Thursday, June 30, 2011

Continue Life, Inc

Continue Life Inc. is the primary homeless shelter and transitional housing program for pregnant and/or parenting teens and women in Cleveland.

Continue Inn Shelter
In 1988, in response to a need for housing, Continue Life, Inc. opened “Continue Inn”, a homeless shelter for pregnant and parenting women. The 22-room house accommodates nine residents. Mothers (18 and over) may remain at the Inn throughout their pregnancies or until housing is located.

Continue Inn Shelter Care
In 2005, Continue Life, Inc expanded its shelter services to include shelter care for families with open cases at the Department of Children & Family Services. The program provides supportive services in a structured environment that keeps the family unit intact.

Emergency Shelter for Pregnant Women

  1. Serves 5 pregnant women
  2. Length of stay in protective shelter program: Up to 4 months
  3. Services:
    • Provides for basic needs: meals, bed, bath, laundry
    • Poof of pregnancy is required and attendance at a parenting program.
    • Provides case management to assist residents to obtain income and housing.
    • Provides on site life skills, drug/alcohol education, and domestic violence classes
    • Provides referrals for drug/alcohol treatment and mental health services where indicated.
    • Provides shelter letters after a 30-day stay.
     Balinda Cavor Director 
balindac@continuelife.org
Hope and Glory Transitional Housing Program and Independent Living
In 1995 Continue Life, Inc. opened its first transitional housing Program offering home-like settings, one of which is licensed by the Ohio Department of Job & Family Services to provide independent living arrangements. Serving pregnant and parenting women 17 years of age and older, Hope & Glory places special emphasis on delivering healthy drug free babies, continuing education, and balancing the demands of motherhood and employment.

CONTINUE LIFE, INC.
17917 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44112
Tele: (216) 383-1984

Connect with us:
Website,  Facebook

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Family Promise of Cleveland

"Our mission is to inspire and empower homeless families to transform their lives, become self-sufficient, and fulfill their promise."



Family Promise of Greater Cleveland is an organization formed from the merger of Interfaith Hospitality Network of Greater Cleveland and New Life Community.

We’re an affiliate of national Family Promise, the parent of 162 affiliates spread from Alaska to Florida. As an affiliate we’re free to create programs to meet local community needs but we are connected to a pool of resources in homeless services research and best practices, government relations and advocacy to have an even stronger voice for homeless families.

Emergency Shelter for Families

  1. Serves 8 families
  2. Length of stay in emergency shelter program: from one night to two months depending on needs of client
  3. Services:
    • Provides for basic needs: meals, bed, shower, laundry
    • Provides for mental health & drug/alcohol assessment and referral
    • Provides case management to assist clients in referring to job readiness/training, D/A recovery, emotional stability, housing resources
    • Provides & facilitates referrals to transitional housing, treatment, return to family

Sarah Cruise,
Executive Director
ihnexec@sbcglobal.net


Friday, June 24, 2011

The data has been found! Education for Homeless Children & Youth Program

Found the data about homeless children in the US and it is broken down by state.  Thanks National Center for Homeless Education.

Data was just published in June 2011 and it reflects 2010 year with comparisons to earlier years.  It is compile through U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) which requires all State Educational Agencies (SEAs) and Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) to submit information regarding child and youth homelessness. (That's the form  found and mentioned in a earlier post)

The online portal for the Consolidated State Performance Report opened for manual entry and certification on November 8, 2010, and closed on December 17, 2010. The portal reopened for corrections and recertification on February 28, 2011, and closed on March 16, 2011. All fifty States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) submitted SY 2009-10 data.

For Ohio it is--

Total  for 2007/08: 14,483,     % change between 07/08 and 08/09(1 year):11
Total for 2008/09 : 16,509      % change between 08/09 and 09/10(1 year) :19
Total for 2009/10: 19,113       % change between 07/08 and 09/10(3 year): 32

For all reporting sites:  See the figure below

(obtained from the Education for Homeless Children & Youth program SY 2009-2010 SCPR Data Collection pg 11.)
Possible factors to which these increases and decreases could be attributed include:

  • Economic downturn (for example, students becoming homeless due to foreclosure) 
  • Natural disasters 
  • Changes in data collection as States align their data collection processes with the requirements of EDFacts and the CSPR
The four States comprising the largest percentages of the total national enrollment of homeless students in LEAs with and without McKinney-Vento subgrants in SY 2009-10 were, in order, California (21%), New York (9 percent), Texas (8 percent), and Florida (5 percent). The combined number of students in these four States (400,995) was 43% of the total enrolled (939,903).
(obtained from the Education for Homeless Children & Youth program SY 2009-2010 SCPR Data Collection pg 11.)

According to the report only 4% of these homeless children live in unsheltered environment.  Still though 4% is a large number when you are thinking children K-12. (pg 15)

(obtained from the Education for Homeless Children & Youth program SY 2009-2010 SCPR Data Collection pg 15.)

Also according to the report,  academic progress of Homeless children is affected. (page 25 & 27)
(obtained from the Education for Homeless Children & Youth program SY 2009-2010 SCPR Data Collection pg 25)   

(obtained from the Education for Homeless Children & Youth program SY 2009-2010 SCPR Data Collection pg 27.)
 Click here to read/view the entire 35 page report.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

You just lost your job! Can you make it through the month?

Hunger Task Force serves more than 48,000 meals per month at our soup kitchens; helps more than 29,000 people receive emergency food at our pantries each month, and distributes nearly 9,000 Stockboxes a month to senior citizens in Milwaukee County. How do so many people need help? Put yourself in their shoes and find out! Play the online game SPENT to see what it is like to make hard, life-changing choices just to survive and feed your family. See if you can make it through the month!

Share your results with your friends!

Get involved here in CLE:

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Hitting Hard Times

After a period of homelessness as a young teenager, Aaron Boyar was finally taken in by a loving family, and then hard times hit. Listen to an inteview between Aaron and 60 Minutes Scott Pelley below:



60 minutes web extra--March 6, 2011

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Finding Strength while Homeless

Tiffany Langhorn's parents lost their jobs and the family is now homeless, but the honors student says the experience has made her stronger and more responsible.  Listen to her story as Scott Pelley, 60 Minutes interviews her.

60 Minutes Segment Extras--March 6, 2011

Monday, June 20, 2011

The Hidden America

A 60 Minute Overtime Extra. . . March 6, 2011 6:42 PM



60 Minutes sum up theeconomy with numbers: the Dow Jones Average, the unemployment rate, the price of a gallon of gas. During the country's recent recession, Scott Pelley and his "60 Minutes" team of producers and editors have worked to put faces in front of those numbers and tell the stories of the men, women, and children who have suffered in the economic decline.

How you can help
Watch Scott Pelley's report

"60 Minutes Overtime" talked with Pelley and associate producer Nicole Young about their passion for working on these stories and the unforgettable moments they've experienced along the way.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Homeless in America

For some children, socializing and learning are being cruelly complicated by homelessness, as Scott Pelley reports from Florida, where school buses now stop at motels for children who've lost their homes.

View the 60 minutes presentation on March 6, 2011 below.



Even looks like you now have the option to dowload through the itunes store.

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Homeless Students of OH

Okay,  so the Facebook post about American Homeless students (RT, June 18,2011) peaked my interest.



So off to google,  search Cleveland OH homeless students.  Need to put the OH in there or  end up  with Cleveland Tennessee results!  WOW a boat load of information.

First thing that catches my eye-- ODE, Homeless Students: Ohio Department of Education.   Well we have enough in Ohio for a whole section to be dedicated them in the ADMINISTRATION area at that.  There sections seems to be providing resources and facts to all admininistrators in schools throughout Ohio about a particular act of federal legislation--Any child lacking a fixed, regular or adequate residence, protected by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, which allows enrollment of homeless students in their schools of origin or district of residence, despite a lack of records.  The overview page had lots of referring links and of course as well as a   new phrase to look up too--McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.

Homeless Education is a collaboration between McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance,  Title 1 and the No Child Left Behind Title 10c. There is actually a 12 minute online training session that take you through all the different connections for any who are interested.  Also at the document library,  there was a form all districts must download that collects data for homeless students in the districts, excluding preschoolers.   


The downloadable posters at the National Center for Homeless Education are a tad more informative.  Click here to download a copy.  The text of the poster is copied below.

If you live in any of the following situations:


• Inashelter,motel,vehicle,orcampground 

• On the street 
• Inanabandonedbuilding,trailer,orotherinadequateaccommodations,or • Doubled up with friends or relatives because you cannot find or afford housing.



Then, you have certain rights or protections under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistance Act.



You have the right to:
• Go to school, no matter where you live or how long you have lived there.You must be given access to the same public education provided to other students.
• Continueintheschoolyouattendedbeforeyoubecamehomeless or the school you last attended, if that is your choice and is feasible. The school district’s local liaison for homeless education must assist you, if needed, and offer you the right to appeal a decision regarding your choice of school if it goes against your wishes.
• Receivetransportationtotheschoolyouattendedbeforeyou became homeless or the school you last attended, if you request such transportation.
• Attendaschoolandparticipateinschoolprogramswithstudents who are not homeless. Students cannot be separated from the regular school program because they are homeless.
• Enrollinschoolwithoutgivingapermanentaddress.Schools cannot require proof of residency that might prevent or delay school enrollment.
• Enrollandattendclasseswhiletheschoolarrangesforthetransfer of school and immunization records or any other documents required for enrollment.
• Enrollandattendclassesintheschoolofyourchoiceevenwhile the school and you seek to resolve a dispute over enrollment.
• Receivethesamespecialprogramsandservices,ifneeded,as provided to all other students served in these programs.
• Receivetransportationtoschoolandtoschoolprograms.
When you move, you should do the following:



  • Contact the school district’s local liaison for homeless education (see phone number below) for help in enrolling in a new school or arranging to continue in your former school. (Or, someone at a shelter, social services office, or the school can direct you to the person you need to contact.)
  • Tell your teachers anything that you think they need to know to help you in school.
  • Ask thelocal liaison for homeless education,theshelter provider, or a social worker for assistance with clothing and supplies, if needed.

If you need further assistance, call the NationalCenterforHomelessEducation at the toll-free HelpLine number: 1-800-308-2145

Monday, June 13, 2011

Hygiene Items Needed!

Summer has arrived and hygiene items are flying out of our tubs!

If you can help with any or all of the items below,  please contact Darlene Yeater as soon as possible.
  • travel/trial sized Shampoo
  • travel/trial sized conditioner
  • travel/trial sized Hand/body lotion
  • Travel size soaps
  • travel/trial sized mouth wash
  • travel/trial sized toothpaste
  • Toothbrushes
  • travel/trial sized deoderants
  • bandaids
  • Suntan Lotion
  • Bug Repellant Spray
  • Pocket Tissues
Keep connected with our needs by "liking" our Facebook page, We Care Connection.

We Care Connection
C/o Darlene Yeater
3596 Fulton Road
Cleveland, Ohio 44109
Cell: 440-567-7582
Send Email