want,’ and then we just caught some really amazing

* Sara Daughtery, a Norwood High School student, participated in a photo workshop with the St. Elizabeth Arts Foundation. They teamed up with Our Daily Bread to learn photo techniques and to photograph people who eat at the soup kitchen. Photo courtesey of Angela Pancella.

pictures from it.”

Horner, who spent every day with the students along with intern Gene Edwards, says the sheer numbers of guests they met was overwhelming.

“I would have assumed that there’s people everywhere, but there are people everywhere,” he says.

Daugherty agrees.

“It was an amazing experience,” she says. “Coming

down here every day, you actually remember people and they remember you, which was really nice. You would expect people, like Tori said, not to accept you in this space where they’re

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Our Daily Bread, 1730 Race St., is a food and hospitality ministry in Over-the-Rhine. The ministry provides a midday meal, serving more than 500 people each weekday. To volunteer or donate food, call Joan or Kathy at 513-621-6364.

Everyone’s a Winner

Carnival is annual Bethany House ‘friend raiser’

By Greg Olkhovsky Staff Writer

B

ethany House Services celebrated its 13th Annual Children’s Carnival on July 9 in Fairmount. Debbie McGarry, director of volunteers and special events, describes the event as a “friend raiser.”

The Children’s Carnival brings together former and current Bethany House clients and their families to eat, socialize and engage in activities and games.

The carnival also promotes awareness about the agency’s mission and values.

“This event provides an excellent opportunity,” McGarry says. “It is something different. It is a fun summer activity for friends and family in the community to become a part of.”

Bethany House Services is one of five non-profit family shelters in Cincinnati. Since 1984 it’s helped provide housing, education and other programs for homeless and disadvan-

Friends spend a weekday evening at the Bethany House Children’s carnival. The Carnival is an opportunity for current and former Bethany House clients to mingle and enjoy food and fun.

Photo courtesy of Bethany House Services.

taged women and children through direct service and initiatives to effect systematic change.

More than 150 volunteers helped set up the carnival, operated more than 30 game booths and cleaned up afterward. All of the

prizes were donated, with support from more than 70 sponsors. Around $4,000 was invested in operating this year’s carnival event.

“It is a great thing when all of the families can eat and do as much as they want,” McGarry says.

“We’ve had kids grow up with the carnival for many years now, and they tell us that the Children’s Carnival is what they look forward to every year. Knowing that this event is genuinely loved by many people is an amazing feeling.”

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Sick, continued p.1 line is the Republicans control both houses of the legislature. They made it very clear that they had no intention of moving this issue at all.”

When the General Assembly let the proposal die, supporters of the measure got another opportunity – and faced a new set of 4 ballot, the coalition has to collect another 120,600 signatures from registered voters.But that’s not all. The state constitution requires the signatures on the new petition to be from voters who didn’t sign the first petition.

“They have to be completely different people,” Butland says. “There also has to be a certain number in 44 of the 88 counties.”

Even so, the coalition is confident it will succeed.

“We’ve already got over 200,000 signatures in hand,” Butland says.

Business groups lobbied state legislators, opposing the bill, and are organizing a campaign against the proposed referendum. Ohioans to Protect Jobs and Fair Benefits, based in Columbus, is among the business groups working to defeat the measure.

“There’s overwhelming support of this among voters across party lines. The reason is pretty obvious: Everybody gets sick. That’s not a partisan issue.”

If approved by voters, the proposal would make Ohio the first state to mandate paid sick leave, according to Ohioans to Protect Jobs and Fair Benefits.

Several studies have shown that paid sick days actually improve productivity and save employers money, Butland says.

Those studies were among the evidence that Ohioans for Healthy Families Coalition had hoped to give legislators, he says.

“A number of independent studies have been done that show this will save employers money,” Butland says. “I know that sounds counter-intuitive; but when you factor in less lost proGeorgetta Rice, signs a ballot to require employers to pay ductivity, less spread of illworkers for sick days. Photo by Andrew Anderson. ness in the workplace, what A reporter’s calls to the nomic climate Ohio cur- these studies studies say is group were not returned, rently faces, an additional there is a net increase in but in statements on its mandate on employers productivity.”

Web site, Ohioans to Pro- would slow Ohio’s recovUnder the current systect Jobs and Fair Benefits ery and discourage new tem, consumers often pay argues that mandatory paid companies from coming to the price for employers’ resick days would be a “job Ohio and existing compa- fusal to provide sick days, killer.” nies to expand,” the Web Butland says.

“With the serious eco- site says.

“There is a public-health

Services, continued p.1 serving commercial uses of Over-the-Rhine,” the resolution says.

Those aspersions aren’t accidental. Bortz says that what he calls the “hyperconcentration” of agencies trying to help people has the perverse effect of hurting the neighborhood.

“The hyper-concentration attracts more than just the people who need services,” he says. “It attracts people who prey upon them.”

Asked if he blames the human -services agencies for crime in Over-theRhine, Bortz explains what he sees as unintended consequences. ‘”Maybe I didn’t phrase that comment carefully,” he says. “Basically, you’ve got an at-risk population.

They’ve lost a job, lost a home. Maybe they have an addiction issue. Usually it’s a combination of a lot of

STREETVIBES August 2008

The Jump

things that get people to the point of desperation.”

Where such people congregate, trouble follows, Bortz says. Drug dealers and others see the humanservices agencies’ clientele as a potential market, he says.

“You’ve got other people who don’t want to help them,” Bortz says. “People end up gravitating to prostitution, for example, to feed an addiction.”

Bortz’s resolution doesn’t accuse any particular agency of any particular wrongdoing, but Mary Magdalene House is presumably one of its targets. Since 1988 the agency has provided a basic service that often proves elusive for homeless people: a bathroom.

The Rev. Giancarlo Bonutti, a Marianist brother, is director of Mary Magdalene House, which serves up to

1,600 people a year.

“We provide 21,000 showers a year, besides people who come in just to use the toilet,” he says. “We have a very personal ministry here for the people we serve.”

Bonutti says that, so far as he knows, Bortz has never visited Mary Magdalene House, located on Main Street.

“Some of the people who are trying to degrade us have never even visited us,” Bonutti says. “To make judgments about us without even knowing what we’re doing is pretty unfair.”

Like former Vice Mayor Jim Tarbell, Bortz says the number of human-services agencies in Over-the-Rhine stymies re-development.

That argument ignores certain inconvenient facts.

“In fact, we are one of the first groups to take an old

dimension to this,” he says.

“We have 300,000 food and restaurant workers in Ohio who have no paid sick days. The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta says over half of the restaurant-borne illnesses in this country aren’t due to bad food but employee sickness.”

A worker at a fast-food restaurant in Kent, Ohio, infected with a norovirus, recently caused hundreds of illnesses, Butland says.

“He couldn’t afford to take off,” Butland says.

“Four hundred and 50 people got sick as a result. This happens a lot.”

A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed 71 percent of respondents support the Ohio Healthy Families Act. “There’s overwhelming support of this among voters across party lines,” Butland says. “The reason is pretty obvious: Everybody gets sick. That’s not a partisan issue.”

“I wouldn’t want to go to every neighborhood and say, ‘You’re going to have to have more socialservice agencies’. People aren’t exactly pounding on the door asking for more.”

building on Main Street and improve it while maintaining its historic character,” Bonutti says.

But council’s resolution overlooks a larger point, he says.

“It seems to me some of the social-service agencies that are helping out in the area are actually helping the city,” Bonutti says. “A lot of us provide services for free, not costing the city any money.”

Bortz’s resolution is his second attempt this summer to restrict human-services agencies. His earlier attempt to insert restrictions in the city’s zoning code prompted an outcry from churches and other non-profit orga-

nizations. Council sent the proposal to the Cincinnati Planning Commission for reconsideration.

The resolution doesn’t specify how many humanservices agencies should be in Over-the-Rhine. Bortz paradoxically suggests that’s not the point.

“I don’t know what the number is,” he says. “I don’t know that it’s necessarily about the numbers.”

Instead, he introduces parity as a measure.

“Look across the entire region, not just the city See SERVICES p.7

STREETVIBES August 2008

Services

Local News

7

of Cincinnati,” he says.

“Look across the 12 counties. There is no neighborhood that even comes close to having the number of social-service agencies that Over-the-Rhine has.”

But Bortz admits there aren’t any neighborhoods in -- or outside -- the city asking for agencies to locate there.

“I wouldn’t want to go to every neighborhood and say, ‘You’re going to have to have more social-service agencies,’ ” he says. “People aren’t exactly pounding on the door asking for more.”

Bortz bristles at the suggestion that he or the city have an animus against the poor in Over-the-Rhine and the agencies that serve them.

“I’m not talking about forced relocation by any stretch of the imagination,” he says. “There’s a little bit of confusion, particularly among the advocacy groups saying, ‘Oh, you’re trying to close down agencies.’ Of course we don’t. We want to help them improve their efficiency.”

The resolution directs city administrators to “carry out any actions necessary to adhere to such policy” – again, without specifying a course of action. Bortz characterizes the measure as a “starting point” for discussions on ways to better serve people who need social services.

“I’m not sure there are any folks who understand what’s going on in the social-services community who think the status quo is fine,” he says. ‘There is room for improvement.”

Check out the new Streetvibes blog for discussion of issues between editions. streetvibes. wordpress. com

Streetvibes archives from January 2004 - July 2008 have been uploaded to the Greater Cincinnati Coalition’s website. To view them in pdf go to www.cincihomeless.org/content/streetvibes

8

Poetry and Artwork

STREETVIBES August 2008

Thing I Carry

By Charles Cole

I carry my baby in my heart.

I carry a vision of my baby’s face, in my heart and in my mind.

I carry myself from here and there.

I will carry you ‘cause sometimes I do.

Sometimes I wonder who is going to carry me.

God - that’s who’s going to carry me.

Good things come to others that help one another carry each other, so carry me and I will you because carry each other is the right thing to dolike you carry me, me carry you.

Let’s keep carrying on.

I carry good feelings of Hope, love, and happiness.

Food 4 Thought

By Mack L. Russell Sr.

I hear voices, but not in my head.

I see dead people also, but only in caskets at the chapel.

People talk about plenty but almost never say anything.

I listen, but only hear what I want the message in this passage is only food 4 thought.

Are you hungry for knowledge, food or just wanting to read?

Do you feel with your hands that what you cannot see?

This is just a simple passage that’ll probably never get read.

Some parts are reality but to be deciphered in your head.

Hear, see, feel, believe what you want but knowing the difference Is food 4 thought

Life Changes

By Mack L. Russell Sr. I’ve been through so many changes in my life.

Some seem more severe than others.

Not knowing from day to day the outcome.

Somehow I mustered up enough energy to pull through.

I’ve prayed timeless times over and over keeping the faith.

In my mind I’ve wondered were my prayers useless but in my heart I knew everything would be all right.

I’ve been through so many changes in my life some seemed more severe than others Not knowing from day to day the outcome Yet I still stand alive and well.

Tomorrow is another day And I know not what obstacles I will face but my journey is to move on because chances will occur.

Bearded Man Drawing by Antonio Hodge

STREETVIBES August 2008

Poetry and Artwork

9

“Gay Celebration” Northside Photo by Berta Lambert

To Jim and Wife Happy Birthday Drawing by Anthony Williams

Unexpected Reunion

Cleo’s Joke Corner There was a criminal who stole a cement truck. The policeman caught up with him and dragged him through the computers. They found out that he was a hardened criminal. When the prosecutor took him before the judge, he told the judge that they had concrete evidence against him.

There was a shipload of one-legged pirates who were singing, “Let’s go to the hop. Let’s go the hop. Let’s go to the hop.” The captain said that he was hungry and that he was going to a restaurant. His shipmates said, “Which one?” He said, “The IHOP.” Why did the skeleton go into the closet by himself? Well, he didn’t have any body.

What do the letter A and a flower have in common? They both have a B (Bee) following after it.

On May 1 I was downtown at Fifth and Walnut streets, my usual spot to influence people and make them laugh.

Two years ago my daughter ran away. I hadn’t heard from her in those two years. I was very worried and concerned if she was all right or not. I prayed night and day that she was all right and that she would come back home.

To my surprise, on May 1 I turned around -- and there came my daughter across the street from Fountain Square. I dropped everything I had. I ran to her, and she ran to me. We hugged each other and cried tears of joy. I will always be grateful to the Lord for bringing her back to me.

I didn’t expect that by selling Streetvibes I would ever encounter my daughter. Some days this job seems very hard and strenuous; some days are easier than others.

But the very fact that, after doing this for five years, I was able to see my daughter back in Cincinnati, shedding tears of joy -- I never knew what tears of joy were.

But now I understand. I want to thank everybody who has ever bought Streetvibes from me and all the other vendors. All of you were also part of the answer to my prayers. May God bless each and every one of you.

- Cleo Wombles

10

STREETVIBES August 2008

Column

The Prostitute on State Street Sometimes painkillers create new pain

I

By Michael Henson Columnist

stand at the corner of Gest and State in Lower Price Hill in the late afternoon and see a young woman stumble out of a car. The driver is Hispanic, probably from Chiapas or Guatemala; but it is no matter. If you watch long enough, you could see her stumble out of the car of a downtown businessman or a construction worker from Adams County.

She stumbles, I say; and even as she rights herself, her body leans leftward like a bow, bent perhaps by the moons of heroin or the pressure of crack cocaine or by the distortions of her labor, serving men in the cramped front seats of cars, She is a small woman, not five feet tall, and very thin.

She has a name tattooed at her neck like a shackle. Her teeth are gone clouded and gray, and there is something about her so twisted and damaged and childlike and holy (I do not use that word lightly) that I cannot understand how any man would want to have her.

But the men do have her.

Again and again, they come here because they know they will find her. ***** Lower Price Hill is a mostly white Appalachian neighborhood that is not a hill at all, but the place where the Mill Creek flows into the Ohio River and where in the late 19th century a number of industries and a collection of working-class housing came together.

Somewhere in the 1950s the original German and Italian residents moved out, and the Appalachians moved in. There are now a growing number of Hispanic and African-American neighbors, but it is still a largely Appalachian neighborhood where young people speak a mix of downhome and hip hop and we still hold an annual festival of down-home music and culture.

Lower Price Hill was never your quiet, tree-lined neighborhood. From the first, it was a hardworking, hard-drinking community,

There is something about her so twisted and damaged and childlike and holy (I do not use that word lightly) that I cannot understand how any man would want to have her. impacted further by the effluents of the local factories and, since the ’6os, the Metropolitan Sewer Division’s Mill Creek plant, an 88-acre facility. Residents concerned over the effects of all these pollutants on themselves and their children put up a stiff fight, and things have gotten better in some ways.

But other things have gotten worse. ***** In 1995 the Purdue Pharma pharmaceutical com-

pany came out with a new drug it called Oxy-Contin.

Used properly, Oxy-Contin is a very effective painkiller for cancer patients and people with chronic injuries.

The particular feature of this opiate was that it was produced with a time-release mechanism to put just the right amount of opiate into a person’s system to keep the pain at bay without getting the person high or addicted.

That was the theory, anyway.

But people don’t always use a drug properly. People pretty quickly found out that, they could snort it or shoot it to get the whole dose at once.

Demand for the drug -and addiction to it -- quickly took hold in Appalachian communities from Maine to Alabama and into the urban Appalachian centers such as Lower Price Hill. It didn’t help that Purdue Pharma took an aggressive sales strategy. In fact, they’ve been sued in several states for continuing their aggressive marketing even after, it has been said, they knew that addiction was spreading as a result. Oxy became known as “hillbilly heroin.”

Communities were transformed as people became desperate for the drug. Burglaries, thefts, robberies increased. Treatment centers were overwhelmed.

Prostitution became common in places that had never seen it. ***** Why did Oxy take hold so quickly in the Appalachian community?

Three reasons: First, Pur-

due Pharma had that aggressive marketing campaign that targeted the region.

Second, high rates of cancer and chronic injury in Appalachian communities mean there is a lot of need for pain-killing. Third, sharing is a strong cultural tradition in the Appalachian community, including drugs. People in need and in “need” can usually find someone to share with them. So something like Oxy will quickly spread.

If there is a fourth reason, it would be the perpetual economic and social crisis of Appalachian communities, where unemployment is high and chances are few. ***** So Oxy had fertile ground. Word got out about the disaster. There were articles in The New York Times and other media.

Communities raised hell and supplies of Oxy-Contin grew short. Purdue Pharma, in a desperate attempt to clean up its image, started a drug-abuse prevention campaign. But the damage was done. Lives were upturned.

Desperate addicts looked for alternatives, including Methadone.

Methadone is another very effective drug when used properly and together with counseling. But addicts in Lower Price Hill and other communities figured out that at least one Methadone center was willing to let them forgo counseling and take more than what they needed to control the cravings. So they had a cheap, legal high; and the community faced still more

Oxy became known as “hillbilly heroin.” Communities were transformed as people became desperate for the drug. Burglaries, thefts, robberies increased. troubles. The Oxy-Contin overdoses became Methadone overdoses.

So we raised hell again, this time with the East Indiana Treatment Center, and Methadone got scarce.

And the addicts shifted their tactics again -- this time to heroin. Now the Oxy-Contin overdoses turned Methadone overdoses have become heroin overdoses.

There is a local group, the Coalition for a Drug-Free Lower Price Hill, fighting the good fight. The police do what they can. Families struggle with the problem one by one. A group of teens, angry because girls could not walk the street to school or work without being solicited, made a video talking about the problem.

But the problem persists.

It did not need to happen. The people who made it happen will face lawsuits, but they will not face jail time or the loss of a loved one.

I doubt if any of them has a daughter or sister out on State Avenue, stumbling out of men’s cars and walking the street with a marked and bent body, holy and sad, a tattoo like a shackle at her neck.

Organizing the Homeless Bloc

By Gregory Flannery Editor

I

f all poor people voted, this country could be a lot different.

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is coordinating a voterregistration drive, aiming to make it easier for clients of its member agencies to

Agencies want to make it easier for clients to vote participate in the political process.

“The point is to make sure that the voices of the people we serve collectively are heard,” says Stacey Hall, director of the YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter.

For homeless people,

voting is at best a kind of luxury, she says.

“First of all, you’ve got a lot of things on your mind, such as where you’re going to lay your head and dayto-day survival,” she says.

Some obstacles are subtler.

“There’s the issue of how you’re treated when you go to register,” Hall says.

“There’s the stigma of how you’re treated when you’re homeless.”

Practical considerations can also discourage participation: How do you regis-

ter to vote when you have no address? Ohio law now requires voters to present identification at the polls.

What if you have none?

“The mechanics of voting make it difficult for homeSee VOTING p.11

11 The Curious Case of Tracy Johnson STREETVIBES August 2008

Local News

A little story about how things work

By Gregory Flannery Editor In the annals of injustice, Tracy Johnson’s ordeal the night of June 13 was comparatively inconsequential: He was cited for jaywalking at Race and Garfield streets, an offense he says he didn’t commit.

With the help of a volunteer lawyer, Johnson beat the ticket. When the case went to trial July 10 in Hamilton County Municipal Court, prosecutors dropped the charge. The reason?

The primary witness didn’t show up for court.

That witness wasn’t a police officer, but rather the driver who allegedly struck Johnson with her car, then fled. Instead of citing the driver for leaving the scene of an accident, Cincinnati Police cited Johnson for a pedestrian violation.

Johnson says a driver entered the intersection after the traffic light had turned red, then suddenly reversed, backing into the intersection and striking him with the rear of the car.

Officers at the scene didn’t write an accident report, according to Fran Cihon, a public information officer for the Cincinnati Police Department.

“They said it was not an accident, so there was no accident report generated,” Cihon says. “The officers who went to the scene told me he was not struck. He committed a pedestrian violation when he was in the roadway.”

But dispatch records and

recordings of 911 calls, released to Streetvibes by the police department, support Johnson’s account. Three passersby called emergency dispatchers after seeing Johnson hurt.

One caller gave a description of the vehicle that struck Johnson and the direction in which the driver fled.

“I want to report a hit-and-run,” the caller said.

“There’s a dude laying in the street.”

“Somebody just got hitand-ran – a black car,” said the caller.

The dispatcher asked, “So it was hit-and-skip?”

“Yep,” the caller said.

“He’s lying down in the middle of the street. It was a black car. Somebody else got the number. …

(The driver) went straight up Garfield towards City Hall.”

Another caller gave the dispatcher the license number for the car that struck Johnson.

“I want to report a hitand-run,” the caller said.

“There’s a dude laying in the street. The lady’s license plate that did the hit and run is MZNIKKI. The dude is still laying in the middle of the street. … The last time I seen the car, it was going down Garfield.”

Tracy Johnson shows his homeless ID. His ticket for jaywalking was later dropped when the witness failed to show. Photo by Andrew Anderson.

An “incident recall” log provided by the police department reports a call at 10:09 p.m.: “H/S (hit-skip), striking vehicle was blk veh, victim is in street.”

Johnson says that after police arrived, the car that had struck him returned to the scene. This, too, is verified by police records. The “incident recall” log says that at 10:15 p.m., “Striking veh returned to scene … black vehicle with OH MZNIKKI." But instead of arresting the driver who struck him, police cited Johnson for jaywalking. When he declined to sign the ticket, officers handcuffed him and drove him to the Hamilton County Justice Center, releasing him after he agreed to sign it.

A reporter’s efforts to contact the alleged driver of the car were unsuccessful.

Johnson says he believes police behaved as they did because he is homeless. His

Voting, continued p.10 less folks to get to the ballot box,” Hall says.

Misunderstanding also plays a role – for example, the belief that people with criminal records cannot vote.

“There’s a lot of confusion about criminal records and voting,” Hall says.

“There’s a misconception that, if you’ve had any con-

tact with the criminal justice system, you can’t vote.”

Persons serving prison sentences for felony convictions are not allowed to vote in Ohio. But former felony offenders can. So can people serving time for misdemeanor convictions and people on bail or locked up awaiting trial.

Part of the voter-regis-

tration campaign will involve helping homeless people obtain absentee ballots.

As with other generalities, it’s inaccurate to assume that homeless people have poor voting records.

“Women at our shelter are made homeless by domestic violence,” Hall says.

“We serve people all across

identification gives his address as the Drop Inn Center. He says he fought the citation as a matter of principle.

“You can’t leave someone like a dog in the street and do this to them,” he says. “I want to make sure this don’t happen to anybody else.”

Attorney Jim Tomaszewski volunteered to represent Johnson, even going to the Drop Inn Center on Independence Day, his day off work, to interview him.

While commiserating with Johnson’s frustration, Tomaszewski says there is nothing more that can be done.

“The police are not violating his rights if they don’t cite someone else,” he says.

“He felt he was probably slighted when they found out he was homeless. Unfortunately, I’m sure that’s something he deals with all the time.”

An associate with the law

“The mechanics of voting make it difficult for homeless folks to get to the ballot box.”

“You can’t leave someone like a dog in the street and do this to them,” he says. “I want to make sure this don’t happen to anybody else.” firm Lindhorst and Dridane, Tomaszewski has been an attorney for two years.

He says he agreed to help Johnson after being asked by a staffer at the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

“For me, it’s part of what it’s supposed to be about,” Tomaszewski says. “It’s the old ‘To whom much is given, much is expected.’

People call you and need a hand with something. It’s what you do.”

tion drive is still underway.

“We haven’t set a numerical goal, but we’re hoping to get member agencies excited about getting their clients to vote,” she says. the social and economic “We’re going to be workspectrum. There are people ing right up to the deadline. who have voted all their We’re going to give organilives and people who have zations all the information and the tools they need so never voted.”

Planning for the registra- they can jump right in.”

12

Community News

STREETVIBES August 2008

Million Dollar Baby Major grant part of affordable housing “boom”

By Patricia Garry Contributing Writer

O

ver-the-Rhine Community Housing has “a lot of good things going on right now,” says Mary Burke, executive director. “It’s very exciting to have projects underway, and it’s especially exciting that we are providing the full range of housing types.”

The agency has received a grant of $987,743 from the Federal Home Loan Bank, through Union Savings Bank, to transform five buildings on Odeon Street into housing for the chronically homeless.

There will be a single point of entry for the 25 units, with 24-hour engagement staff. The Odeon Street Permanent Supporting Housing Project, the

first in this area, is based on a harm-reduction model successfully used elsewhere in the country. The concept is basically to house the homeless first, then work on sobriety and other issues.

The buildings are being purchased from the Cincinnati Center City Development Corp. (3CDC), which assisted Over-the-Rhine Community Housing in getting the initial architectural drawings. Other partners are the Partnership Center Ltd, GlaserWorks, and the Corporation for Supportive Housing.

There’s more good news.

City Home at 1400 Pleasant St. will provide 23 units of homeownership in Overthe-Rhine.

“Right now, it’s just a big hole,” Burke says.

Thirteen townhouses will be created on the site, five

Mary Burke, executive director of Over-the-Rhine Community Housing, stands in front of what will become the first permanent supportive housing project in the area. Permanent supportive housing provides individuals with housing and then works to address substance abuse or mental health issues. Photo by Andrew Anderson.

in the 1500 block of Elm Street for affordable elderly housing. The proposal calls for 14 units, with new commercial space on the ground floor. Over-the-Rhine Community Housing hopes this building will be LEED-certified. LEED is an acronym for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,” popularly referred to as “green construction” or

“environmentally friendly.”

Finally, El-Moe is hard at work in Over-the-Rhine.

Elder and Moeller high schools are collaborating on rehabbing a vacant building into a home to be sold to a first-time affordable-home buyer. Most of the work is being done by the energetic volunteers, with some technical items, such as electricity, being subbed out.

unfair standards and bad The new board includes pay is a non-profit day la- representatives of the three bor hall. sponsors of the non-profit The Cincinnati Interfaith labor hall: the Cincinnati ers and picking up the pre- college students who spent vious shift – the same shift their Saturdays preparing Workers Center and the Interfaith Workers’ Center, Greater Cincinnati Coali- the Archdiocese of Cincinthat had ended five hours them. earlier. By now this group Safety equipment for tion for the Homeless start- nati and the Episcopal Diohad been at the factory for working on the packaging ed the Day Labor Organiz- cese of Southern Ohio. The 16 hours. machine: $4, even though ing Project (DLOP) with rest of the board is comThey didn’t complain; the equipment was never the hope of organizing the prised of individuals with workers. The idea of a non- experience in staffing agenthey feared they’d lose provided. the little checks coming to Check Charge: $1. Yes, profit day labor hall is now cies, businesses and nonthem if they complained. they charge you for the Finally at 7 a.m. they ar- check your pay is printed “We’re not just trying to be nice rived back at the day labor on. to people. We’re looking to hall, exhausted, hungry, Net Earnings: $40 after make room for people in a global angry – and waited in line taxes. again, this time to get their The federal minimum economy and help them find an checks. wage is $6.55 per hour. upward path.”

Thirty minutes later the The U.S. Department of line emerged from the la- Labor’s Wage and Hour Dibor hall, checks in hand. As vision says that wait time -- a realistic goal, with a new profit organizations.

The non-profit day lathe workers examined their when workers are required board of directors assigned checks, they began to real- to be on-site as a condition to bring the plan to life as a bor hall will not charge for transportation, dispatch, ize the bitter bite that greed of employment -- is paid social enterprise.

“The founders are op- check-cutting or safety takes out of their earnings: time. The day laborer in Gross Pay: $84, or $7 per this case should have been erating from a faith-based equipment. Workers will hour for 12 hours worked. paid for 17 hours of work. sense of social justice, and get larger paychecks beThe five hours waiting for But instead the net earnings they are looking beyond cause unjust fees won’t be the van: not paid. The hour of $40 for 17 hours come to simple charity,” says Mike deducted. The staff will Phillips, interim president also inspect workplaces it took to get to the job site: $3.50 per hour. not paid. The hour it took This is the day and the of the board. “We’re not and won’t send workers to to get back to the hall: not life of a day laborer. This is just trying to be nice to peo- places where conditions are paid. not a particularly grotesque ple. We’re looking to make poor or the management is Transportation: $7 to get depiction, but a typical day. room for people in a global unprofessional.

In addition, the nonto the work site, plus $7 to We’ve heard worse, we’ve economy and help them get back. seen worse, we fear worse. find an upward path. That’s profit day labor hall hopes Lunch: $5, even though One solution to these ter- our strategy -- and for many to help workers move from the meals were donated by rible working conditions, of us, that’s our theology.” temporary employment to

higher-paying, permanent positions. The hall also plans to provide a variety of training and referral opportunities to make workers more attractive and better qualified for higher-paying positions. This will be possible through partnerships with existing community services. The businesses that will hire workers from the non-profit hall will be encouraged to offer employment to workers who impress them.

The non-profit day labor hall is considering possible locations, including the NuBlend Building, which houses a Freestore/Foodbank program, the Drop Inn Center’s HIP Team, McMicken Dental and the Cincinnati Interfaith Workers Center.

The board is focused on finding grants to underwrite the expenses of the start-up period, establishing a nonprofit tax status and building relationships and partnerships with other non-profit groups. An opening date hasn’t been set, but organizers expect the hall to be self-sustaining within 12 to 18 months of opening.

Labor, continued p.1

of which will be affordable for low and moderate income homeowners.

Ten condos will be created through rehab in four buildings. The project will begin in the spring.

For senior citizens, an application has been made to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s 202 Program for funding to redo a building

STREETVIBES August 2008

13

News

African Women Take Charge Immigrants become entrepreneurs

By Rachel Lawson Contributing Writer Sojourner Truth delivered a famous speech regarding the unnoticed plight of African-American women at a time when it was most needed.

Her words hold true in regard to the struggles and the resilience of African women: “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, together women ought to be able to turn it right-side up again.”

Africa’s most recent history has been overshadowed by the struggles for liberty. The 1960s have become synonymous with successful battles for freedom from European colonization. Along with freedom from the colonizers came bloodshed and struggles toward the restoration of each of the individual countries.

Adapting to independence, negative stereotypical cultural perceptions were soon altered and recognized as false: The whole continent is not a jungle, there are not only lions and tigers, and Africa is home to extremely intelligent individuals. Ultimately, the oldest preserved skeletal remains of humans were discovered in Africa -- and were female.

African women, regardless of their specific country of origin, have been able to turn the world upside-down in many ways. Recognizing the scope of their actions within the United States can heighten awareness of the intelligence and capabilities of women within the African culture. Data from the 2000 U.S. Census showed 56.5 percent of Africanborn females in the United States were employed, as were 66.2 percent of African-born males.

This data pays tribute to the ability of both Africanborn men and women to successfully find work in a country with different values, habits and beliefs.

Furthermore, although males have generally taken on positions at pre-existing jobs as teachers and scientists or in manufacturing, females have become innovative business owners. By using what might be considered common knowledge within their own countries of origin, they have started restaurants, become clothing designers and opened hair salons -- a much desired alternative that is welcomed and valued within the American culture.

The fortitude of Africanborn females is most noticeable when recognizing the various obstacles that African immigrants face. For instance, although Africanborn immigrants have the highest level of education

of all immigrants and often arrive with college degrees, their education is not always accredited within the United States. Some have had to start over, including taking temporary positions as factory and manufacturing workers. Imagine how American physicians would respond if told that all of their hard work doesn’t matter and they have to start all over by lifting and loading boxes.

On the other hand, African women have taken to starting businesses that allow for both a connection to their culture and a steady paycheck. The ability to start and maintain a successful business relies on many qualities -- for example, persistence, communication skills and business sense. This pursuit also demonstrates to younger generations the importance of being independent and the capability of actually

being your own boss.

Female entrepreneurship is not an idea unique to the United States. Starting in the 1970s, females played a vital role in the stability of canoe fisheries in a variety of West African countries. They play dual roles as business financiers and mothers. Bringing a strong business initiative to the United States would be only natural. In a way, it’s not so surprising. After all, African women have put scientist on the tips of their toes, simply by successfully existing for more than 3 million years.

Cincinnati is home to a diverse African community.

For a volunteer position that offers the ability to work with a diverse population, call the International Center of Greater Cincinnati at 513-621-0284.

Want more Streetvibes? Check out the new Streetvibes blog for discussion and coverage of other issues between editions. streetvibes.wordpress.com Streetvibes Subscriptions Are you intererested in having Streetvibes delivered to your mailbox every month?

Send a check for $25 with your name and address to: Streetvibes 117 E.12th St. Cincinnati, OH 45202

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Guest Column 14 Intelligence, Environment and ‘Value’

STREETVIBES August 2008

Time to rethink the goals and methods of public education

By Tyrone Williams Guest Columnist Poverty is neither an excuse nor a justification for academic or professional failure, though it does have an impact on one’s future prospects.

Because poverty in the United States isn’t likely to be eliminated in any foreseeable future, educators and policy makers interested in the development of young African-American pupils must focus their attention on the other factors that contribute to the disparity between the success rates of white children and the success rates of nonwhite children. However, one can focus on these other factors only after dispelling a number of distracting myths regarding economic status and intelligence.

It’s obvious that children with access to computers and electronic accessories, up-to- date textbooks, ample school supplies and parents and guardians who value learning are more likely to succeed as professionals or academics than children deprived of any, most or all of these factors.

Nonetheless, children can and do learn and succeed in the absence of all of these factors, thanks in no small part to dedicated educators.

I say all this not to give comfort to state and federal legislators and policymakers slashing away at educational program budgets but to emphasize that intelligence, the ability to adapt to changing environments, is largely independent of social, political and economic factors.

Does this mean then that parents, educators and administrators should cease pressing state and federal legislatures for budget increases? Absolutely not.

While it’s true that some needed educational reforms aren’t related to economics

per se (e.g., parents “modeling” the importance of reading and studying), it’s unconscionable to downplay the importance of relatively “safe,” up-to-date and stimulating learning environments. At the very least, the continued linkage between tax bases and school funding, a relic of the once credible idea of community “control” over school systems, needs to be broken once and for all.

Until Americans understand that we are all responsible for the education of all primary and secondary students, the educational system will continue to function like global capitalism in general — the artificial creation of “boom” locales/”safe” school districts until they, like all the former boomtowns/”great” school districts, suffer the ignominy of a “benign neglect.”

Nevertheless what we witness today, all across the country, in debilitated and renovated school buildings, in state-of-the-art and impoverished classrooms, is a general scorn for learning among students, teachers, administrators and the gen-

possible to assess anyone’s intelligence quotient, especially since that process itself is little more than the institutionalization of a glorified house of mirrors.

Given all of this, it’s not surprising that even socalled educated people tend to confuse causes and effects, means and ends. For example, in certain states with fairly large Appalachian populations, white and black Appalachian students tend to under-perform in academic settings, especially in pre-college environments. Indeed, they tend to do worse than some black students living in impoverished, often crime-ridden, urban environments. These environments, one largely rural, one largely urban, contribute to, but do not cause, students to perform poorly. These environments “contribute” in different ways.

For example, rural Appalachian students tend to come from strong, familycentered social traditions and environments. Thus family values tend to override academic values. If a family member is ill or needs assistance, responsibility for that family memIt goes without ber might fall on another family member of student saying that age. Appalachian students certain academic thus tend to miss an inorvalues will be dinate number of classes in conflict with due to their commitment to family responsibilities. the values that This is neither good nor bad students bring to in and of itself. It is merely the classroom. a social fact. It acquires a negative stigma only in a culture that places a certain eral populace. The state of premium on academic or American education is not professional success. Howan index of our collective ever, rather than seeing Aplack of intelligence but a palachian students in the willfully obstinate underde- throes of competing value veloped intelligence. systems — one academic, In the current cultural one family-related — some climate of tabloid televi- leap to the erroneous consion news, talk radio muck- clusion that Appalachian raking, corrupt political students are simply intelprocesses and unethical lectually deficient. business practices, it’s imBlack students living in

Are you interested in helping with Streetvibes? Are you a writer, poet, artist or photographer? If so contact Greg Flannery at 513.421.7803 x 12 or email streetvibes2@yahoo.com

At the very least, the continued linkage between tax bases and school funding, a relic of the once credible idea of community “control” over school systems, needs to be broken once and for all. urban environments also tend to come from strong, family-centered social traditions and environments.

Here, however, the family might not resemble the “standard” nuclear structure. Indeed, it might not include any “blood” relatives at all. The proliferation of gangs in urban environs is driven not only by economic and social factors but also by a desire to belong, a desire to be part of something larger than oneself, a “family” of one kind or another. Yet even when black students grow up in stable, nuclear family structures, they still tend to lag behind their white counterparts.

One could read this as an index of substandard black intelligence. One could do so only if one ignored another competing “value” system: the tremendous ambivalence blacks across the economic spectrum have toward the educational institutions in this country. Across the economic and social spectrum, blacks tend to regard the desire for higher education as a desire to act or be “white.” That this suspicion can be found across the economic and social spectrum suggests that acting or “being white” is not specifically tied to economic mobility. It is also bound to the question of language, the lexicon one uses, how one speaks,

how one sounds. It is bound to the question of political affiliation.

Again, this social phenomenon is neither good nor bad, right or wrong, in and of itself. It is obviously not a question of intelligence. Just as academic or professional success takes a backseat to family values in many Appalachian families, so too academic or professional success must compete with other values black people might find just as, if not more, important.

Consequently educators and policymakers must begin — or for those already doing so, continue — to rethink where they begin.

They must abolish the assumption that the purpose of general public education is to merely inculcate certain values in students whose own “indigenous” values must be eradicated or, at the very least, suppressed. They forget that all people elevate or suppress certain values in certain contexts, that the issue is not a matter of good or bad, right or wrong, values but a matter of context, what values seem appropriate in certain situations. In short, they — and we — must emphasize that education is about adding on to the values students already have, that education is about giving students more values from which to choose and pick. It goes without saying that certain academic values will be in conflict with the values that students bring to the classroom. This resistance is not something to avoid or regret. Rather, that moment or site of conflict defines, for me, the very condition of the possibility of teaching.

Guest Columnist Tyrone Williams is professor of English at Xavier and a poet whose latest work is On Spec.

He is a long-time supporter of Over-the-Rhine and the currentpresident of the board of InkTank.

Only purchase Streetvibes from BADGED vendors. Vendors wear their WHITE badges while they sell the paper.

15 ‘Bum Bashing’ and Hate on the Rise STREETVIBES August 2008

News

Report shows shocking increase in attacks on homeless

By Daniel Horner Street News Service

Violent attacks against homeless people in the United States significantly increased in 2007, with the number of lethal attacks jumping by 40 percent from the previous year’s figure, according to a recent report by two groups that advocate for the homeless.

Fatal attacks jumped from 20 in 2006 to 28 in 2007, while the total number increased from 142 to 160 – a rise of 13 percent – according to the study “Hate, Violence, and Death on Main Street USA: A Report on Hate Crimes and Violence Against People Experiencing Homelessness 2007.”

Factors ranging from local laws that criminalize homelessness to a current fad for “bum-bashing” videos “send a message to society that homeless people are not human (and) do not deserve respect” says Tulin Ozdeger, the civil rights director for the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty. The law center prepared the report along with the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Local laws that restrict public sleeping, sitting,

storing property or asking for money create an “environment of hostility” against homeless people and send the message that “attacks against them will not be taken seriously,” she says.

The two groups have not done a full “scientific analysis,” but Ozdeger sees a correlation between such laws and attacks.

Florida, whose 31 violent anti-homeless incidents topped the 2007 list, has a number of localities that have passed anti-homeless measures.

Another factor in the continued prevalence of violence against homeless people is “bum bashing” videos, according to the study. Over 6.8 million copies of such videos have been sold and teenagers have imitated the videos “by recording themselves beating up homeless individuals just for the fun of it,” the report says.

Retail sales of the videos have slowed down, but that success has been offset by the rise of YouTube, where such videos are popular, Ozdeger says.

After Florida, the states with the largest numbers of incidents were California

(22), Nevada (14) and Ohio (13). But Nevada’s population of 2.5 million is far less than California’s 36.5 million, Florida’s 18 million and Ohio’s 11.5 million.

But Ozdeger cautioned that the figures might well be low. The report draws its data primarily from media reports, because victims of the attacks often don’t report the attacks to law-enforcement authorities, she says.

David Pirtle, who says he was the victim of several attacks when he was homeless, confirms that point. Pirtle says he didn’t report the attacks to the police. On the basis of his experiences and those of his homeless friends, the “best case scenario” is that “the police don’t do anything,” he says.

When he was homeless, he lived in several sites across the country, he says. The worst attack was in New York City in 2004, he says. A “couple of guys” beat him with an aluminum bat or wide pipe, he says. He says he suffered a chipped tooth and probably cracked ribs. But rather than going to the police or seeking medical assistance, he “just found a spot to curl up for a

few days to recuperate,” he says.

His assailants didn’t appear to be homeless men or criminals, Pirtle says. They were “nicely dressed” and appeared to be college-age, he says.

Of the people accused and convicted of violence against the homeless in 2007, 86 percent were 25 years and younger, with many saying they committed the crimes for the “thrill” or “fun” of it, the report says.

Pirtle says he had “never been attacked by anyone other than young kids who are intoxicated and bored.”

Some of the attacks seem to be motivated by “bias against the victims because they are homeless,” according to the report. For that reason, the study asserts that attacks against the homeless should be tallied as hate crimes. Brian Levin of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino says that failing to count attacks against the homeless as hate crimes “denies the rightful communal condemnation of this prevalent, but often invisible form of violent prejudice.”

There were 187 fatal attacks on homeless individuals from 1999 through 2006, according to the report. For that same period, FBI statistics show 85 homicides classified as hate crimes, the report says.

The report includes examples of efforts to help raise public awareness about the causes of homelessness and the needs of homeless people. For example, Florida’s Miami-Dade County public school district’s curriculum for all grades includes lesson plans relating to homelessness. For pre-K and kindergarten, the goal is to “give children an understanding of the needs that we all have to be comfortable and comforted,” according to a section of the curriculum quoted in the report.

There was also a Florida-wide public education project, initiated by the National Coalition for the Homeless in conjunction with AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers, the report says.

Reprinted from Street Sense © Street News Service: www.street-papers.org

A Surprising Generosity One man’s wallet contains a special treasure

By Gregory Flannery Editor Ronald English gives $20 a month to help a child he has never met and probably never will.

This is exceptional in part because English used to be homeless, in part because he lives on the minimal monthly benefit paid

by Supplemental Security Income and in part because of the health problems and tragedy that he has endured.

Asked about his life, English recites an undifferentiated litany of pathos, horror and pride.

“I go to church,” he says.

“I am a mental patient. My mother got raped and murdered when she was 19. I have five brothers, six sis-

ters and 36 nieces and nephews. I like everybody and I respect everybody. I think I’m a nice guy, friendly, honest.”

English used to sell Streetvibes. Today he supplements his income by selling drawings, frequently surrealist images of a human face. More often he donates the drawings, several of which grace the offices of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, where he likes to visit.

English has an apartment in Clifton. He likes to visit the Drop Inn Center. A social worker says he likes to socialize.

In his wallet English keeps a photograph of a child he says he sponsors, donating $20 a month. He says her name is Lucy, and

she lives in Africa. His wallet also holds a letter, folded down to the size of a square-inch lump, attesting to his generosity.

The letter is signed by Larry Jones, president of Feed the Children, a nonprofit organization that arranges sponsorship of children in Third World countries by more affluent people. English is no one’s idea of an affluent person, yet he helps Lucy.

“I donate $240 a year for medical, housing, clothing and food,” he says.

Jones’ letter attests to English’s generosity.

“Your gifts in the last 12 months have helped children like Lucy survive,” the letter says. “This is why I’m proud to present you with your certificate of ap-

Ron English, an on-again-off again Streetvibes vendor, donates $20 a month to support a little girl in Africa. Photo by Andrew Freeze.

preciation, honoring you for helping provide over 200 meals.”

Drawings are not English’s only artwork. He delivers himself of a poem committed to memory: Where legends are made, Where dreams are born, Saying I am a man amongst men,

Standing tall, Asking God for your mother’s salvation, father’s respect, sister’s love and brother’s freedom.

Peace be with you.

God bless America, and feed the children.

That’s the kind of man Ronald English is.

16

Vendors

Resource Guide

STREETVIBES August 2008

Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 25 cents and sell the paper for $1, keeping the money they have earned. The vendors can be identified with a white badge and can be found selling the paper in Downtown Cincinnati, Clifton, Northern Kentucky and area churches. The money they earn helps them meet basic housing, food and health care needs. Not all vendors pictured.

Josephine Baskerville

Doris Binion

James Bybee

Mark Campbell

Silvia Collins

Grady Cook

Orlando Craig

James Davis

Jon Darby

Tony Drummond

Michael Harris

Kenneth Stonitsch

Antonio Hodge

Leonard Jackson

Samuel Jackson

James A. Jones

Alfred Woolfolk

Berta Lambert

Mary Mueller

Brandon Nelson

Mark Shears

Riccardo Taylor

Julie Walker

Anthony Williams

Nell Williams

Cleo Wombles

Need Help or Want to Help?

Shelter: Women and Children

Central Access Point...381-SAFE Cincinnati Union Bethel...768-6907 Bethany House...557-2873 Grace Place Catholic Worker House...681-2365 Salvation Army...762-5660 YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter...872-9259

Starting Over...961-2256

Treatment: Women

First Step Home ...961-4663

Treatment: Both

City Gospel Mission...241-5525 Justice Watch...241-0490 St. Fran/St. Joe Catholic Worker House...381-4941 Mt. Airy Shelter...661-4620

AA Hotline...351-0422 CCAT ...381-6672 Joseph House ...241-2965 Hamilton County ADAS Board ...946-4888 Recovery Health Access Center ...281-7422 Sober Living ...681-0324 Talbert House...684-7956

Shelter: Both

Advocacy

Shelter: Men

Anthony House (Youth)...961-4080 Caracole (HIV/AIDS)...761-1480 Drop Inn Center...721-0643 Interfaith Hospitality Network...471-1100 Lighthouse Youth Center...221-3350 St. John’s Housing...651-6446

Housing:

CMHA...721-4580 Excel Development...632-7149 OTR Community Housing...381-1171 Tender Mercies...721-8666 Tom Geiger House...961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge Services Inc. ...751-0643 Volunteers of America...381-1954

Food

Lord’s Pantry...621-5300 OTR/Walnut Hills Soup Kitchen & Pantry..961-1983 Our Daily Bread...621-6364 St. Francis Soup Kitchen...535-2719

Treatment: Men

Charlie’s 3/4 House...784-1853 DIC Live In Program...721-0643 Prospect House...921-1613

Appalachian Identity Center ...621-5991 Catholic Social Action ...421-3131 Community Action Agency ...569-1840 Contact Center...381-4242 Franciscan JPIC ...721-4700 Greater Cinci Coalition for the Homeless..421-7803 Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center...5798547 Legal Aid Society ...241-9400 Ohio Justice & Policy Center ...421-1108 Peaslee Neighborhood Center ...621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids ...363-3300 Stop AIDS...421-2437

Health

Center for Respite Care ...621-1868 Cincinnati Health Network ...961-0600 Crossroad Health Center ...381-2247 Hamilton county Mental Health Board...946-8600 Hamilton County TB Control ...946-7628 Health Resource Center ...357-4602 Homeless Mobile Health Van...352-2902 McMicken Dental Clinic...352-6363 Mental Health Access Point...558-8888 Mercy Franciscan at St. John...981-5800 NAMI of Hamilton County..458-6670

Oral Health Council...621-0248 PATH Outreach...977-4489

Resources

Catholic Social Services...241-7745 Center for Independent Living Options...241-2600 Churches Active in Northside...591-2246 Emmanuel Community Center...241-2563 FreeStore/FoodBank...241-1064 Franciscan Haircuts from the Heart...381-0111 Goodwill industries...771-4800 Healing Connections...751-0600 Madisonville Education & Assistance Center...2715501 Mary Magdalen House...721-4811 People Working Cooperatively...351-7921 St. Vincent de Paul...562-8841 The Caring Place...631-1114 United Way...721-7900 Women Helping Women...977-5541

Northern Kentucky

Brighton Center...859-491-8303 ECHO/Hosea House...859-261-5857 Fairhaven Resuce Mission...859-491-1027 Homeward Bound Youth...859-581-1111 Mathews House...859-261-8009 NKY Homeless & Housing Coalition...859-727-0926 Parish Kitchen...859-581-7745 Pike St. Clinic...859-291-9321 Transitions, Inc...859-491-4435 Welcome House of NKY...859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis Center...859-491-3335 VA Domiciliary...859-559-5011 VA Homeless...859-572-6226

Hamilton/Middletown

St. Raephaels...863-3184 Salvation Army...863-1445 Serenity House Day Center...422-8555 Open Door Pantry...868-3276