Random Thoughts for St. Nicholas Day

It looks like Jared Kushner's job got a lot harder for Middle East Peace with the US declaring Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.  What Palestinian citizen or leader would ever accept the United States to be a fair neutral broker of peace as the only country in the world to have their embassy in Jerusalem? Remember when 45 and his wife touched that orb in Saudi Arabia with the Kings and Princes decked out in their best Bisht money can buy?  I guess that orb did not have magical powers to bring peace to the Middle East.   This has nothing to do with the Middle East and is strictly a diversion from domestic problems narrowing on the White House.  This is to get the news off Michael Flynn and Donald Trump Jr. before Congress--nothing more and nothing less.  "Stop talking about Russia, Mueller and Roy Moore and instead look at this shiny object over here!"

Why can't we be the only one country to move our embassy to Jerusalem since it is obviously the capital of Israel? After all, their Prime Minister, courts and the Israeli seat of government are all located in Jerusalem so why not just recognize the obvious? There is one big reason: History!  Those who won World War II created Israel and specifically declared Jerusalem as a UN protectorate because all three major religions claim it as holy site. It was like the District of Columbia in the holy lands.  This was an attempt to keep the peace among all the residents in the region.  It was a delicate balance that was not respected or accepted on either side.  Why is this such a big deal?  Would Canada be different if Montreal were not the capital (Just kidding)?  Why can't the most important religious city in the world not be owned by any one group and not be a capital to any country?   The USA just threw a grenade into the peace process, the balance of power, and all sense of hope for the average Palestinians.  Donald Trump has sealed another generations of martyrs angry with the United States for putting a foot on the scales of justice. 

I have been looking for employment, which sucks by the way.  I keep having to answer the question "Reason for Leaving" for my last job.  For the jobs that I have very little chance of getting, I say, "Because of the election of Donald Trump."  If they give extra space, I add, "I could not watch more shelters close, more people dying from an opioid overdose and the divisiveness on local homeless policy in light of the anticipated Ben Carson led HUD office."  It is honest, but probably not the best thing to tell a stranger deciding on the value of your resume.

I did apply to help oversee ethics for one of the major banks.  Based on the housing crisis in 2008 and their continued lack of offering mortgages to most borrowers, I had no idea the banks had ethics offices.  I would have thought that if there were staff assigned to monitoring ethics then the banks would be following the Community Re-Investment Act a little closer. I would have thought an ethics department would urge the bank to invest in housing, minority owned businesses, and supportive services to help people into housing.  For example, you would think an ethics officer would mandate this bank to support the local housing website in order to help people get into a home.  Anyway, I did not get the job and the bank was one of the few that actually sent a rejection letter.  Most places just ignore you now and you are just stuck wondering.  This bank's letter was even well crafted. 

There was a good story on the blue roofs on CNN here.  I sure hope that guy who secured the previous contract spends some time in jail for not delivering plastic tarps to the island.  There was also a one hour piece on Weekend Marketplace all about the recent disasters and the economic impacts.  I usually can't stand Marketplace radio program because who would dedicate radio time to the world of corporations and the financial industry?  It is a crazy concept when there is not a show about poverty, the state of education in America or healthcare which all touch a higher portion of the population than the Stock Market.  But this show this weekend was really good.  They talked to people who are actually trying to survive and those who are relocating to the States because conditions are so bad.  I would recommend downloading a copy and listening when you get a chance. Here is the description for the 12/1/2017

From hurricanes to wildfires to earthquakes, we've dealt with a lot in 2017. As communities recover, there's a trail of money behind it all. This week, we give you an hourlong special on the economics of disaster. We head to Puerto Rico to examine life on the ground following Hurricane Maria. We look at the debt situation, the realities of life when the lights stay out and what it takes to bring power back. Plus, Puerto Rico's dairy farmers and a surprising boom in renewable energy. Also, recovery in Texas and how Florida is handling an influx of Puerto Ricans fleeing the damage from Hurricane Maria.

Finally, the inept Department of Housing and Urban Development released their report on homelessness which showed an increase.  I wrote often about this when I worked at NEOCH.  This year HUD reported an increase, but they are blaming the increase on Los Angeles and New York City taking down the whole country.  This is a horrible report that means nothing.  They call it a complete count, but it is only on one day and every city does the count with volunteers and do not have one standard procedure.  It is a useless document that means nothing. 

by Brian Davis

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