Housing Second

Written by Ken on May 21, 2013. Posted in Uncategorized

In so many communities we see people, including families with children, involuntarily living - and dying - in cars, encampments, tent cities, and boxes on sidewalks.

We do not see this here in Toledo.

Yet.

Replacing the emotion of the current debate with logic and fact suggests the only reason we do not see people on the streets here is supply and demand. The supply of shelter beds has equaled the demand for those beds. (Except in the area of domestic violence, where there is a severe shortage.)

By annual physical count we precisely know both the supply and the demand. It is consistently about 1000 people; of which between 35% – 45% are families with children. Multiplied by the implied turnover rate of 2.8 times, about 2800 people per year lose housing and end up in the emergency and transitional shelters.

If you are new to the issue, emergency shelters are for crisis intervention and short term stabilization. They are the landing pads where YOUR children, relatives or friends, or even you will go when one loses housing due to fire, addiction, eviction, foreclosure, domestic violence, or just burnt bridges. Fact is most people in the shelters return to housing in less than 60 days. Transitional shelters are the in-patient houses where you want to send YOUR children, relatives, friends or even you to get sober, clean up, or otherwise get their act together.

The battles you are seeing unfold regarding funding are battles between two lines of thinking:

Housing First: Take all the money from the shelters and put it into rent to get people into apartments as fast as we can, then work on their issues.

Housing Second: A system that puts people FIRST so YOUR child, relative or friend has a safe place to be WHILE they find the expertise to deal with whatever issues they need to get rehoused.

As for Housing First, there is a big difference between theory and practice. Even the VA, which embraced the Housing First model with all of the resources of the federal government at its command, still takes 137 days for our veterans to get housed. And even with that some are referred to a shelter on a transitional basis for help with specific issues before being housed.

So then the questions needing to be asked are: How will they decide which of the 2800 individuals and families with children they will pay rent for? And where will these families go during the 137 days if all the family shelters are closed?

The solution is not one or the other, but rather a balance. But balance is not on the table, they only put de-funding the shelters on the table. I have been a volunteer for this cause for 23 years, and as a CEO and philanthropist provided the startup funding for many programs including the startup funds for the Toledo Lucas County Homelessness Board. The board was intended to bring the community together like we do with Tent City, not tear it apart. Since 2008, we have seen the gradual increase of pillaging federal funds intended to help those on the streets. These funds have been diverted to fund city departments, CDC’s, development, and this year the Homelessness Board itself. Historically, an objective Citizens Review Committee (CRC) evaluates CDBG proposals and recommends the funding for each. Last year the recommendations of both the CRC and the City of Toledo review committees were abandoned and replaced with a funding scheme of unknown origin or logic.

City Council has courageously stepped in to keep the shelters funded because they saw the injustice of closing the shelters and the extrapolated inevitable outcome of the lack of supply for the demand – people living and dying in camps along the river. Thank you.

Ken

Going Within

Written by Abby Dudek on May 7, 2013. Posted in Uncategorized

“Within seeks to build awareness of homelessness young people in our community in order to inspire action and end the cycle of poverty meanwhile building bonds with each other and a deeper sense of neighborly love within our city.”

Many people around you and in your daily life deal with the hardships of poverty. So why is the stereotype of someone without domestic autonomy an old man who has dirt on his face? The truth is people from all different schools, cities, and work places can end up in the poverty cycle. This fact was brought to light by a young girl named Selena. Selena approached Ken after he told his story of being in the poverty cycle. She walked up to Ken and said, “Thank you for telling my story”. Selena is a sophomore in high school and also a basketball star. You would never know that most of her youth was spent moving from hotel to hotel and even sleeping in a car. After contact with Ken, Selena asked: Why isn’t there a program to reach out to homeless students? That is when Ken decided to start one, making Within a new chapter of 1Matters!

Ken reached out to three core service leaders from St. Ursula and St. John’s to be the heart of Within. This is a student run program to spread awareness and compassion to those within your school who go through the hardships of poverty. The ultimate goal is to have a Within chapter at each school in the Toledo Area. This way in each school there is a group of compassionate students giving a hand to those in need. Making the process as comfortable as possible, when someone reaches out to Within we will be there with nothing but love and open ears. Everyone’s story needs to be heard. When you are without shelter, without clothes, without school supplies, without showers, and without power; not to mention being with fighting, abuse, depression, and sickness: it is a lonely road. Within seeks to break the bridge our pockets define us by creating a school community where everyone has someone else’s back. Besides just being an ear or a shoulder the core team member can help by inviting him or her to check out some of the programs in the area that can help better the situation. Within is currently in the works! Our kick-off event will be hosted at EXclaim. Keep your eyes and ears out for us because we are coming Toledo!

Why is Within needed?

- On any given day 200,000 American children have no place to sleep

- 1,640 homeless students are in the Toledo Public Schools’ district

- 40% of the entire homeless population is under 18

- 42% of that population is under the age of 6

- Homeless youth are 16x more likely to be diagnosed with HIV and 7x more likely to die from AIDs

- 85% of homeless youth have a substance use disorder

- Within 48 hours of leaving their home 1/3 are lured into prostitution (the average age at 14)

- Homeless Youth are 2-3x more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted

- 47% of homeless youth have problems such as anxiety, depression, and withdraw

For more information, contact Abby at Abby [at] 1Matters [dot] org

In It Together

Written by Amanda on April 19, 2013. Posted in Uncategorized

Flag over Boston, MA by Global Jet on flickr, Creative Commons

When your day-to-day work is focused on the service of others, it’s easy to think you are living outside yourself, with a broader horizon than, perhaps, the average person. But even though our work includes assisting unhoused veterans as far away as Houston, it’s when things happen like with Boston and Texas that we really see we’re a part of a larger community, that the horizon is much broader than we usually see. We’re not the only ones who want the good in us to partner with the good in others and change things. Help people. Solve problems. Provide for justice.

This is a hard week for our country, but there’s still so much hope for us. We’re all in this together.

Just Us

Written by Amanda on April 10, 2013. Posted in Uncategorized

From the moment our founder, Ken Leslie, first heard the statistic in 1990 that 60% of the unhoused are families with children, the sheer wrongness of extreme poverty has prompted every action we’ve taken as first a loose collection of volunteers and then an organized nonprofit. Injustice has motivated us, and advocacy on behalf of the usually invisible and unheard is at the heart of our mission.

And we get really, really upset when people so casually discard our friends on the streets.

Most recently, one of our Toledo Streets vendors was denied access to an event because he was “homeless and didn’t deserve to go in with the other patrons.” (This after other unlawful behavior towards him – refusing to let him sell the street paper on public property near their establishment, which is how they labeled him as homeless.)

Now, in case you’re not familiar with the paper, or street papers in general, the publication itself is about advocacy. Our vendors - who sign up, receive training, and agree to a Code of Conduct - can sell this paper on public property to earn income to obtain domestic autonomy. We encourage vendors and others in poverty to contribute to have their voice heard, as well as printing articles regarding social issues. All of this to inform the community about our friends on the streets and the issues that affect them.

We believe (hope) the denial of access to the event was the work of a single individual. We are working privately on gathering more information about the situation, and hope to resolve this privately, before we share the name of the establishment (if we need to). We feel this is only fair to all parties involved.

However, when we posted on our Toledo Streets Facebook page about the incident, we received an outpouring of outrage. While we were sorry this ever happened, it was encouraging to see how many people realize how flat-out wrong this was, and how many people were ready to join us in advocacy.

Which brings us back to our point – advocacy. Besides quietly “educating” establishments and systems about every one’s right to public property, our everyday work is filled with spreadsheets, maintenance, social media, emails, phone calls, meetings, and all that goes on in any group that has a goal. (Ken calls it the crap we are forced to do to be able to help those we serve.) All of it needs done. People and projects and papers need organized. And we are organized to advocate on behalf of our vendors, our guests at Tent City, our unhoused veterans, and the countless others throughout the city that need our help.

We count it as our work to investigate this incident (and a couple others) – we are organizing for it; it has already been folded into our other responsibilities – just as all our other tasks are done to push us toward our goal of making sure our unhoused friends can achieve domestic autonomy WITH DIGNITY. Reminding everyone it is simple DIGNITY every single human being deserves. EVERY 1 Matters, right?

So here’s the crux of what I (Amanda) want to relate, and it’s not an easy thing for me to share. But this everyday work, including advocating wisely on our vendor’s behalf, is done by real people. All the unglamorous, behind-the-scenes work that needs done so we’re ready to shine a spotlight when these things happen, so we’re available to move immediately when injustice rears its ugly head. Both types of work need your support.

We may need your outrage to rally, to write emails and letters, to have your voice heard, to fight with us. We will definitely let you know when that is needed – we know you, too, love those we serve; otherwise you would not even be reading this. And you know we do not ever hold back when it comes to fighting for rights for all.

In the meantime, our everyday advocacy goes on – our everyday work encouraging another vendor not to give up (in business, or sadly, life); driving 20 papers to a vendor on the other side of town so he can have enough money to eat dinner tonight; celebrating with them when they reach another personal goal, then helping them set another; stopping panhandlers and giving them coupons to encourage them toward a more dignified way to earn income; reaching out to more businesses, organizations and individuals to make them aware of what our vendors are trying to do.

But we need your help to be able to continue all of this work. We hope you are incensed enough to turn your Facebook “likes” and outrage into supporting our work with your direct action. We would love to see as many people subscribing to the e-subscription version of the paper or coming to our benefit on May 2^nd (which supports our everyday advocacy) as are outraged and concerned about this incident. We pray you do.

Please also share our event to help us spread the word and get more people there - everyone who cares about the rights of those we serve – so we can have a stronger voice when we need to cry out.

Injustice exists in many forms – in person-to-person interactions, in policies, in laws, in economies, and beyond. Sometimes it seems too huge to battle, but change always happens in small increments, with the actions of each person who chooses to matter, 1 at a time. And that adds up.

Justice is simply Just Us.

Thank you for caring.

P.S. – Don’t be invisible. Don’t be unheard. Click here or here to help us continue to matter!

What Does it Take?

Written by Amanda on March 22, 2013. Posted in Uncategorized

Thursday night we had our second Tent City planning meeting of the year. You can look around the room and most there are “repeat offenders” – 2013 will not be their first Tent City. But there’s invariably some new folks, some of them for whom this is their first planning meeting. That will occur all year as word and invitations spread. By the time Tent City rolls around, we literally have hundreds of volunteers signed up to help. It’s mostly the mantra that is our tagline: Be 1 who matters to 1 who matters. Everybody gets that.

But 1Matters is more than a single weekend a year (and all the work that goes into making it so). If that weren’t the case, 1Matters would not need to exist. Tent City could simply be organized by the community under its own banner – after all, the event has a stronger “brand name” than 1Matters does. (Most people look clueless when I say I work for 1Matters, but when I describe us as the group that organizes Tent City, the light bulb pops on.)

1Matters exists because compassionate people are attracted to Tent City, and they want to continue the relationships they start at the event. They want to keep experiencing the power of being part of something bigger than their world. They want to linger within a community committed to the idea that every conversation, every action – even just showing up – and every simple kindness multiplies and overlaps for everyone to the point that lives are changed. They have encountered the truth that every 1 matters, including themselves, and they don’t want to miss it again. And some of these people have ideas…

Like Toledo Streets, which was started by a Tent City volunteer.

Like taking Project Connect (the Saturday activities of Tent City) to other communities, which was sparked by a former volunteer, now in Findlay, who wanted to bring the magic to her community.

Like Veterans Matter, which was the result of a relationship created at Tent City.

Like the CARE Team that Tina Wozniak started because she “wanted to have this kind of Tent City collaboration year round.”

In the end, all it takes is heart and commitment and encouragement, whether it’s just for a while during Tent City, or throughout the year in all the other things 1Matters does. Every 1 really does matter, and it’s true every day.

The Bend in the Road

Written by Amanda on March 8, 2013. Posted in Uncategorized

Tent City 2012 volunteers handing out beverages - Photo: Dave Yonke

As part of one our programs, we regularly go to Cherry Street Mission’s community kitchen at Madison and 20th to recruit for and distribute Toledo Streets Newspaper. We were there this Thursday, signing up a vendor and visiting with some other folks sitting at the same table. A nice bunch of guys, curious about the paper. The conversation drifted to the program’s umbrella organization (1Matters, of course) and Tent City was brought up.

We normally outline the bones of what Tent City is, trying to also convey the magic of it, as succinctly as possible. This time, however, we didn’t have to say much at all. There was a gentleman sitting at the table who enthusiastically jumped in and fleshed out our brief description, highlighting all the food, clothing, services, music, and everything that goes into the weekend event. He was especially passionate about the meals and the haircuts. He even remember the name of the lady (Gina) who helped organize the volunteers a couple of years ago.

Why? Because two years ago, he was a volunteer helping guide guests through the myriad of services, back when his “life was still relatively intact.”

People often say, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” We often say it could easily be us on the receiving end instead of the giving end. But meeting this gentleman reminded us personally of when we have been on the receiving end, and how we never know when there’ll be a bend in the road, a twisting of our story, where we can’t see what’s next for us. It might bring us to more humble circumstances, or it might give us a chance to be generous in some way to someone who needs us.

The thing about Tent City is, there’s no telling who the volunteer working alongside you might be. They may have a warm home to return to, or they may be a guest staying at an area shelter who wants to give back. And there’s no telling where either of you might be a few months down the road.

We wish we’d gotten this gentleman’s name. He did mention he receives our emails. So, in the hopes he might stumble across this blog post, we want to thank you. Thank you for your service. Thank you for continuing to serve – we could tell you’re a positive influence to those around you. Thank you for being such a great ambassador of Tent City. And we wish you the best of luck.

We hope there’s another bend in your road soon, and that it takes you closer to where you want to be.

(If you’re interested in helping plan this year’s Tent City, join us every third Thursday of the month at 7 pm at the Red Cross building, 3100 W. Central.)

A Little Help from Our Friends

Written by Ken on March 5, 2013. Posted in Uncategorized

One of the best things about doing this kind of work is the people you get to do it with – People who CARE about others. Selfless people united for a cause. We have previously documented the efforts of the team in Operation Houston.

We told you about Dusty & Chuck Hill who begat Kevin Maley, who begat Sheri Henderson, who begat David Rein Henderson, who begat Jacob Walsh, who begat Chris Hernandez. (And a host of others, but for today’s post, this is the string.)

Below is the video to give people a sense of what Veterans Matter is…. and it was the string above who all made it happen. David Rein Henderson is the one who asked “Do you want us to do the video?” He enlisted his video guru Jacob Walsh to handle the video and David used his expertise – 3D graphics – to create the 3D United States opening of the piece. David and Jacob, along with Chris, shot the interviews with Dusty and I during my trip to Houston last month.

Jacob did a great job editing and what you see here is the labor of love, love for our veterans, and love for those on the streets. Thank you all for your compassion. And thank you all for sharing your talent!

Number 24

Written by Amanda on February 27, 2013. Posted in Uncategorized

We had our first Tent City planning meeting for 2013′s event this past Thursday. This will be our 24th year for the event that brings the community together for a three-day “festival of compassion” of food, warm clothing, medical and dental care, and all kinds of services (housing, recovery, employment, mental health, veterans… you name it), not the least of which is simply friendship, for the unhoused and marginally housed in Toledo. (That’s right, friendship as a critical care service – go ahead and think about that one.)

Every year there’s this anticipation. Many of us have been doing it for a while and along with the “here we go again” for the more tedious planning aspects, there’s a lot to look forward to each year – seeing old friends (volunteers and guests), celebrating little rituals, discovering each year’s unique rhythm for the event, and seeing if the changes we make really do improve the experience for the guests. Each year, there’s also the wistful anticipation that maybe, just maybe, there won’t be as many people who need the help. That perhaps things are getting better and all the great work we do isn’t in such high demand. We’d like to report less impressive numbers of people served, only because less people need the services.

Unfortunately, the need is always there. And so we work to make sure we have enough food (and coffee) donated to feed all the guests and volunteers, that all the medical partners are on board and how about a new layout for the medical tent to solve last year’s congestion, that duplicating the donation store schedule will be fine but how can we do better on the collection end… And in all of this is the bantering, the goofing-off “fundatory” stuff that should always belong as part of Tent City.

That’s the idea right there: Everything we do, even the fun stuff, matters because this is about relationships – and it’s about relationships because every 1 matters.

Feel free to come help us plan (7pm every third Thursday at the American Red Cross of Northwest Ohio bulding, 3100 W. Central).

The Blame Game

Written by Amanda on February 12, 2013. Posted in Uncategorized

We posted this picture, taken in Toronto about three weeks ago, to our Facebook page yesterday. We only said, “Wherever you woke up this morning, you matter.”

If you follow the link, however, you get perhaps a colder dose of reality than the man in the photo – at least, in regards to human behavior if you read the comments (but we suggest you don’t). We’ll sum it up for you: Politician is blamed, then a different political party, then it degrades to snarky comments, name-calling, and other petty, ridiculous behavior. As one of the commenters on our Facebook post said, “…would like to know if anyone helped him find shelter?”

Because THAT is what this question really raises… how can WE help – right here, right now, at this intersection that brought us to some 1 in need?

If you spend any time at all “in the trenches” or “on the front lines” caring for those out in the cold, you inevitably get to at least spectate while people play the Blame Game. “This all started in 19__, when President X did such-and-such,” or, “If political party Y would only stop blocking legislation Z (or, conversely, if they hadn’t put through legislation Z)…” And it goes on and on.

Is there something to be said for knowing history, knowing the chain of events, the cause-and-effect? Should the people making the major decisions be held accountable? Do we need to look at the big picture and support (vocal and actionable) changes that can reverse the sickening rise of homelessness and poverty? Yes; yes; of course, yes.

But in the end, it always comes down to the moment each of us has to step forward and make a difference. We are the only ones in control of our own actions. We can talk all we want to about whose fault is it this person is in this situation. But whose fault will it be if we pass them by without at least treating them with dignity and care, letting them know they matter?

We are the 1′s who can be 1 who matters to 1 who matters.

Connecting in Lenawee County

Written by Amanda on February 1, 2013. Posted in Uncategorized

This past Wednesday, 11 of us climbed aboard LifeLine Toledo‘s “Big Blue” bus and headed up to Adrian, Michigan. We’d been working with Lenawee County’s continuum of care group to help them organize a Project Connect event similar to Toledo’s and Findlay’s, which they decided should be done in conjunction with their HUD-required Point In Time count.

In short, they did a wonderful job, and we are proud to have been a part of their event. Along with LifeLine, Food For Thought loaded up their mobile pantry and had dozens of walk-throughs while ProMedica‘s nurses conducted many blood pressure and glucose screenings as well as giving lots of flu shots on Big Blue.

Lenawee County really came together and had many different kinds of services available to customers who came. Everything from “Make-n-Take” stations for laundry soap, baby wipes, and hot chocolate, to clothing and blanket donations; from literacy programs to housing veterans; from hearing screenings to haircuts… and so much more. A good half-dozen stylists were busy at all times giving cuts. It was great hearing folks excitedly showing off their new ‘dos. (Still one of our favorite services at Project Connect events!)

Lenawee is still working on sifting through all the paperwork these events generate, but we should have an idea soon of how many people came through and how we helped them. In the meantime, our thanks and kudos to all the folks who worked so hard to bring all these pieces together, and to the community of Adrian and Lenawee County that showed up to connect to one another. You’re more proof that every 1 matters!

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