Akron Beacon Journal Front Page Coverage

All I can say is: I was BLOWN away by the extensive coverage Akron Beacon Journal gave to us this past week.
They spent hours and hours and days and days with us to understand who we are and what we are trying to accomplish.
I often hear people say the news only talks about negative things. This is an example where the opposite is true.
Writer, Doug Livingston, and photographer, Phil Masturzo, are the creators of this extensive series. It included 4 front page stories, several videos and countless photos.
And then the editorial board followed up with a piece as well.
I wanted to put all the articles in one place so they are easily accessed.
I also wanted to show some images of the newspaper coverage.
We are so truly grateful for your effort here. The homeless situation is only going to get worse in America as the middle class continues to disappear. We all must think creatively and innovatively on how to manage our increasing homelessness.
Here are the links:
Vagrants are gathering in Middlebury to solve homelessness
Where do Akron’s homeless live? Learn all about Second Chance Village, Akron’s new tent city
Former Kentucky resident finds herself homeless, pregnant in AkronAkron’s homeless build new lives at Second Chance Village
Photos: The Homeless Charity
Photos: Tent city here to stay
How to help Second Chance Village
How to help Second Chance Village
For now, Akron’s largest and unlawful tent city is here to stay
Skribblez the clown panhandles his way to home ownership
Words of panhandling wisdom by Skribblez the Clown
Beacon Journal editorial board: Homeless address homelessness

They also did some videos:
Second Chance Village

A beacon of hope for once homeless mother

And here are pictures of the newspapers:

Dear Akron Beacon Journal Readers…

If you’ve found us because of the coverage from the Akron Beacon Journal, thank you SO much for taking the time to learn about us further.
We are a quickly evolving and growing organization. So there are many things I want you to know about us.
But if I only had a few sentences to explain to you what I feel makes us so special and unique in America, this is what I would say to you…
First, the reason I am so unabashedly proud and impressed with our organization is because I have so little to do with it. We are 100% run by the homeless. Our director, Paul Hays, comes to us after spending years in the woods. Our security, operations, maintenance and Democratically elected tri-council are all homeless.
I’m the executive director. But when it comes to the operations of the facility my voice has no special weight. I just share my opinion like everyone else.
Second, we are secular. Many of us have a spiritual relationship. But it is for each of us to pursue on our own. Many people have talked to me about the time they spent alone in their tent talking to God. I truly feel like our center is one of the most sacred and spiritual places I’ve ever been. While we love and greatly appreciate our religious partners we are not founded in religion. We are founded in loving fellow humans. I personally believe it’s as close to Jesus as I’ve ever been.
Finally, our mission is two fold. The obvious mission is to help the homeless take the next step in their lives. But the less obvious mission, yet equally as important, is to begin to build a connection to the homeless and the homed. We love having visitors. You are always welcome to come visit us.
If you’d like a tour message me at sage@thehomelesscharity.org or call me at 330-416-7519. Otherwise, you are welcome to come visit us between 9-5 Monday through Saturday and 12-5 on Sunday.
We have the Second Chance Store that is totally run and operated by the homeless.
We are just now getting connected to the Food Bank. So our homeless residents will begin distributing food to the needy in our community.
We are growing some beautiful tomatoes and peppers in our raised bed gardens.
And we’re furiously working on our emergency shelter for the winter.
We’d also love to show you around Second Chance Village. The people that live there are incredibly proud of what they have created and the community they are developing.
If you’ve never spent much time with the homeless you might find it exciting, interesting and even fun. I can assure you that you’ll be safe and you’ll definitely be welcome. Your whole family is welcome. We love to have kids visit us.
If you aren’t quite ready to come visit us then we’d like to invite you to our private members-only portal. You get the inside scoop of what it happening with us. The good and the bad. It only costs $1. CLICK HERE TO CHECK THAT OUT.
Thank you once again. You believing in the idea that the homeless deserve attention and help makes a much bigger difference than you might think. Public support of our cause is going to be a major part of whether or not we will continue to exist for the long term.
That’s why we ask for just $1. It doesn’t hurt to give us $1. But as the numbers grow we can show the city of Akron that people care about the homeless and want something to be done about the homeless cause. CLICK HERE TO CHECK THAT OUT.
Doing nothing for the homeless is dragging our entire community down. You just believing in our cause will help us allow the homeless to help themselves to figure out the next step in their lives.

Calling All Akron-area Architects – Building Evaluation Needed

We are working on going through our fire inspection.
One of the items we need is a Certificate of Occupancy.
We have the previous owner’s certificates.
You can see them here:
15 Broad St Suite 103 042605.doc
15 Broad St 042505.doc
I was referred by the city of Akron to Summit County Building Standards.
They told me to talk with:
Gina Oakes
Examiner
E-mail: goakes@summitoh.net
Telephone: (330) 630-7077
Fax: (330) 630-7296
She then referred me to
Mark Shenot
Chief Building Official
E-mail: mshenot@summitoh.net
Telephone: (330) 630-7287
Fax: (330) 630-7296
Mobile Phone Number: (330) 631-3411
He said that I would need to get an architect to do a building evaluation.
This is where things get a little tricky.
The words: “architect, building, evaluation” sound expensive.
I’m not certain how much that might be. But perhaps we could make some sort of arrangement.
Some things we could offer you include:

  • Our adoring love and appreciation. (Seriously, helping the homeless is SUPER sexy right now. Your cool points would go WAY up in the community.)
  • The knowledge that you are saving the homeless from an impending winter without any place to go.
  • A trade for digital marketing and Web development work (I happen to be pretty handy in those areas.)
  • Online advertising on the world’s most popular search engine. (I’m not allowed to mention their name. But they give us advertising money to spend as a 501(c)3 that helps the homeless. Like A LOT of money.)
  • Or something else of your choosing.

We do have some money. But money isn’t our strong suit right at the moment.
Mark Shenot said that the top floor shouldn’t be too difficult. It is just standard offices.
But the lower level, where we have our homeless drop in center (no one lives in there), laundry, pantry, etc has never had a certificate of occupancy before.
So that’s where you come in. We need a building evaluation by an architect to tell the county if what we are doing is acceptable.
There you have it.
If you are an architect or happen to know an architect and helping the homeless get out of the woods, get off drugs and alcohol and being part of one the most innovative homeless programs in the country interest you PLEASE contact me.
You can call me on my cell: 330-416-7519
Or you can email me: sage@thehomelesscharity.org
Thank you SO SO much!!!

The Homeless Choose To Be Homeless

People don’t admit that statement to me anymore. It’s probably because they don’t want to be insensitive. Or maybe they’re afraid they’ll get an earful of what I believe.
People rarely express their feelings about panhandling to me anymore where it was once a common area of frustration I heard about.
But I see it repeated all the time in comments on articles about homelessness or on Reddit.
“The homeless are homeless because they want to be homeless.”
I think I understand where that is coming from.

  • “They got themselves in this situation.”
  • “They don’t want help.”
  • “It’s their fault they are homeless.”

In some circumstances I can sort of agree with that.
They became addicted to drugs. They became alcoholics. They became criminals and are now felons.
But if we choose to play that game we can start to look at ourselves.
We ate too much bad food and developed heart disease. We didn’t exercise enough and suffered a heart attack. We smoked too much and developed lung disease.
I mean aren’t YOU eating too much gluten? That’s probably why you don’t feel well.
How many of us are totally innocent of creating our own circumstances?
But the truth of homelessness is actually not what we all want to admit.
Most people become homeless because they are poor and there isn’t enough affordable housing.
“Insufficient income and lack of affordable housing are the leading causes of homelessness,” reports The National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.
But then the plot thickens.
For women, the number 1 reason they are homeless is because of domestic violence.
Woman are getting beat up at home and feel like they need to leave to protect themselves and their kids.
I guess you could say that was their fault for picking the wrong man.
People don’t typically become homeless because of just one reason. It’s usually a variety of circumstances.

According to the most recent annual survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, major cities across the country report that top causes of homelessness among families were:

  1. lack of affordable housing
  2. unemployment
  3. poverty
  4. low wages (In this order)

We, as humans, have a desire to simplify complicated issues. Whether it’s the environment, drugs, wars, poverty or homelessness most of us have quick fix solutions to incredibly complicated issues.
I find it interesting that the quick fix solutions very often never involve changing the behaviors of the person advocating the quick fix.
But with homelessness I’m not actually suggesting you make any changes… except for one.
All I’m asking is that you open your mind to the possibility that a person is homeless for many reasons. 
Please try to stop pushing out messaging that the homeless are just a bunch of drunk, addicted, lazy criminals that don’t want to work and get a home.
Whether you know it or not you are influencing people around you with that message. People trust you and believe your words.
You are helping push a message out that is easy for people to grab onto and believe. In doing so the problem of homelessness becomes all that much more difficult.
When talking about homelessness, if you don’t want to advocate for any of the facts and stats above please just simply say something like: “It’s complicated. People are homeless for a lot of reasons.”
That’s the truth.

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