1Matters

It was great to read the article that the Blade had today about Yvette Hall who I am a huge fan of. I’ve had the chance to get to know her because of last year and this year’s Tent City. The article gives you a glimpse into a woman who truly meets the definition of dedicated.

I really had mixed emotions when I was first contacted by Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop’s assistant a few weeks ago letting me know that Commissioner Konop wanted to recognize Ken Leslie and myself for the homeless voting project and Tent City.

Here are the photos taken from this morning, one of my favorites shows how media and bloggers work together. As we discovered this morning the many ways that “pancakes are like politics”:

Video from Fox Toledo from last nights candidate forum:

I recommend heading over and reading the full post, as it has updates on Tent City but I wanted to point out this part of the post written by Ken Leslie:
Urgent News
We wanted you to be alerted to a situation. Cherry Street Mission and Food for Thought are two very strong supporters of Tent City.
But due to such an increase in need, both organizations are going through a shortage of resources to help those they serve.

Life changes when you have no car, while I haven’t driven for several years, I could get to where I needed to go during the day most times using TARTA or wait until my husband got home from work. It was fairly easy and if something came up where I needed to go to the doctor, or something happened at school, his employer was flexible about that as long as he made the hours up. We are into week three without a car thanks to the Miguel versus Mr. Bear Pennsylvania encounter and I’ve learned some things about my city and it’s residents during that time period. Some of you?

This press release was sent out via email by…Me actually, the extended release is also below:
1Matters – 1Votes is not a voter registration program!
1Votes is a program to:

As most of you know, I’m a supporter of 1Matters and even prior to my becoming involved in that and Tent City the issue of homelessness in Toledo and our nation has been a topic close to my heart. In reading today’s Blade article, Homeless students on increase in Toledo-area classrooms, schools say several things should become clear.

As most of you know, I’m a supporter of 1Matters and even prior to my becoming involved in that and Tent City the issue of homelessness in Toledo and our nation has been a topic close to my heart. In reading today’s Blade article, Homeless students on increase in Toledo-area classrooms, schools say several things should become clear.

It’s been a crazy day in the Glass City household but some quick notes.
Today at 6:00 on Eye on Toledo, District Councilman Mike Craig will be the in studio guest of Larry Bertok.
Tomorrow night is the monthly Tent City Planning Meeting which will be held at 7:00 p.m. at the Red Cross Building on Central. More information on that and other topics of note at 1Matters.

The comedy benefit “1 Night to Matter” is in 2 weeks, 8 pm at Connxtions Comedy Club. If you missed reading about this earlier on 1Matters the details:
An exceptional line up is being put together including the perfectly funny and spectacular headliner, Melanie Maloy. There are only 250 tickets. Tix are $20 in advance, VIP tix are $100 (Reserved seating and some special stuff), and VVVIP tix are $500. (Reserved seating, some special stuff, and some more “specialer” stuff) If we sell 5 of the VVVIP tix then Ken WON’T do his act in a speedo.

There’s a new post up on 1Matters updating you on all that’s been happening with Tent City, HMIS, Refer7 and much, much, more that I recommend stopping over to read. There are also some upcoming events that I’d like to make sure you are aware of:
April 12th - Cordelia Martin 10th Anniversary Celebration, 430 Nebraska, 10 am to 2 pm. (259.4505)
April 16th - Fair Housing Center April Luncheon To commemorate 40 years of the Fair Housing Act. (243.6163)

Meeting tonight was very well attended and things are starting to roll as far as getting organized for Tent City. The next scheduled meeting is April 23, 2008, I’ll be posting a reminder closer to that date. If you aren’t really into the whole planning aspect there are lots of ways you can get involved to help between now and October 31 to November 2, 2008 when Tent City will take place. Stay tuned to the blog or if you want more precise details you can always email me.

If you didn’t get involved last year and want to, or you want to be more involved than you were last year…Planning is starting for the next Tent City (October 31 to November 2nd). The first planning meeting will be this Wednesday, March 26th at 7:00 p.m. at the Red Cross which is on Central, east of Secor.
I’ll be there and I hope to see you there too!
Ken’s been focusing on that and quite a bit more on 1Matters.

While I’ve been lounging, they’ve been working. Some great things are happening as well as some stories that many of us might not have heard of, like the ABLE suit. What I think is really noteworthy is solutions are being discussed and found…
Stop by and get caught up on what’s been happening…

The description for the video says quite a bit:
This is what happens when a system becomes impaired by inactivity. Change Matters, otherwise it is our homeless who suffer
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Some of the stories from 2007 that I blogged about that had the largest impact on me personally were not always the ones that were the most popular as far as comments or even at times reads.

I attended the press conference this morning called by Louis Escobar of TLC to announce the recent HUD funding for COC, updated information will be on the 1Matters website and I’ll update this post with media links as they are online as well as more details on the actual press conference. I wanted to get the pictures up from this morning, they are below the fold:
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Ken has some updated information over on 1Matters that if you have not yet headed over to read, I recommend stopping by to stay current on what is happening. The information posted for Day 13, They Lost the Money?? is especially important since it provides crystal clear facts as to how Toledo is doing in comparison to other cities in Ohio when it comes to financial aid from HUD.

As promised, here are some of the pictures taken on Thursday night in front of One Government Center at the Homeless Memorial Service organized by Ken Leslie and 1Matters.

As many of you noticed, I did not blog yesterday. After coming home from the Homeless Memorial Service on Thursday night, my computer decided it now was the time to be difficult. It’s still not working properly, but I can go online in safe mode.
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While I don’t disagree with Ken that given the weather and the holiday season that we will consider it a success if we get 20 people, I hope more than 20 people show up at 7:00 p.m. tonight for just an hour of their time at One Government Center. I hope I see many of my friends, including elected officials, the media, fellow bloggers, many of you who read here.
Twenty would be a success…
Forty would be fantastic…

That’s the subtitle of the Blade article today, Toledo Lucas County Homelessness Board is under fire.
Here’s the part I’m having trouble understanding though:
Where the two differ is Mr. Leslie’s allegation, stated on his Web site and in interviews, that Ms. Conklin falsified a federal document to justify the continued flow of tax dollars to Toledo-area service providers.

Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. there will be a Fight for Housing/National Homeless Person’s Memorial Day in front of One Government Center. In addition to showing our support for what has been stated by Ken Leslie at 1Matters as the desired result:
…to remove the part time hourly contractor and the current chair who have been exclusively focused on creating a “governing body” rather than executing any of the 5 plans that actually help the homeless.

If you missed Ken being interviewed by Fred this morning, the podcast is up on the WSPD website. Fred saw the earlier post on Glass City Jungle, Change Matters - The Battle Begins and contacted Ken so that Ken would have the opportunity to reach out to inform even more Lucas County residents as to what is happening and to ask that you visit 1matters.org.