Couple Quick Things
February 27, 2008Posted in: 0 Comments
Community System
Sorry for the lack of posting lately. The bad thing about coming up with new ideas is they then need to be built and structured. This week has been about defining the 1Works program and the Refer7 concept.
After talking to Bill Kitson about tech stuff, all three UW databases are ASP’s, hosted in other cities. As the systems are owned by different companies, it will probably be impossible to “blend” them all together in real time, including Mental Health.
BUT, Jane Moore thinks data fields can be added to reflect some “uniform” qualifiers for each system aspect. Meaning the prison release users might have unique fields, mental health users other unique fields etc. This could allow them to “work together” on a data update basis. We will have a database Guru at the meeting Saturday am for advice.
As a reminder, the next 1Matters Saturday Morning meeting is this Saturday, the 1st, at 8.10 am. (yep, 8.10 am, not a typo). It is held this week at the United Way Building, 1 Stranahan Square.
Carty’s Letter…
Got a letter from Carty last week containing an article that appeared in the Detroit Free Press about poverty today. One of the major conclusions is despite all of the programs created for the poor, private sector jobs remains the best answer out of poverty.
A focus on creating jobs in high poverty areas (like1Works) as well as gentrification of neighborhoods, (like 1Works) are two primary staples implemented in the Step Up Savannah program in GA.
SUS encompasses the entire community on the plan, targeting certain high poverty neighborhoods. What I like about SUS is the homeless prevention aspects. Maybe someday, here in Toledo, civic leadership will take this charge.
Tent City 2008 — Planning Meeting March 26th
Tent City is set for October 31 – November 2nd of this year. Planning will be starting next month to make this the biggest and best year ever. Our first organizational meeting will be Wednesday, March 26th, 7 pm at the Red Cross HQ building, Central east of Secor. Spread the word!
Amazing!
February 18, 2008Posted in: 0 Comments
Incredible!
There is a group of people committed exclusively to the needs of the homeless who meet voluntarily on their own time every other Saturday morning, 8am at what we are now calling the 1Matters Saturday meetings.
Some of these people are the homeless or formerly homeless, some are Food for Thought volunteers who are helping the homeless, as well as several agencies serving the homeless in our community. A great round group of talent.
The mission of these meetings is simply to find ways to help more people get what they need to get off the streets and into autonomy. Our early success have been noted in the last post, and there is much more exciting work to do.
This past Saturday was one of the most incredible meetings I have ever attended in 17 years in this cause. The excitement in the room was literally palpable. It is not often one is involved in one of those “Eureka!” moments, but so it was.
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For the People!
February 13, 2008Posted in: 0 Comments
Why?
I got asked over the weekend why this campaign got started. Truth is it wasn’t planned, it just happened as the result of my significant frustration at the lack of inertia toward anything productive that actually helps the homeless. A large group of likeminded people from across the spectrum joined us in representing those that matter.
I won’t rehash it here, read this if you would like the history.
But to answer the question, the reason this all got started was because no one seemed accountable: accountable to the community, and accountable to the homeless. We (our incredible motley crew! lol) decided enough is enough, there has to be someone who safeguards their interests, who will speak for them when they are not heard.
1Matters was born.
From that beginning in December much good has happened. As a result of a town meeting with 100 plus homeless citizens:
- There is greater access to medical care including appointments, as well as a 1matters recruiting effort to find 14 doctors (1 for each shelter) as part of the Mildred Mayer Black Bag Project. With ACCESS as the problem, ACCESS is the solution. By having a doc for each shelter problems can be resolved in the “minor” status, as opposed to the emergency room when they become “major”. (If you are a doctor interested in hearing more, email Michelle Patterson, her email is michelle at 1Matters dot org.)
- We are working with the mental health system now to create better access to mental health care, especially medications.
- 1Mentors was born to provide literacy, GED, education, computer skills and online job application support and more on an individual basis.
Updates for Everyone
February 8, 2008Posted in: 0 Comments
First
Quick preface, sorry for the delay in posting. First that bug knocked me down for the count, which then meant trying to catch back up. Onward!
Housing First! Everything is pointing to the Housing First (HF) model as the most successful in helping t he homeless nationwide.
Housing First is an alternative to the current system of emergency shelter/transitional housing, which prolongs the length of time families stay homeless.
With HF the methodology is based on the belief that the vulnerable and at-risk homeless singles and families are more able to benefit from the social services support after they are stabilized in their own housing, rather than in a temporary/transitional shelter.
In the past month or so Carty sent me an article from the Wall Street Journal, Mike Badik with the city sent me this study, and other national and regional advocates point to housing first as a successful model. Here is a quick overview of HF. It is what is working.
It is time as a community that we focus our efforts on a coordinated response. A laser like focal point all of the community can buy into. Let’s say it together, Housing First!
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