But, if you visit their website, you'll find this:

Fight NIMBYISM!

A small vocal minority, because of fear, often opposes services that assist homeless people especially in their neighborhood. Those that want to see homeless people find stability need to stand up and provide a counter to the “Not In My Back Yard” crowd.

And this:

Fight homelessness on a regional level!
Homeless people come from around the region. They are forced into Cleveland because that is where all the services are located.

• Write to your local government official (including Cuyahoga County) and ask them how they are addressing the housing needs of those that are facing poverty.
• Write to newspapers and television news outlets and ask them why they are not covering the shame of our urban communities that do not provide adequate housing for their citizens. Why do we build palaces and playgrounds, but we do not address the housing crisis?

So I wonder why one should write checks to Downtown Cleveland Alliance instead of being directed straight to NEOCH? Why do downtown businesses not want the homeless in their back or front yards? The job application for the DCA Safe and Clean program begins with requiring your address. How many homeless people are they employing?

Are they asking the same questions that NEOCH is asking? Why are we building palaces instead of helping the homeless to have a safe place to live and jobs and education? Jeff Buster suggested a jobs program that the DCA could learn from – an on demand work corps.

From the press release at Block by Block: “A very exciting element of the downtown Cleveland Services Program is the focus, which will be placed on Social Service Outreach. With the implementation of the staff a trained social service outreach professional will be on staff and will be dedicated to interacting with the homeless of downtown and assisting these persons with the process of gaining assistance from a wide variety of agencies. The Social Service Outreach professional will be able to provide basic case management for the homeless and transition them from the streets of downtown Cleveland into programs where they can be provided with shelter, food, job assistance, vocational training and substance abuse rehabilitation. This approach has proven to be extremely successful in other Block by Block cities.”

But who is their social service staff person and how does one contact them? How can you help someone transition if you simply drive them away?

And in a 2005 letter to Frank Jackson, NEOCH director, Brian Davis ends with this, “Please let the panhandling ordinance die a quiet death.  It is inappropriate to restrict where low income people can ask for money.  We ask that you avoid a court fight with the civil libertarians by limiting any legislation to aggressive behavior only.”

What happened? Read the rest of Brian’s letter here.

What if we turned this thing on its head and worked to end homelessness, moved people into homes, helped them with their issues and offered our bootstraps instead of demanding that they pull themselves up by their own nonexistent ones? What if we offered them work and a place to stay and food and safety instead of running them off so that the well to do will not be bothered? What if we stopped driving people to homelessness through this foreclosure debacle?

Again, like Tom Johnson said, "There was a certain river and many human beings were in it, struggling to get to shore. Some succeeded, some were pulled ashore by kind-hearted people on the banks. But many were carried down the stream and drowned. It is no doubt a wise thing; it is noble that under those conditions charitable people devote themselves to helping the victims out of the water. But ... it would be better if some of those kindly people on the shore engaged in rescue work, would go up the stream and find out who was pushing the people in. It is in this way that I would answer those who would ask us to help the poor. Let us help them, that they may at least fight the battle (against) Privilege with more strength and courage; but let us never lose sight of our mission up the river to see who is pushing the people in."

or to quote Jesus of Nazareth,
"Think ye that building shall endure, which shelters the noble and crushes the poor?"