Fiddling While Rome is Burning?

First of all, you were appointed to a position by a Democratic Party that does not really have the best track record for selecting candidates.  Jimmy Dimora, Frank Russo, Patrick O'Malley, Bill Mason, Ed FiTzGeRalD, John Barnes, Lance Mason, and Bridget McCafferty are just some of the most egregious examples, but I could go on for a very long time.  Secondly, you are not Barack Obama or Cory Booker that young people will be inspired to follow in your footsteps.  What exactly have you done for the average Cuyahoga County taxpayer that people we will remember one hour after the first cookie is consumed?

Finally, there are so many things that need your attention in Cuyahoga County.  Stop wasting time and get to work! Here is an easy checklist for you to get started:

• Cleveland is in the top 5 in cities with high poverty rates since 1992.
• Cuyahoga County is one of the most segregated counties in the United States.
• Our educational system is failing low income people throughout the County.
• The RTA budget is in big trouble and needs help.
• We are losing affordable housing especially for families.
• Family homelessness is on the rise and we only have temporary solutions.
• All those eligible for Food Stamps are not signed up.
• East Cleveland
• Social Justice groups like CTO are going out of business because of funding cuts
• There is no comprehensive strategy to link residents to jobs in Cuyahoga County 
• Need a strategy to secure our infrastructure since the Federal government is not going to take the lead--bridges, getting low income people broadband, roads, and repairing elevator in senior buildings. 
• Why is their a dedicated fund for arts but not housing/homelessness?
• Cuyahoga County keeps talking about the opioid crisis, but I don't see any action such as an expansion of treatment
• Cuyahoga County has the largest number of ex-felons returning compared to the other counties.  What are you doing about expanding re-entry housing options in the community?
• I do not see a comprehensive approach to reducing gun deaths locally.

Again, I could go on for a huge list.  This is just the top priorities for you. Good luck.

Brian Davis

Lost the Cuyahoga County District 10 Vacancy

I really did not expect to win, but I only got one vote? I mean I know that I am not African American and 60% of the district is so it was going to be tough, but I thought I would get more than one lone vote out of 46.  Tonight the precinct leaders for the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party picked the replacement for Anthony Hairston on the County Council.  Cleveland Hts City Council member Cheryl Stephens got a majority of the Cleveland Hts. votes while Michael Houser got the nod from Cleveland, East Cleveland and surprisingly University Hts.  After the first vote there was not a majority plus one for a candidate so Mr. Houser needed that one vote cast for me to push him over the top on the second vote.

I would not be hurt if these candidates came in and blew the crowd away with promises or ways to fix the problems we all have in Cuyahoga County. No, really I would not.  I mean, why should some white guy, never involved with the party infrastructure get the nod from these hard core party faithful? But only getting one vote for all my work serving the County in protecting the lives of homeless people is just an insult.  Hell, in the era of Trump, a candidate can now promise the world or a wall paid for by a foreign government with no harm if the promises are delusional. But we really got nothing from the other candidates about poverty, segregation, or confidence in Cuyahoga County services. It was a close vote between the two, but they said nothing and made no promises so how could the Forest Hills Blvd resident know the difference? I really felt like they were both given participation medals.

No one in County government is dealing with the fact we have been in the top five poorest cities in America since 1992, and there is no discussion about making a change.  We are the most segregated city in America, and nothing from our politicians with any bold plans.  Black babies are dying at numbers far above nearly every other city in America and no candidate mentioned this issue. In all honesty, our infant mortality rate among minority moms in Cleveland rivals some of the countries that the President disparaged on the same day as this vote.  East Cleveland, one of the key cities in the district, is still in financial crisis, but there was no plan for working toward a solution.  Nothing about the Juvenile Justice Center and figuring out ways to love these young people instead of bringing in more guns to manage the facility.  I guess my community organizing background dictates you identify a problem by a constituency and win their trust by solving at least one of their issues so they will be with you on other issues.  But we really did not hear any of the problems facing the county or any potential solutions from the two candidates who got all the votes.

I heard nothing tonight from Stephens or Houser except that they would keep doing what the former Councilman did and keep a close eye on the budget. Is there anyone in the District 10 who can say yes, my Councilman accomplished....? If we are honest, can any County voter say, "Thank God, we have a County Council because they...." I heard from the other candidates that they were good people and had worked for County government for years.  There was one mention of the importance of MetroHealth and one on the importance of economic development, but it was thin on solid promises.  I did not hear that they would shake up the power structure in this community so we never vote on new glass for a palace for rich people and get nothing in return for backing those loans. Did not hear anything about the RTA budget crisis and how we could drag those horrible state legislators before the Council for destroying public transportation.   No one said anything about the affordable housing crisis or whether East Cleveland seniors were getting all they are entitled to compared to their neighbors in Cleveland Hts.

There were precinct leaders who I marched with to protect voting and against the death penalty who did not vote for me.  There was a former County Council members who I so admired for speaking honestly about some of the problems who did not support me.  There were former Collinwood business folks who I worked with that did not vote for me.  There were anti-war activists who I demonstrated with who did not vote for me.  There were anti-poverty activists who used the stuff I did at the Coalition for their own work and they did not vote for me.  It was extremely disheartening for a social justice guy trying to use his talents to improve the lives of other Cuyahoga County taxpayers.

I have never ever cast a vote for a Republican in my whole life.  If I did not support the Democrat like Bill Clinton, I would vote for a write in like Mayor Ron Dellums or skip that space on the ballot, but after tonight I almost feel like joining the Republican party.  I don't agree with one thing in their platform, but at least they run on shiny objects and straw men. It may be a corrupt and racist platform, but it is championed and spun for all to see.  I have no idea what Mr. Houser or Ms. Stephens plan to do if either are elected to the District in November.  It is extremely disheartening for the Democrats to not take into account the merits of the candidates or require some policy discussions or promises and instead they picked someone based on political favoritism. I miss the days of politicians pretending that they wanted to solve promises by starting sentences with, "If elected, I promise to..."

Brian Davis
I know, a bitter BS rant from a sore loser.  But c'mon, no mention poverty when you are asking to serve in elected office in one of the poorest cities in America?

Cover Letter for Cuyahoga County Health and Human Services

This is an abridged version of my cover letter to Cuyahoga County officials making the case why they should hire me to work to reduce poverty.  They have posted a job for Director of Health and Human Services who is typically a person that can administer large systems.  They would never hire a community organizer for this position, but they should.  Here is my submission for this position.  

Dear Sharon Sobol Jordan
County Executive Chief or Staff

Cleveland and Cuyahoga County has been among the top 10 in the United States in number of people living in poverty since the early 1990s, and we do not have a concentrated effort to reduce those numbers. There is no one person working in the City or County that the media or the average taxpayer identifies as working on reducing poverty or even building trust that government is here to address problems associated with poverty.  You have posted the position of Director of the Health and Human Services position, but the job qualification seem to be trying to find another Bill Denihan.   You seem to be looking for a suit who is going to be a good administrator of this huge department as the talented Mr. Denihan did for so many years.  This is one strategy that County has tried for the last 20 years, but I believe a better path is to look for someone who is going to work every single hour on improving the income, health and housing stability of taxpayers. There are so many experts in this community who have great ideas for reducing poverty such as Dr Lolita McDavid, Amy Hanauer, and John Corlett, and we do not seem to be listening to them.  It is time to turn these great minds loose to experiment, change public policy, and force collaborations as the Cuyahoga County brain trust to increase the standard of living. The sole evaluation measurement of the Human Services Director should be a steady decline in the number of people living in poverty. Every policy, public dollar, and agency should be evaluated on moving people toward stable housing, consistent income and healthy households as quickly as possible. 

I think that you should select someone like me who has worked in the trenches serving homeless people for 23 years.  I do not have a Master’s of Public Policy, but I can see the big picture and how all these systems fit together from my discussions with poor people for the past two decades.  I can take the problems that people face every day and translate them into public policy. I believe that I can restore confidence in County government, especially the programs that the largest number of people have contact with in this community.   I can pick talent to run these systems effectively, but I want to bring the affordable housing, healthcare, entitlement programs, and the jobs program together to move the 230,000 people currently living in poverty in Cuyahoga County to a level of stability that is sustainable. 

I could think broader than just managing the County Health and Human Services organizations to working with all the anti-poverty groups on solving problems.  I could figure out why the 14,000 households who win the housing lottery with a CMHA voucher do not then move out of poverty.  I know that I could figure out a better way to serve the “frequent flyers” at the emergency rooms across our County.  I believe that Food Stamps/SNAP benefits could be an entry point for larger discussions with a family on what they need in order to move into a higher income bracket.  Why are human services workers not interacting with students at the Community College to assure their completion of a degree and that they do not need public assistance after graduation?  Why isn’t the County using its Community Re-Investment Act authority to get banks across Cuyahoga County to work with citizens to reduce debt and improve home ownership rates now that the housing crisis is over? Why isn’t the Juvenile Justice Center more integrated in the County Welfare office to surround those families with assistance after their children make that first cry for help by becoming involved with law enforcement?  For too long the County Health and Human Services Department has been compartmentalized and not integrated into the community.  For example, there are so many resources that the foster care system could take advantage of, but is so caught up in paperwork and protocols that they do not reach out for help when they find a mom living in an abandoned house with her young child. 

Cuyahoga County is the logical group in the community to lead the effort to reduce poverty because they can change public policy and have influence over critical poverty fighting institutions such as MetroHealth and Youth Services.  The 18% of the population living in poverty have regular contact with the County with the Food Stamp program, Medicaid, Child care subsidies, foster care, Child Support, Re-Entry, Job Training, and all the senior programs.  Someone needs to bring all the County groups together with the Community Development groups, the researchers at the universities, the big School Districts, Hunger groups, Neighborhood Centers, ADAMHS Board, CMHA, religious leaders, the unions and the City of Cleveland on a weekly basis to actually move people out of poverty.   It seems that the vacancy at the Health and Human Services Department is the perfect opportunity to forge a new path forward and you could then actually champion your efforts to solve real problems in the community. 

I want to dedicate the last 10 to 15 years of my work career in an area in which I can improve the lives of people. I was frustrated at my job at the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless that we were seeing a retreat of the progress we had made with family homelessness exploding and the community leaders had made no attempts to reduce poverty.  There was no urgency and there were systems in Cuyahoga County that were actually creating more barriers for its taxpayers.  There are some County institutions or County funded groups which actually exacerbate the barriers that people have toward finding stability, and my experience is that no one in authority ever listens to the problems expressed by those who struggle with finding a job, housing or behavioral health care.

Here are some of the skills that I bring to an organization:

• I understand how policy and funding is allocated at all levels of government having worked regularly with both Cuyahoga County and Cleveland City Council.  I have lobbied in both Columbus and Washington for administrative changes, budget allocations as well as legislation.
• I am able to bring out the talents in people and fully realize those talents. 
• I have done research and put together reports on homelessness, voting, the importance of outreach and much more.
• I have the ability to bring diverse interests together in collaboration for a common purpose. 
• I have done some public speaking and public relations work, including press contacts especially with my previous experience in radio. I have also engaged members on social media and targeted engagements.
• I have set up systems in which people who are disenfranchised and feeling broken can sit down with someone to listen to their concerns and then put in place policies that respect and effectively respond to complaints. 
• I have developed sustainable programs that demonstrated positive outcomes for the community such as the hundreds housed while reducing the vacancy rate at the housing authority.  I can also use human service data to craft public policy initiatives like I did to reduce the number sleeping outside with the coordinated outreach program.

I hope that I can talk to you more about my suggestions for improving the lives of Cuyahoga County citizens and put in place an effective anti-poverty program.

Sincerely,

Brian Davis