"BOOKER NATION'S BBQ PICNIC"

Come out and celebrate another successful season with our 2005 Florida Class 3A State Runner-ups, The 2005 Booker High School Tornadoes Football Team.

This is an excellent opportunity to join the entire community in congratulating and celebrating our team and their success.  There will be a BBQ Picnic for Newtown's football team.  There will be food, drinks, music and fun.

This celebration will be held Sunday, February 19, 2006, 1PM to 5PM at Booker High School.  Show your support by buying a $10 meal ticket.

  "There will be no ticket sold on that date".  Catered by D & R BBQ, Euline Myrick Sr. and others.  Deadline for tickets is February 11, 2006, for more information please call Euline Myrick Sr. (941)-952-0668 or (941)-376-8055. 

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Subject: Homeless Forum in Sarasota
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 09:26:58 -0500


The following is a brief summary of the New College of Florida Series on Homelessness, held on the New College campus, Feb 10, 13 and 14, 2006, co-sponsored by the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

Friday, the documentary series "A Tale of Two Cities: Homeless in Sarasota" by filmmaker Anne Derwent was shown. She entertained questions & discussion. The film had aired on the Education Channel.

Monday, there was a panel of the National Coalition for the Homeless with a national perspective.  This is the group that named Sarasota the meanest city in the U.S. Also, two lawyers from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty provided information and analyzed the city's anti-camping ordinance and pointed out why it is written in a vague fashion and intrudes on citizens’ rights. (The website for the NLC: www.nlchp.org. A complete list of the 20 meanest cities can be found there.)  Look for a report from the The National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty which came out January 2006 called "A Dream Denied: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities"  (Go to www.nationalhomeless.org)


Tuesday, the most popular in terms of the numbers who attended, was a panel of locals and Michale Stoopes, Exec Dir of the NCH. The local panel participants included Tom Tryon of the Sarasota Herald Tribune (as moderator); Richard Martin, current chair of the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness; Mike McNees, City Manager; Major Burt Tanner, Exec. Dir. of the Sarasota Salvation Army; and Dr. Jerry Thompson, Exec. Dir. of Coastal Recovery.  To start, why was Sarasota named the meanest city towards the homeless? It was based on the City's stance on criminalizing the homeless as in promoting ordinances which target the homeless. They are sent to jail for natural needs - like sleeping. There are more homeless people than there are beds. In a 2003 count, 1,264 homeless in Sarasota County were located.  Why criminalize the victim of this situation. The issue is "walking while homeless". McNees' position is that it is about property rights and balancing all the citizens rights.  The National Coalition as well as the local representatives acknowledged that there are many positives in Sarasota in terms of services especially those provided by the Salvation Army, Resurrection House and St. Vincent de Paul.

Who are the homeless? Most obviously, they are folks living in public places, shelters or in transitional housing program but they are also families and individuals living doubled up, in severely substandard housing, or in motels or rv parks because they have no adequate alternative.  Some are living on friends' back porches or other tentative shelter solutions.  Some statistics: 35-40% of the homeless are families and 75% of those families are headed by a single woman with two children under the age of six. To have a roof over one's head in Sarasota, one must bring in approximately $14 an hour. What groups are most vulnerable to homelessness: anyone making less than $18,000 a year, single women with children.

Nationwide, 95 million people in 2001 reported having housing problems.
1/10 of U.S. population falls into the extremely poor category (making from 0 to $16,000 per year). 25% of the homeless are children. Though cities, counties and states need to develop strategies for this growing population.  It is growing because of 1) inadequate affordable housing, 2) low wages, 3) poor medical coverage.  These were stated as the major reasons for homelessness.

People think of the majority of homeless as folks who have drug, alcohol problems and mental incapacities, but the fastest growing segment of the population becoming homeless are families with children.
A national strategy is required to tackle these big issues. The federal government has no long range plan to help with true solutions for dealing with the homeless.  HUD who serves low income people by providing housing and vouchers is having its budget cut back. They are razing public housing developments and are not bringing back units one for one and thus are contributing to the national increase of those who are homeless. This will also happen in Sarasota.  The number of public housing units (388) will not return as subsidized rentals (remember that people do pay rent but it is based on 30% of their income). Rental vouchers (Section 8) will be given to those displaced but the rentals in the community diminish by the week due to high taxes, condoizing, teardowns.

The National Coalition for Low Income Housing reported recently that there is no one bedroom apartment for rent by the full-time worker who makes a minimum wage anywhere in the country! (The Federal formula is that the household spend no more than 30% of their income on rent and
utilities to be affordable.)  The Salvation Army has filled every bed and more = every day it has been open.  The City has recently lost to development an important feeding resource downtown. For all the good that is being done, a tsunami of need presses what's available. The Season of Sharing and 211 provide needed funds for individual problems. By last autumn those funds for emergencies and electric bills, for instance, had been used up.

Sarasota County is trying out a program where police refer people to services instead of incarceration. The City made the point that only 45 were actually cited under the no-camping ordinance. Not much in terms of numbers. But the justice system is asking now that these citations are treated more formally and are ending up costing the transient person court costs, when they are already down and out. Not to mention how a record will keep him/her from finding employment.  At least half of the homeless are working. But they cannot make enough to find housing.  Those with mental or physical incapacities cannot be followed, medicated, etc. while they live on street and there aren't the service workers or funds to give them individual attention.  Coastal Recovery is doing all they can. Their funds, too, have been scaled back. So on every front - more need and less money to provide services. Some see homelessness as a symptom of a larger systemic problem and not the problem itself. People who were once homeless were encouraged to go out into the schools and churches and other public forums to put a face on the "homeless". A fearful stereotype of the homeless doesn't move us toward solutions.

Solutions? Workshops like this one. More money for services, especially case workers to give individualized help. Most of the large audience for the last session was made up of those who work with the homeless. Full participation of the community will be required to make a difference.  The folks who sleep in the shelters tonight or under the stars are our sisters and brothers and our children. Their vulnerable and shredded lives cannot be ignored.

Thanks to all for this forum and this reminder: Love your neighbor as being yourself.

Jude Levy

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For the past two years, photographer Steven Katzman, has been snapping photos for a new project entitled "The Faces of Newtown Today," depicting life in Newtown on the verge of economic revival.  A permanent exhibit featuring the initial 15 photographs will be installed at the North Sarasota Public Library next month and introduced at a reception:

 Please save the date:

 Reception  Celebrating the works and history of Sarasota's Newtown Community

4:30-6:30 p.m.

Thursday, February 23

North Sarasota Public Library

This project is made possible thanks to the support of Sarasota County and the City of Sarasota, Vern Buchanan Enterprises, Inc., Northern Trust, and others.  Developed in cooperation with Vice Mayor Fredd Atkins and the residents of Newtown, and the City of Sarasota Newtown Redevelopment Office.

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WALMART IN NEWTOWN:

A COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

at Truvine MB Church

1945 31^st Street, Sarasota

Friday, February 17, 2006 at 6:00 p.m.

Come and hear both sides – WalMart Associates for Reform Now (WARN) and WalMart – of this Issue.

Know what is Going on in Your Community in this Presentation and Discussion of the Issues moderated by Sister Ruby Byrd

Also hear Special presentation by Apostle Al Davis on “The Kings Court”

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Visit this site. It is powerful, and has interesting statistics and way of realistically looking at poverty.  I ordered a couple of the CD’s if you would like to present at any of your ministries or organizations. http://www.usccb.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour.htm  

Continually in His service 

Clovia Russell, Executive Director

104 S. Pineapple Avenue, Sarasota, FL  34236

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Sunday, February 19, 2006

Resident's Association Hosts BBQ

The Resident's Association hosted a BBQ on Saturday Feb 18 at the Orange Avenue Park. A good turnout included 30-40 adults and twice that many children. Childrens’ art work, games for kids and food, food, food highlighted a perfect afternoon.