|
PROJECT ON HOMELESSNESS GUIDEBOOK INFO
Kevin Campbell sent the following letter to a list of movers and shakers around the country - including businessmen, journalists, politicians, and human rights organizations. If successful, this book could help a lot of people, including many in our community.
Dear Readers,
As I sat at Review Coffee Shop on Olive Avenue today, I noticed the many customers walking up and down the street, Most had dogs for the Pooch Parade that was calendared. It was a big deal, but I noticed something that had already been there when I started hanging out in the last two years. There are a lot of homeless people in the Tower Theater area and they are the same ones with some new faces.
At first, I wondered about the sheer number of them. I guess I counted about 20 or so that needed clothing or food or transportation, in addition to housing and Social Security benefits. After talking with a few of them, I learned that many were from out of town and didn't know how much food stamp benefits paid or where to go sign up. The DSS offices aren't all offering the same services. They are spread out all over town, requiring a puzzle to solve to get the card, get housing, and get disability assistance. That was disappointing; the travel it requires, often two or more offices rather than one. I was glad that I could help with pointing them in the right direction.
Next I was astonished at the disabled. They were about half of them and they really needed help. The homeless people didn't know that they can sign up without a doctor's note, simply by applying, but did know they needed it. The letters of denial can be brought to a disability lawyer for filing with a maximum fee of 25% or $6,000 whichever is lower. No win no fee. And back pay goes all the way back to disability, and no money to begin being paid when you win.
A few of them have a check, but can't get off the street because of housing availability. They often don't know where to search on websites like Craigslist.org, Zillow.com, or Apartments.com. Sign ups for Section 8 housing vouchers can lower rent to .3 times income but have open lists and closing ones.
General Relief/Calworks clients with a food stamp card can pay rent this way. When your GR is $200, the rent is $200 (divided by) 3 =$60 and the gov pays the rest to the landlord.
They do not have easy access to the Web. They need to travel again to the library, but need ID and a mailing address, which can be had at Poverello House and Rescue Mission or a friend or relative's. Catholic Charities and DSS have vouchers for ID cards.
They also can sign up for multi household free government phones. They don't know that either. I think this can reduce phone theft and give greater chances at housing and employment.
The EDD can help too at Manchester Center with it's Workforce Connection location. They have sign ups on the CalJOBS website for state unemployment benefits and state disability checks. They don't know it and they have to travel again, but it's worth it with that and the free job training programs that they pay for, including job counseling for everybody, formerly incarcerated welcome to apply.
I was driven to the Web, searching for books on Amazon that can help. I found one that stood out called, "The Giveback Economy: Social Responsibility Practices for Business and Nonprofit" by Self Counsel Press, the sample can be found here:
https://www.self-counsel.com/docs/giveback_economy.pdf
The table of contents provides the right kind of information for the structure to follow for better organization. Please read the following text from this:
1. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) 10 1.1 CSR for large businesses (multinational corporations) 12 1.2 CSR for small and medium businesses 14
2. How Does CSR Work in Business? 16 2.1 Sponsorship 16
2.2 Fundraising 16
2.3 Customer base 17
2.4 Employee base 17
2.5 Corporate foundations 18
2.6 In-kind support 18 3. Social Investment 19 4. How to Start CSR in Your Business 19
I think that someone should have built a website that included all of the sign ups with just one apply, an easy solution that saves time for everyone that technology can produce when we put our minds to it.
There should be a group meeting of Fresno businesses beginning in the Tower that can hold a regular calendar schedule to discuss this book and pull together the collective power of the area to solve the homeless problem with respect and concern with a better informed approach. The group can afford to connect with owners/managers, employees, customers, churches, and city/state/federal government in ways that have not happened before.
Please take the time to look into this and talk about it with everyone you know. It's important.
Have a great day and I look forward to your reply.
Sincerely,
Kevin S. Campbell
kcampke@yahoo.com
|
