John Mellencamp and Friends! (Make that Family)
July 19, 2010Posted in: 0 Comments
John reading the PSA Scripts
On Thursday, July 15th we had the privilege to spend part of an afternoon with singer John Mellencamp during his tour stop in Windsor, Canada.
John shot two public service announcements for 1Matters and conducted a half hour interview for Toledo Streets. The interview will be made available to all the street papers nationwide through the National Association of Street Newspapers and the Street News Service.
It was a very small crew, two shooters, a grip, and my wife. We shot in the spare guest bedroom of his suite. John gave us about 40 minutes and we accomplished everything we planned, and more.
Dave Yonke with the Toledo Blade was invited by John’s publicist, Bob Merlis to cover the “making of.”
I will write more of the full experience later, but I wanted to put down some quick impressions.
- He just cares, plain and simple. Always has, always will. Since his first band at age 14, his entire career he has been standing up for justice for all. Look at today. What else explains why John Mellencamp took time to help a group of nobodies (compared to United Way, Habitat, or <name a national group here>), who happen to simply love, help, care, and protect a group of people who many consider ”nobodies.” 1Matters!
- John is rigorously honest. During the interview, he called himself a hypocrite just because his view has changed on authority since he wrote about it when he was 20. Hey, who hasn’t changed? We all change our view on things as we get more information, especially the wisdom provided by age. Later at the show he said “I don’t do encores, they are fake and just too pretentious.”
- John is funny. ”I wish young John would have had more respect and concern for old John. Some of the notes in some of the songs young John wrote are very hard for old John to hit.”
John is all about family. You don’t just see it. You feel it. Everywhere. From his beaming with pride talking about his sons to the team around him. Guitarist Mike Wanchic has been with John 35 years. Road Manager Harry Sandler has been with John for 20 years. In a testament to family, Harry’s daughter, Emilie, is on this tour and was the first person greeting us. In fact Harry came out his two-year retirement and the start of his photography passion just to do this tour with John.
In fact, the entire Team Mellencamp is a team of just damn great people.
Nothing gets to an artist until it has been thoroughly researched and vetted by his team.
Gratitude goes to his personal manager, Randy Hoffman who we met oh-so-briefly in 2007. He is the one we contacted two months ago about the idea and who first thought this venture might be worth looking at so he passed it on to John’s publicist, Bob Merlis who called us less than an hour after we sent our email to Randy and told us John had been very touched by his experience at Tent City and talked about it often.
Bob Merlis gets special recognition here. He is where the kind heart of Team Mellencamp started for us. “Bow-Tie Bob” as I came to call him, is a record industry veteran after 30 years at Warner Bros., a blues expert and fan, and someone who just plain gives a rip about all people too. Thank you Bob!
Lastly, John’s internet guru Tony Buechler has been a huge resource and help all along.
Having been a comedian so many years I recognize the contribution the team around an artist makes. And I have found the artist’s team reflects the values of the artist. Our request was passed on to John because our efforts are part of his values.
These teams around the artist never want any recognition as it detracts from their artist. But in this case they are such an important part of the family feeling we experienced from beginning and through out that it was something critical to this story.
They made us feel, well, at home. 1Matters.
But away from all of this, here is the bottom line:
HUD’s recent report and strategic plan, “Opening Doors” reported on the average night 640,000 are unhoused, without domestic autonomy in shelters and on the streets.
Next month every single one of those 640,000 will know they all are 1 who matters to those who care to matter.
Next month John will be talking to each and every 1 of them directly in the nation’s street papers.
His message?
You Matter.
1Matters Tent City Meeting
The next Tent City meeting is this Wednesday the 21st @ 7:00 pm at Red Cross HQ, 3100 W. Central. If you have a desire to help build something that matters, join us!
Tent City 2010 Meetings & Updates
May 14, 2010Posted in: 0 Comments
First, the next Tent City organizing meeting is this Wednesday, May 19th. These meetings are held at 7:00 pm at the Red Cross on Central, just east of Secor. For those wanting to help, come on out. We have many new things we are looking to add this year, such as an increase in service delivery, a walk-a-thon, special concerts, comedy benefits, (of course) and more for this year.
Our ability to accomplish any of these will depend on our ability to engage new volunteers. We hope you will come out or email us if you want to get engaged and matter to those who matter.
So many more updates, the board business, the homeless protection ordinance, Toledo Streets, Food for Thought.
The Board Business
In our last episode the TLC Board had engaged in an attempt to remove me from the board for daring to ask if taking a job at FOCUS after allocating the funds for that job to FOCUS was a conflict of interest.
They cancelled the attempt to remove me when it became clear they would only get half the votes they needed. They deferred the conflict question to the Ohio Department of Development which predictably ruled there was no conflict BUT the board should fix a couple things in their conflict of interest policy.
There has been a dramatic shift with the majority of the board now able to see the real problem, and they have sided with both forming the group of unhoused to look at our systems and having an open process in the allocation of federal funds.
I think the concern shown by the community and the media about this issue surprised them and made it very clear to the leadership that an open process is demanded which brings the community together.
Creating and funding a system that is expertly proficient in returning any member of our community who becomes unhoused for any reason, back to domestic autonomy should our highest priority.
The rest is mice nuts.
Homeless Protection Legislation
It’s official, Ohio House bill 509 was introduced this week. It is co-sponsored locally by Representative Barbara Sears. This is the bill both our city council and county commissioners passed resolutions of support. Giving credit where due, thank you Tom Waniewski for getting it into council, co-sponsored by Joe McNamara, Lindsay Webb, George Sarantou, and Tina Wosniak for getting it on the commissioner’s agenda. All council people and commissioners were unanimous in their support. Thank you all.
Last time this bill died on the vine. With 15 representatives sponsoring and co-sponsoring, we are certain it will get heard.
The hearings are yet to be scheduled. As Teresa Fedor is working for the same bill in the state senate we are hoping to arrange joint testimony.
Credit for this statewide goes to Brian Davis with the Northeast Ohio Coalition with the Homeless and Rep Mike Foley for getting this to the table in the first place.
Why do we have to do this? This link is an example of why. Because 1Matters.
Toledo Streets
So rare it is for newspapers to report (positively) on other papers. But that is exactly what is happening with Toledo Streets. The Toledo Blade, the Toledo Free Press, and now the Toledo City Paper all have done stories.
This speaks to how great our community really is! Competitors have no problem coming together to support a great cause.
You can too. Amanda is selling advertising space in Toledo Streets. Ad rates run from $35 to $400 for a full page color ad. I am sure your church, group or business would love to support such a good cause.
Food for Thought
Huge congratulations to Food for Thought for getting recognized for the great work they do from the Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organization’s Nonprofit Excellence Award! This is another great group you can support in every way!
Updates
February 12, 2010Posted in: 0 Comments
Clothing Your Community!
CYC is this weekend. Many of our Tent City volunteers will be working all weekend as personal shoppers guiding guests to the clothing they need.
If you know someone needing clothing it is not too late to sign up. Have them call united way 211.
Board Update
Sorry for the delay in reporting back but as you can imagine I have been more than busy.
As reported the TLC Board tabled the removal motion and instead passed a motion to send this to a committee to get an outside organization like United Way look at the operations.
This was their only move as they did not have the votes. Out of 12 members voting they needed 11 votes to remove me. Had they voted and lost it would have sent a message they did not want to hear.
Some board members expressed surprise; even resentment the media was there. I’m not sure how they can be surprised as we have demonstrated and communicated a controlled process of conflict escalation.
First we go to the board chair, then the executive committee, then the entire board, then my constituencies (the unhoused and public), and finally a power greater than the board.
At each step they were advised them of the next step, including notifying the public for consideration of their actions.
Things are pretty black and white. Hud regulations are pretty clear.
Try this, take away the names of the agencies: You cannot allocate funds to an agency and then take a job at that agency “benefiting” from that allocation.
The fact the board leadership thinks this is ok, and the fact the board does all they can to keep their activities secret is not acceptable to the unhoused and taxpayers.
I pray now for new board leadership with a policy of openness and inclusion.
There were about 20 supporters of the unhoused at the meeting, half able to get away from their jobs and the other half were actually unhoused. I have to say how much that support meant, how much strength that support gives me personally, and even more strength to the argument this is not about me, it is about the community.
I need to share what was the coolest part of all of this. After the meeting several of our unhoused friends were asking, “What is our next step?”
They want to continue to be engaged! How cool is that! Gary Bond has followed up and is helping to organize the group.
I have been contacted by several service providers who are thankful for taking on the issue, as well as the leaders of other very high profile community organizations. All are telling us to press forward because the conflict of interest is certain.
We will be challenging the board and working for real change. It is clear to us a change of leadership is required.
And we will be sure there is openness and accountability.
Homeless Protection Legislation
Two weeks ago we held a homeless protection summit in Cincinnati. About 20 people from across the state attended. Michael Stoops with the National Coalition for the Homeless, Brian Davis with the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless and I were presenters.
Sadly while we were there Josh Spring from the Cincinnatti Coalition had to leave the forum to deal with a tragic event that happened the night before. A man walked up to an unhoused individual and without provocation attacked our friend, body slamming him to the ground and beating him mercilessly. The Cinci police said it was the worst beating they have ever seen when the victim did not die. He is slowly coming out of an induced coma. There is not enough bone left unbroken in his face for reconstruction.
It was video taped by a security camera and the man who did it has been captured in Las Vegas.
Why? Why? Why? What sick pathology causes one to just beat another human being to near death with no provocation, for no reason?
Fortunately we have a caring local community who will not accept such behavior. Our City Council and County Commisoners have expressed their feelings with resolutions asking the state to enact a homeless protection/hate crimes ordinance.
We have had conversations with our local state legislators and will have a public announcement soon. We believe this announcement will be the introduction of such a bill in the state house and state senate, most likely with some local legislators co-sponsoring this bill.
A million times over the past 20 years I have said how good, compassionate giving our community is. This has been consistently exemplified by the amazing volunteers, donors, and political leaders who demonstrate they care. How lucky we are to have leadership that too walks that walk of compassion. All of this is what makes Toledo, Toledo!
Yes, there is other crap going on but we always have to look past that and come together to be who we are and do what we do.
Because 1Matters.
February 4, 2010Posted in: 0 Comments
Homelessness Board Attempts to Remove Watchdog
I am posting this to answer some of the questions people have.
Yes, a “special meeting” of the Toledo Lucas County Homelessness Board (TLC) is scheduled for 1:30 pm Friday, 2/5 at the new United Way building in an attempt to remove me from the board.
The reason?
After failing with the TLC board chair Paul Tecpanecatl, I sent an email to the entire board asking them to look into what I believe to be a blatant case of conflict of interest.
I asked the board to look into the last minute appointment by Deb Conklin, TLC’s part time director and former executive director of FOCUS, of Paula Lewis – chair of the Toledo Area Alliance to End Homelessness (TAAEH) and a current TLC Board member – to the federal Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing grant’s Citizens Review Committee (CRC). That committee then allocated lead funds to FOCUS and thereafter FOCUS hired Lewis to manage those same funds.
What you think?
Not only does this violate the board’s conflict of interest policy, it also clearly violates HUD rule 24 CFR Part 85, Section 85.36(b)(3),
<< “Code of Conduct”: No employee, officer or agent of the grantee or sub-grantee shall participate in selection, or in the award or administration of a contract supported by Federal funds if a conflict of interest, real or apparent, would be involved. Such a conflict would arise when: (i) The employee, officer or agent; (ii) Any member of his immediate family; (iii) His or her partner; or (iv) An organization which employees, or is about to employ, any of the above, has a financial or other interest in the firm selected for award.>>
Fact is I am on this board to represent the interests of the unhoused and YOU the community. I’m not that smart, but I’m thinking that kind of behavior is wrong.
Apparently the chair of the board didn’t think so because instead my email to the board was returned an hour later by Paul notifying me of the intent to remove me for “cause”.
I think this is “cause” they don’t want to be held accountable. Rather than address the issue they are trying to make this issue about me.
My concerns are not personal, they are just fact. Fact is pure. Fact it is not personal.
What do they think my motive is? I am not involved in social services, I seek no money, I seek no power, I get no benefit here other then assuring everything we do keeps in mind the people we are supposed to be serving as well as the community. That’s all.
Put another way, I am not in the game: I am more like a line judge in the game. I know the rules to the game, I am very attentive to the game, and I only call faults when appropriate.
In 20 years of my service to the unhoused, this is the first time we have people in the game who don’t even care they fault.
They must think this conflict of interest is ok.
And they must think they have the votes to remove me from the board.
I hope not, but if I am honest, I think I am pretty fearless when it comes helping the unhoused. But this time it truly scares me. They are powerful and smart people. What if they succeed? Who will be there to call their faults?
When they officially notified me of the meeting they gave the “cause”. There were seven items listed. Six of them for “questioning” or “criticizing” privately or publicly, including here on 1Matters. The seventh was for inviting a reporter to a committee meeting.
Not one was for any kind of misrepresentation. In fact the initial issue that caused their response in the first place, the conflict of interest was not even mentioned!
One of the items on the list is the “continued questioning and accusations of our acting director’s decisions and alleged steering of contracts/funding to an agency where she was previously employed.”
Check this: In addition to getting the lead in the HPRP grant, FOCUS, the agency Ms. Conklin used to work for before she joined TLC in late 2007, went from the $116k in SHP funds FOCUS asked for in 2007 to the $1.2 million they got this year from the federal SHP funds.
While every single other agency went down as a percentage of the grant, FOCUS went from 8% to 30% of the grant.
I question this because as a board member I believe the community would agree that we need to be strategically developing the capacity of all agencies in town, not just one. I beleive our systems work only when all agencies who address all populations have the resources to be very good at what they do. Not just one agency.
I believe it is not only healthy, but even the JOB of any board of directors to question and if necessary criticize anything they see that might be out of balance.
I think they are so out of balance that they are out of control.
As I always do, I tried again to deal with these issues internally. Clearly they cannot police themselves so just maybe someone with real power needs to? I have no power, I am just calling double fault.
Is what they are doing really permissible in Toledo? Have our constructs of what is right and wrong become so perverted wrong looks right?
Don’t get me wrong, I think they are good people, I just think they are doing the wrong thing.
If you want to know who someone is, give them power. These behaviors do not represent the interests of the unhoused, the providers or the community. They represent the interests of a select few.
I hope you agree.
If you are reading this, I hope you will do something to matter.
