Streetvibes April 2007 Edition

April, 2007

STREETVIBES Poor Little Rich Me

By Kathy Y. Wilson - Guest Columnist “I just wanna pay my rent.

Trying hard to maintain this stasis But I’ve got so many friends Always talkin’ ‘bout I’m gonna make it” —”Demise,” Georgia Anne Muldrow I am right now the poorest I have ever been as an adult.

There are two $1 bills on my kitchen table; a faux African, fishshaped dish with about $3 is on my bedroom dresser. My USBank checking account has less than $50 in it and if I do not hand $180 over to Duke in five days my utilities will be disconnected.

There are months when there are more bills in my mailbox than there are checks.

When I say I am as broke as the Ten Commandments, that’s what I mean; “broke” does not mean cash poor.

There are no retirement funds to raid, no secret rainy-day accounts, nothing under the mattress or tucked in a rusted Folger’s can buried in the sideyard.

I am 42 years old and sometimes when I am tricked by consumerism into surveying and judging the quality of my life according to my money I grow depressed, fooled into thinking I’ll die in obscurity and abject poverty.

Why not me?

Other great black women like Zora Neale Hurston and my mother, Gladine Rosetta Hill, died that way: worked to death, exhausted and spent

from spending everything on other people.

A funny thing is happening on the way to my not-as-poor-as-I-think-Iam-self.

I have community.

Comprised mostly of other women, it transcends race.

There are non-family folks committed to my well being who understand that for me to thrive they must reach out to me in real ways that count.

And in America, that means with money. Let’s be real, cash is sustenance. Sharing it is humane. We refuse to share it as we should in America and this stinginess is how we’re most inhumane.

A few weeks ago I borrowed money from two friends.

I knew they would lovingly help.

Ahoo slid me a $100 check, $70 of which I used to pay half my Verizon bill.

Dean loaned me $20 to pay for my insulin prescription.

Since last April when I was fired from CityBeat after nearly a dozen years Michelle has diligently paid my monthly $285 COBRA payment for my health insurance.

Not 48 hours before this sentence Richard wrote a check for my rent which was two months late.

See, community.

The existence of community is what sets the stereotypical poor apart from the working, visible and

“functioning” poor people like me. The insanely wealthy and those aspiring to them have allowed—engineered, even—the obliteration of the American middle class.

There’s rich. There’s poor.

And the strangely beautiful aspect of poverty for folks like me is it’s hidden in plain sight. We clean-cut, walking-about, acceptably poor folks don’t pretend to be something we aren’t. We’re unhassled/unjudged because we’re benign.

We’re the “good ones.”

Still, we’re separate.

My outrageously wealthy landlord who owns one entire side of the block he lives on and much of the block where I live will never know that I use rent money to pay Duke Electric, Verizon Wireless, car insurance and to put five to seven dollars gas in my dead mother’s 13-year-old Mercury Sable because he doesn’t even know what StreetVibes is, let alone that poor and homeless people read or have a publication.

He doesn’t have access to the realm he knows nothing about; yet, the trappings of my landlord’s world constantly bombard the poor. The very act of panhandling is self- subjugation and self-flagellation no less dehumanizing than prostitution itself.

My landlord and I have an unspoken and dysfunctional relationship.

He only knows that my rent is always late and yet, he does not evict me.

I say this not to gloat but to illustrate just how close to the curb I am.

My poverty, my desperation, feels vindicated—no, eased—by this don’t ask/don’t tell tango.

I like the way one side does and does not have any idea what the other’s doing; it feels subversive and secret.

Strangely, I also like the dichotomy of appearing to have wealth because of my comportment and pride, but still being poor enough to sometimes happily eat Ramen noodles and drink grape Kool-Aid for dinner. Why happily? Because I know that because of my community tomorrow Vinnie will cook a gourmet-caliber meal she’ll share with me and that if, the next day, I’m still hungry I can sit at Linder’s table at 6:00 when she serves her family dinner.

I may be jeered from the poverty bleachers by saying that I have a key to turn in a lock that opens a door to my own possessions or that I have a cellular phone plan and utilities.

But I am one of the working poor—an unevenly educated black woman with a proven skill set whose unemployment ran out just before Christmas.

So now I hustle.

Just like the single mothers selling their Ohio Welfare Cards for cash; just like the bootleg cabbies posted in front of every Kroger in poor black and white neighborhoods in this city; just like the couch-surfing dope boys with packs to move.

I sling sentences like crack rocks/I keep verbs stuffed in my socks/I got similes two for five: “like” and “as,” nigga/I call on my regulars and peddle my wares/I make my way through Main Street galleries while rich white people stop to stare/editors throw me work like

Wilson.... cont. on page 2

The effects of Hurricane Katrina still being felt

by Andy Freeze HUD estimates that there are three quarters of a million people homeless every night. But we know that is not true. What HUD does not take into account is that 19 months ago hurricane Katrina forced over one million people into homelessness.

I had the opportunity to spend a week down in New Orleans in the beginning of March. If you only spent your time in downtown or the French Quarter you would never know that one of the biggest natural disasters to hit this country occurred just under two years ago. The French Quarter is once again bustling with tourists. The street performers have returned. But if you venture outside of downtown you would have thought you were in a third world country.

There are no words to describe what I saw. The best that I can do is to describe it as utter

destruction. I remind you that I visited New Orleans nineteen months after the hurricane hit, yet you would have thought it was a month ago.

“But if you venture outside of downtown you would have thought you were in a third world country.”

While in New Orleans I spent the week with ten other college students learning about the effects the hurricane has had on the Gulf Coast as well as removing furniture and gutting the inside of homes.

It was an eye opening experience to say the least. I consider myself to be fairly well informed about the events going on in

our country. However, the media has failed to report on the devastation still being felt in New Orleans. Because no one reports on this issue, I

assumed that things were getting back

Katrina.... cont. on page 6

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. 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 Johm Lavelle - Administrative Coordinator Andy Freeze - Education Coordinator Lynne Ausman - VISTA Matt Cohen - AHA Staff Melvin Williams - Receptionist Linda Pittman - Receptionist Susan Smith - Volunteer Streetvibes Jimmy Heath, Editor, Layout and Design, with Andy Freeze and Georgine Getty

Wilson.... cont. from page one addicts hand over crumpled singles/on the 31st I stalk the mailman from my kitchen windows/checking his hand for my check.

I have been poor before. I was once 23 summers ago temporarily homeless in Denver with my mother, sister and stepfather. Even then, we knew we had a way out, that there were jobs and an apartment. Still, after the money ran out we moved from a cramped hotel room to a dirty and shabby house owned by Traveler’s Aid until that first payday.

I’ve yet to go all the way there: tattered-clothes-soup-kitchen-sleepingin-a-doorway-panhandling-selling-sexfor-a-hotel-room-by-the-day-there.

I know how poverty and homelessness can sneak up when a job gets yanked away or housing falls through and bills run away with your sanity.

I watch my pennies by depriving myself of the luxuries of my former self: books, magazines, CD’s, movies, eating out, new clothes and shoes when the ones I have suit me fine. In short, I’m over unnecessary consumption and I’m weaning myself off excess.

Surprisingly, I walk around with the same folded-over $20 bill for weeks without breaking it and when I finally do, that last $10 lasts equally as long. I buy what I need and not to satisfy manic lusts. I eschew the diet of the poor— fast food, soda, candy.

Why kill yourself with toxins when the very stress of poverty alone is enough?

I’m revealing my solo poverty to show that the postmodern face of the poor isn’t the monolithic one America shows us. I also offer hope.

To declare that we do not have to go the way of so many poor people in America; to reassure those living on the verge of emotional and spiritual disintegration that hope and redemption are free and to urge those same people to start right now building community.

It’s not easy.

Surrounding ourselves with hope and not despair, love and not bitterness, responsibility and not fingerpointing and choosing help instead of dwelling among a barrel of crabs requires the same focus, strength and energy it takes to find and keep a job or to pay bills.

It’s hard getting off the streets, I know.

We must choose hope and humanity.

I do not write this brand-new.

I write this having emerged from the depths of isolation, despair, depression and self-doubt, all fuelled by poverty and by being on the brink of disconnection and eviction.

That was the winter, though.

Now spring replenishes. I can beat poverty back like my mother because, like her, I am resourceful and I am blessed.

This spring I’ll be having a sidewalk sale to trim away a lifetime of acquisitions—all the crap I thought I had to have but that now feels like weighty clutter collecting dust. There’s wanderlust, an unromanticized notion of freedom to this type of poverty. The restrictions of it—of knowing precisely how much money how much food, how much work—make life easier because having too much makes me drunk with too many choices. I do not begrudge the wealthy their wealth; neither do I envy it.

I really have a great life. I do not dislike myself because I cannot bask in excess.

Photographers Jimmy Heath, Berta Lambert, Andy Freeze, Georgine Getty Cover Lower Ninth Ward, New Orleans

by Andy Freeze

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://homeless.cinci.com

Page 2

Are legs “calves” spelled like Firecats Review Blue: baby cows?

Firecats Review: Springtime for Firecats Firecat Blue: What should we review?

Firecat Silver: Warm weather.

Firecats Blue and Chameleon: Spring!

Silver: Yeah, fun outside activities.

Blue: Outside? I don’t understand.

Silver: We put chairs – outside – on our balcony. We sit outside. On chairs. On our balcony.

Chameleon: That’s an activity?

Sitting outside on the West Side?

Anti-Cat: Outside activities? It works well with our many windows (referring to our windowless lair).

Chameleon: I like springtime because I can wear shorts and show off my sexy calves.

Chameleon: Yes. Firecat Beige: I like your baby cows. They’re hairy.

Chameleon: Eww. Beige: I like that there’s more daylight so the days are longer and you have more time to fight homelessness.

Chameleon: Are you any good holidays in April?

Silver: April Fools!

Anti-Cat: Anzac Day (Australia & New Zealand).

Silver: Youth Empowerment Day in Cincinnati! (April 20th) Beige: Earth Day? Chameleon: Administrative Professionals Day! Who’s excited about Administrative Professionals day?

Beige: I want a present.

Streetvibes

We need to reverse our priorities. Materialism is like sugar. It’s hype at first but it makes you tired when it wears off.

I am determined and committed to living poor well.

I am surrounded by people who look out for me.

Community is the new currency and freedom is the new bling.

Spend it. Wear it.

I’ll admit sometimes even in this fragile peace I still wake up in the middle of the night to walk the floor, panicked by outstanding money and the outstanding bills outnumbering it; I obsess over whether I’ll be out standing on the sidewalk, my beautiful things acquired during a wildly creative life stacked on the curb waiting for Rumpke and picked over by salvagers.

Then, I lull myself back to sleep comforted that panic and anxiety are coconspirators against my progress.

I now have a new regard for work; I do it at my own pace according to the ebb and flow of my survival instead of the dictates of a boss who doesn’t see the textures in my talent, only the exploits of my skill and truthtelling.

I hold more hope than I have ever had.

That’s right.

Being poor gives me hope.

I am not my things/I am not the double digits of my bank account/I am not my bills/I am not my creditors.

I am poor but not a statistic because those government guidelines neither account for my spirit nor align with my possibilities.

I am right now the wealthiest I have ever been in my adult life. copyright Kathy Y. Wilson March 12 and 18, 2007.

All rights reserved.

Ownership reverts back to the author after first publication in Streetvibes.

Chameleon: I’m an Administrative Coordinator.

Blue: No one is getting a present.

Silver: I think we should have pie that day.

Blue: That’s a given any day.

Chameleon: I like wearing skorts.

That’s my favorite springtime activity, NOT. Blue?

Blue: The HBO spring series line starts. Big Love!

Anti-Cat: I went around with a group of plungers this weekend.

Blue: Plungers?

Beige: Wait, I’m confused. Oh, they weren’t actual toilet plungers. I’m thoroughly confused. I’ve been confused since I got here.

Anti-Cat: (walking out door) Can you put in the last line from Anti-Cat as “I hate Valentine’s Day?” (editor: see February Firecat Review) Beige: After he leaves, put that he hates Valentine’s Day because he’s lonely.

Anti-Cat: I hate Valentine’s Day. Beige: (in hushed tone) He’s lonely.

Homeless News Digest Compiled by Jimmy Heath

Foundation Reminds Residents, Not All Homeless Are Adults Greenville, SC - -When most people think about the homeless, adults probably come to mind. But, for Lisa Hall, with Anderson District Five, she thinks about students.

“As far as being serious it’s very serious. And we have 111 identified this year so far, that’s what we know of,” Hall told WYFF News 4’s Kisha Foster.

The district recently received a $10,000 dollar grant from the Abney Foundation.

The mission of the foundation is to aid organizations that are operated exclusively for educational, religious, charitable, scientific and literary purposes.

The money will be used to continue work with homeless students.

Hall added, “My goal is to remove all barriers for children to receive an education. If it’s for them to dress like other students or have school supplies they need.”

Students defined as homeless are those living in shelters, hotels, motels, cars, streets, campgrounds, substandard conditions or abandoned.

“We are blessed to be back into a home and we thank God and the district,” said Dianne Schultz.

In December, Schultz, her daughter and granddaughter were homeless.

A fire destroyed their apartment just days after Christmas and they had to stay in hotel for a week.

Schults biggest concern was for her granddaughter Heaven McMullen.

“We wanted to try to keep Heaven on a normal schedule as possible. Heaven was able to stay in school. She didn’t have to miss a day had clothing and the school district has been a blessing.”

DENVER - Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Public Works director Bill Vidal this morning unveiled a retired parking meter that will be used to collect coins for the homeless.

The Donation Meter Project will collect money for Denver’s Road Home, the 10-year Plan to end homelessness.

By dropping a coin in the slot, you don’t get a parking space, but can feel that you’ve contributed to the effort to give help to homeless people.

“The Donation Meter demonstrates yet another innovative way in which this community is responding to Denver’s Road Home and our commitment to ending homelessness,” Hickenlooper said.

“We are fortunate to live in a city where public officials, including Bill Vidal at the Department of Public Works, are willing to work on a project that will substantially increase public awareness and resources for the homeless in Denver.”

“The Donation Meters provide a creative way for everyone, even if they only have a nickel, to help.”

There will be 35 refurbished and redesigned parking meters placed at various areas throughout downtown so people can easily donate spare change in the effort to end homelessness.

“Denver’s Public Works is delighted to be part of this growing community wide effort to end homelessness in Denver,” Vidal said.

“Starting today with 36 meters, citizens will have a new way to donate to an important cause.

Recycling our older meters as donation collection sites is an innovative use of retired equipment.”

The donation meter program is part of a widespread effort to redirect the money that people use to give to panhandlers, most of whom are not homeless, into efforts that provide meals, job training, substance abuse counseling, housing and other programs for those in need.

Businesses and individuals around the metro area “sponsored” all 36 meters for $1,000 each.

said that its “snapshot” study based on a three-month period in 2005 showed that two-thirds of the homeless population are men, 16 percent are women, 59 percent are ethnic minorities, 41 percent are in the 31-50 age range and 21 percent are children.

It also said that nearly one in five of the adult homeless are military veterans.

However, Philip Mangano, executive director of the United States Interagency Council of Homelessness, said that the snapshot survey does not represent the full extent of homelessness across the country, as measured throughout the year.

“There is a divergence of opinion among researchers about the number of people who are experiencing homelessness in the course of a year,” Mangano said.

“Some say it might be as high as one percent of the US population (three million people); others say it might be as high as two million.

NASHVILLE - Charges were dropped against 16 homeless advocates last month.

Organizers of the Nashville Homeless Power Project had more than a dozen people gather outside the Metro Courthouse to raise awareness about the struggles of homeless Nashvillians.

Demonstrators were arrested when they refused to leave.

The Power Project is asking Mayor Bill Purcell to provide money to build 200 units for the homeless.

SAN JUAN - Homeless advocates on Monday condemned a video posted on the Internet that showed homeless people in Puerto Rico engaging in degrading acts, such as eating cat food or wearing a G-string, in exchange for money.

The 45-minute video depicts 18 different homeless people performing acts for money, but those filming the video and handing over the money are not shown, several nonprofit groups said.

One of those filmed vomits off screen after eating a hot pepper.

Another is shown running around in a G-string and grabbing his buttocks while music plays in the background. ”Independent of what may be the condition of a homeless person, that does not give anyone the right to violate their rights. ... This brings me a lot of pain and sadness,” said Luz Davila, a former homeless woman who now works in a nonprofit group helping those on the street.

It is not clear who made the video. A phone call and e-mail to Teflon Studios, which is listed in the credits of the film, went unanswered.

Homeless advocates said the video had been posted on the studio’s Web site, but it did not appear there later Monday.

Puerto Rico’s Family Department also denounced the display. ”We repudiate the content, the connotations and the concept of using the homeless for this type of practice,” said Felix Matos, department secretary.

In recent years, the Internet site Bumfights.com has shown homeless people fighting one another and engaging in dangerous stunts. The site says its creators are trying to call attention to problems such as poverty and violence.

A man in Los Angeles was convicted in July 2006 for beating two homeless men with a baseball bat in August 2005 after watching a “Bumfights” video.

WASHINGTON - On any given night 754,000 people across the United States are homeless, according to a new government study on the problem released Wednesday.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development, in its first study of the scope of the national homelessness problem in 23 years,

Streetvibes

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This is the second in a Streetvibes series on;

Rich or poor, there is only at risk for physical survival; plenty of wounding to go around. he or she has been pushed to the But to add poverty into the mix is margins of a society. to layer another tissue of wounds identify what is the normal Poverty, then, is a wound onto the child. For not only must standard in a particular place at a to the psyche. the child cope with the failures particular time. We It is not the and wounds of her own parents, can calculate the only possible but in poverty, she must cope minimal costs for wound, nor even with a whole new source of maintaining those the most deprivations and exclusions standards and devastating. But it which, in an unconscious design, assign a number to is a wound. This is seem guaranteed to teach her she it and find where a not news, is not to be nurtured, comforted, person stands in particularly to or granted affection to the same relation to that anyone who has extent as others. She looks number. We can been poor. But around, he looks around, and sees therefore identify what this a world full of barriers and practical terms for definition gives us difficulties that are not present measuring poverty is the source of for others and, at the extreme, in time and place the wound. appear to threaten their very Michael Henson and across time A child is existence. and place. born expecting to be accepted, Cast over whatever For poverty is relative in nurtured, and bathed in affection. genetic assets or liabilities this two directions. One is poor in He expects that his cry will be child may have inherited, and relation to those who are heard; she expects that she will over whatever strengths or prosperous and who is not. be fed, warmed, surrounded by failures of the parents he has Therefore, we talk about rich admiration at any time she selected, poverty, which is a (including super-rich and just demands it. In the best of socially constructed force, plain rich), middle-class (upper situations, this is an irrational strikes the child with yet another and lower), working poor, urban expectation, for no one can meet impediment to becoming whole, and rural poor, flat-out poor, and the exorbitant demands of the complicates her life with nearly destitute. All these measure child. But the child is born with insoluble tasks, and confronts the themselves one against another. It these demands anyway and so, child with an insult with which he is possible for an individual to even in the best of situations, the will struggle for the rest of his look up and down the social child is disappointed again and life. scale, with or without such a again. Psychic wounding is a This is a monstrous thing. definition, and say, I am not as primary experience.

And we should end it. well off as this one with his It is primarily the task of But even our best efforts mansion (or condo or penthouse the parents or whoever may be in will not end it soon. And we are or hacienda), but I am much the role of a parent to see that far, very far, from making even a better off than this person down this child’s wounds are minimal half-hearted effort as a society. the road in his tenement (or and that they are transformed into But say, just to dream, that, by shack or patchwork tent). It is strengths. How else do we grow some miracle, we were to abolish also possible, by these measures, but by transforming pain into poverty with the next presidential for a sociologist or economist to livable wisdom? term (not that anyone is even look up and down the social scale Parents are either well suggesting we try), the wounds of and place people in their prepared for these tasks, or they poverty would not leave. Many millions, thousands, and hundreds are not. And in the preparation people have had the necessary on a scale of poverty, prosperity, for this task, wealth, prosperity, combination of luck, opportunity, or wealth. or poverty seems to make little and resilience to emerge from But they can also help us difference. I have known many poverty. But that does not mean understand something of the parents who came out of or they were not wounded by their particular pains and individual remained in poverty who had a poverty. And these wounds will struggles of a person in poverty. wonderful earthiness and not leave even though we have What speaks to that concern in humanity and who grow not found a way to list them in these definitions is not just a wonderfully resourceful and the Diagnostic and Statistical totaling of the material assets humane children. And of course, I Manual. Is it any wonder that the available to a person, but how have seen many cases of spoiled person wounded by poverty looks well (or how poorly) the assets and confused suburbanites raising to something to ease the pain? (or lack of assets) of that spoiled and confused children.

To be continued. individual human person allow We all know this story. him or her to participate in the Research on Prescribtion Opiate Dependence “the normal patterns and Are you an adult activities” of a particular society. and concerned with your use of prescribtion opiates? Do One is poor, not simply because you want treatment for prescribtion opiate dependence? she does not have enough to eat East Indiana Treatment Center is conducting a research study of or has trouble paying the rent, but because she is excluded from full medication and behavioral interventions to treat prescribtion opiate dependence. Eligible participants will receive free buprenorphine, participation in society. Poverty nalozone (Suboxone) treatment. All information will be kept means an inability to meet the confidential. Compensation will be expectations of one’s provided for time and travel. community, to do all the things The research clinic is coonveniently located at that are understood to be a EITC in Lawrenceburg, IN. For more information normal part of life in a particular please contact 812-537-1668. society. The poor person is not

Poverty and Addiction

by Michael Henson No one disputes that the victims of absolute poverty are poor. When we see the homeless man on a heat grate or a displaced child in a documentary and know that these people have nothing to keep them from starvation or exposure from one day to the next, we can be sure these people are poor by any definition. Some may dispute the numbers or deny that they exist in our particular place. Or they may dispute who is to blame. They may wish to see them better hidden. They may wish them jailed. They may even wish them dead. (Think of the murdered children of Rio). They may institute policies that move them on, to become someone else’s problem. But no one disputes their poverty or wonders whether they meet a federal guideline for poverty.

But above that level, there is a great deal of confusion as to what constitutes poverty. For, beyond the level of minimal survival, poverty is a matter of the relationship of an individual, a family, or a caste within a broader society. Poverty is only partly defined by what person does or does not own. It is only partly defined by a person’s distance from the desperation of minimal survival, although these concerns are important. Poverty is also primarily defined by how a person is able to function within a particular society.

The late Michael Harrington’s book, The New American Poverty, quotes from a United Nations document, “Those individuals and families can be considered poor whose resources are so small that they find themselves excluded from the mode of life, the normal patterns and activities of the countries in which they live.”

There are other definitions around, but they say, I think, virtually the same thing.

Such definitions are the basis for the federal poverty guidelines in the united States, for such a line is set by a determination of how much in cash or assets a person requires to meet these needs for living something like the “normal patterns and activities” of life in one’s particular place. They tell us the minimal standards not only for physical survival, but social needs as well.

These definitions have the merit of being concrete. We can

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Streetvibes

prohibited from ticketing people who sleep on the city’s public sidewalks and doorways at night as part of the settlement of a lawsuit brought by homeless advocates. Under a new regulation, people are free to sleep on city property from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. unless they are committing a crime, such as being drunk or a public nuisance. The change does not cover sleeping on private property (Steele, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2/21).

California: Senator to Introduce Bill in Response to ‘Homeless Dumping’ State Sen. Gil Cedillo (D) is expected to introduce legislation that would make it a misdemeanor for any hospital facility or worker to transport patients anywhere other than their residences without their informed consent.

Those who disobey the regulation would face up to two years in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. The legislation coincides with investigations

homeless patients by hospitals on L.A.’s Skid Row (Blood, AP/ Contra Costa Times, 2/22).

Optimus Health Care, which serves the homeless, poor and immigrant populations in Stamford, Conn., is hiring a Stamford Health Department HIV prevention specialist on its Homeless Outreach Team to provide HIV testing at area homeless shelters and soup kitchens. The arrangement was funded by a $45,000 Optimus Health grant that will pay for the HIV specialist to work with the outreach team 30 hours each week (Pinto, Stamford Times, 2/26).

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded several agencies in Lee County, Fla., $2 million over the next year to provide housing and supportive services to homeless families and individuals. County officials said the grants will go to help homeless individuals and families find emergency

shelter, transitional housing and permanent homes (Southwest Florida News-Press, 2/21).

The federal government has renewed more than $1.5 million in funding for 16 programs for the homeless in Acadiana, La. The grant recipients said the money will go to fund such services as job training, health care, substance abuse treatment and housing (KATC3 News, 2/26).

Homeless advocates, who spent the night camped in tents and cardboard boxes outside the Nevada Legislature, recently testified before a House committee in support of legislation that would dispense $20 million in state funds for homeless services. The amount is more than double the $9 million that was appropriated in 2005 (Mullin, AP/Las Vegas Sun, 2/19).

The 1,001-bed Camp LaGuardia, New York City’s largest homeless shelter, is about to close after 73 years.

City officials said the facility,

s

California: Advocates Win ‘Homeless t Free Zones’ Lawsui San Diego officials are into alleged dumping of

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and Australia. Almost 500 homeless individuals were able to travel and compete in the Homeless World Cup. Teams are made up of eight players (all male, all female or mixed): four players on the field at one time and four substitutes. Russia won the 2006 Homeless World Cup: past winners include Italy and Austria.

The 2006 American team was selected from a three day tournament in Charlotte, North Carolina. Players came from all over the USA including New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Virginia, Washington D.C., North Carolina, and Texas. In 2003, the American team ranked ninth – their highest rank in the Homeless World Cup. In 2005, the American team was awarded the Fair Play Award.

The 2007 Homeless World Cup will be July 29 August 4, 2007 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

For more information about the Homeless World Cup visit: www.homelessworldcup.org

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Following the 2005 Edinburgh Homeless World Cup, research revealed that 94% of the players had gained a renewed motivation for life. In addition, 77% of the participants believe that the event had changed their lives. Players are able to regain some control over their lives while having fun. Participating on a team creates a sense of belonging and players are able to build self-esteem with the support of coaches and teammates. Players reported that following the Homeless World Cup that they were able to end their drug or alcohol addictions and access employment, housing, and educational opportunities.

Overall, the Homeless World Cup is not only a fun event in which homeless individuals participate, but it is an inspiring and empowering tool.

In the Cape Town 2006 Homeless World Cup, fortyeight teams from all across the globe participated, including teams from North and South America, Africa, Europe, Asia,

ee

by Lynne Ausman The World Cup is probably the most popular sporting event in the world.

Every four years, millions of people tune in to watch their national soccer teams compete to be the best team in the world.

Thousands flock to the games and pay hundreds of dollars to see their favorite teams and players. However, there is another World Cup. It is smaller and the games do not draw in millions of fans, but the Homeless World Cup is a life changing and inspiring event for some.

The idea for the Homeless World Cup started in 2001 following the International Network of Street Papers Conference. The first Homeless World Cup was in Graz, Austria, in 2003, followed by Gothenburg, Sweden in 2004.

Edinburgh, Scotland, hosted the 2005 cup and Cape Town, South Africa hosted the 2006 cup. This year (2007), the Cup will be in Copenhagen, Denmark, followed

by Melbourne, Australia in 2008.

Str

Homeless World Cup

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ALMOST 30 YEARS SERVING THE NEIGHBORHOOD

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

(513) 621-5514 surrounded by farms and trees on a 300-acre parcel 70 miles away in Chester, N.Y., is too far from jobs and medical and other services in the city. They also said the city wants to move away from temporary shelters to subsidized housing with services for the city’s 35,000 homeless men and women.

The shelter opened in 1934 on the site of a women’s prison and was expanded greatly in the 1980s with the growth of New York’s homeless population (Hill, Redding Record Searchlight, 2/27).

The federal government has awarded 23 Portland, Ore.area homeless programs nearly $5.7 million in renewal funding. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also has earmarked more than $538,000 for a new Transition Projects program to provide permanent housing with services for disabled, chronically homeless adults and youths (Green, Oregonian, 2/21).

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

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Katrina from page one...... to “normal” and that people had begun to return to their homes.

I thought we would be working on building homes, not tearing them down. I thought we would be painting, or laying tile, or finishing walls. Nope. There are so many homes down there that have not been touched in the past 19 months. It is a tragedy that we are still removing personal items form people’s homes.

At first the volunteers and donations flew into the Gulf Coast.

But the hurricane is no longer on the forefront of our minds. Nor is it on the mind of our government. Our government has decided that rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan are more important than rebuilding parts of our own country. Our government and many of our American companies are pouring billions and billions of

“He told stories of searching homes after the waters had receded to look for bodies.” dollars into rebuilding the Middle East, yet many Americans can not get help from their own government.

While my group was gutting the inside of a house in the Lower Ninth Ward, a gentleman pulled up and got out to speak with us. He worked for the government and had responded to Katrina three days after the hurricane made landfall. For the next eight months we worked as a logistics organizer for the government

Volunteers remove rug from house in Lower 9th Ward to oversee the coordination of the many different operations.

He told us that when he first got to New Orleans he did helicopter rescues. He explained that it was a scary experience because people would get so upset that they were not being rescued that they began to shoot at the helicopters. He told stories of searching homes after the waters had receded to look for bodies. He described that as the waters rose, people moved to their attics to take cover. It was devastating to see so many bodies stuck in the attics because people could not get out.

We had the opportunity to hear from a home owner. His house was the only one still on its foundation. Houses from two streets down landed behind his. Everything around him was gone. Tombs and graves from more than 50 miles away were now in the town. His house had nothing removed from it and he was

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Donate your Writing, Poetry And Art to STREETVIBES Streetvibes@juno.com

Page 6

still going through the items he had and cataloging it.

Each person we encountered had a different story. Each person had hopes and dreams to move back to their “home.” Yet it has becoming increasingly harder to get help.

In St. Bernard Parish alone less than a quarter of the population has been able to return. Only 50% of Orleans Parish has returned. People want to return because it’s their home, but are unable to because there is not enough help. During the first week of March while we were in New Orleans, we ran into many other college students down along the gulf coast offering their help.

If the government put the resources its putting into rebuilding the Middle East into rebuilding the Gulf Coast region, the people of our nation that need help would be getting it. Instead we choose to overlook those who have been affected by the hurricane because they are poor and are now homeless. Let’s hope that the people of our country realize that there is a lot of work to be done and continue to pay attention to one of the worst natural disasters this country has seen.

Markings left by search and rescue workers, weeks after Katrina hit.

SODUKO Puzzle Fill in numbers so that each column, each row, and each of the nine 3x3 boxes contains the digits 1 to 9.

There is only one solution!

The ANSWER is on Page 10

Streetvibes

My experiences in Baltimore

by Jacki Sprinkle Since my arrival at Xavier, I have had service opportunities galore, either through a club, as part of a class requirement, or some other extracurricular program offered here.

The multitude of service programs offered at Xavier has become my favorite aspect of this school, and one which I feel truly separates it from many other universities.

Therefore, when I learned about the Alternative Breaks program I was especially excited to get involved. Alternative Breaks is a service learning organization dedicated to giving students hands-on opportunities with service work during their Spring and Summer breaks. This year, the group in which I participated traveled to Baltimore, where we learned about homelessness and hunger, and were able to work directly with people affected by this issue in their daily lives.

We began our service on the morning of Monday, March 5th, at a soup kitchen in downtown Baltimore called Our Daily Bread. ODB is open every day of the year, and serves lunch from 10:30-12:30 to anywhere from 500-900 guests daily.

One characteristic of this kitchen which distinguished it from many others is that when guests come in, they sit down and are served instead of standing in a line. It is as if they are at a restaurant; I would venture to say, though, that the service at Our Daily Bread is much better than that of most restaurants.

Our group members occupied a myriad of positions during our service there: serving tea, carrying a basket of assorted bread to distribute, cleaning tables, running meals from the kitchen to the server,

and washing pots and pans. After we finished cleaning up after the meal, we traveled back to our place of residency for the week, Sarah’s House.

This group of buildings functions as a homeless shelter and transitional housing unit for families and individuals who are struggling financially. However, much more than housing is afforded to the residents at Sarah’s House. A daycare is offered for working parents, as well as after-school program where kids are assisted with homework. There is a tutoring program offered every night, and even a yoga class once a week. In talking with several of the mothers living there, I learned that even though the rules at Sarah’s House were strict, they felt that the services provided were invaluable to the families’ quality of life.

We continued our service at Our Daily Bread and Sarah’s House on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

On Thursday, however, we changed our routine by spending a day at Gallagher Services, a facility for people with developmental disabilities. I participated in an art therapy class with a few of these individuals, and discovered, to my dismay, that I apparently held some stereotypes about people with developmental disabilities.

After working with some of the residents I realized just how similar we all are to one another, no matter what disability we may have.

Later that night we ventured to the Hispanic Apostolate of Baltimore, where we helped to tutor several individuals in their English speaking skills. This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip!

The service opportunities during this trip were phenomenal; I met so many interesting people and was able to break a lot of stereotypes that I did not even know I held.

However, just as important as the service, for me, were the conversations that I shared with other members of the group, as well as the nightly reflections that we had together.

I had a fantastic time getting to know all of these wonderful people, but more importantly, I learned something from each and every one of them. This trip has been truly eye-opening in so many ways. I have become even more aware of the severity of homelessness and hunger in the United States, but I also learned more about so many wonderful organizations that fight to solve this issue.

As a social work major, this trip was priceless in that it reassured me that I am studying something about which I am truly passionate. It is strange to think how much one week can change your life. However, in my short time in Baltimore, I gained an even greater appreciation of the opportunities I have been afforded, and a stronger drive to help others who have not had these opportunities.

FROM THE FRONT DESK Hello. I guess our longawaited Spring has arrived. That means more people are out and coming into the Coalition for their morning coffee break.

We are trying to recruit donations for coffee supplies which we desperately need. Our poor old coffee pot is on its last legs because it is used so much. A new 12-cup coffee pot would be nice.

We always have a need for cans of coffee, sugar (packs or regular), creamer (packs or regular) and medium Styrofoam cups. Any inexpensive brand will do. The individuals I serve are not Starbucks people.

We have to totally rely on the kindness and goodness of people like you to provide this coffee service, since we are a non-profit organization and do not have the funding for this extra service.

The volunteer who brings donated goodies from Panera Bread to us every week, Susan Smith, and I try to donate supplies whenever we can. But we sure can use some help.

You may either donate the products themselves or drop them off Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p;.m. at 117 East 12th Street, or send a check to GCCH and mark it for coffee supplies. Thank you very much. Linda Pittman, GCCH Receptionist

Hey, College and High School Students!

Interested in Serving Others? Want to Change the World?

—Alternative Breaks —Homeless Curriculum —Arrange an Awareness Event on Campus —Visit from our Speaker’s Bureau

Contact Andy Freeze, Education Coordinator, Homeless Coalition, to learn more 421-7803. ext. 14 Streetvibes

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Mother’s Day is May 13th. Whether she is a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, a wife, or a sister, Mother’s Day is our chance to show that special woman in our life how much she means to us.

Mother’s Day is also a chance to honor the spirit of mothering. Mothers are there to make sure we are clothed, clean, fed, safe, and warm. They are there to tuck us in and kiss away the tears. They are there to read to us, to listen, and to steer us down the right path. The picture above was drawn by 9 year old Asherah, one of many participants in a statewide Mother’s Day card contest for young people. Asherah won the contest because of her touching ability to capture the sprit of support, love and family. Asherah was a resident of a local shelter at the time she drew this picture of her family. Her family is one of 5,000 in Cincinnati who will experience homelessness this year.

Nationally, 3.5 million people experience homelessness over the course of a year. Homeless families make up over 40% of that population. This year in Cincinnati alone, over 8,000 children will experience homelessness with their mothers. The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless has been working for 23 years to eradicate homelessness in Cincinnati. We firmly believe that by coming together as a community, we can reach this goal.

We need your help to erase homelessness from childhood memories.

This year, truly honor the mothers in your life by making a special donation in their honor. We will send Asherah’s Mother’s Day card to the honoree before Mother’s Day, along with a notification that a donation has been made in their name. What better way to appreciate the woman who raised you than by helping other women raise themselves and their children out of homelessness?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------By sending this completed form along with your minimum donation of $10, Asherah’s Mother’s Day card will be sent to the person you designate below. The card will inform the recipient that a donation has been made in her name to the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless.

Your name, address, and phone number ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Name and address of the person to whom we should send the card ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Who should the donation be placed in honor of/in memory of? Who should we say the card is from? ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ If you would like the card sent to an additional person, please indicate on another sheet of paper the same information as above. Send this form along with your donation in the enclosed envelope to: The Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless, 117 East 12th Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202

This Mother’s Day, how will you show your mother that you really care?

Page 8

Streetvibes

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Brenda Green’s “French Villa” Room

New Cincinnati Health Van Visits Shelters

by Georgine Getty On March 20, at a special reception hosted by Impact 100 at the Wyoming Fine Arts Center, the board and staff of the Cincinnati Health Network got their first glimpse of the brand new Mobile Medical Van. The Mobile Medical Van of the Cincinnati Healthcare for the Homeless program is staffed by three physicians, Dr. Susan Montauk, Dr. Bob Donovan and Dr. Nancy Elder, one family nurse practitioner, Brenda Greene, and a variety of medical students and residents who use the training they receive on the van to hone their skills and learn the importance of providing care to all people.

Currently, the van visits a number of local shelters; the Drop Inn Center, Mr. Airy Shelter, Tender Mercies, Anna Louise Inn, Volunteers of America, First Step Home, the YWCA, and Interfaith Hospitality Network. Care is provided for men, women and children, with adult men making up the largest portion of patients. Acute care is provided for short-term problems (like infections, pain, and injuries) chronic care for long-term problems (like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease) and some mental health care (depression, anxiety, drug and alcohol abuse). In addition, there is a focus on preventive care, including immunizations, pap smears, blood pressure and cholesterol screening, TB testing, HIV testing, infectious disease testing, and referrals for mammography screenings.

The mobility of the van is what makes it unique. Often, homeless individuals are left without healthcare, forced to wait until problem becomes life-threatening enough to justify a visit to the emergency room. The Mobile Medical Van parks outside of the shelters and offers door-to-door no wait services to the clients inside. In addition, clients praise the warm and understanding staff who serve them capably without passing judgment.

The van has been in operation since 1992, but the old van had seen better days, spending more days in the shop in 2006, than it did on the streets due to an aging engine, generator and a host of mechanical problems.

But all that has changed. In October, 2006, Impact 100 a local non profit organization, made a donation of $110,000 towards the purchase of a new Medical Van. Impact 100 is a group comprised of women who each donate $1,000 a year, pooling their money so that they can make donations on a large scale to better the community.

Impact 100 gives two grants each year and this year’s gifts went to the Cincinnati Health Network for the purchase of the new van and to the Wyoming Fine Arts Center’s Touchstone Project which provides stringed instruments to at risk elementary students.

Armor was then contracted to construct the van. Armor is the company that created the McMicken Dental Van and the Jewish Hospital Mammography van.

The van was designed by the health

professionals who will use it and contains several features added for the comfort of the clients and the easy flow of movement throughout the small space. These details range from the nice, such as the radio and ornate doorknobs, to the necessities like the two exam tables, the refrigerator for storing medications, the easy to clean vinyl floors and the filing space for client records.

Brenda Green, Bob Donovan and Nancy Elder who will staff the van, eagerly rushed from room to room in the new van, talking about what would go where. “This is my room, the French villa!” proclaimed Green, laughing as she walked into the exam room decorated with flowered wallpaper.

“I can’t believe this. This is really great,” Green concluded.

“It is so wonderful. It is of the quality that our patients deserve. We can store more things and it’s so much easier for our patients to get in and out of,” added Dr. Elder. Kate Bennett, director of the Cincinnati Health Network is excited to see the van up and running. “It’s so rare that homeless people get something that is new, not a hand-me-down from somewhere else,” she said.

After the completion of the van’s exterior paint and the ironing out of a few details, the van should be up and running on the streets of Cincinnati in early April, treating nearly 2000 patients at over 8000 visits each year. The doctors, nurses and staff of the van are eager to get back to work on their new van. Said Dr. Donovan, “It is exactly what taking care of them (homeless clients) should be. It’s what the people we serve deserve.”

Goodbye, Cicadas!

Dr.’s Donovan and Elder and CHN board member Kay Atkins enjoy the new van.

Streetvibes

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72 Hours (Real Change News, USA)

by Rosette Royale SEATLE - Usually, Michael Brooks would have taken the bus home. But on the evening of Feb. 5, he decided to walk. After all, the 62 year old reasoned, the exercise would do him good.

Stepping out of Seattle Central Community College (SCCC), where he’d just finished up in the Computer Center, he took a gander at his watch. 9:35 p.m. And under a nighttime sky blanketed by clouds, he began his journey to Madison Valley.

Brooks headed north on Broadway. When he got to Denny, he turned right, traveling east. As he ventured homeward, he passed Cal Anderson Park “As I proceeded to walk,” says Brooks, “[a] police officer shined his flashlight on me, and he asked me stop.” He says the officer requested identification; Brooks handed it over. Then, he says, the officer spoke into the microphone attached to his shoulder strap, saying something to the effect of, “I think we have a suspect here.”

Asked by a number of officers where he was coming from, Brooks says he told them SCCC. Then he says he heard one officer say they wanted to bring the victim by. That’s when Brooks, a Black man who’s called Seattle home since 1980, says he began to get worried.

Soon afterwards, a squad car pulled up. Brooks says he couldn’t see through the glass, but heard a female voice say, “Affirmative.”

Brooks says after that he was handcuffed. When he asked what the crime was, he says he was shocked to hear the officer’s response: “Attempted rape and assault.”

He was read his rights, he says. Then he was placed in the back of a squad car and driven to the East Precinct, where he was held for an hour and a half. From there, he was taken to King County Jail. Given scrubs to wear, Brooks says he visited a nurse, and after having his blood pressure taken and responding to a few of her questions, he was placed - for no reason he can determine - on suicide watch.

The next afternoon, in court at a first appearance, a judge, upon examining a police report determines whether there’s probable cause in an alleged charge - bond was set for $25,000. Unable to raise the funds (Brooks works as a dishwasher at Elysian Fields in SoDo, bringing home $9 an hour), he was left to share a cell with close to 20 others, where he remained, until he was eventually released on Feb. 8. No charges were filed at the time.

All told, from the moment Brooks was picked up to the moment he was set free, he’d been held for just shy of 72 hours.

That was over a month ago.

But for Brooks, the humiliation and confusion surrounding those three days remains fresh. He says he’s got questions for the police. “I want to know why I was arrested, and why I had to stay in there so long,” says Brooks. “And why I was just dropped off in the system.”

To help ferret out answers, Brooks has obtained pro bono legal assistance from Sunil Abraham, staff

attorney at the Racial Disparity Project, which sits within the Defender Association. Abraham says that they’ve tried to obtain a copy of the incident report from the police in order to view their perspective. But they were informed, says Abraham, with the case still being open, that the only way to release the report is for Brooks’ legal counsel to initiate a discovery process. But such an undertaking, counters Abraham, represents a Catch-22 as Brooks would have to be charged with a crime in order for the discovery process to be set in motion.

“It’s not clear what it’s going to take [to obtain the report],” says Abraham, who adds that Brooks has written to the police specifically requesting parts of the report that pertain directly to him.

A media relations officer for the SPD says police investigators have sent the case across the street, to the prosecutor’s office. Senior deputy prosecuting attorney Dan Donohoe acknowledges his office has received the case and that it’s under review. As there’s still some follow-up investigation going on, Donohoe says, as of March 20th, that no decision has been made as to whether charges will be filed.

Abraham says that even though Brooks was told he was not being charged at the time, he wonders what will happen if Brooks, at any time in the future, is arrested again. Will the arrest be expunged from his record, or, asks Abraham, “Is this incident going to come back to haunt him?”

Haunting Brooks now are his feelings over how he was treated during those three days from arrest to

The Verdict is in. Streetvibes ROCKS!

s ibe v t ee Str

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Answers To Soduko Puzzle on Page 6

release. He says that when he was being driven to the East Precinct during which time Brooks says an officer commented that he had a “squeaky clean record” - he suggested to the officers they take him to SCCC, to have someone in the computer center verify he’d just been there. “But that never happened,” says Brooks.

Even with all his concerns, including the monetary strain produced by two days’ lost wages, Brooks says he wants people to know about what happened to him, so that people are aware how race played a part in his arrest. “I want people to know,” says Brooks, “that innocent Black men and AfricanAmerican men in the community are being stopped for nothing and just being taken off to jail.”

Seattle police picked up but never charged Michael Brooks, 62, who spent three days in the King County Jail on the basis, he says, of his race.

Quotes Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience... therefore [individuals] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring.”

- Nürnberg International Military Tribunal “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” - Plato “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.” - Ben Franklin “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” - Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

Federal Minimum Wage Increase Gains Momentum

by David Lohr The November elections were a resounding success for advocates of increasing the minimum wage nationwide, with six states passing ballot measures for a wage hike and Democrats taking control of Congress. Citizens in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio voted to raise their states’ wages above the federal minimum of $5.15 per hour set in 1997, with annual increases tied to inflation.

Established by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the federal minimum wage has not been raised in nearly a decade, the longest period without an increase since its inception.

Adjusted for inflation, the rate is at its lowest since 1955, and its purchasing power has decreased 20% in the last 10 years, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI). In fact, an employee working 40 hours per week year-round would earn just $10,712 at the current rate; the federal poverty threshold for a family of four is $19,157.

Still, only 28 states plus the District of Columbia will have minimum wages over the federal level in 2007.

With voter opinion surging in favor of the changes, Congressional

Democrats want to raise the federal minimum wage to $7.25 per hour over the next two years.

Congressman-elect Keith Ellison (DMinn.) told the Minnesota Daily in November that a wage increase should not even be a debate because it goes to the core of our values.

“In America, there is a sort of social contract that says if you work hard and play by the rules, you can get ahead,” Ellison said. “Raising the minimum wage makes sense.”

According to the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit think tank in Washington, D.C., a raise to $7.25 would have a tremendous impact on “disadvantaged” workers, the segment of the population who needs it the most. The institute’s research shows that the benefits of the increase help the poorest segment of the working class the most. While the households in the bottom one-fifth of wage earnings only make up 5% of national income, 38% of the minimum wage increase benefits would go to these workers.

Supporters of the increase argue that, while it is a step in the right direction, much more needs to be done to bolster the low-income American worker. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform

Cincinnati Youth Empowerment Program Gets Proclamation conversation with a request From Mayor minute that Mayor Mallory proclaim April

by Lynne Ausman Cincinnati Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) has been meeting on a regular basis. At the last Mayor’s Night In, homeless youth and advocates spoke with Mayor Mallory about youth homelessness in Cincinnati. The youth ended the five

20, 2007 as “Youth Empowerment Day.” Mayor Mallory gladly accepted this request. The proclamation states: Be It Proclaimed: Whereas, between 30 and 35 percent of all homeless

Now (ACORN), the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, organizes campaigns nationwide lobbying for higher minimum and living wages.

“On November 7th, we did the job that Congress refused to do by taking a pay raise to the people,” ACORN President Maude Hurd said. “We want elected officials at all levels to pay attention to the mandate that voters laid down: hard working families deserve a better deal—that should be the first order of business.”

Small business owners, however, are not happy with the changes. According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), raising the minimum wage will result in job losses as small businesses, responsible for two-thirds of the new jobs created nationwide, struggle to absorb the increased labor costs.

Randel K. Johnson, U.S. Chamber of Commerce vice president for labor, immigration and employee benefits agrees. “Small businesses cannot simply wave a magic wand to create more revenue when lawmakers pass these types of bills,” Johnson said. “It is these businesses, the backbone of our economy, which will be hurt the most by this proposal.”

According to David Neumark, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, an increased minimum wage would act as a tax of sorts on the use of

unskilled workers, so employers who do not want to pay unskilled workers more than current wages would simply replace them with more qualified individuals.

“Policies that encourage employers to hire low-skilled workers, that encourage work and most importantly that raise skill levels, need to be considered as essential components of the policy mix,” he said.

While being forced to pay a higher wage may cause employers to be more selective in their hiring, other leading scholar’s dispute arguments that increased wages will lead to a decrease in jobs.

In October, 650 leading economists, including five Nobel Prize winners, released a statement through the Economic Policy Institute in support of the proposed federal increase. “[T]he minimum wage helps to equalize the imbalance in bargaining power that low-wage workers face in the labor market …,” they wrote. “While controversy about the precise employment effects of the minimum wage continues, research has shown that most of the beneficiaries are adults, most are female, and the vast majority is members of low-income families.”

Though there is research to support both sides of the minimum wage debate, if November’s election is any indication, wages will likely continue to rise nationwide as the movement gains public support.

individuals in Cincinnati are youth between the ages of zero and twenty-four; and, Whereas, Cincinnati’s youth who experience homelessness are among the most vulnerable of becoming homeless adults and empowering these youth will greatly reduce this vulnerability; and, Whereas, Cincinnati Youth Empowerment Program will enable homeless youth to be their own self-advocates and develop leadership and teamwork skills; and, Whereas, the City has an enhanced image because of their acknowledgement, understanding, and concern of the barriers which homeless youth face and the City has given its support for the Cincinnati Youth Empowerment Program; and, Whereas, the youth involved with the Cincinnati Youth Empowerment Program have demonstrated a passion and a desire to help each other overcome homelessness through advocacy and community service; and, Whereas, the Cincinnati Youth Empowerment Program

members also have a desire to make Cincinnati a safer, better community for all its citizens, but especially youth citizens; and, Whereas, today April 20, 2007, the Cincinnati Youth Empowerment Program will be hosting a peaceful rally to inform the public about youth who experience homelessness and poverty.

Now, Therefore, I, Mark Mallory, Mayor of the City of Cincinnati do hereby proclaim April, 20, 2007 as “Youth Empowerment Day” in Cincinnati.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused this seal of the City of Cincinnati to be affixed this fourteenth day of March in the year Two Thousand and Seven.

Streetvibes

Cincinnati YEP meeting is every other Thursday at 5:30pm at Elementz. Elementz is on the corner of Liberty and Central Parkway. All youth are welcome to attend our next meeting on April 12, 2007.

Check out the Cincinnati YEP Myspace page at: www.myspace.com/ youth_empowerment_program,

Page 11

Streetvibes Vendor Code of Conduct All Vendors Sign and Agree to a Code of Conduct Report Any Violations to GCCH - 421-7803 1. Streetvibes will be distributed 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.

Vendors must not tell customers 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 $5.00 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

Printing and Production: 25 cents

About the Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and Streetvibes....

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 earned. This program has helped

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...

Buy STREETVIBES! Check Vendors Badge

Don’t be Squirrelly!

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.

Buy Streetvibes!

Page 12

Streetvibes

Gordon Maham – A Man of Peaceful Intent

by Mary Ann Lederer Gordon Maham is an organic farmer; a retired civil engineer; an inventor; a collector of junk which he rebuilds and recycles; an animal lover and protector; a vegetarian; an environmentalist; a widower; a father of 4 and grandfather of 2. He is one of the kindest, most gentle people I have ever known. And he is the only person I know personally who really knows how to live in peace and harmony with nature, how to live directly from the land. He knows how to survive there, and he treats insects and buzzards with the same love and respect he shows all people.

He has a disposition that never ceases to amaze. He spends almost no money on himself, gives to anyone in need and then gives more. At age 89 (90 in January, 2007) he continues to work actively for a peaceful planet and a kinder distribution of resources.

It’s over 45 years since Gordon Maham choose to spend 3 years in Ashland Federal Prison by refusing to report for induction into the military. He had registered for the draft as a conscientious objector, but the draft board refused to grant him C.O. status.

He took several military jobs that he hoped would be of peaceful intent, one building the Panama Canal, another with the Manhattan Project. He did this to avoid the draft board. When he realized the Manhattan Project in Oakridge, Tennessee was actually a nuclear bomb production plant, he quit. He

made the decision that a jail sentence was preferable. Now he returns frequently to Oakridge to continue his protest against nuclear weapons.

Since that time he has lived a wonderful life in sync with his heart and his conscience.

Gordon is the most helpful person I’ve ever known. He has long lists of people he helps with all kinds of problems.

For a number of years he built me a vegetable garden every summer to help me with health problems.

Brian Garry describes Gordon as “a person who has taught me how to live correctly… a measuring stick…almost perfection. Buy nothing. Stop the bomb. Who cares what others think. Kindness.

Gentlest. Utterly peaceful. Anti war, anti racist, anti-war on the poor. Anti roots of homelessness, anti-poverty.

Peaceful Planet Person…child friendly. Mac’s right hand man.”

Gordon helped me home school my son. He teaches me how

to laugh, how to get along with people.

I’ve traveled with him around the country to DC, New York, Tennessee and Georgia spreading the message of peace and non-violence.

Gordon is a true example of a life well lived for others. An inspiration, a shining beacon for us all.

Gordon believes in helping others. He helps people with: food for the hungry, (he grows it himself (organically!) friendship to the friendless, love for the loveless, homes for the homeless (literally) has bought people homes and kept many from becoming homeless, including me! Clothes for the naked. Helps the violent with non-violence, the penniless with money from his small monthly social security checks – he spends the entire amount each month on people in need, he offers joy to the depressed, visits to those locked up, shut-in, in the hospital or in nursing homes. If he has a fault it’s in helping others too much. Gordon also recruits others in

his mission to help and serve. In the past I’ve described him as “a person who has taught me how to live correctly… a measuring stick…almost perfection. Buy nothing. Stop the bomb. Who cares what others think?

Gordon has meant the world to me. Edging me to do the right thing when I’m being tested or tempted to do something not so right. Like an Angel he calls at the opportune moment to step in, as if from God. He calls this serendipity, although lately he has been calling it Psychic.

He has a supernatural relationship with animals, buzzards, horses, cats, birds, Great Horned Owls, and Coyotes all of which he feeds, Gordon is sent from God. We’ve built squirrel habitats, healed horses, and attended funerals, he testified at my trial. He has had me help him in his mission of serving those he cares for, driving all over the country-side for their sake.

He especially enjoys the company of people coming to weed the Garden, Garden Gordon. In a sense that’s what Gordon does, he weeds out that which is bad or unnecessary in us and in the world and all that is left are beautiful helpful productive things to grow in our hearts and in the world So if you want to do something for him or spend time in his company then stop by and weed the Garden figuratively or literally.

‘Black Widows’ to stand trial for murder of homeless men LOS ANGELES - Helen Golay, 76 and Olga Rutterschmidt, 74, have been dubbed the “Black Widows” for the scheme, which allegedly saw them befriend two homeless men and take out life Insurance policies on them before having them killed.

Los Angeles Superior Court judge David Wesley said after a four-day preliminary hearing there was enough evidence for the two pensioners to stand trial on murder and conspiracy charges.

The women are alleged to have killed Kenneth McDavid, 50, in

June 2005 and Paul Vados, 73, in November 1999, according to prosecutors. Both men died in hitand-run crashes.

Prosecutors told the court Golay and Rutterschmidt paid rent on behalf of the two men along with life insurance premiums for two years in order to create the impression of close ties to their victims.

The women lied to insurance investigators about their relationship with the dead men, claiming to be a fiancé or a cousin in several cases, in order to secure multiple insurance policies, prosecutor Shellie Samuels

said.

Lawyers for the women had called for the case to be dismissed, claiming that the evidence of “inappropriate insurance practices” did not prove involvement in the victim’s deaths.

The women are alleged to have killed Kenneth McDavid, 50, in June 2005 and Paul Vados, 73, in November 1999, according to prosecutors. Both men died in hitand-run crashes.

Prosecutors told the court Golay and Rutterschmidt paid rent on behalf of the two men along with life

insurance premiums for two years in order to create the impression of close ties to their victims.

The women lied to insurance investigators about their relationship with the dead men, claiming to be a fiancé or a cousin in several cases, in order to secure multiple insurance policies, prosecutor Shellie Samuels said.

Lawyers for the women had called for the case to be dismissed, claiming that the evidence of practices” did not prove involvement in the victim’s deaths.

Program helps homeless cope GASTONIA, N.C. — Project Connect began in San Francisco and quickly spread to cities across the nation. On Friday, Gastonia held its own version, giving the area’s homeless one place to find services they need to get back on their feet.

From haircuts to services, food, clothes and just a person to talk to, Project Connect had it all under one roof at First United Methodist Church.

“We’re trying to help the homeless find jobs, get back on their feet, find housing and get them back in the mainstream of life,” said Gastonia Mayor Jennie Stultz.

From haircuts to services, food, clothes and just a person to talk to, Project Connect had it all under one roof at First United Methodist Church.

Stultz says the city has a 10-year plan to end homelessness and

Project Connect is just part of the agenda. It has proven successful in other cities across the country.

National statistics show that 1 percent of any community can be calculated as homeless. Stulz says right now many people she encounters are working poor who can’t afford rent, and that needs to change.

Wanda Stevens says although she has a home, she still

Streetvibes

struggles, but events like this give her hope.

“Everything is just so high, it’s hard for people to make it,” she said.

Gastonia plans to put together another event like this in October. Asheville held Project Connect in December.

Project Connect also works hard in Cincinnati to provide services to homeless youth.

Page 13

Without Blues WRITTEN FOR THE THREE HOMELESS WOMEN WHO LOST THEIR LIVES TO A SERIAL KILLER IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON We come today contrite yet compelled, confused yet confident, alone and in pain.

In this the process of healing we are the puzzles whose pieces have vanished, we are the Jesters whose antics mask pain.

We are the ghostly stampede of dying Buffalos across the arid plains mammoth and unruly, furied and bold, majestic and free.

Cabin Fever Virginia Conn I’m freezing, so I tack flannel sheets under the blinds, discovering the frost has resurrected the finger oils of someone named Linda. Twice the precise lettering appears, well out of reach of a child’s hand.

The window overlooks the street.

I’ve stood there, impatient for mail or visitors, yet this is the first I’ve heard from her. I scan my studio for other traces, blaming her for the erratic nails, especially one eye level screw, dead center, that no painting hangs from comfortably.

I start to attribute other mischief We do not die easily to her; misplaced keys and night knocks, but bellow out in rage the names of slain ancestors then fear she may be trapped, the bitter who speak from darkened dreams of more glory-full days. cold compelling her to contact me. ”I never got out. It never warmed up.”

We I keep checking the pane for further word. are not dead but merely unseen.

I remind myself: It is winter everywhere.

On shadowy mountains, along desolate rivers, Outside, Buffalo trudges past, layered in amongst fleeting consciousness and the kindness of clothes like shuck on corn. Like that screw, strangers an act of defiance, Linda versus concrete, these ghost-like spirits run free. in relief of the wide white wall.

Lonnie Nelson For all those who have seen drugs, alcoholism and abuse tear their families apart.

Without the stub of crocus, the breeze through cedar and hills to climb in the soft light of January I would be lost.

Without the picket lines’ “How you doing?”— friends sitting around at the table while November rains, I would wash away in tears.

Without my pencil, the work that must be done, the brothers and sisters in the strong August sun, I would go over the edge.

Wolf

The Soup Song A depression era song, to the tune of “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”.

Words updated by Ruth A. Fox I’m spending my nights in the shelter, I’m spending my days on the street, I’m looking for work and I find none, I wish I had something to eat.

Soo-oop, soo-oop, they give me a bowl of soo-oooop.

Soo-oop, soo-oop, they give me a bowl of soup!

I spent twenty years in the fact’ry, I stayed home and raised up the kids.

My man beat me one time to often; I left him and then hit the skids.

Galaxie You could call me a night owl, or you could think of me as the wolf. You won’t see me much during the day, but alas, when you are asleep, I’ll be there in your dreams, sometimes to comfort, sometimes to torment you, for I am your nightmares. I am your dreamscapes, I am the things that you fear and fail to understand. I am the night, I am the darkness. I come and I take away the pain, though I can also make it worsen. Do not cross the night.

Because the night, like the wolf, has no fear of the dark.

by Kris Schon To Be, to Become To be, to become to believe in yourself the inner voice that propels you forward Soo-oop, soo-oop, they give me a bowl of soo-oo- a waterfall of wisdom of life oop. fears and rejections Soo-oop, soo-oop, they give me a bowl of soup! triumphs and tragedies I fought in the war for my country, laughter and hope I went out to bleed and to die; belly button stuff I thought that my country would help me, the main course But this is my country’s reply: at life’s banquet for those wishing to attend.

Soo-oop, soo-oop, they give me a bowl of soo-oo- grateful are the many who stand firm oop. in a brisk breeze Soo-oop, soo-oop, they give me a bowl of soup! head up, eye to eye I fell on my knees down at Welfare; with the dragon.

I swore to be honest and good; Flickering stars I begged them to renew my benefits; candles lit And now I’ve received my award. from your strength your courage Soo-oop, soo-oop, they give me a bowl of soo-oo- your hope your faith, burning on. oop.

MOON art by Darcie Day If, in a moment frantic my mad beauty, I, tiny moan could see you then, when it felt honeyful live, ache, drunk still after love.

My delirious goddess we worship a moon lake rain and blue; The summer gift.

A woman some enormous power less part delicate sleep.

Soo-oop, soo-oop, they give me a bowl of soup!

Page 14

Streetvibes

Sycamore on the Ohio Gaunt and precarious, a sycamore leans out over the winter Ohio.

In the flood season, when the waters tear at the banks, the black reptilian bodies of oak, cottonwood, catalpa float downstream, half-submerged.

But this sycamore holds fast, for now, its place in the earth.

The roots on the eroded river side reach out, dig their mottled heels in the sand, and brace themselves among the beds of the mussels and the gravelly nests where catfish spawn.

Stripped bare by the floods, these roots are like the granite buttresses of cathedrals or, like great vegetal pythons, or, like the knees of gods at rest.

Behind them, the bank side roots, curtained in silt, set out to explore the interstitial corridors of the subsoil.

They cast their nets wide in the darkness.

They pass along the stations of the mole and follow the paths of the worm and the nematode.

They sift with their white fingers through the mineral amalgam of sand, leafmeal, shell, fish scale, rusted hook, and chips of mica.

They penetrate the caskets of clay and tell no secrets.

They press into the crevices of the layered limestone and trace the flutes of the scalloped fossil.

They pore over shards of the Adena, splinters of brick, and fragments of broken glass polished like discarded jewels.

They pry among the bones of the hanged man and touch, as if it were a relic, the pierced heart of someone’s drowned daughter,

This is where it begins...

Second Home

Madeline Lewis When you call me YELLOW, WIMP, FINK (this feels like abuse) I will forgive you When you call me SNAKE, SLIME, WORM (this feels like abuse) I will forg i v e

Stan Buriss (Thanksgiving Day ’97) to: Planet Hollywood Folks & Restaurant You could stand. Then you would stand alone! Not without friends, you understand—with

When you call me CLOD, CLOWN, C#$% (this feels like abuse) I will turn When you call me PIG, SLOB, SLUT (this feels like abuse) I will turn away When you call me WHORE (this feels like (IS) abuse) I will turn away from you

this circle beneath your eyes, far from a real center. Broken from the ends! Sharp, where the best ends are broken for the last time (if you call it the last). Only then, if you use your real name.

Is this how you treat your women, children, people surely I’m not the first, nor will I be the last will the next issue become physical or perhaps someone will die I can not change the world do I even want to try maybe someday we can stop the lie

sing a song of violation equivocation demarcation supplication tribulation and truncation sing a song of subterfuge a deadly ruse loving abuse and splitting in twos and no way to choose sing a song of fighting free a warrior’s creed survival fees ptsd and healing mes.

Standing with Dignity Paul von Kempf, JR. Standing here with dignity waiting through all kinds of weather selling Real Change Newspaper Waiting for those smiling eyes hopeful wanting to be helpful to say paper please Can you see that your generosity is appreciated?

Standing here with dignity I see another kind of eyes Cold cruel and full of contempt Walking past me without seeing Taking the long way around Can you see my pain?

Change will come when that is your CHOICE I only have a VOICE Remember to look in the mirror and see the images of yourself in the labels you put on others

Do I jerk you out of your coccoon,when I say hello? do I jerk you back to reality?

When your words are used in haste you take the warm loving feelings I had and turned them cold you wonder why there is no response I turn in disbelief for it is of no use I did not deserve your ABUSE

Standing here with dignity I have time to reflect on why I am selling Real Change Newspaper In another time and another place I have had several jobs I have lost them to accident, illness, disease or my bigshot ideas Society deals harshly with people who have bigshot ideas where is the forgiveness?

It has nothing to do with forgiveness but of ABUSE

Battle Plan

I Shall Die

Heather’s Page

Jose Ornelas I am Indigenous. I am a conquered peoples, one of many. What next? Will I be bitter? Who will I try to conquer? My women, or child? You? No, brothers and sisters, I will surrender so that I may rise. Surrender to my hunger. Accept my humanity. Embrace...us. My nation became a gang, now it will be a nation again. Heart to heart Love to love one two three nations under a groove. We will marry each other and see all the children as our own. I am lucky because I am not the inheritor of the legacy of the overseer. I don’t hold the whip, I never did. When it is finished we will bury the past; weep for it and then sing for the future.

today I am standing here with dignity selling Real Change Newspaper Waiting for those smiling eyes to say paper please I hope you can see my gratitude for your generosity.

Berta’s Art Corner Uncovered Ceiling, Carew Tower, Cincinnati

Elizabeth Romero The woman coming toward you is trying to hang on.

You can see it in her eyes, her wary sidelong glance.

The woman coming toward you is trying to hang on.

Her clothes flap loosely in the wind.

Her red shoes clash.

The woman coming toward you carries the patient rage of her mother and her mother before that like that cracked plastic handbag.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Need Help or Want to Help?

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

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

Center 271-5501 Mary Magdalen House 721-4811 McMicken Dental Clinic 352-6363 Our Daily Bread 621-6364 Peaslee Neighborhood Center 621-5514 Project Connect Homeless Kids 357-5720 St. Vincent De Paul 562-8841 The Emergency Food Center 471-4357 Travelers Aid 721-7660 United Way 721-7900 VA Homeless 859-572-6226 Women Helping Women 872-9259

Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless

Kathy Y. Wilson ‘Poor Little Rich Me’

Guest Columnist

T

April 2007

Katrina Clean-up Continues

Cover Story

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