My Word: Let’s row in same direction

OrlandoSentinel.com
My Word: Let’s row in same direction

By Richard T. Crotty

November 25, 2009

Scott Maxwell’s recent column asserting that Orange County was “AWOL” on the Central Florida Regional Commission on Homelessness followed by Friday’s editorial accusing us of being “miserly” toward the homeless are shameful displays of fiction posing as fact. Because the Orange County dollars in question are really taxpayer dollars, it’s important to set the record straight.

Orange County has had a long-standing commitment toward mitigating the causes and effects of homelessness. This year, the county targeted more than $7.6 million to assist the homeless and those on the cusp of homelessness. This includes $1.1 million to the Health Care Center for the Homeless to provide medical, dental and pharmacy services, and $3.6 million in housing and shelter assistance.

This doesn’t include our $4 million contribution toward the new men’s service center at the Coalition for the Homeless. Our Youth and Family Services division also dispensed more than $1.9 million in rent payments and utility assistance, a program that clearly prevents homelessness. The sum of $7.6 million may not satisfy Sentinel opinion writers, but tax dollars are limited, and the demands for services are many. We do our best to address needs in a compassionate and fiscally responsible way.

The Regional Commission on Homelessness was predicated on the idea that a group of community leaders could bring a fresh perspective on homelessness and provide the leadership to leverage resources. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and I did not form the commission, but when asked to serve as co-chair, I was proud to do so. This was not supposed to be another group to fund, but one that could maximize the funding that is already here.

The community organizations that service the homeless have developed independently over time to address specific issues. The Homeless Services Network of Central Florida apportions close to $5 million in federal funding to these varied organizations.

The new paradigm being advanced by the regional commission is consolidation and coordination. This model has shown great results in our community with collaborations such as the Primary Care Access Network, which increased primary care medical services from 8,000 individuals in 2000 to 125,000 today. Another fine example is the county’s Central Receiving Center, which has assisted more than 30,000 individuals who are in mental-health crisis.

Far from being a “last ditch plea for help,” merging HSN with the regional commission is a culmination of thoughtful design. The HSN board understands how to provide services for the homeless. The regional commission understands community planning, leveraging assets and streamlining processes. Uniting these forces under one umbrella makes sense.

The National Alliance to End Homelessness calls such an effort “rowing in the same direction.” I invite the Sentinel to get on board and row with us.

Richard T. Crotty is Orange County mayor.

Mission undone

OrlandoSentinel.com
Mission undone
The gist: A panel’s slack effort and broken promises compound the region’s homeless crisis.

November 20, 2009

If people could reside in dusty recommendations and abandoned lofty resolutions, Central Florida’s homeless crisis already would be a faint memory.

Two years ago, the Central Florida Regional Commission on Homelessness, led by Mayors Buddy Dyer and Rich Crotty, trumpeted its goal: wiping out chronic regional homelessness within a decade.

A tall order in a region where nearly 10,000 people are likely to be homeless at some point this year. Unfortunately, this trifling commission would need to make great strides even to be criticized as lackluster. And the buck stops with Mr. Dyer and Mr. Crotty.

Unbelievably, the outfit that boldly proclaimed it was prepared to end homelessness within 10 years might not even survive the next 10 months. Brought to its knees by budget woes, the commission now hopes a surefooted regional homeless-services network answers its Hail Mary plea for a merger.

Overall, a disgraceful showing. One that stands as both another half-hearted effort to end homelessness and a shameful confirmation of the dearth of compassion and political will on this issue.

It was in 2003 that the Working Committee on Homelessness drafted nearly two dozen proposals to curb this regional shame. Although such measures could reduce the estimated $100 million Central Florida taxpayers annually pay out on the homeless for everything from emergency-room care to social services, three years passed and almost none of the measures had been seen through.

Into the breach rode the commission. The panel, a diverse group from Orlando and Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties, included a Who’s Who of sincerely dedicated captains of industry, including Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton, CNL Holdings CFO Tracy Schmidt and banking executive Ed Timberlake.

Homeless advocates dared hope the high-powered commission would blueprint remedies such as specialized housing, bolstered with social services as a buffer to keep tenants again from winding up on the street.

However, those high-flying expectations quickly nosedived. The commission shrunk an initial funding target of $50 million to $3 million. Yet, it hasn’t sniffed anything even close to that. After collecting only $425,000 its first year, the commission has followed up this year with just $80,000.

It hasn’t helped that commission partners have been reluctant to put their money where their mouths were. Seminole County has ponied up a paltry $25,000. Mr. Dyer and Orlando commissioners have put up just $111,000 — far short of what the commission expected.

Still, Orange County has proved the most miserly. Mr. Crotty and the Orange commissioners have yet to pitch even a nickel into the commission’s tin cup.

That the commission’s failure to launch comes as the state weathers a perfect tsunami of reversals only amplifies its abject default. Foreclosures in Florida — second highest in the nation — record unemployment and population erosion have stalled the economy and swelled the numbers squatting in abandoned buildings, shivering in camps, or elbowing for limited shelter spaces.

Last month, the commission approached the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida, all but conceding failure and needing a lifeline. Teaming up with an organization that boasts more than 13 years of expertise makes sense. Maybe network officials would better leverage its business talent. Network officials are mulling the proposal.

This is certain: Whether or not the commission survives, the region can no longer abide grand words on homelessness that don’t spark grand actions.

NBA Washout David Vaughn Back From The Depths of Despair

ORLANDO — David Vaughn would doze off at night thinking about the thick, fluffy towels and those cool-to-the-touch, soft white sheets that he used to pull up around his chin when he slept so soundly at the posh Ritz Carlton, his home-away-from-home when he played in the National Basketball Association.

Unfortunately, he would wake up soon afterward, realizing he was back to reality, living on the streets in Orlando, sleeping with one eye open, in places that often embarrassed him.

Homeless: Orlando could be the most violent metro area in Florida, survey finds

OrlandoSentinel.com
By Willoughby Mariano

Sentinel Staff Writer

August 20, 2009

The nation’s third “meanest” city for the homeless may also be the state’s most violent toward them, say survey results being released today.

Forty-six percent of homeless people questioned in Orlando and Orange County in an ongoing local survey said they were physically attacked in the past four years by someone they thought was not homeless — well above Florida’s average of 27 percent, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.

The same organization last month ranked Orlando as the third “meanest” city in the country, behind Los Angeles and St. Petersburg. A coalition report released earlier this month said that in 2008, Florida led the nation in violence against the homeless for the fourth year in a row.

This year alone, at least two homeless men have been slain in Orange County.

“To me, the statistics are shocking. It shows the problem is much worse than we thought,” said Michael Stoops, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Orange County’s results in this most recent survey are preliminary. There were 35 Orlando respondents and 1,350 statewide. However, in Orange Osceola and Seminole counties there are about 3,800 homeless people at any given time, according to the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida.

The network is in the midst of a more extensive local study that aims to survey 650 homeless people. It plans to release results this fall.

Here’s more about the coalition’s survey, and what it means.

Click anywhere to read the full article

The latest on David Ashby …

David Ashby, the 14-year-old Orlando teen who is walking to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of homeless children, has made a lot of progress since I wrote about him last. Not that it has been a stroll in the park.

Click anywhere to read the full article

Orlando 3rd ‘meanest’ city for homeless, study finds

OrlandoSentinel.com

Advocacy groups rank Top 10 cities that ‘criminalize’ homelessness

Kate Santich

Sentinel Staff Writer

July 14, 2009

The City Beautiful? How about “The City Mean”?

Two national advocacy groups for the homeless ranked Orlando as the third “meanest” city in the nation Tuesday, citing a trend toward criminalizing activities that come with living on the streets, such as sleeping in parks or panhandling.

In a report from the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty and the National Coalition for the Homeless, Orlando ranked behind Los Angeles and St. Petersburg on a Top 10 “meanest cities” list, which also included Gainesville (No. 5) and Bradenton (No. 9).

After decades apart, woman finds mom — homeless in Orlando

Click anywhere to read the full story:

OrlandoSentinel.com
Happy reunion

Jessica Wisnoski and Lani Burgos are reunited after Wisnoski spent $20,000 and decades searching for the mother she hadn’t seen since she was a toddler.

Susan Jacobson

Sentinel Staff Writer

July 20, 2009

For nearly four decades, all Jessica Wisnoski had to remember her mother was a tattered photo of 2-year-old Wisnoski sitting in her mom’s lap.

The yearning to know her mother never left Wisnoski, 38, who lives near Houston. She and her husband, Bryan, spent $20,000 and 17 years searching for Lani Burgos, 58, who left her only child with Burgos’ father and stepmother while she tried to kick a drug habit.

On Saturday night, Wisnoski finally found her mom — homeless and living in Orlando.

After years of dashed hopes and false leads, the Wisnoskis, with the help of a private investigator, tracked Burgos to a Salvation Army shelter in Ocala and, from there, to Central Florida.

During the weekend, they drove to Orlando, where they planned to hand out fliers offering a reward for helping them find Burgos. On the way to the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, they stumbled on police Officer Jonathan Adkins. He offered to drive them.

No luck at the shelter. So, Adkins took the couple to other hangouts for the homeless, including Lake Lucerne, where transients said they had seen Burgos at free meals downtown, Adkins said.

Armed with a jail booking photo — Burgos has been arrested a couple of times on open-container and illegal-camping charges — they swung by the Interstate 4/ East-West Expressway underpass. There, a woman sat on the sidewalk.

“I said, ‘Oh, my gosh, I think that’s her,’” Wisnoski recalled.

Adkins checked it out.

“Are you Lani Burgos?” he asked. “How are you doing?”

On the road again: David Ashby heading toward Saint Augustine

Fourteen-year-old David Ashby of Orlando is back on the road to Washington, D.C., this week as his younger sister recovers in a Virginia hospital from a devastating accident.

David, who is trying to raise awareness of the nation’s 1.5 million homeless children, suspended his 1,100-mile walk June 17 — just two days after he started in Orlando — when he got word of his sister’s trauma. Ten-year-old Aubrey, who had been staying at her uncle’s home, fell face-first off a bicycle and suffered life-threatening injuries and complications. She was immediately flown to the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.

On Monday, David left First United Methodist Church in DeLand, where he had stopped, and walked 28 miles to Daytona Beach — through thunderstorms and even occasional rock-throwing by passing motorists. The day took its toll.

“Pain was something I expected,” he wrote on his blog, “but not as bad as it was.”

By Wednesday night, he hopes to reach St. Augustine.

Last week, Aubrey underwent an 11-hour surgery to repair some of the damage from the accident. Her mother, Alison Ashby, who had been following David in the family’s van, remains by her daughter’s hospital bedside. A family friend is now watching over David to make sure that he’s safe and drinks enough water. He plans to cover 25 to 35 miles a day to make up for lost time and still reach the nation’s capital by mid-August.

Meanwhile, Aubrey “continues to amaze us with her strength and positive outlook,” Alison Ashby wrote in an e-mail. She said the girl may need more surgery later, and there has been no date set for her release from the hospital. But her long-term prognosis is good.

“She is so awesome,” said neighbor Allie Loveland, whose daughter has been Aubrey’s best friend since the two girls were in first grade together. “She is a person who loves everybody. She’s so engaging. When you see her, you think, ‘What a cute little kid.’ But then when she speaks, she can say things so profound you’re left wondering, ‘Who was that child?’ “

Neighbors, friends and classmates at Princeton Elementary School in College Park have set up a fund and have started a series of fund-raising events for Aubrey’s medical bills, which will be only partly covered by insurance. The accident, Loveland said, also underscores the purpose of David’s walk. For many families, a medical crisis can trigger a financial free-fall.

“This is how quickly you can become homeless,” she said. “Aubrey did everything right. She was wearing a helmet. It was just a freak thing. But all it takes is a child who’s injured.”

Loveland said many people assumed David would abandon his trek, in which he is sleeping in shelters or on the roadside. Instead, it seems to have renewed his resolve.

“This whole turn of events has been almost unbelievable,” said Brent Trotter, president and CEO of the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida, which hosted David’s send-off June 15. “But it speaks to his determination to see this through.”

David Ashby to resume trek; sister Aubrey still in hospital

posted by Kate Santich on Jun 28, 2009 11:37:39 PM

David Ashby, the 14-year-old Orlando teen who began walking to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of homeless children, will resume his trek Monday morning, his mom said.

David’s much-publicized journey had been abruptly halted June 16 — just two days into his trek — when his 10-year-old sister was in a serious, freakish accident. Staying with an uncle in Virginia, Aubrey Ashby took a bad fall off a bicycle and fell, suffering extensive facial trauma and a potential brain injury. A blood clot and life-threatening reaction to anesthesia further complicated matters.

But Alison Ashby, David and Aubrey’s mother, said Aubrey underwent an initial surgery last week and is doing well, though she has more surgeries and a long recovery ahead. The girl — known to her many friends for her happy and compassionate spirit — “continues to amaze us with her strength and positive outlook,” her mother said.

A series of fund-raising events for her medical bills has already been organized by friends, teachers and neighbors. (I’ll have more details on those soon.)

Meanwhile, David will pick up in DeLand, where he left off before the accident, and resume his 21-mile-per-day walk. Though Alison will stay with her daughter, who is still hospitalized in Virginia, another chaperon will take her place following David in a van to ensure his safety. He has nearly two dozen overnight stays scheduled for homeless shelters along the way.

Reminder: IDignity in Orlando is tomorrow …

and SACSON members/Sanford IDignity volunteers, we’re asking that all of you attend at least one IDignity event in Orlando prior to the next one we have in Sanford so you’ll continue to learn the process.

Thursday June 25th, 2009

The Orlando Union Rescue Mission
410 W. Central Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32801
(407-423-3596)

Time:

Intake is from 8 AM till 1 PM

Volunteering is from 7 AM till 3:30 PM