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Merrick House announces closing of Fulton Road offices – planning for transitioning services to Tremont office and other serviceSubmitted by briancummins on Sat, 01/08/2011 - 17:38.
Merrick House announced on Friday 1/7/2011 that they plan on closing their Fulton Road offices and transitioning services to other sites by April 1st, 2011. Funding cuts over the past four years were cited as the reason for the closing of the Clark Fulton site. Such cuts reportedly created funding gaps which had to be covered by the organization's reserve funds. Their decision reflects concerns for ensuring programs at their main office remain solvent. Plans are being made to transition area seniors to program service locations such at theWestside Community House, Catholic Charities – Hispanic Senior Center, and others in adjacent neighborhoods.
Merrick House – West offices are located on the 2nd floor of Lin Omni Center, 3167 Fulton Road, located in the Clark Fulton neighborhood. Senior services being provided out of this office include; Congregate Meals, Home Delivered Meals, Transportation provided in the Tremont, Clark/Fulton, Broklyn Centre and part of the Stockyard neighborhoods, Supportive Services (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, utilities, housing, and more), Outreach, Counseling, Nursing Services, Licensed Social Worker, Bi-Lingual Staff, Health Screenings, Educational Speakers, Recreational Activities, Computer Lab, Volunteer Opportunities, and more.
Additional services include; the MomsFirst program, Adult Education/GED program,Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), and youth/after-school program.
Although our office has been working for several months to assist Merrick House in reviewing their operations and financials, their decision to close the Fulton offices was only shared with us Thursday afternoon. Staff were notified Thursday and the seniors who receive services were told late morning on Friday.
Merrick House has plans to transfer the MomsFirst program to their main office in Tremont - located at 1050 Starkweather Avenue. They're working to transfer the HEAP program to an agency in the Clark Fulton neighborhood. Senior services are to be transferred to other agencies.
If the senior services are transferred out of the physical location of the Clark Fulton neighborhood, it will be difficult to have such services returned at a future date. For this reason, I'll be meeting with Merrick House, Westside Community House and the two primary senior services funders, the Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging and theCuyahoga County Department of Senior and Adult Services, to review this decision and see if anything can be done to keep services located within our neighborhoods. In addition, I’ve requested a full review of financial information and other work that Merrick House has done in reviewing alternative options and information that led to their announcement today.
The primary goal is to secure an alternative site and service provider to continue services somewhere convenient to the seniors living in the two-mile radius covering the neighborhoods of Brooklyn Centre, Clark Fulton, Tremont and Stockyards.
Although senior services are available at these other sites, the Fulton Road offices have served as a home for area seniors for more than a decade and the camaraderie and convenience that the physical site has afforded our seniors would be a great loss.
The fact that theses other services are two to three miles outside of our neighborhoods, even with transportation provided, may prove too inconvenient or too bothersome for some seniors in our area to travel to. It was stated Friday morning by several seniors upon hearing of the news that some will often walk or use an electric powered wheel chair to come to the Fulton Road site during the summer months. For these reasons we'll need to do everything possible to either keep core services located within our area or at least some form of community activities or gathering space for our seniors.
In addition, there is a great deal of work to do in assessing social services within the ward and doing all we can to ensure service gaps are filled. This announcement is an example of why we need to work to increase collaboration and find efficiencies in programming, so that core services such as these will not be reduced or lost to other agencies located outside of our neighborhoods. We’ll be including other area social service agencies and faith-based organizations in discussions regarding how we may be able to retain these services.
For specific questions regarding the announcement made today, please contact Merrick House directly at 216-771-5077.
Regards,
Brian Cummins
Cleveland City Council, Ward 14
bcummins [at] clevelandcitycouncil [dot] org
216-664-4238 office
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mass deaths of seniors in the works - thanks brian help prevent
yogi and guy - http://www.disclosureproject.com TRUTH - EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL http://www.nationalwardogsmonument.org
Does the Lin Omni Center have Tax Abatement to reduce Overhead
What kind of trickle down negotiations could be leveraged to make it affordable for them to stay there?
Amazing.... POLITICAL RETALIATION FOR THE SAMMY CATANIA DEAL....
Ward 14 gets the shaft b/c Sammy got held accountable for his actions? Wasn't TWCDC Board Member/Merrick House Board President Lorraine Thwait at the Catania hearing on December 2nd? POLITICS at their best!!! (SEE January 2010 issue of the Plain Press in reference to the Guy Templeton Black Assault!)
That Merrick House on Fulton has quotas that have superseded it's capacity for all too long on Fulton... Guess the big wigs aren't willing to make concessions or work on fundamental fundraisers that bring in the dollars to keep their high paychecks! Extraordinary!
Disgraceful! Dishonorable to the seniors, families, and community at large... Poor fiscal management??? Hope to hear the rest of this story...How about an injunction to them closing their doors so that this can be invesitgated...
(Thanks for posting this, Brian.... Best wishes negotiating with the Catania Regime! Rents are high and so are basic utilities...start with those kind of deals for the organization to reduce overhead and help keep them there...Give MR. Lin concessions that he can trickle down to all his tenants. Our community deserves that location, its resources, and much more after generations of having our funding steered out of our community... Fight hard, Brian....Roll up your sleeves on this one! Call St. Rocco's in too...They have a huge base of residents who are active in the Merrick House...Don't hesitate to get them involved in this situation.)
Does the Lin Omni Center have Tax Abatement to reduce Overhead
What kind of trickle down negotiations could be leveraged to make it affordable for them to stay there?
Amazing.... POLITICAL RETALIATION FOR THE SAMMY CATANIA DEAL....
Ward 14 gets the shaft b/c Sammy got held accountable for his actions? Wasn't TWCDC Board Member/Merrick House Board President Lorraine Thwait at the Catania hearing on December 2nd? POLITICS at their best!!! (SEE January 2010 issue of the Plain Press in reference to the Guy Templeton Black Assault!)
That Merrick House on Fulton has quotas that have superseded it's capacity for all too long on Fulton... Guess the big wigs aren't willing to make concessions or work on fundamental fundraisers that bring in the dollars to keep their high paychecks! Extraordinary!
Disgraceful! Dishonorable to the seniors, families, and community at large... Poor fiscal management??? Hope to hear the rest of this story...How about an injunction to them closing their doors so that this can be invesitgated...
(Thanks for posting this, Brian.... Best wishes negotiating with the Catania Regime! Rents are high and so are basic utilities...start with those kind of deals for the organization to reduce overhead and help keep them there...Give MR. Lin concessions that he can trickle down to all his tenants. Our community deserves that location, its resources, and much more after generations of having our funding steered out of our community... Fight hard, Brian....Roll up your sleeves on this one! Call St. Rocco's in too...They have a huge base of residents who are active in the Merrick House...Don't hesitate to get them involved in this situation.)
SAVE THE MERRICK HOUSE ON FULTON ROAD!
Please take action everyone...swiftly, immediately, and without hesitation...Do whatever it takes to keep our Merrick House... Protest all the way up to the President!
Ward 14 citizens do not deserve to lose anymore funding, resources, or community agencies such as this location....
SPEAK UP! THANKS!
It was YOUR job to help keep this open, Brian Cummins
and you obviously failed.
Now you broad brush paint the situation on RealNeo.
The peedee wasn't as sympathetic to your view of the story.
As I said on peedee, this speaks louder than any words coming out the side of your mouth. You should be ashamed of yourself.
Tremont provides excellent services to the elderly and disabled
Not sure what you folks are bitching about.
SAMMY CATANIA -DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR FOR TREMONT WEST DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION-CONVICTED FOR ABUSING A DISABLED SENIOR CITIZEN
link
Frank sits under a tree in the drizzling rain as his home is being bashed.
link
this isn't about Tremont
or Guy, or Frank or Sammy.
This is about the people of Clark Fulton, senior, disabled, pregnant, and or low income. Merrick House is doing what makes sense: if there isn't enough funding to cover a branch, you cut it off so as not to cripple the main trunk (the settlement house). I do not know the folks at the Merrick house now, but I do know that social service agencies are in a bad place all over the area.
Kasich will not help this situation; it will become worse. We need to look at the resources available now in this neighborhood and grab it. That includes block grant funding given to the individual council reps. It is an approved use of those funds, and should be used to provide services in one of the poorest cities in the country.
Sorry--this is about Tremont
Lily is absolutely right--and as many folks as possible should show up tomorrow to
let the City of Cleveland Community Development folks know just how many lives
have been ruined this year--and lives that will soon be ruined:
http://realneo.us/events/cdc-monies-citizen-participation-2011-2016
http://realneo.us/content/victims-cuyahoga-county-corruption-and-greedy-politicians
I disagree, it is clark fulton
You are making assumptions about Lily's postings.
This is about a part of my community, and I believe that Mr. Cummins is trying to make it about Tremont, and is failing to take responsiblity for his actions. If you want to go down that path (Tremont), feel free, and we can just disagree.
regards,
Debbie
Cummins made the decision to not fund the center
Cummins made the decision to fund the CDC.
How is this not his responsibility?
Cummins allocations
can be reviewed, and it will show the cuts and what is important to him.
Senior services are not at the top or middle of his lists.
allocations & Merrick House
Where is the money? See below.
$471,000 Balance of Funds (Ward 14)
3,000 *OBCDC/Brookside/SCR Food Program (Nov/Dec 2009)
15,000 *Esperanza
1,000 *Greater Cleveland Volunteers RSVP - (tutoring)
500 Cleveland/Walk&Roll
100,000 Tremont West Development Corp
300,000 Detroit Shoreway Comm Development Org
2,000 Neighborhood Progress Inc. (NPI),
Community Participation/Advisory Committee contract
5,000 Ohio City - Assistance in Community Organzing/Saftey for
Barber-Vega area of Ohio City/Ward 14.
10,000 *Merrick House
Other organizations being considered for funding as programs and funding balances are confirmed ($2,000 - $10,000):
*Julio DeBurgos
*Art House
Cleveland Restoration Society
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce for NEOhio
*Hispanic UMADAOP
*Brookside Center
Hispanic Alliance
Cleveland Tenants Organization
*Ohio City Bike-coop
*Senior Citizens Resources
*City Music
$436,500 TOTAL 2010/2011 Authorizations
$34,500 Current un-spent/authorized balance
NOTES:
Please contact me for any questions or inquiries and interest to participate in the re-development of the community.
Sincerely,
Brian J. Cummins
Cleveland City Council, Ward 14
216-664-4238
bcummins[at]clevelandcitycouncil.org
FTR Merrick House Board--let the blame game begin
NOTE: Merrick House--should you update your website? Office slated to close in April--make noise NOW!
http://www.merrickhouse.org/
Board of Trustees
Merrick House Board of Trustees 2010/2011
Lorraine Thwaite, President
Nicole McGee, Vice President
Chris Burke, Secretary
Bob Grambo, Treasurer
Kathy Marsh
a detachment from what is important
Mr Cummins, you say above "Although our office has been working for several months to assist Merrick House in reviewing their operations and financials, their decision to close the Fulton offices was only shared with us Thursday afternoon."
Merrick House did not need YOUR review of operations and finances. They knew what the operations and finanaces are. They needed a committment from you of resources, maybe a small peice of the whole pie that you gave the Detriot Shoreway CDC for the satellite office.
Where was your concern for the seniors that are in wheelchairs six months ago?
Another important resource for the poor goes by the wayside. Your detachment from the people of the ward that you were elected to represent shows more clearly than ever.
Seniors = $ cow
This is an editorial: I am personally disgusted with the reality that seniors have become a cash cow for developers and investors cashing in on federal and state dollars.
The closing of Merrick House Senior Services at Lin Omni Center stinks to high heaven and indicates to me that those dollars have been redirected elsewhere in the poker game we call living in the City of Cleveland.
Brian--former Merrick House Director Gail Long was PAID consultant fees* along with Jim Pelikan to help with restructuring of community services in the newly redrawn Ward 14--was this the outcome of that planning process?
*(Paid by NPI? Who are the chosen people in NEO? )
consultants in 14
this fee was paid for by NPI.
and call Brian Cummins
Cummins recommends calling the Merrick House. Why? They do not have the money to fund this site any longer. I recommend calling Cummins to hold him to account for his inaction on this.
In 2 1/2 months, Ward 14 will not have this service any longer. In addition to the senior services, many other important services were folded into the Merrick House at this location.
Politics, Master Plans, & Bidding in Ward 14
They have no intentions of sustaining operations in our community, of providing true planning, and protecting our interests...They are lobbying for funding for demos---to clear the urban decay and put up parks... They have deprived Ward 14 of public resources and divided and conquered the citizens on a level of browbeatings for generations... There's not much left to do but stand by and watch the bull dozers come through and take out the rest...
If you still have a business, a family member, or anything left in the perimeters of Ward 14---the best odds would be to offer to negotiate with the councilman on liquidating your assets and making it easier for him to accomplish the underhanded missions of this city rather than to spend a lifetime fighting for social justice. They have already accomplished the majority of their mission herein...It's sad that uncountable families come in from the burbs daily to visit their elderly family members who have a love so deep for our community that they will die here fighting for their rights to be upheld.
Who cares about the people who worked tirelessly through the generations to live here? It's not abou them-it's about the gentrified young, urban planners who don't have a clue about community building...just community decimation! Look at the results of 36 years of Community Development in Cleveland Ohio and tell me what you see when you drive down the street....
A PD Comment by Angel about MERRICK HOUSE
(WILL THIS COMMENT GET DELETED ON THE ABOVE ARTICLE NOTED IN THE PD)....
Ward 14 has suffered the greatest hits on the West Side of Cleveland over the last several generations. City Planners have ulterior motives to this continued reduction of services, division of residents and deprivation of funding in some of the most demographically disadvantaged areas of our city.
The leadership of the Merrick House obviously has poor planning skills to pull such an underhanded stunt after one of their buddies was convicted of assaulting a Disabled Elderly Citizen (See the Sammy Catania Conviction and the Plain Press article from January 2011. This is stone cold political retaliation for Brian Cummins steering funds out of Tremont and into Detroit Shoreway... These players above are the icing on the cake.
They expected the landlord to make concessions-but how many of their 6 figure administrators were willing to make any concessions to administering this program? I'd love to see the numbers on this public organization that has been a vital service for at least my lifetime in NEO. This is a contemptuous move based on enumerable factors outside of FUNDING... It's about Community Development Funds that pay the salaries of folks who have been put in the hot seat and held accountable for their abusive practices...It's about getting even for one councilman not funding another neighborhood's business.
When was the last time that any other councilman funded a Ward 14 entity???? But, for the last 5 years at least---over $400,000 a year has been practically steered out of our direct neighborhood. HUD INVESTIGATIONS should have resulted in seeing this over and over again...But, not enough citizen advocates are around to oversight corrupt politicians...and then's there's Metro Health who gets tons for grants and apparently no collaborations with our local Merrick House...
You all have gotten lazy, shortsighted, and become complacent with endless political affairs to cover your asses. You don't do fundraisers, projections, and plan effectively-but you sure do get those high falutin paychecks to be so called "LEADERS!" You don't lobby our local leadership to do things that would empower our people-because then they couldn't be the QUOTAS of folks who get you that FUNDING! You are a waste of tax dollars when you deprive the most needy westside families of these resources.
I wish those seniors, families, and residents could bend you all over their knees for a belt whipping from yesteryear! You all are a waste of any funding at this point... The economy has been down for a couple years... You all are too busy at your dog and pony association parties to actually get anything productive done to save a huge part of our community and it's pathetic.
$2.4 Million dollar budget out of a $2 Billion Dollar westside industry of not for profits! Wow...what's that, like a 10% stakehold in our community??? And now it's just gonna go, POOF!???? WTF!!!!
Yes, I am highly outraged by such a situation unfolding...and when will Merrick House notify the families??? They keep quota registries!!!! UNREAL!!!! Someone in our government needs to step up and pull some rank! How much are they short? No they are not even gonna try to make up the difference to save such a program---and why??? Because it's all political!
Well, then have a political fundraiser you alleged Board of Directors! Do your philanthropic bidding down at Massimo's! This is unbelievable! The people of Ward 14 deserve better...Until you all have walked door to door in Ward 14 and listened, experienced, and reacted to the countless needs of the populace---you will never get it!!!
Merrick House, CDCs and media coverage
Thank you to Guy, Lily, Dianna and other concerned residents who came out Monday night to give REALNEO to the the Department of Community Development. It was a pitifully small resident turn out (most of attendees were city agency folks).
Thank you to Joe Narkin from the Plain Press for his presence and you can expect printed (and recorded) coverage of the event there.
Responses are due by February 15th.
http://www.city.cleveland.oh.us/clnd_images/communitydevelopment/CitizenParticipationSurvey.pdf
Does it make a difference? No. We continue to spit into the wind. But at least we are not remaining silent.
Corporate interests rule here in the country we used to call the United States of America. If some outside "developer" wants your house for whatever insane CDC-driven development plan--or short term profit--it's theirs. And, if they want to have that property cleared and primed for redevelopment, by god, you're going to pay for that, too! Streets, sewers, parks and seniors be damned!
BTW--Dianna--your comments were deleted at the PD. I will reprint them here:
A PD Comment by Angel about MERRICK HOUSE
(WILL THIS COMMENT GET DELETED ON THE ABOVE ARTICLE NOTED IN THE PD)....
Ward 14 has suffered the greatest hits on the West Side of Cleveland over the last several generations. City Planners have ulterior motives to this continued reduction of services, division of residents and deprivation of funding in some of the most demographically disadvantaged areas of our city.
The leadership of the Merrick House obviously has poor planning skills to pull such an underhanded stunt after one of their buddies was convicted of assaulting a Disabled Elderly Citizen (See the Sammy Catania Conviction and the Plain Press article from January 2011. This is stone cold political retaliation for Brian Cummins steering funds out of Tremont and into Detroit Shoreway... These players above are the icing on the cake.
They expected the landlord to make concessions-but how many of their 6 figure administrators were willing to make any concessions to administering this program? I'd love to see the numbers on this public organization that has been a vital service for at least my lifetime in NEO. This is a contemptuous move based on enumerable factors outside of FUNDING... It's about Community Development Funds that pay the salaries of folks who have been put in the hot seat and held accountable for their abusive practices...It's about getting even for one councilman not funding another neighborhood's business.
When was the last time that any other councilman funded a Ward 14 entity???? But, for the last 5 years at least---over $400,000 a year has been practically steered out of our direct neighborhood. HUD INVESTIGATIONS should have resulted in seeing this over and over again...But, not enough citizen advocates are around to oversight corrupt politicians...and then's there's Metro Health who gets tons for grants and apparently no collaborations with our local Merrick House...
You all have gotten lazy, shortsighted, and become complacent with endless political affairs to cover your asses. You don't do fundraisers, projections, and plan effectively-but you sure do get those high falutin paychecks to be so called "LEADERS!" You don't lobby our local leadership to do things that would empower our people-because then they couldn't be the QUOTAS of folks who get you that FUNDING! You are a waste of tax dollars when you deprive the most needy westside families of these resources.
I wish those seniors, families, and residents could bend you all over their knees for a belt whipping from yesteryear! You all are a waste of any funding at this point... The economy has been down for a couple years... You all are too busy at your dog and pony association parties to actually get anything productive done to save a huge part of our community and it's pathetic.
$2.4 Million dollar budget out of a $2 Billion Dollar westside industry of not for profits! Wow...what's that, like a 10% stakehold in our community??? And now it's just gonna go, POOF!???? WTF!!!!
Yes, I am highly outraged by such a situation unfolding...and when will Merrick House notify the families??? They keep quota registries!!!! UNREAL!!!! Someone in our government needs to step up and pull some rank! How much are they short? No they are not even gonna try to make up the difference to save such a program---and why??? Because it's all political!
Well, then have a political fundraiser you alleged Board of Directors! Do your philanthropic bidding down at Massimo's! This is unbelievable! The people of Ward 14 deserve better...Until you all have walked door to door in Ward 14 and listened, experienced, and reacted to the countless needs of the populace---you will never get it!!!
lmcshane, If you caught it,
lmcshane,
If you caught it, the January Plain Press Article did mention (Diana, Guy and Lilly were present) that the Merrick House Board President was one of those tossed out of by Judge Stokes for disrupting her proceedings. ("apparently, they don't know how to conduct themselves in a court of law.")
Also, TWDC Executive Director Chris Garland is involved with the Merrick House. (dots are connected)
Merrick House Thwait, TWDC McCoy and resident Wilcott
Ousted from courtroom for disrupting the Judge's domain during sentencing for Catania on for Aggravated Disorderly Conduct and Menacing charges-amended from original charge of Assault.
Thanks Jerleen--to those who don't think that the Merrick House closing is political--think again.
FBI IS GETTING CLOSER
Posted by Web Staff - web [at] 19actionnews [dot] com | Facebook | Twitter
CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - The Cuyahoga County Mortgage Fraud Task Force raided two Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority buildings Tuesday.
19 Action News was first to break this story on www.19actionnews.com.
Both raids started just after 7 a.m. this morning. The raids occurred at CMHA Headquarters located on West 25th Street and at the CMHA Voucher Program Building on Hamilton Avenue.
Employees showing up to work Tuesday morning were not allowed inside either building.
The prosecutor says they are recovering records pertaining to voucher programs.
The Voucher Program provides rental assistance to help low income persons afford decent and safe rental housing. HCVP programs are funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, Sheriff's Office, Bureau of Criminal Investigations of the Ohio Attorney General's Office, and the HUD Inspector General's Office are conducting the investigation.The Mortgage Fraud Task Force operates under authorization of the Ohio Attorney General's Office and Ohio's Organized Crime Investigations Commission.
The Voucher Program provides rental assistance to help low income persons afford decent and safe rental housing. HCVP Programs are funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Here are the two locations where activity has occurred Tuesday morning:
CMHA Headquarters 1791 W.25th Street Cleveland, OH CMHA Choice Voucher Program 3400 Hamilton Avenue Cleveland, OHWhat's the latest on Merrick House Closing? Any Changes?
Are there any actions initiated to stop the closing of Merrick House on Fulton?
Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"