Cleveland is one of seven cities in the U.S. that has enacted a right to counsel program that provides free legal representation to tenants facing eviction. Early statistics from the program’s first year of operation show promising results – dozens of evictions prevented despite a federal moratorium on evictions – but what will happen when that moratorium ends?
While overall COVID-19 vaccination rates for Asian-Americans are relatively high in Ohio, Asian-American and Pacifc Island (AAPI) refugees and immigrants in Northeast Ohio – many who don’t speak English – have had to negotiate unique cultural and language barriers on their road to getting vaccinated.
If knowledge is power, then the skills to get public records are a superpower – one that will soon be available to all curious Clevelanders. Want information on how the city is spending taxpayer money? Looking for a police policy or court record? All you have to do is know how to ask. The Northeast Ohio Solutions Journalism Collaborative has teamed up with the Cleveland Documenters to create a new, free course.
Black churches in Cleveland have played host to regular vaccination sites since February, through an initiative started by the Greater Cleveland Congregations’ (GCC) interfaith coalition. They’re trying to address a serious problem: Vaccinations for Black residents in Cuyahoga County have consistently lagged behind vaccinations for white residents.
Since late January, the phone line, United Way of Greater Cleveland’s 211 HelpLink, in Cuyahoga County has taken more than 52,000 calls from area residents, helping the majority of those people register for COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
Housing advocates say tenants need more time to access assistance or find further employment to cover their rent. City councils in Lakewood, South Euclid and Cleveland Heights are considering one option that might help, called “pay to stay.”
There was one bright spot in the darkness of the coronavirus pandemic in Cleveland last year: Fewer people were homeless and living on the streets. Chris Knestrick, director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH), estimates there was a roughly 30% decrease in the number of “unsheltered” people experiencing homelessness in Cleveland.
Almost 800 CMSD students go to one of 24 Cleveland learning pods on a daily basis to do their virtual-only classwork. These students are the ones who are struggling the most with online-only work: homeless students, poor students and English-language learners.
The $2 million federal assistance fund meant to help people in Cuyahoga County pay off their back utility bills has run dry, a spokesperson for CHN Housing Partners said on Dec. 14. But other funds are still available.
Dealing with a mounting utility bill or shut-off notice can be scary, especially during a pandemic when electricity, water and gas are essential for learning or working from home.
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