Local United Way & NAACP Chapters seek community input on CPD Consent Decree
Vancouver New Leaf Project Study Shows One-Time Direct Cash Transfers Positively Impact Homeless
By Rich Weiss & Jeneane Vanderhoff
This story was sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Solutions Journalism Collaborative (NEOSOJO), which is composed of 20-plus Northeast Ohio news outlets including The West Park Times, The Cleveland Street Chronicle, and The Tremonster, each of which contributed significantly to this report.
Thousands of people experience homelessness in Cleveland and Akron every year. But what if these people were given money? Money that they could use to dig their way out of poverty and turn a new leaf?
When the Poverty and Homelessness Beat Reporter for The Tremonster, Jeneane Vanderhoff (currently experiencing homelessness along with her husband, Adam), was considering reporting on any existing solution that might help alleviate the problem of homelessness in Northeast Ohio, she said, “I read a study—I think it was Canada—they just recently gave homeless people $7,500 and saw how the people spent it. It basically got them out of homelessness. It did quite a bit to turn their lives around; they really didn’t waste the money—it’s a recent study.”
Our research led us to The New Leaf project in Vancouver, Canada, which recently published the study Vanderhoff had noticed. The Vancouver-based project demonstrated that money from one-time cash transfers was spent wisely and provided stability in the lives of individuals recently experiencing homelessness.
Continue readingNext Cleveland Consent Decree Community Conversation: 6:00 pm, April 14
By Rich Weiss for Neighborhood & Community Media Association of Greater Cleveland
Have you ever wondered: “How is the dedication to community engagement reflected in the Cleveland Police Department’s current budget?”
Do you have a handle on: “What is the CPRB (Civilian Police Review Board) and what is its function?”
In the moment—when you or a loved one comes face-to-face with Cleveland Police Department policies—will you know: “Are body cameras used by all officers, and what is the protocol for turning body cameras on and off?”
Continue readingLocal United Way & NAACP Chapters seek community input on CPD Consent Decree
Virtual Candlelight Vigil to Remember People Experiencing Homelessness Who Died in 2020
Cleveland, OH, Friday, December 18, 2020—Monday, December 21st, is the longest day of the year and the first day of winter. On this day, homeless advocates, people currently experiencing homelessness, homeless services providers, and others in our community will gather virtually to remember those who died in the homeless community in 2020.
Continue readingTop regulator’s exit raises questions about utility and fossil fuel influence
CRITICS QUESTION WHETHER THE FORMER OHIO UTILITY COMMISSION CHAIR SHOULD HAVE RECUSED HIMSELF MORE OFTEN TO AVOID ANY APPEARANCE OF BIAS.
By Kathiann M. Kowalski
This article provided by Eye on Ohio, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Ohio Center for Journalism in partnership with the nonprofit Energy News Network. Please join the Eye on Ohio free mailing list or the mailing list for the Energy New Network as this helps provide more public service reporting.
Concerns about the outsized influence of utility and fossil fuel interests have resurfaced as the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio begins steps to name a new commissioner after the sudden exit of Chair Sam Randazzo.
Randazzo resigned on Nov. 20 after an FBI team had searched his home and FirstEnergy released a mandatory quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The report showed the company paid $4 million to an entity associated with Randazzo shortly before his appointment last year.
Now the Public Utilities Commission, or PUCO, has put out a call for applicants to fill the vacancy. Under Ohio law, a nominating council will review the applications and then nominate four candidates to the governor. Advocates have criticized the council, which only has one seat for a consumer advocate, as being too heavily tilted toward utility interests.
Continue readingUtility assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic
In the spring, when people were ordered to stay at home to prevent the spread of COVID-19, all Ohio utilities stopped disconnecting service for customers who lost their jobs or were working fewer hours and couldn’t pay.
Starting in July, those moratoriums started to be lifted. The last moratoriums – Cleveland Public Power and the Cleveland Water Department – are set to end on Dec. 1.
Navigating payment plans, financial assistance programs and emergency funds can be frustrating. Plus, many community service agencies that sign up for these programs are closed to the public, and most applications must be completed online or by phone.
Advocates at these agencies say it’s a good idea to get your documents ready when calling for help, including associated utility bills, recent paychecks, and documentation of loss of income or confirmation of unemployment.
By simply dialing three digits (2-1-1), greater Clevelanders can make one call to find or give help.
Ohio’s United Way 2-1-1 Help Center can answer specific questions about which program might be a good fit.
Continue readingRather than ‘flatten the curve’ it is time to ‘crush the curve’
This story was sponsored by the Northeast Ohio Solutions Journalism Collaborative, which is composed of 20-plus Northeast Ohio news outlets including Profile News Ohio and several other Neighborhood & Community Media Association of Greater Cleveland member outlets.
by Rich Weiss and Julia Bejjani
The colder weather has brought with it the predicted spike in new coronavirus cases to the State of Ohio—and the rest of the world—as we all gather more closely, indoors.
In recent weeks, news about vaccine trial progress has brought hope to a coronavirus pandemic-weary global population—particularly those coping with the loss of family, friends, and colleagues to the lethal virus.
The fatigue of this pandemic, mixed with a seemingly insurmountable surge in new cases this fall, plus the hope of vaccines on the horizon, all together could lull us into relaxing our fight to contain coronavirus just as we reach our most dangerous levels of community spread.
Jade Khalife, MD, MPH, MSc., health systems practitioner and researcher for Lebanon’s Joint Health Systems Research project, is arguing that the time is now for Lebanon—and the world—to replicate a set of coronavirus containment policies, called, “crushing the curve,” which show better results than the more widely adopted “flattening the curve” policies.
After seven month legal battle, Eye on Ohio wins public records lawsuit over hospital capacity numbers
Court of Claims Rules that the Ohio Department of Health must disclose the number of beds and other equipment available
By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp and Kathiann M. Kowalski
This article provided by Eye on Ohio, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Ohio Center for Journalism. Please join the Eye on Ohio free mailing list as this helps them provide more public service reporting.
As the ongoing pandemic continues to surge, the Ohio Court of Claims ruled last week that the Department of Health must share public records with Eye on Ohio, showing the number of beds and ventilators available for COVID-19 patients at individual hospitals throughout the state.
The ruling comes seven months after Eye on Ohio initially sought the records.
“In times of crisis transparency is paramount,” said Rebekah Crawford, who has her Ph.D. in Health Communication, Relating & Organizing from Ohio University.
People want credibility and clear lines around what is known and what is uncertain. “When risk communicators are at their best,” Crawford said, “they remain credible by showing what is known and what is not known and by being clear about why we don’t know, and what we’re going to do to find out.”
When Eye on Ohio first requested records, at the end of March, the state had only about 2,200 confirmed cases and 55 deaths, according to the online Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. As of November 12, Ohio had approximately 274,500 confirmed cases, and about 5,700 people had died from the disease.
Continue readingHow the Neighborhood Media Foundation provides a collaborative blueprint for local journalism in Ohio
Republished with permission from the Center for Cooperative Media
by Will Fischer
It’s not easy running a local news outlet in the middle of a pandemic. For the Erie Chinese Journal, a Cleveland-based publication that serves Chinese communities in the Midwest, distribution became a major problem. People weren’t picking up newspapers like they usually did.
Fortunately, the journal belongs to the Neighborhood & Community Media Association of Greater Cleveland (NCMA-CLE), a collaborative of 14 local media outlets in Northeast Ohio. NCMA-CLE and its members share access to resources provided by the Neighborhood Media Foundation, a nonprofit founded by Rich Weiss to support small media producers.
Weiss saw that many of these small local publications were struggling with distribution during the pandemic, so he wrote and applied for a grant from the Facebook Journalism Project to help pay for new methods like direct mailing.
Continue reading