Streetvibes December 2005 Edition

December 2005

STREETVIBES woman direct her question to me and what was it about that Kroger she disliked so much. Was it the selection or the poor lighting, or simply as she asked “the people asking for money outside?” Yes, I would not direct my distaste for

SHOP...

Cont. on Page 10 photo by Kelly Carr

walked out of the store thinking about the interaction.

I admit the Kroger on McMillan has no

by Kelly Carr selection and the building could use a facelift but I was waiting in the checkout line at I would not direct my distaste for that particular Kroger when this bubbling smiling white lady in a Kroger on the folks loitering outside. So I fur coat bounces up to me with a beaming smile wondered why did this wealthy looking white and asks, “Don’t you just hate this Kroger?”

Looking around to see whom she is talking to, I realized she was addressing her question to me, the only other white woman in the store. The Kroger she was referring to is on McMillan Avenue by Peebles Corner and I was a bit taken back by her question. She asks, “Did I scare you?” I said no, but mentioned I didn’t understand her question. She then asks, “Well, don’t people ask you for money outside?” Was she referring to panhandlers? I was immediately disturbed, considering how well she was dressed and considering her disgusted facial expression as she asked the question, I was offended.

I replied, “No one has ever asked me for money outside, but corporations ask me for money everyday. I feel harassed more so by advertisements than panhandlers and I would rather give an individual a couple dollars than support the exploitation of millions for cheap plastic crap.” The well-dressed white woman did not say anything to me after that and I

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Extreme Poverty and Homelessness in Nicaragua

by John Lavelle There’s a sign on a wall just off the road as you near La Chureca, the municipal garbage dump in Managua, Nicaragua, in the heart of Central America: it reads “Prohibido Botar Basura – Alcaldia de Managua” (“It is prohibited to litter – Mayor of Nicaragua). After my friend Bill points it out to me we cannot help but chuckle a little bit. That very street is lined with massive amounts of garbage, mainly the result of being jettisoned off the trucks meant to contain it as they enter the dump. We walk down a couple of streets in the northwestern edge of Barrio Acahualinca, the impoverished neighborhood that borders the dump, taking a look at where people live and the high volume of trash and sewage running down the middle of the street, just trying to observe and soak in the atmosphere.

Finally, we decide to head over to the entrance of the dump, not really knowing what to expect, but hoping for something to grasp on to. There are pockets of gangs that periodically occupy the road as we pass; I thank God that Bill, my six foot, nine inch compañero is accompanying me. Then I wonder why fear is my natural reaction. After all, I am not entirely familiar with their situation; why do I automatically assume that I am in some kind of danger? Have I already judged them and deemed them a threat to me based upon the fact that they have little money, look differently than I do, and gather together on a street corner? Isn’t that the very reaction to the people in the inner city of my home, a reaction that I have come to greatly resent? Being consciously aware of this,

I try to look at the situation from a new perspective.

We stop at the top of the hill leading down to the dump, unsure of how to continue or if doing so would even be a good idea. Bill and I make small talk with the guys our age, who are throwing rocks into a mango tree, trying to prematurely jar loose a few pieces of fruit, a few pieces of food. They seem pretty friendly and just carry on with us, asking us the usual questions as we exchange similar small talk with them. This is where Juan enters my life.

We are talking to the security guard about his work there and his perceptions, when a young man, a resident and worker in the dump by his appearance, offers to show us around. In response to our glances of uncertainty, the guard assures us that the dump is safe – easy for someone with a double-barrel shotgun to say – and we begin to follow our new compañero to the entrance of the dump. After introducing himself as Juan Francisco, a worker in the dump

Nicaragua Cont. on page 8

Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless

Streetvibes Streetvibes, the TriState’s alternative news source, is a newspaper written by, for, and about the homeless and contains relevant discussions of social justice, and poverty issues. It is published once a month by the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

Becoming a Streetvibes Vendor is a great way for homeless and other low-income people to get back on (or stay on) their feet. Streetvibes Vendors are given an orientation and sign a code of conduct before being given a Streetvibes Vendor badge. Vendors are private contractors who DO NOT work for, or represent, the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homleess. All profits go directly to the vendor.

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a group of shelters, agencies and individuals committed to ending homelessness in Cincinnati through coordinating services, educating the public and grassroots organizing.

GCCH Staff Georgine Getty - Executive Director Allison Leeuw - Administrative Coordinator Monique Little - Education Coordinator Kelly Carr - VISTA Andy Lawrence - AHA Coordinator John Lavelle - VISTA Mary Gaffney - Reception Melvin Williams - Reception Susan Smith - Volunteer

Streetvibes Jimmy Heath, Editor Photography Kelly Carr, Jimmy Heath, John Lavelle

Streetvibes accepts letters, poems, stories, essays, original graphics, and photos. We will give preference to those who are homeless or vendors.

Subscriptions to Streetvibes, delivered to your home each month, can be purchased for $25 per year.

Address mail to: Streetvibes Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513) 421-7803 e-mail: streetvibes@juno.com web: http://cincihomeless.org

Page 2

Neighborhood Schools, Children and Citizens The idea of a new arts school than building a new structure in an Need Respect located close to Music Hall in Over- undesirable area. Relocating the the-Rhine came from Erich Kunzel,

by Jimmy Heath conductor of the Cincinnati Pops The Cincinnati Public School Orchestra and a longtime supporter board is wasting millions of local of SCPA. taxpayer dollars on Over-the-Rhine Meantime, there continues to public school relocation and land be backing by supporters and 3CDC purchases. to move the SCPA nearer to Music The latest plans call for Hall, which is pushing Washington streamlining and Park Elementary reconstruction of Overfurther away from the the-Rhine neighborhood Washington Park/ schools as part of a plan Music Hall area of restructuring headed 3CDC has said it will up by the non-profit help provide a new Cincinnati Center City location for Development Washington Park Corporation (3CDC).

Jimmy Heath School south of Over-the-Rhine Liberty Street on schools need attention and our property now occupied by 22 children deserve state-of the-art buildings known as Mercer facilities. But there are problems and Commons. Police reports show that continuing conflicts. Recent plans call the Mercer Commons area is one of for another school for Washington the worse for crime. But Steven Park Elementary but not at its Leeper, CEO of 3CDC, says that he planned location on the south side of is not sure that this is a fact. The Washington Park in OTR bordering police reports for the area show Central Parkway. Last year otherwise. The stats show that this designers/architects had come up area is much more dangerous and with a plan and detailed drawing of crime ridden than the present location the new school on Central Parkway, in the Washington Park area. but now, thanks to 3CDC, this plan is Another problem with these shelved and the study has become plans, say parents and neighborhood wasted money. residents, is that all of this has gone There is over $30 million on behind closed doors, with no dollars going into the new School for public input about the future of the the Performing and Creative Arts, schools and opportunities for our (SCPA) now located in the old kids. Walter Reinhaus, president of Woodrow School on Sycamore in the OTR Community Council said, the eastern area of Over-the-Rhine “To do this right, CPS has got to now known as Pendleton. involve more voices than just 3CDC The private money raised will and they haven’t been, especially go toward the development and since they decided not to pursue construction of a combined home for fixing up Rothenberg.” the School for Creative and Presently, the old Rothenberg Performing Arts (SCPA) and Schiel School, just north of Liberty, stands Primary. The facility for 1,350 vacant. The school is quite students would include improved substantial in size and has the ability classrooms, and specialized space for to provide adequate parking. There practice, performances and displays. is room for a green space and there is The new building would replace a playground and basketball court SCPA on Sycamore Street, now nearby. serving grades 4-12 and located in The historic Rothenberg Over-the-Rhine, and Schiel, now School would require extensive rehab serving kindergarten through third but it would be cheaper for taxpayers grade and located in Corryville.

school to the Mercer Commons area, as proposed by 3CDC would require the demolition of 22 historic buildings, most of which are housing, in addition to the construction cost of a new school building on the site.

Rehabbing the old Rothenberg School would save taxpayers an estimated 8 to 20 million dollars.

There is no reason that an historic building like the now-closed Rothenberg School should go undeveloped and made into a stateof-the-art facility for Over-the-Rhine children.

But the Cincinnati School Board has committed itself to the 3CDC plan of relocating the school to the Mercer Commons area and has no plans for Rothenberg School.

They are not concerned about the demolition of historic buildings and apparently no concern for the spending of taxpayer dollars. The CPS has already committed nearly 4 million dollars to the Mercer Commons relocation plan. The buildings were bought from John Barrett, Chairman of Western & Southern and a 3CDC board member.

The current plans for Overthe-Rhine schools is bad for taxpayers, bad for the neighborhood and bad for our kids. Certainly, they are not listening to the citizens – the parents of our neighborhood children.

Ken Jones, an architect & OTR resident says, “They sold it [Mercer Commons] to the school board for $4 million claiming that’s the amount of money they had in it.

Well that may be what they had in it, but it didn’t add anything to the value of these buildings, so in my estimation the school board paid more than it’s worth.”

Pendleton residents say the school board is making bad decisions about a school relocation that will drastically change the neighborhood, ignoring citizen inputs and conducting private negotiations with private groups behind closed doors.

Write Jimmyheath@yahoo.com

The now abandoned Rothenberg School on Main Street in OTR

Streetvibes exists as a forum for the expression of the views and opinions of our readers and supporters. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the Streetvibes staff or the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless

Streetvibes

Homeless News Digest

Compiled by Jimmy Heath Madison’s newest print publication, Homeless Cooperative, has been available for about a month, its vendors working from the corners of various intersections along State Street. The paper has received quite a bit of press attention, a testament to the promotional efforts of its creators to build community awareness about their project.

A Madison ordinance, passed just three months ago, essentially precludes legal panhandling in downtown pedestrian areas. There is also a rigorous regulatory system in place which restricts street vending in high-traffic downtown areas to “handmade goods.”

How, then, are Homeless Cooperative hawkers able to legally distribute their paper on State Street?

The panhandling ordinance was sponsored and shepherded through passage by downtown Madison Ald. Mike Verveer, who doesn’t think the ordinance “will come into play at all.”

However, the city’s vending ordinances for State Street and other areas of the Mall Concourse specify that the sale of only handmade items is allowed (per a specific set of licensed conditions). According to Warren Hansen, the city’s street vending coordinator, the Homeless Cooperative doesn’t fit.

“A newspaper is not a handcrafted item; it’s mass produced,” Hansen says.

Hansen points to an email he sent two months ago about this issue as the best synopsis of the city’s regulations. It’s a response to a question from a State St. patrol officer regarding the legalities of selling the Homeless Cooperative on the street.

“What most of our officers try to do is to try to remind people of what the ordinances are,” says MPD Capt.

Mary Schauf of the Central District.

“The reality is that we all have times when sometimes it’s nice to get the helpful reminder from the officer or whomever. Obviously if the behavior continues, the expectation would be that the officer takes an enforcement action.

The officers have the discretion to give a warning, but in the long run we have an expectation that the public complies with our ordinances.”

Beyond the regulatory specifics, Mall Concourse vendors need to be licensed by the city, as well. And “to my knowledge,” the organizers of the Homeless Cooperative “have not applied for a license,” Hansen says.

Mel Motel, one of three editors in chief at the Homeless Cooperative, says the group that organized the paper “had a couple meetings with Warren Hansen. We ascertained that since we have ‘$1 donation accepted’ on the banner, as long as vendors aren’t saying anything explicitly” about selling the paper, it would be no problem.

It appears, then, that the city is treating the Homeless Cooperative in much the same way as the Socialist Worker and street musicians. But will the

typical State St. pedestrian view it similarly, given the marginalization of the homeless? What if someone claimed “donation accepted” is tantamount to panhandling?

The Dallas City Council postponed a vote last month to hire an architectural firm to design the homeless assistance center that voters just approved.

Mayor Laura Miller asked the council to delay the vote because homeless czar Mike Rawlings had to go out of town and could not attend the meeting to answer questions about the project.

The council scheduled a Dec. 5 briefing on the proposed $1.6 million contract to hire Camargo Copeland Architects of Dallas to design the facility in the southeastern part of downtown.

Council member Bill Blaydes said Tuesday that he would not support the contract because he wants the council to move the project out of downtown. The council voted on the downtown location in April.

Council member Mitchell Rasansky said he wanted to move ahead now that voters approved $23.8 million in bonds for the facility on Tuesday.

“We’ve come such a long way on this. I’d hate to see it postponed more,” he said.

Ms. Miller agreed.

“We’ve got to get this moving forward,” she said.

In Chicago VA officials estimate there are 93,000 homeless veterans and Illinois has the nation’s third-largest population of homeless vets, about 20,000. A lot of them are there in Chicago. Last month, officials from several veterans’ organizations were trying to get as many as they can to the Chicago Armory at 1551 N. Kedzie.

In Las Vegas area homeless people were offered a range of free services - from medical and dental checkups to haircuts, legal help and voter registration.

The annual one-stop event was called Las Vegas Stand Down for the Homeless.

About 200 volunteers, more than 40 social service agencies, and doctors, nurses and medics from the Nevada National Guard were on hand. Judges from several local jurisdictions also were there to hear misdemeanor cases and process warrants for nuisance crimes like trespassing and loitering.

The event was organized by the Southern Nevada Homeless Coalition.

Event Chairman Brian Brooks says he thought drew as many as one-third or more of the valley’s estimated eightthousand homeless.

In San Francisco John Panzer, once homeless, sat in his room in the Empress Hotel in this city’s seedy Tenderloin district with the prince of Wales and the duchess of Cornwall, who have several homes. Talk turned from the plight of the homeless to fear of flying.

“Are you going back today?”

Panzer said he asked the couple.

“Camilla said ‘Yes, and it’s a long flight, and I really don’t like to fly,’ “ said Panzer, 42, a former fundraiser for nonprofits who fell into the grip of crystal methamphetamine and lost his home and his job. “I said, ‘Charles, put the lady on a boat.’ He tapped me on the arm and said, ‘Well, we had a boat, but they took it away from us.’ “ Panzer grinned, still savoring his surreal moment as he stood under the awning of the Empress Hotel, so nattily dressed in a dark suit and tie that some reporters had initially mistaken him for part of Charles’ entourage. “Here I am, formerly homeless, a recovering drug addict, chatting with the prince and the duchess,” Panzer said.

On a crisp sunny Tuesday, Charles and Camilla finished the West Coast leg of their eight-day American sojourn with a visit to the hotel, a 90-unit facility where subsidized rooms as well as on-site medical help and counseling have been made available to those leaving shelters.

After an hour long morning visit with residents, the couple left San Francisco with their 16-member entourage and some members of the British press on a chartered 757 jet.

It’s unlikely that Charles and Camilla, who spent the previous two nights staying at the Fairmont Hotel, had any encounters with San Francisco’s truly homeless, who can be aggressive panhandlers. (An anti-panhandling initiative that outlaws the practice in certain areas passed here in 2003.) About 6,200 people here are homeless, according to Trent Rhorer, director of the city’s Human Services Agency.

Prince Charles, who heads up the Prince’s Charities, a collection of 16 nonprofit organizations, has been involved in issues of homelessness and has encouraged businesses to take a role in helping the homeless transition into the work force. The prince “wanted to see a cutting-edge place” designed to help the homeless, said Marc Trotz, director of Housing & Urban Health for the city and county of San Francisco.

New York City and state officials announced last month that they had committed $1 billion to build subsidized housing with on-site social services for the mentally ill and other populations at risk for becoming homeless. The money will be spent over 10 years and will go toward building or renovating 9,000 apartments in the city alone, officials said.

The announcement, coming one day before Election Day, appeared timed to benefit Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has been aggressively wooing liberal supporters of his Democratic rival, Fernando Ferrer. (Bloomberg won the reelection to Mayor.)

Nevertheless, the size of the commitment earned it praise from advocates for the homeless and for subsidized housing across the country.

“There has never been this huge an agreement,” said Carla I. Javits, chief executive of the Corporation for Supportive Housing, a nonprofit organization based in Oakland, Calif., that provides seed grants and technical assistance for supportive housing projects nationwide. “This really leads the nation, and we hope it will inspire others.”

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In the last two decades, supportive housing has come to be seen as a cost-effective and humane solution to keeping mentally ill and disabled people off the streets. In 1990 and again in 1999, New York City and New York State teamed up to provide money for such projects; permanently subsidized housing that includes services like mental health and drug counseling.

Together, those agreements created 5,300 apartments citywide, and private-sector and other efforts added about 15,000 more. These apartments have been central to controlling homelessness in the city, advocates say, but they still do not nearly meet the demand.

In June 2004, the mayor promised to reduce street homelessness by two-thirds, in part by building 12,000 additional units of supportive housing.

At the time, the mayor found money for 3,000 new units; with this plan, he would fulfill his pledge.

Advocates for the homeless praised Mayor Bloomberg not only for the size of the new commitment but also for its inclusive nature. Previously, supportive housing has been for single mentally ill people. The new agreement opens such housing to other vulnerable populations, like youths who are getting too old for foster care and families with one mentally ill parent.

On any given day, nearly one thousand people in Sioux City, Iowa have no place to call home and until now there haven’t been any fundraisers in Sioux City supporting homeless shelters and homeless services.

But homeless services have helped people like Jerri Anderson get back on her feet.

Today 49-year-old Jerri Anderson lives on her own but that wasn’t always the case. Back in 1992, Anderson was suicidal and found herself homeless after the emergency shelter she stayed in closed their doors.

“I didn’t have anywhere to go so I went back to Shesler Hall in 1992, if they hadn’t taken me back I don’t know where I’d be,” Anderson said.

Shesler Hall is a home for women with special needs. A home that helped Anderson back on her feet.

“Being there from ’92 to 2003 enabled me to be on my own now,” Anderson said.

While Shesler Hall helped Anderson gain her independence nearly 1,000 Sioux Cityan’s find themselves homeless, some without anywhere to go, except the cold.

Kip Aaleta, area homeless person, added, “It was real hard, I didn’t know what to think, there’d be nights I’d wake up shivering and I didn’t know what to do.”

Bob Fischer of Wayzata, Minnesota doesn’t believe anyone should be forced to sleep outside in the winter so he came up with Bob’s Sleepout.

“Bob’s Sleepout is an event organized about 10 years ago to bring awareness and get people involved around the affordable housing and homeless plate in the Minneapolis suburbs,” Fischer explained.

The way Bob’s Sleepout works is people camp-out one night during the winter to get a glimpse into what homeless people endure on cold nights and money is raised to help homeless people through free-will donations.

Page 3

Public protest leads to u-turn on vendor’s ban from shopping center

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Page 4

Streetvibes

by Carrie Briffett A popular Big Issue vendor banned from selling the homeless magazine at a south Wales shopping precinct has been allowed back into the center, after protests from local residents.

Howard Brown had been vending at Bethel Square shopping center in Brecon for two years when the manager told him he could no longer sell there because it was “private property”.

But local residents were so outraged at the decision that they began writing to their local paper, The Brecon And Radnorshire Post, and boycotting the shop at the center of the incident in protest.

Brown said the dispute began last month when the center’s manager asked him to move because the bakery Greggs had objected to him selling outside its shop. But when Brown moved further down the arcade, half an hour later the manager approached him again. “He said he thought we had come to ‘an amicable agreement’.

And I said, ‘We have. I’m not outside Greggs.’

He told me it was private property and to leave.”

When The Big Issue contacted John Michell from King Sturge, which manages the Bethel Square shopping center, he said that the manager of Greggs had complained because of concerns that customers would be hindered from coming in and out of the shop door due to Brown’s position.

But Michell added that Brown is welcome to sell inside the center anywhere where he wouldn’t be an obstruction. He said: “Only if someone is being offensive or dangerous, affecting a health and safety issue like obstructing fire exits, would we move them on. W e certainly would not have any policy against The Big Issue. In fact we encourage all sorts of local charities and so on in our centers. I would say categorically that we wouldn’t issue instructions to one of our managers to remove a vendor.”

And many residents will be glad to hear that. One letter printed in the paper called Brown “unfailingly courteous” and added: “Should you choose to publish the names of the businesses who have objected to Howard’s presence we would be grateful.”

Another reads: “Much as I enjoy the excellent selection at Greggs, I have decided to take my business elsewhere and hope that other customers do the same, hopefully then, the management of Greggs will see sense, apologise to Mr Brown and ask him to return.”

During the dispute, Brown vended opposite the center and said that although it had not affected his sales, it meant he had no shelter from the rain and cold weather. He said: “Lots of people came up to me and said how petty it was – even people who don’t buy the Issue. My sales even picked up for a couple of days, although they are back to normal now.

“I have a good rapport with the customers and even people who don’t buy the magazine.

And I would like to thank those people who have written in support.”

Dave Ormonde, vendor service worker for The Big Issue Cymru, added: “I’m glad that common sense has prevailed. This has shown how popular Howard is in Brecon and the good will its residents show The Big Issue. It seems one complaint was just taken too far and it should never have been a problem.”

Diamond in the Rough, a Story of Mother Who is Homeless back right before I was thrown out of all time low, I was miserable because my baby Daniel James and that’s but Hopeful the program.

I could not take care of my kids the when I went to see him for the first

by Janny Castillo In early 2000 I was living in a three bedroom subsidized house in Antioch. I was deep in my addiction then, cooking and selling crank. The money was good and Christopher, my 5 year old had pretty much everything he wanted. I was pregnant with my second child. My friend who was also using asked me to move in with her so she could help me stop. It didn’t work; I continued to use and on April 28th baby Jordan was born with drugs in his system. At the hospital, Child Protective Services (CPS) took him away from me.

When I was released I had to lie to my older son Christopher. I told him his brother was sick and that he had to stay in the hospital. When I was pregnant with Chris, I was able to quit using until he turned 8 months old. I was very naive about my disease; I told myself that I needed the drug to lose weight only to get heavily addicted again. I was devastated and full of guilt.

CPS allowed me to have supervised visits with Jordan once a week for one hour. To get Jordan back, they told me I needed to get on ACCESS; a waiting list for residential programs. I entered into a drug rehab program. I was very scared, the whole drug rehab program was new to me and I had no idea what people were talking about. I was there about 45 days. It was a rollercoaster ride of getting up at 6:00 am, doing chores and talking about my addiction all day. The light at the end of the tunnel was getting Jordan

I had been assigned to escort way I was supposed to, providing a resident to court. She came back stable housing was always on my intoxicated and with a bottle of mind. It was so hard at the shelter; it alcohol. I was exited from the was like reaching a new kind of program for non-compliance. No bottom. The kid’s play area was a one had told me I had to follow folks litter box for stray cats. Ninety to the bathroom. I tested clean but I percent of my AFDC check went for still had to rent and other leave. I dues. My kids It was so hard at the shelter; it was remember how and I lived off painful it was of $100 a like reaching a new kind of bottom. to have to put month. The my son in the The kid’s play area was a litter box for shelter car that was provided one taking him meal a day and stray cats. Ninety percent of my away from me they had to AFDC check went for rent and other again. I broke feed 100 down women and dues.

My kids and I lived off of $100 a emotionally. children. We From were subjected month. The shelter provided one meal there I went to to selling candy another a day and they had to feed 100 women to make residential money for the program called and children. We were subjected to shelter. If we Walden didn’t sell, we selling candy to make money for the House. were written Thankfully, one up. shelter. If we didn’t sell, we were of my friends I couldn’t was there and take it, the written up. helped me stress of living through it. The in this program was a little better; it taught environment was too much, I started me how to use recovery tools to stay to use again and moved into my clean. After 30 days CPS returned sister’s house. I had no choice, we Jordan to me. I successfully moved back to the shelter and after completed the program on awhile to back again to my mother’s.

November 25th, 2001. That same Christopher was emotionally day I was able to pick up my older devastated; changing schools and son, Christopher. friends constantly was taking a We moved in with my mother tremendous toll on him. for a while but her apartment was too In October 2002, I found small so we had to go to a shelter in myself pregnant again, still using and Baypoint. My self esteem was at an living in a motel in Pittsburg with Christopher. Jordan was living with his father who had taken custody of him. Motel living was difficult; the rooms were full of other addicts. I never knew when my son’s next meal was going to come from. Welfare paid the rent for only 4 weeks. I could not see myself bringing another baby into this life. I made plans to give my baby up for adoption. I had a family picked out who could not have kids and could give him everything I couldn’t.

My third son was born on July 1st 2003. He tested positive for drugs and had to stay in the hospital for the first 8 days of his life. For the first four days he could not be held because he was on an IV and in an oxygen hood to help him breathe. I had not had any prenatal care and his condition was a direct result of my use. I didn’t want to see him because I wasn’t going to keep him; I was scared of becoming attached and not being able to go through with it.

I called the adoptive parents who told me they could not adopt him because they did not follow up with their attorney. Alone in my room I sat thinking, at 2:35 pm, I named

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time. I touched his little hand and caressed his foot. I knew then that I was going to keep him. I ended up back in CPS court who assigned me to yet another 90 day residential program. I had to complete the program if I wanted to have my baby returned to me.

On July 21st I was arrested for being under the influence of methamphetamines. I was booked and fingerprinted and was released under the supervision of a friend. I was so scared and ashamed that I stayed away from my mom and son for four days. I realized I could not live like that any more.

On August 25th 2003, I stepped into the beginning of my new life; I became a resident at the La Casa residential program in Martinez.

It was hard being at that program knowing my son was less than 8 blocks away but it also made me stronger. I loved it at La Casa; finally I began to understand what people had been saying about recovery. I don’t know if they said it better or if I was finally able to listen and understand.

Things began looking up. La Casa gave me something none of the other programs gave me. They gave me HOPE. I was assigned a great counselor who understood me and helped me to heal. Everyone who worked there was in recovery and I related to them all. They give me a sense of peace and strength that had been missing in my life.

December 5th at 3:05 pm, Daniel James was returned to me. I waited 5 months and three days to hold my child in my arms and I vowed then it was for good. I moved to a transitional house in Richmond that was on a dope track but I did not use. Through my therapist I applied for a transitional house with BOSS which is where I am now.

Daniel could not sleep in Richmond and suffered daily with asthma and colds. The first night we stayed in Berkeley he slept all night, and since being here, his health has improved dramatically. Christopher is allowed to spend weekends with me and I am able to visit Jordan often.

On Thursday, April 21st I celebrated 21 months clean and sober. I have been asked to chair a meeting in a local detox center where I will share my story with beginners.

I feel good about myself but I know I still have a long way to go; the difference is that I am not turning to drugs any more, instead I have hope.

Mother to mother: “It took me a long time to realize that using drugs is not a way of life. I share my experience to offer you a sense of hope. I feel your pain, I know your hurt but in recovery there are always happy endings.”

Page 5

New Year Brings Hope

Street Citizens

by Ms. Mary Gaffney Year. Things will be better in 2006.

Greetings to all of you who As you begin a new way of life and have purchased Streetvibes in the to those who may vary off the path, 12 months of 2005. I bid you a Merry Xmas and a successful New get back on the path and you will find the door of Year in 2006. As you success opening for buy this little paper each you. month, maybe you did Think of the Christ not realize that the Child as we celebrate $1.00 bill helped to His birthday each feed an empty stomach, year. Mary and keep a roof over Joseph were homeless someone’s head, etc.

Miss Mary Gaffney and denied a decent Regardless, it helps. room. There was no To all of you, room at the inn. A dirty stable was my homeless friends, my best His shelter. He could have been wishes to you in the coming New better over this ordeal. He went through His birth and all the ordeals 20 YEARS of his life. Even carrying His own SERVING THE cross to Calvary. But still He did NEIGHBORHOOD not know malice at the end. He did all this to save us. My homeless friends, there is a brighter day ahead. Keep the faith and keep on walking on. Remember, God loves you.

The Homeless Man

by Angela C.

Empowering our neighborhood children through peace, art and education Peaslee Neighborhood Center 215 East 14th Street Over-the-Rhine Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

A homeless man Scavenges In trash barrels And envies People who look down on him With scorn As they hurry home To their evening meals.

He crouches In a rat infested corner, Content to be with creatures That don’t cringe At the sight of him.

(513) 621-5514 A Call to Greater Cincinnati Poets For the 2006 annual Book of Poems and Drawings on Peace and Justice 1) Call for poems from any poet from the Greater Cincinnati area 2) Poems to relate to themes of peace and justice 3) Poet may submit up to 3 poems 4) All submissions will be considered. The editors will be looking for quality, inclusiveness, and appropriateness to the themes of peace and justice.

5) If space becomes limited, priority will be given to poets not published in previous books 6) Poems selected will be illustrated in B&W by Greater Cincinnati artists (one drawing per poet) 7) Poems and illustrations will be printed in For a Better World 2006, a book to be available April, 2006 8) Book will be launched and available for sale at SOS ART 2006. 9) Poets included in book will be invited to read their poems at SOS ART 2006 10) Proceeds from sale of book will finance publication of future similar books to accompany annual âœSOS ART events. (Note: this is the 3rd annual book) 11) Submission deadline: February 3, 2006 12) Please send submissions in full text and as a Word attachments by e-mail or by US mail (on a floppy disk) to: Saad Ghosn (saad.ghosn@uc.edu), 216 Erkenbrecher Ave, Cincinnati, Oh 45229

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by George Herrell “Private Property, No Trespassing,” was the sign that greeted me at the door, however, it was raining, it was late and the fact that it was “cold” made sleeping under the bridge where I’d spent the previous night out of the question.

Besides, the building had been vacant for years. And so, ignoring the sign, I entered and sought out a place to dry off and get some rest. There was no heat but the shelter from the rain and chilling wind came as a welcome relief.

Empty beer and wine bottles as well as newspapers spread out in several areas to serve as padding on the concrete floors told me that I wasn’t the first person to seek shelter here, but for the time being I was alone. Soon the silence and relief combined with exhaustion lulled me into an almost comatose sleep.

Does that sound like a passage from some fictional mystery novel?

Well, on my behalf, as well as thousands more like myself, I wish to God it was.

For us, the desperation of homelessness is only too real. Not knowing from day-to-day how or when you’ll eat or where you are going to sleep.

So often, people take those basic ‘creature comforts’ for granted.

For a homeless individual, going a day without a meal is not unusual and often the closest thing we can find to a comfortable bed is a park bench.

Sounds delightful, huh? Of course, there are homeless shelters and soup kitchens, but only too often, the number of those in need exceed their capacities and unfortunately, those numbers are growing.

Often people think of the homeless as being lazy or illiterate, but in most cases nothing could be further from the truth. Many of us are merely victims of circumstance or have simply made poor choices in the past. Some suffer from mental disorders or chemical dependency.

I’ve met homeless individuals who are highly intelligent. I myself am only one semester away from having my associates degree in business management and culinary arts and was a Dean’s List student in college. I’m a hard worker and I take great pride in a job well done.

I’m a poet who has aspirations of publishing a book of my works and yet, I’m homeless all because I made some poor choices and as a result, I’m now a recovering addict, an exfelon who happens to also have both physical and phsycological limitations.

When I was younger, I used to shun those people who slept on park benches or in doorways along the streets, who always seemed dirty or were always begging for change. I often found myself avoiding eye contact or walking the long way

Streetvibes

around to simply avoid the…sound familiar?

There’s a saying that goes, “There but for the grace of God go I”, and I’m here to tell you that there’s truly no better teacher than experience.

I’m a Streetvibes vendor and whenever people pass by I’ll greet them, at times they’ll simply look at me then look away. Sometimes they won’t even bother to look; a lot of times they refuse to even acknowledge my greeting, often appearing annoyed; they often seem afraid of what that acknowledgement might cost them. Don’t get me wrong. I realize that no one person can help everyone that the meet who’s in need, but it doesn’t always have to be ‘monetary.’ Sometimes a cordial greeting of a few words of encouragement will do wonders.

Thank God for those caring individuals, such as Mr. Randy Sandler of the Cincinnati art Galleries, Mr. Terry Peirano, motorcycle officer of the Cincinnati Police Department, Brother Al of St. Francis Seraph church, just to name a few individuals always willing to offer a helping hand. Yet, the question which stands out foremost in my mind is why is it that large metropolitan cities with their billion dollar stadiums, five star restaurants, hotels, museums, etc, have such a problem housing their underprivileged citizens? As I walk around the city of Cincinnati I see a multitude of empty buildings just rotting away. Those whish are eventually renovated become condominiums, office spaces, (as if we needed more), etc.

If they’re good enough for those uses, couldn’t a few of them be used to shelter those who have no place to call home?

This is the season that we celebrate a homeless family, their child being born in a manger in a stable among the farm animals because there was no room for them anywhere else. The gifts we share are meant to represent the gifts given to that family by the three wise men who were foreigners to that land.

All I’m asking is that when you’re out purchasing and delivering your gifts this season, take a moment to take a look around you and when you see those who are less fortunate than yourself, give them the gifts of love and understanding, a kind word, a smile, a moment of acknowledgement. Moreover, offer them the gift of hope.

Authors Note: I wrote this story on 10/27/05, just after seeing my daughter born in University Hospital Labor and Delivery ward. I wish the world were full of more people filled with the compassion that I’ve seen in the people who work there. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them and to wish you all a safe and very Merry Christmas!

War Made Easy

The way in which certain things are hammered on: that’s a tipoff. We’re in the agenda-building period with Iran, not intensively, but it’s there. We need to look at the tone and the frequency of references to “how there’s a bad country out there doing bad things,” how intolerable it is.

RC: I think it was Jacques Ellul who said that the voice of propaganda is indignation.

Solomon: Yeah. There is this kind of moral high ground that is postured upon by the mainstream pundits quite often. Certainly by the President and Vice President. It’s a holier-than-thou, kind of “we’re good, they’re bad, and because they’re so evil we need to take action.”

RC: One reading of your book might be that the people are simply easy to manipulate — that a handful of tried and true techniques have worked very well for a long time and probably always will. But you seem a little more hopeful than that. Why?

Internet can be sort of a big cul-desac. The capacity to reach beyond

by Timothy Harris that circle, even if it’s a big circle, is limited. There can be a very Propaganda. The word delusional quality to the Internet. brings to mind Soviet-era When it comes up against the apparatchiks, deep in the bowels of broader society, it doesn’t the Kremlin, writing the “news” for compete. MoveOn has three million Pravda. Things are different here. If members, and that’s the good jubilant Iraqis tear down a statue of news. But it’s also the bad news, Saddam Hussein in the aftermath of because three million isn’t that “liberation,” every broadcast outlet many. It makes people feel good to in the country can be counted on to see stuff they agree with in their air those moving images again and inbox, but that’s not enough. again, completely of their own RC: It seems that there’s volition. this comfortable narrative that you And when that image is can choose to believe and be part staged by U.S. Psy-Ops of the mainstream. It’s very (psychological operations) seductive, I think. personnel, that story will break as Solomon: It’s a numbing well, but with a much smaller process, and the anesthetic has a megaphone. If you really want to lot of political utility. It’s been said know what’s happening, the that those who believe absurdities information is mostly available. make injustice possible. So that That’s the good news. there’s the layer of illogic that, you The bad news is that the know, “there are weapons of mass major media are willing destruction — oh, there aren’t, but collaborators when it comes to the it doesn’t matter.” Or, “Oh, well selling of war. Norman Solomon’s there wasn’t a connection to 9-11, War Made Easy: How Presidents but just for good measure, we may Solomon: Well, if we can and Pundits Keep Spinning us to as well go to war so that we don’t analyze the scam, we can take Death (Wiley, 2005) is a sobering have another 9-11.” away some of the power, and that analysis of how we are moved to And then there are the emotional was really, in many ways, the basic walls that are refurbished constantly war. In 17 chapters with headings reason I wrote the book. I think like “America is a Fair and Noble by the news media. You know: mystification perpetuates deception. here’s a war, cut to a commercial.

Superpower,” “This Is About It does. It’s not like these people Human Rights,” and “They Are the Here’s a war, we’re telling you are geniuses. They just have some Aggressors, Not Us,” Solomon what a war is, when actually we’re basic techniques down in terms of explores our recent history from just giving you video images that messages that are put out. In many convey almost nothing about a war Vietnam forward to reveal how respects, the messages can’t stand media and government work the compared to what it is. There are the light of day if there’s a critical myth-making machinery to layers of information blockage, fear, vantage point that can be brought to paralysis, and psychological simultaneously appeal to our best bear. So I think that as powerful as numbing that add up to a fantasy and worst instincts. the war propagandists are, they’re Real Change caught up to version of war. We don’t know shit also vulnerable to being debunked if about war, even though ever since Solomon when he was in Seattle we can directly challenge their this month speaking at the Elliott 9-11 there’s been a constant flow techniques.

Bay Book Company. of war coverage.

RC: Part of the problem is Real Change: I think a lot RC: One theme of your of Americans would be surprised to that powerful media interests often book is that a common thread in have the same perspectives and hear that they live within a American warmaking has been an propaganda system since, as you expansion of empire. I’m reminded interests as powerful corporate say, the very thing that makes it so of Thucydides, where Pericles talks interests. Is media reform here effective is its invisibility. What are about how the demands of empire really possible, or do we simply some of the red flags that people are difficult, but once held, need to build other alternatives? should look for?

Solomon: Well, I think we dangerous to let go. Athens thought Norman Solomon: Well, the need to build alternatives and of itself as a benevolent empire as terrain is filled with red flags, but well. What would letting go of that directly challenge mainstream we take them for granted. That’s mythology, and that claim to media. We need to raise the part of the challenge. War empire, really mean for America? question, “Why the hell isn’t this propaganda is indistinguishable What would that look like? information in the mass media?” I from routine news coverage. The Solomon: It would be a don’t think we know the limits of essence of propaganda is repetition, creating a more democratic media. redefinition of who we are, in terms and we live in a state of media of self-concept and certainly We need to find out what’s siege. I think that as human beings possible, but there are pretty severe behavior. If you have your boot on we tend to respond to what’s in the institutional constraints at a daily somebody’s neck, over time there atmosphere. It’s a sort of a is — consciously or not — a real newspaper or a large network. constant ambient noise that makes RC: Some people argue disincentive to taking your boot off. war drums sound normal as time that the Internet has the potential to They might be in a position to lash goes on. And I think part of what’s rival television’s power to shape back. You know, what’s implicit in important in response is to see how public debate. Do you agree? so much media coverage is that manufactured these messages are, Solomon: Like any medium, might makes right. And when that they’re not simply the result of the Internet has its limitations. you’re in a country that has the people looking out for our best Pentagon behind the policy, that’s a When you look at examples of interests. pretty comfortable position to take.

Internet activism, like MoveOn, or Empires don’t have limits, even the even the Dean campaign, the

Streetvibes

U.S. empire in 2005. And frankly, I don’t think it’s a moral constraint that is keeping the U.S. out of even greater horrific military action.

There are the realities of finite numbers of troops and capacity to wage war.

RC: My sense is that, despite everything, the war in Iraq has become very unpopular. You hear talk now of having reached a “tipping point.” What do you see?

Solomon: Well, the war is simultaneously unpopular and quite viable politically. The Vietnam War went on for years and years after it had become quite unpopular. There were more people saying they were against it — even saying they thought it was immoral, according to some polls. And yet the momentum is very difficult to stop.

And that’s where the cowardice of members of the Senate, for instance, comes into view. I mean, I live in California, and people who live in Washington, as well — we have senators who are appalling in their refusal to deal with this war. Feinstein and Cantwell and Murray are all making a lot of humanistic noises, having a kind of a liberal constituency to some significant degree. And yet, it’s perceived as easier to not push the envelope.

And so there’s a lot of huffing and puffing about tactical issues on the war. Meanwhile, we have a military budget of, ballpark, half a trillion dollars a year now. We have a country being bled, literally and figuratively, and there’s very little leadership coming from people in public office.

I think that progressives are too nice. Why are we letting these senators off the hook? It’s almost like we’re not existing in our own historical period and taking responsibility. We’re in Groundhog Day in many respects. I do a lot of talk shows and occasionally some people say, as though it’s a profound comment, “Well, you know, Iraq is not Vietnam.” And I say, “Okay, Iraq is not Vietnam, but the United States is the United States.”

Norman Solomon is executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, which “makes frequent communication possible between independent policy analysts and working journalists. IPA promotes the inclusion of perspectives that widen the bounds of media discussion and enhance democratic debate.” www.accuracy.org Reprinted from Real Change News

Page 7

Nicaragua Cont. from page 1

Dear Friends: I have just received a letter from Dr. Lawrence E. Carter, Jr., sanitation workers having sex with of twenty-one years of age, he Dean, Martin Luther King, Jr., prepubescent girls and paying them International Chapel, Morehouse proceeds to give us the tour of the entire dump: the neighborhood that with nothing more than bottles and College, that I am to be a recipient cans. has no name, the massive mounds of the “Gandhi, King, Ikeda Award.

To say that the situation in of garbage, the workers, the The award will be presented at the La Chureca is desperate would be people, his life.

National Underground Railroad As we start walking around, an understatement. It is a dire Freedom Center Museum’s awards example of a neglected people I notice that Juan has several ceremony “celebrating the showing living in extreme poverty. Perhaps homemade tattoos on his body, of the Gandhi, King, Ikeda: A the saddest aspect of the situation is Legacy of Building Peace” most likely the result of gang activity. I ask him if he feels secure that the majority of the workers in exhibition on Thursday, December the dump are children. One image living in the dump. He responds 1, 2005, 11:30am-12:30pm. that stays with me is the sight of a that the gangs are generally nonDr. Carter writes, in part: violent, and since there is little drug child of five years old or younger “The award will be conferred upon rummaging through piles of broken or alcohol activity – no one has you for your distinguished money for either – there is not much glass, learning from his mother commitment and leadership of which ones can be sold and which violence or theft. The main drug American education for peace. I problem involves the “gluesniffers.” ones are to be discarded. would also like to recognize you for The sights at the dump are Mothers will often give their young your extraordinary effort for healing intense and filled with emotion. The and building community on the heels children cheap jars of glue when people on their hands and knees they cannot afford food because it of the civil unrest in Cincinnati.” digging for unsoiled cans. The is an inexpensive way to get high I am both surprised and honored to older men fighting with cows over a receive this award. and get rid of hunger pains.

However, it expedites malnutrition, newly discovered pile of rotted In peace, tomatoes in a mound of garbage. destroys their development, and Steve Sunderland, Director, The boys in the barrio running up to Peace Village creates painful addictions. us with smiles on their faces, simple We walk among the shanties, and Juan explains that the tops in their hands, and discolored growths on their skin. Their hair dump is where you go when you straight blond, discolored from the have nowhere else to go. There, natural black because of their you can live off the land, picking extreme malnutrition. The young through the trash for income and child hunched in a doorway with a sustenance. Many sell what they jar of glue raised to her nose and find: cans, bottles, glass, wire, mouth. She looks me in the eye batteries, and even used toilet and asks me questions that I cannot paper. They sell them to the hear and don’t know the answers sanitation company for meager sums; a three foot tall bag of clean, to.

I cannot help but see clear glass might sell for around 8 parallels to the systems of poverty córdobas, or 50 cents American. and homelessness that exist in the Most residents of the dump United States: people on the edge rummage for discarded food, their of society, governments that brush main source of nutrition, as well as the vulnerable aside, and the the main cause of disease. ghettoization of races and classes.

Children born into this poverty begin picking through trash This article is an abridged version of a longer and more in order to support their families thorough paper written by the between the ages of 5 or 7. Juan author... tells us how young girls are For a free electronic copy, immediately thrown into please email John Lavelle at prostitution. The most stomach churning stories he recounts involve homelesscivilrights@yahoo.com.

Cold Weather Upon Us: This past month has seen our first taste of really cold weather. We cracked the 200 persons served level last month and eventually reached 239! It’s also becoming more crowded in our lobby during the day. However, volunteers have been helping to keep spirits up by hosting activities, bringing in plants and serving extra snacks.

Please Support Our Funding Drive: Thirty-five percent of the Drop Inn Center budget is generated by donations during our Annual Holiday Drive. If you believe in what we are doing, please help show your support by contributing to the drive at any amount you are able.

We rely mainly on many small donors to help us make it through. Join in yourself by sending a check to the below address or donating online at www.dropinn.org under “Donate Online”. Thank you in advance.

Drop Inn Center 217 W. 12th St. Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513) 721-0643

Got The Vibe?

This beautiful, original artwork depicts the vibrant role that Streetvibes plays in downtown Cincinnati and neighboring communities. Created by local artist and activist Mary Ann Lederer in collage form, this colorful 18" X 10" reproduction can be yours to own for only $10. Commemorating Streetvibes 100th issue, proceeds from this limited time offer will go to support the Streetvibes Program and Vendors.

Page 8

Streetvibes

Visit the Greater Cincinnati Coaltion for the Homeless website at - http://www.cincihomeless.org Visit the Streevibes archives at - http:// www.cincihomeless.org/content/streetvibes.html Streetvibes

Page 9

SHOP...

Cont. from Page 1 that particular Kroger toward the folks asking for money outside. I would direct my distaste toward Kroger. Because I think it is economically racist of Kroger to provide predominately white suburbanites with a respectable building and broad product selection while neighborhoods like Corryville and Camp Washington have a Kroger of lesser quality. So, if she had asked, “don’t you just hate this Kroger?” without the statement about panhandlers, I might have said yes, but she did and I thought the question to be racist and gross.

I know flower boxes on Vine Street and art on the Metro Buses does not change the fact that

people are suffering economically and a better Kroger won’t change the perceptions of some of our neighborhoods. However people, all people, disserve respect and quality goods regardless of the neighborhoods’ demographic. And I do not mind loiterers or panhandlers: what bothers me are corporations like Kroger who provide the least quality of service for poorest neighborhoods and all the other corporations that do not pay their workers a livable wage.

More so, what I find upsetting are rich racist bigots treating the poor like criminals who deserve less. Maybe this weekend I’ll panhandle outside the Hyde Park Kroger, cause don’t you just hate that Kroger?

The Digital Dump based BAN. “We’re talking

by Rosette Royale about carcinogens. We’re talking One man’s junk, the old about birth defects. We’re saying goes, is another man’s treasure. But when that one man talking about issues that are longterm, that will persist and affect is the developed world, and another man is Nigerian, the junk the people on the ground for a — a seemingly never-ending flow long time.”

And that’s the place where of largely inoperable computer the majority of e-waste resides: parts — becomes nothing more on the ground. The report details than toxic waste. piles of computer monitors, hard How much junk are we drives, and keyboards piled in talking? Every month, it’s unlined and unmonitored estimated that 400,000 dumpsites in Lagos, oftentimes computers or monitors arrive in situated near groundwater.

Nigeria, with upwards of 75 Leaching from this digital detritus percent of these electronic is barium, émigrés far beyond beryllium, the point of repair.

“We shouldn’t cadmium, lead, and Combine all this disproportionately mercury, all of electronic waste — burden anyone which are well or e-waste, for documented in their short — and you because of their toxicity to humans. currently have a race or ethnicity Most Lagotians, one-square-acre or status in life unaware of the mass of toxic trash with toxic toxic chemicals’ that towers 300 presence, attempt feet, rivaling the pollutants. If to eradicate this height of the Statue waste happens electronic eyesore of Liberty. And here, if we enjoy by periodically yet, except for the the product here, burning the eNigerians who waste. That glance at it every and it becomes action, the BAN day, most of the waste here, let’s report notes, world may not deal with it at makes a number of even know such ehome.” the chemicals even waste exists. more hazardous.

That While “The Digital Dump” unknowing has come to a definitive end, however, thanks to may be news, the issue of toxic trade and BAN’s opposition to a recent report entitled “The the practice are not. BAN is the Digital Dump: Exporting Re-use primary watchdog group for an and Abuse to Africa.” Released international treaty called the late last month by the Basel Basel Convention on Action Network (BAN), the 43Transboundary Movement of page report is unflinching in its Hazardous Wastes and their assertion that the developed Disposal. Since its ratification in world’s desire to get rid of ewaste at low cost is amounting to 1992, Gutierrez says166 the highest of costs for the people countries have agreed to Basel Convention tenets. “Surprisingly, of Nigeria, especially for citizens the United States is the only in its largest city, Lagos. developed nation that has not “E-waste is toxic waste,” ratified it,” says Gutierrez. says Richard Gutierrez, toxics Agreeing to the convention policy analyst for the Seattle-

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“Don “Don’’t Leave Home W ithout IIt...” t...” means agreeing to an amendment that stipulates, in effect, that a developed nation shall not send its hazardous waste to a developing nation. Since the U.S. hasn’t ratified the convention, it is free to send hazardous waste to any poor country it chooses without legal ramifications, a practice borne out in the fact that 45 percent of Nigeria’s e-waste comes directly from the U.S. (Europe accounts for another 45 percent; the remaining 10 percent hails from countries such as Israel and Japan.)

For the U.S., ratification equals responsibility, says Gutierrez, “and right now, they don’t see that it’s profitable to be responsible.”

Instead, the U.S. and others in the developed world tend to cloak their irresponsibility with claims of altruism. “A lot of e-waste is entering Africa under the guise of reuse and bridging the digital divide,” he says.

With responsibility lacking on the federal level, Gutierrez says that it’s up to the states to take charge. Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation program director Suellen Mele says the process has already begun.

Mele says that her organization has been working with the Department of Ecology, local green groups, and even companies such as HewlittPackard to craft a bill that centers on a concept called product stewardship. The concept binds manufacturers of products to accept financial responsibility for the recycling of televisions, desktop computers, and laptops at end-of-use, when consumers bid outdated electronic goods adiós. “There’s just a much better way of dealing with an old computer or TV. than shipping it to a developing country,” says Mele. The proposed bill, she says, will be presented during the state’s 2006 session, which begins in Jan. In Gutierrez’s eyes, such state initiatives place power firmly in the hands of U.S. consumers, while protecting citizens of foreign lands. “We shouldn’t disproportionately burden anyone because of their race or ethnicity or status in life with toxic pollutants. If waste happens here, if we enjoy the product here, and it becomes waste here, let’s deal with it at home.”

Reprinted from Real Change News

National Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project (NHCROP) 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, OH 45202 homelesscivilrights@yahoo.com Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (513) 421-7803

Streetvibes

Florida: Thousands Hit

by Hurricane Wilma Rush for Emergency Food Stamps (“Florida Food Program Attracts Thousands,” msnbc.msn.com, November 9, 2005) Tens of thousands of Hurricane Wilma victims in Florida applied for emergency food stamps last week. At the Orange Bowl, the line in the hot sun stretched for blocks. People actually ran to get in line, some of them pushing baby carriages, as officials started taking food stamp applications in Palm Beach County. “What’s striking is these are people who normally aren’t considered poor enough to qualify for food stamps but who now are in serious trouble.” Flora Beal of the Florida Department of Children and Families says, “This is for those people who because of the hurricane have had their financial stability pretty much destroyed.” Jenny Gonzalez, a teacher’s aide with three children whose home was damaged and who applied for food assistance for the first time in her life, is one of those people. “To recover has been really hard after the storm, so it’s really great that they are helping us,” she says. State officials report the emergency food stamp program is expected to help four million Floridians. A qualified single person is given a $152 one-time debit card that can be used at select grocery stores, and a family of four gets about $500.

Op-Ed: Reducing Poverty Starts with Halting Tax Cuts for Wealthy and Preserving Programs for Poor – Not the Other Way Around (“Poverty Rising under Bush; Will He Really Take Action?” lsj.com, November 6, 2005) Donna Rich Kaplowitz, Community Advisory Board member to the Lansing State Journal, writes that President Bush “has lavishly promised to rebuild New Orleans and even acknowledged that poverty in the U.S. ‘has its roots in a history of racial discrimination.’” This

acknowledgement is belated but welcome. The number of Americans below the poverty line decreased by 2.29 percent annually during the Clinton administration, but has increased by 4.33 percent annually in the Bush years. The poor have gotten poorer, but the rich have gotten richer. Even in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the Bush administration intends to finance $70 billion in tax cuts, half of these for the wealthy, by borrowing and by cutting programs for low and moderate-income families. If the president “were truly committed to reducing poverty in the United States, he could begin by halting his tax cuts for the wealthy, and ending programming cuts for the poor.” http://tinyurl.com/eyeq2

Federal Government Must Attack Child Hunger (“Vermont Children Need Security of Food,” burlingtonfreepress.com, November 9, 2005) There are 55,000 adults and 21,000 children who are food insecure in Vermont, according to USDA. Since 1999, the number of Vermont households unable to provide food for their children has doubled. The state has experienced the largest increase in the number of households with the most severe category of hunger of any other state in the last six years. Robert Dostis of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger says, “people’s income is not keeping up with their expenses and they are averting food money to heat, rent and other things.” Many households are living on the edge, with parents who cannot afford adequate diets and skip meals to allow their children to eat, Dostis noted. It is a sign of deep poverty when children go without food at home and rely largely on breakfasts and lunches at school. To alleviate this situation, this editorial in the Burlington Free Press urges to reject the House of Representatives’ cuts to the food stamp program; to increase funds for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Plan; to provide nutrition education in schools; and to ensure that all 40,000 eligible Vermont students receive free school and summer meals. http://tinyurl.com/d8u8u

More Than a Million North Carolinians Are at Risk of Hunger

(“Poverty Continues to Rise in North Carolina,” rdu.news14.com, November 4, 2005) Poverty continues to spread in North Carolina. State food banks describe this as a situation “quickly becoming a crisis.” North Carolina ranks ninth in the nation for food insecurity. More than a million North Carolinians are at risk of hunger. “One-point-two million people statewide live below the poverty line . . . so it really could be someone next door who needs food assistance,” said Lindsey Graham, a representative of North Carolina food banks. http://rdu.news14.com/content/ your_news/raleigh/ ?ArID=76610&SecID=17

Report: Capital Gains Tax Extension Would Overwhelmingly Benefit the Rich in Every State (“IRS Data on the Capital Gains Tax Cut in Each State ,” cbpp.org, November 7, 2005) While making a decision about the reconciliation tax cut bill in coming weeks, Congress will focus on whether to extend the reduction in the capital gains tax rate that was enacted in 2003 and that is set to expire in 2008. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities published the IRS data table, “The Distribution of Capital Gains Tax Cut Benefits in 2003, by State,” to show who would benefit.

The table shows the percentage of tax returns filed in each state that reported incomes of less than $50,000, and the percentage of tax returns from households with income above $200,000. The data also displays the proportion of the total tax savings from the capital gains rate cut that was received by each of these two income groups.

In 2003, 70.7 percent of all filers in the nation had annual income below $50,000, but this group received only 3.2 percent of the benefits from the capital gains tax cut. In contrast, those with incomes above $200,000 represented 2.0 percent of all filers, but received 80.5 percent of the capital gains tax cut benefits. http://www.cbpp.org/11-705tax.htm

Georgia: Signs of Tension between Katrina Evacuees and Local People in

Streetvibes

Need in Atlanta Worry Charities (“In Wake of Katrina, Some Local Poor Feel Shunted Aside,” ajc.com, November 6, 2005) Sixty-three-year old Mary Berry became homeless when her lease ran out and a car accident left her without transportation. Her placement in senior citizen housing was delayed, and she had to spend weeks sleeping on friends’ couches.

Berry asked for help from more than a dozen charities, but was told that many of them were helping only Hurricane Katrina evacuees.

Homeless and needy people interviewed around Atlanta “say they’re angry the evacuees are getting the kinds of help they’ve requested for years, but been denied.” They point to longer lines and closed services. They say Katrina victims are showered with sympathy and help. “It’s unclear how much the efforts to help evacuees have made life tougher for the local needy. Numerous agencies and charities say a boost in donations and volunteers have let them serve both populations, but for some longer lines.” Several local service providers say the majority of needy and homeless people have not been hurt by the evacuee relief efforts. People are still getting their food stamp and welfare benefits, and most of the homeless can still stay at a shelter if they want to. But some providers see why tension between the evacuees and local needy persons has grown. Philip Bray, president of the Safe House Outreach in Atlanta, says some days have been so crowded that some people left without getting food. The charities in Atlanta worry that the evacuees from afar may, in the long run, when special help ends, join the city’s chronically poor and homeless. “They’re going to see what it’s like to be in Atlanta with no public housing and no affordable housing to replace that, and minimum wage at $5.15 an hour,” said Elisabeth Omilami of Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless. “In the long-term, we will find out what the commitment really is . . . How do we really feel about the poor?” http://tinyurl.com/ct5xb

The Peace Village

by Steve Sunderland

The Peace Village will be back next month Page 11

Streetvibes Vendor Code of Conduct About the Greater Cincinnati All Vendors Sign and Agree to a Code of Conduct Coalition for the Homeless and Report Any Violations to GCCH - 421-7803 Streetvibes....

1. Streetvibes will be distributed Vendors must not tell customers earned. This program has helped for a $1 voluntary donation. If a customer donates more than $1 for a paper, vendors are allowed to keep that donation. However, vendors must never ask for more than $1 when selling Streetvibes.

2. Each paper purchased from the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) costs 25 cents. Papers will not be given out on credit. Old papers can not be traded in for new papers.

3. Streetvibes may only be purchased from GCCH. Never buy papers from, or sell papers to other vendors.

4. Vendors must not panhandle or sell other items at the same time they are selling Streetvibes.

5. Vendors must treat all other vendors, customers, and GCCH personnel with respect.

6. Vendors must not sell Streetvibes while under the influence.

7. Vendors must not give a “hard sell” or intimidate anyone into purchasing Streetvibes. This includes following customers or continuing to solicit sales after customers have said no. Vendors must also never sell Streetvibes door-to-door.

8. Vendors must not deceive customers while selling Streetvibes. Vendors must be honest in stating that all profits go to the individual vendor.

that the money they receive will go to GCCH or any other organization or charity. Also, vendors must not say that they are collecting for “the homeless” in general.

9. Vendors must not sell papers without their badge. Vendors must present their badge when purchasing papers from GCCH. Lost badges cost $2.00 to replace.

Broken or worn badges will be replaced for free, but only if the old badge is returned to GCCH. 10. Streetvibes vendor meetings are held on the first weekday of the month at 1pm. The month’s paper will be released at this meeting. If a vendor cannot attend the meeting, he or she should let us know in advance. If a vendor does not call in advance and does not show up, that vendor will not be allowed to purchase papers on the day of the meeting or the following day. Five free papers will be given to those who do attend.

11. Failure to comply with the Code of Conduct may result in termination from the Streetvibes vendor program. GCCH reserves the right to terminate any vendor at any time as deemed appropriate. Badges and Streetvibes papers are property of GCCH, and must be surrendered upon demand.

The mission of the North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA) is to support a street newspaper movement that creates and upholds journalistic and ethical standards while promoting self-help and empowerment among people living in poverty. NASNA papers support homeless and very low-income people in more than 35 cities across the United States and Canada.

Streetvibes Vendor: 75 Cents (75 cent profit goes directly to the vendor)

Homeless Coalition

25 Cents

Printing and Production: 25 cents (this cost does not cover expenses)

Page 12

The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless (GCCH) was formed in May of 1984 for one purpose: the eradication of homelessness in Cincinnati. What started out as a coalition of 15 volunteers meeting weekly in an unheated church basement has since grown into a Coalition of over 45 agencies and hundreds of volunteers dedicated to improving services for homeless individuals, educating the public about homelessness and empowering homeless individuals to advocate for their civil rights and housing needs.

Streetvibes is a tool of GCCH used to help us achieve our goal of ending homelessness.

On the one hand it is a selfsufficiency program geared towards the homeless and marginally housed individuals who are our vendors. Streetvibes vendors buy the paper for 30 cents per copy and sell it for a suggested one-dollar donation, keeping the profit that they have

hundreds of people find and maintain housing. The vendors also sign a code of conduct stating that they will behave responsibly and professionally and they proudly display their official Streetvibes badge while selling the paper. Our vendors put a face on “the homeless” of Cincinnati and form lasting friendships with their customers.

On the other hand, Streetvibes is an award-winning alternative newspaper and part of the international street newspaper movement. Focusing on homelessness and social justice issues, Streetvibes reports the often-invisible story of poverty in our community. Streetvibes is also proud to include creative writing, poetry, articles, photography and interviews written by homeless and formerly homeless individuals. Streetvibes enjoys a loyal reader base that respects the honest portrayal of the joys, sorrows, and challenges facing the people of Cincinnati.

Streetvibes is a member of the:

The International Network of Street Papers (INSP) unites street papers sold by homeless and people living in poverty from all over the world. INSP is an umbrella organisation, which provides a consultancy service for its partner papers and advises on the setting up of new street papers and support initiatives for marginalised people.

Where Your Dollar Goes...

The Streetvibes program maintains a minimal overhead cost so that our vendors can keep as much of the proceeds as possible.

Please call our office at 421-7803 for more information about the program. Many thanks for your support.

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The Real Rosa Parks

African-American activist in Atlanta named Sonya Tinsley, “when people

by Paul Rogat Loeb Women’s Political Council distributed who work for social change are We learn much from how we present the initial leaflets following Park’s presented as saints—so much more our heroes. A few years ago, on arrest. Without the often lonely work noble than the rest of us. We get a Martin Luther King. Day, I was of people like Nixon, Randolph, and false sense that from the moment they interviewed on CNN. So was Rosa Robinson, Parks would likely have were born they were called to act, Parks, by phone from Los Angeles. never taken her stand, and if she had, never had doubts, were bathed in a “We’re very honored to have her,” it would never have had the same circle of light. But I’m much more said the host. “Rosa Parks was the impact. inspired learning how people woman who wouldn’t go to the back This in no way diminishes the succeeded despite their failings and of the bus. She wouldn’t get up and power and historical importance of uncertainties. It’s a much less give her seat in the white section to a Park’s refusal to give up her seat. intimidating image. It makes me feel white person. That set in motion the But it reminds us that this like I have a shot at changing things year-long bus boycott in tremendously consequential act, along too.”

Montgomery. It earned Rosa Parks with everything that followed, Sonya had recently attended the title of ‘mother of the Civil Rights depended on all the humble and a talk given by one of Martin Luther movement.’” frustrating work that Parks and others King’s Morehouse professors, in I was excited to hear Park’s undertook earlier on. It also reminds which he mentioned how much King voice and to be part of the same us that Park’s initial step of getting had struggled when show. Then it occurred to me that involved was just as courageous and he first came to college, getting only a the host’s description—the story’s critical as the stand on the bus that all ‘C,’ for example, in his first standard rendition and one repeated of us have heard about. philosophy course. “I found that very even in many of her obituaries— People like Parks shape our inspiring, when I heard it,” Sonya stripped the Montgomery boycott of models of social commitment. Yet said, “given all that King achieved. It all of its context. Before refusing to from responses to talks I’ve given made me feel that just about anything give up her bus seat, Parks had been throughout the country, most citizens was possible.” active for twelve years in the local do not know the full story of her Our culture’s misreading of NAACP chapter, serving as its involvement. And the conventional the Rosa Parks story speaks to a secretary. The summer before her stripped-down retelling creates a more general collective amnesia, arrest, she’d had attended a ten-day standard so impossible to meet; it where we forget the examples that training session at Tennessee’s labor may actually make it harder for us to might most inspire our courage, hope, and civil rights organizing school, get involved, inadvertently removing and conscience. Apart from obvious the Highlander Center, where she’d away Park’s most powerful lessons times of military conflict, most of us met an older generation of civil rights of hope. know next to nothing of the many activists, like South Carolina teacher This conventional portrayal battles ordinary men and women Septum Clark, and discussed the suggests that social activists come out fought to preserve freedom, expand recent Supreme Court decision of nowhere, to suddenly take the sphere of democracy, and create banning “separate-but-equal” dramatic stands. It implies that we act a more just society. Of the abolitionist schools. During this period of with the greatest impact when we act and civil rights movements, we at best alone, at least initially. And that involvement and education, Parks recall a few key leaders—and often change occurs instantly, as opposed had become familiar with previous misread their actual to building on a series of oftenchallenges to segregation: Another stories. We know even less about Montgomery bus boycott, fifty years invisible actions. The myth of Parks the turn-of-the-century populists who as lone activist reinforces a notion earlier, successfully eased some challenged entrenched economic that anyone who takes a committed restrictions; a bus boycott in Baton interests and fought for a public stand, or at least an effective Rouge won limited gains two years “cooperative commonwealth.” Who one, has to be before Parks was arrested; and the these days can describe the union a larger-than-life figure—someone previous spring, a young movements that ended 80-hour work with more time, energy, courage, Montgomery woman had also weeks at near-starvation wages? vision, or knowledge than any normal Who knows the origin of the social refused to move to the back of the bus, causing the NAACP to consider person could ever possess. This security system, now threatened by a legal challenge until it turned out that belief pervades our society, in part systematic attempts to privatize it? she was unmarried and pregnant, and because the media tends not to How did the women’s suffrage represent historical change as the therefore a poor symbol for a movement spread to hundreds of work of ordinary human beings, campaign. communities, and gather enough which it almost always is.

In short, Rosa Parks didn’t strength to prevail?

Once we enshrine our heroes make a spur-of-the-moment decision.

As memories of these events on pedestals, it becomes hard for She didn’t single-handedly give birth disappear, we lose the knowledge of mere mortals to measure up in our to the civil rights efforts, but she was mechanisms eyes. However individuals speak part of an existing movement for that grassroots social movements out, we’re tempted to dismiss their change, at a time when success was have used successfully in the past to far from certain. We all know Park’s motives, knowledge, and tactics as shift public sentiment and challenge insufficiently grand or heroic. We name, but few of us know about entrenched institutional power. fault them for not being in command Montgomery NAACP head E.D. Equally lost are the means by which of every fact and figure, or being able their participants managed to keep on Nixon, who served as one of her to answer every question put to them. and eventually prevail in mentors and first got Martin Luther We fault ourselves as well, for not King involved. Nixon carried circumstances at least as harsh as knowing every detail, or for harboring those we face today. people’s suitcases on the trains, and uncertainties and doubts. We find it was active in the Brotherhood of Think again about the hard to imagine that ordinary human Sleeping Car Porters, the union different ways one can frame Rosa beings with ordinary flaws might founded by legendary civil rights Park’s historic action. In the make a critical difference in worthy activist A. Philip Randolph. He prevailing myth, Parks decides to act social causes. played a key role in the campaign. almost on a whim, in isolation. She’s Yet those who act have their No one talks of him, any more than a virgin to politics, a holy innocent. own imperfections, and ample they talk of JoAnn Robinson, who The lesson seems to be that if any of taught nearby at an underfunded and reasons to hold back. “I think it does us suddenly got the urge to do segregated Black college and whose us all a disservice,” says a young something equally heroic, that would

Streetvibes

be great. Of course most of us don’t, so we wait our entire lives to find the ideal moment.

Park’s real story conveys a far more empowering moral. She begins with seemingly modest steps.

She goes to a meeting, and then another, helping build the community that in turn supported her path.

Hesitant at first, she gains confidence as she speaks out. She keeps on despite a profoundly uncertain context, as she and others act as best they can to challenge deeply entrenched injustices, with little certainty of results. Had she and others given up after her tenth or eleventh year of commitment, we might never have heard of Montgomery.

Parks also reminds us that even in a seemingly losing cause, one person may unknowingly inspire another, and that person yet a third, who may then go on to change the world, or at least a small corner of it.

Rosa Park’s husband Raymond convinced her to attend her first NAACP meeting, the initial step on a path that brought her to that fateful day on the bus in Montgomery. But who got Raymond Parks involved?

And why did that person take the trouble to do so? What experiences shaped their outlook, forged their convictions? The links in any chain of influence are too numerous, too complex to trace. But being aware that such chains exist, that we can choose to join them, and that lasting change doesn’t occur in their absence, is one of the primary ways to sustain hope, especially when our actions seem too insignificant to amount to anything.

Finally, Park’s journey suggests that change is the product of deliberate, incremental action, whereby we join together to try to shape a better world. Sometimes our struggles will fail, as did many earlier efforts of Parks, her peers, and her predecessors. Other times they may bear modest fruits. And at times they will trigger a miraculous outpouring of courage and heart—as happened with her arrest and all that followed.

For only when we act despite all our uncertainties and doubts do we have the chance to shape history.

Paul Rogat Loeb is the author of The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen’s Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear, named the #3 political book of fall 2004 by the History Channel and the American Book Association, and winner of the Nautilus Award for best social change book of the year. His previous books include Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time. See www.paulloeb.org To receive his monthly articles email

Page 13

Me!!

My Life

by Robin Remy

by Janet Sharp

Me (Mother) Through my addiction I Manage to be a Mother and only by the grace and mercy of God I made sure of the essential things In my sons’ lives in order for them (1) to become men, and (2) to be able to survive.

My life always changes, New details to find out, Family secrets known and unknown, My temper to keep under control.

Find a way to hide from the world, Learn to listen more and talk less, Find a way to keep my mind active.

Me (Friend) I’m a good listener.

I have very profound advice.

Always willing to share even my last.

I must have been a good friend, Because my friends have been with me for the last 30-40 years.

So much to do, So little time, Finding some balance in my life.

One of these days I’ll find that balance.

When, I don’t know.

Me (Robin) I’m a giving person.

I’m a no-nonsense person.

I’m very strong with inner strength.

I have a lot more to give from my spirit and my soul.

Feel Blue

by Toni Bell I feel blue. . . not like the bright pretty sky.

I feel blue like the dark blue sea.

Oh God, Thank You

by Karen Bowman For saving me when I did not know how to save myself.

For rescuing me from the grip of crack, from the grip of a rapist.

For jamming the gun that was placed at my head.

For keeping me alert after the blow that was placed to my jaw.

For protecting me on the nights I walked through alleys And abandoned houses looking for a place to sleep.

For directing me to N Street Village and placing the right People in my life.

For being on earth as you are in heaven.

For loving me, Oh God, Thank You.

There is a rumble in me, Not a rumbling like a raggedy car, But a rumble from a distant storm waiting to erupt As soon as it arrives.

I yearn to blossom like a flower When it blooms, releasing my Petals and fragrance through all My spiritual rooms.

I want to bloom away the gloom That sometimes invades my soul.

I want to be free to be me.

by Booger Love

Under an Azure Blue Sky

Listen to your heart, it knows right from wrong let it guide you through all the wrong in your heart life that makes you sad and cry, listen to your heart

by Andrea Hayfile Under an azure blue sky That’s so clear, not a cloud in sight I stand With the white sand hot beneath my feet Sand so fine, so soft, so clean And with the smell of the ocean All salty and sweet I think How there is such perfection in this Moment and I marvel at the beauty of this place.

But, as I listen to the crashing Sound of the waves as they Find their way to the stony shore That waits My spirit is not safe. I am uneasy As uneasy as the furious ocean waves And with the rise and fall of each Sound, I long for peace and I search my soul and pray That one day I will become as marvelous as this place. . .

Page 14

it will make you strong, happy everyday it won’t let you go astray, so listen to your heart everyday, listen to what it has to say, for you to do want to be sad and blue? listen to your heart, let it guide you, listen to your heart, it will make you strong listen to your heart, there are so many people

Writers!

Submit your Poetry to STREETVIBES email your writing to Streetvibes@juno.com

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will lead of astray. Your best friend can be your enemy, listen to your heart, it knows right from wrong, let it guide you, listen to your heart it will make you strong, look inside yourself and listen, listen to your heart.

Jonah in Nevada

Day Walk

by Michael Henson

by James Morrow

He did not go to Nineveh.

He went instead to the west.

When the bus broke down outside of Reno, he took that for a sign and hitchhiked into the city.

Two beers, four beers, he watched the work of the strippers.

Six beers, eight, he had become such a curse a pair of bouncers grabbed him at each arm and launched him into the street.

Ten beers, a dozen and he was swallowed by oblivion and lay cramped in the belly of amnesia for three days.

He woke in the desert with the sun straight above him like a spike.

His skull was drumming and his mouth was caked with salt.

His backpack had been stolen and some fist had gifted him with bruises above his eye and in the arcades of his ribs.

His face and arms were blistered by the withering sun.

He stared at the empty road and tried to conjure which way would take him back to where he had derailed.

Aching, broke, and splitting with thirst, he could not then discern the working of the unreadable winds of Mercy.

What now? he thought. What now?

Off in the distance, jackrabbit small, a car shimmered toward him.

-

Daylight holds less mystery than nights beneath the moon but the sun holds inspiration and openers and light that ends too soon.

The light of the sun is always now, the moon’s always secondhand it seems nighttime mysteries grow large like a retelling of a retelling.

A new song is possible everyday although the night is not Evil as all things are neutral even unto the human will.

Much to grow into to seek the sun when one has been one with the night to turn away from closeted secrets and walk once more in the light I never before found daylight to be so great and profound wonderful to be beneath the sun after so very long underground.

A Poem

by Brenda Lee It’s felt in the heart It’s felt in the soul It seems like everything’s under control It feels so good It feels so nice It feels like everything is as smooth as ice But then one day When it falls apart That’s when God will mend your broken heart.

At the age of 15, Brenda s boyfriend was jumped by a group of boys on his way to her house. She felt responsible and was filled with guilt. Her cousin trying to make her feel better introduced her to drugs.

Putting Down Roots

by Terrance O. Edgar Sr. Let us rejoice at this breaking of the earth to build upon this ground that will house many.

Shutter Speed

by Jimmy Heath

May all that will live here when complete live in peace and fellowship as one community.

May the children that will play children’s games be safe from all negative vices that plagues so many of America’s town and cities.

Putting down roots that will be a home to the homeless once housed. Housed for it is a right of all upon this earth to have a roof over their bodies.

The cold, the rain, the heat the streets should not be conditions for one to be placed in without a home.

Putting down roots so that memories can be made so that they may be remembered, of all the ones that will live here when the time arrives.

Putting down roots, the roots that will bring forth branches and leaves. And as we are all that tree, it’s limbs, it’s leaves, it’s roots.

Putting down roots.

Kweisi Mfume - former CEO of the civil rights organization, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He stepped down from his NAACP presidency in January, 2005. In April 2001, Mfume visited Over-theRhine neighborhood of Cincinnati after the city’s civil unrest .

Streetvibes

Page 15

357-4602

Formed in 1984, The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless is a membership organization. Our member groups serve the homeless through emergency shelter, transitional living facilities, permanent housing, medical services, social services, soup kitchens, and mental health/addiction services.

The Coalition also consists of individual citizens who want to take an active role in ensuring that Cincinnati is an inclusive community, meeting the needs of all of its citizens. Join the fight to end homelessness; contact the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless at (513) 421-7803, 117 East 12th Street Cincinnati, Ohio 45202

SHELTER: Both Anthony House (Youth)

SHELTER: Men City Gospel 241-5525 Mission Garden St. House 241-0490 Joseph House 241-2965 (Veterans) St. Francis/St.Joseph 381-4941 House 661-4620 Mt. Airy Center Volunteers of Amer. 381-1954

SHELTERS: Women and Children YWCA Battered Women’s Shelter 872-9259 1-888-872-9259 (Toll Free) 557-2873 Bethany House 762-5660 Salvation Army Welcome Hse. 859-431-8717 Women’s Crisis 859-491-3335 Center

If you need help or would like to help please call one of the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless members listed below.

OTHER SERVICES: AIDS Volunteers of 421-2437 Cincinnati Appalachian Identity 621-5991 Center 231-6630 Beech Acres Center for Independent Living 241-2600 Options Churches Active in 591-2246 Northside Cincinnati Health Network 961-0600 Community Action Agency 569-1840 381-4242 Contact Center 241-2563 Emanuel Center

TREATMENT: Both 820-2947 N.A. Hopeline 351-0422 A.A. Hotline 381-6672 C.C.A.T. 684-7956 Talbert House Transitions, Inc 859-491-4435 VA Domiciliary 859-559-5011 DIC Live-In 721-0643 Program

TREATMENT: Men Charlie’s 3/4 House 784-1853 921-1613 Prospect House 961-2256 Starting Over

TREATMENT: Women 961-4663 First Step Home Full Circle Program 721-0643

HOUSING: 721-4580 CMHA Excel Development 632-7149 241-0504 Miami Purchase OTR Housing Net. 369-0004 381-1171 ReSTOC 721-8666 Tender Mercies Tom Geiger House 961-4555 Dana Transitional Bridge 751-9797 Services, Inc

761-1480 Caracole (AIDS) 381-5432 Friars Club 721-0643 Drop Inn Center 863-8866 Haven House Interfaith 471-1100 Hospitality Lighthouse Youth Center 961-4080 (Teens) St. John’s Housing 651-6446

Need Help or Want to Help?

MIDDLETOWN/HAMILTON (Butler County) St. Raphaels (Food Bank/Soup Kitchen) 863-3184 863-1445 Salvation Army Serenity House Day Center 422-8555 Open Door 868-3276 Pantry New Life Baptist Mission 896-9800 (Soup Kitchen) Hope House (Homeless Families/Singles) 423-4673

Freestore/ 241-1064 Foodbank Fransiscan Haircuts 651-6468 Goodwill Industries 771-4800 Coalition for the Homeless 421-7803 Hamilton Co. Mental 946-8600 Health Board Mental Health Access 558-8888 Point Hamilton Co. TB Control 632-7186 Health Rsrc. Center 357-4602 Homeless Mobile 352-2902 Health Van House of Refuge Mission 221-5491 Legal Aid Society 241-9400 Madisonville Ed. & Assis.

271-5501 Center Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 McMicken Dental 352-6363 Clinic 621-6364 Our Daily Bread Peaslee Neighborhood 621-5514 Center Project Connect, Homeless 363-1060 Kids St. Vincent De Paul 562-8841 The Emergency Food 471-4357 Center 721-7660 Travelers Aid 721-7900 United Way VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Women Helping 872-9259 Women

December 2005

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