This Post is Coming From Inside the Event!

Get it? Like the phone call from inside the house in When a Stranger Calls?

Carol Kane gets it.

Anyways, yes, I am writing this from an event. We're at another Project Homeless Connect event in Akron and oh my goodness gracious is this amazing. We're sharing a room with the Social Security Administration and that is fantastic. We get a lot of questions about Social Security and having them in the same room really puts us ahead of the game.

More bonuses! Across the hall? Summit County Metropolitan Housing! When we aren't getting questions about the SSA, we are almost certainly getting questions about rent assistance and public housing. And instead of leaving clients with phone numbers, we can just point across the hall.

This is awesome!

Also here: The BMV to help with IDs. The Office of Vital Statistics to help with birth certificates. And, of course, our good friends at Job and Family Services to help with pending cases and unemployment.

I love events that click like this. There are hundreds of volunteers and almost every appropriate county agency is here looking to help. It is a privilege to be part of something so great.

Tax Season is Upon Us!

You remember tax season, don't you? The joy of seeing Ohioans get thousands upon thousands of dollars in federal and state refunds juxtaposed with the many hotels and fatty meals that come with spending so many hours on the road. It's a nomad's life for the Mobile Tax Counselor. The avalanche of tax clinics appears above the horizon...and I kind of can't wait.

But before all that we decided to go to some food distributions in Northeast Ohio. Specifically, in Akron and Medina. Despite being in such close geographic proximity, Akron and Medina are two very different places. But one binding similarity is that both towns have loads of people who qualify as food insecure. So when Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank invited us out, we were more than happy to attend.

Enough onions to make Bill Raftery proud

We ran into problems, some good, some bad. A lot of the good problems were encountered in Medina. The distribution was held at a county building that also serves as home to the Medina County Jobs and Family Services Center. There was clearly a very good relationship between the county office and the people in line to pick up food. We talked to dozens of people and got dozens of "we've got that" when asking about SNAP Benefits, HEAP, and even Medicare Premium Assistance. People were aware of the benefits they were eligible for and had gone out and got 'em.

The problems in Akron were a little trickier. Unfortunately, they're the kind of problems you'll run into in any urban area and there aren't any real fixes. The real problem is waiting. Long waits for appointments with Community Action to get E-HEAP. Long waits to apply for public housing. Long waits for a caseworker to call you back. That stuff is a lot harder to solve. Hopefully we were able to provide some help by referring people to other organizations like The Salvation Army for immediate utility assistance.

Coats, clothes and gloves were on hand for those who needed them.

After all was said and done we did help some clients get in touch with their local OBB sites and, of course, we helped some clients sign up for benefits right then and there. Now taxes await.

Project Homeless Connect in Akron

The Third Annual Project Homeless Connect took place on May 11 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at The Chapel, a huge church, in Akron. This event, is a community wide effort to bring service providers together in one location for one day and highlighted the many types of assistance available to those experiencing homelessness delivering real time aid to those in need.

Services provided included dental care, legal assistance, mammogram screenings, HIV/AIDS testing, prostate cancer testing, job placement services, housing placement applications, clothing, meals, hair cuts, and of course our very own benefit eligibility determination services among others.

The concept for Project Homeless Connect came from a model that originated in San Francisco under Mayor Gavin Newsom in October 2004. Since its inception more than 170 cities in the United States have hosted PHC. Cities of every size from coast to coast have engaged in PHC events. Akron represents the 170th community to host PHC and the first in the state of Ohio (as reported by the Suburbanite newspaper).

We were pleased to be present and helping those with the most need gain access to benefits. We were among friends including Cornerstone Church which was inspired to become a benefit bank site after the OBB Express visited last year.

On a side note, it was hard to see so many people who had major health issues without any health/dental insurance. The biggest realization was meeting those who had rotting teeth. They were able to get them extracted at this event but it made me wonder how difficult it will be for them to obtain employment without teeth. It is already a very competitive market and I think appearance really effects people's ability to get jobs.

Well, at least this is one step in the right direction.

LEAP Program in Akron

Backpacks, toiletry products, food baskets, and underwear --oh my!

During the LEAP event at Cornerstone Church in Akron there was much support and festivity. Over 1500 people came to receive material assistance, medical assistance, hair cuts, food and agency referrals. Hot dogs, inflatable slides and a Teddy Bear picnic (book reading and cupcakes) were some of the entertainment options. Fun, fun, fun.

Russell and I offered Quick Checks and made many referrals to agencies for specific needs. It was clear that folks are feeling the pinch of the economy and are looking for options to address these needs. Many of the referrals were to organizations that had a booth right in the room.

Sean Cole invited us to the event after seeing us at the Akron Project Homeless Connect event earlier this year. We thank him for being a gracious host.

Project Homeless Connect

I had the pleasure of traveling to Akron with Jerry Lee, one of our enrollment specialists from Columbus. My normal travel partner was skipping out to see the Red Sox game in Cleveland so Jerry agreed to accompany me. On Monday, Jerry and I attended the Governor's Recovery Act Information Session and were able to generate some excitement for organizations to become benefit bank sites (Twenty-three individuals). The Ohio Benefit Bank will be hosting a one hour webinar session for this purpose.



If you are interested in signing up for our webinar you can call our toll free number at 1-800-648-1176.



We were then off to Project Homeless Connect the next day hosted at The Chapel near the University of Akron. This was one of the most organized events I have been to in a long while. Over 500 volunteers engaged with the homeless community to offer services. Individuals could come for a shower and a hair cut, sign up for supportive services, get food from a local pantry, receive lunch, and of course sign up for benefits with us.

Each client was offered doughnuts and coffee, participated in an "intake" and was assigned a chaperon to guide them to different booths/rooms for services. The chaperon was very helpful in navigating the maze of rooms, keeping track of paperwork and providing reminders for follow up. The main beauty of the chaperon system was the forming of relationships-- one on one with the clients-walking and talking together.

Michelle Long and Jerry Lee are pictured above next to the van. Michelle is a VISTA volunteer. She provides training to local Benefit Bank volunteers and was very helpful through out the day.

This was the first time we extended the awning for an event. It protected us from the rain and of course made our van look very chic. It only took us an hour of mopping up the rain in the van entry way to think--"We should extend the awning!" Good news is that we can be taught and lessons learned stick with us.