A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Rabbi Herb Brockman from Congregation Mishkan Israel in Hamden. As the winter months were approaching, he met with other members of the Interfaith Cooperative Ministries to discuss the homeless situation in New Haven. The coalition, consisting of 41 churches, synagogues and mosques, recruited 19 congregations to create Abraham’s Tent, where for 12 weeks they will host and provide food and a home for homeless men. To hear Herb tell the story of how this came about brought tears to my eyes. He said “we have to do this; we have to find a way to make this work”. I still get chills thinking about it and remember how his enthusiasm was contagious and heart warming.

There was a time, a month or so ago, when I was actually looking forward to winter. I couldn’t wait to start wearing sweaters (and buy more), decorating, shopping and cooking for the holidays and watching the snow fall while sitting comfortably curled up in my favorite chair in front of the TV. The first snowfall was so exciting. I went outside and took pictures, then quickly went back in to take my place in front of the TV under a blanket. Ahh, that was a good day. Well, here we are. Its winter alright and boy is it cold outside. It seems like everywhere I go it is all everyone talks about; “How much longer is it supposed to be like this?”, “I need to go away on vacation to someplace warm”, “It was so cold this morning, I didn’t want to get out of bed”, etc. Sounds familiar, right?

While most of you can relate to this, there is something else we need to think about. Or should I say SOMEONE else? There are hundreds of people in our community who are not as fortunate. They don’t have the luxury of curling up on their favorite chair watching the snow. This is nothing you haven’t already heard.

But, did you know that on a single night in January 2008, there were 664,414 sheltered and unsheltered homeless persons nationwide?

This shouldn’t be a surprise to us; with the rising number of layoffs and increased numbers of foreclosures, our nation should be questioning just how many of our neighbors can’t make ends meet.

According to Ct Coalition to End Homelessness, in 2009 there were approximately 4,154 people who experienced homelessness in CT and 677 in New Haven alone.

United Way of Greater New Haven spends a lot of time organizing thousands of volunteers throughout the year.  It is great to see the value of all of that time spent improving the lives in our region.  Here is more information about the value of donated time by volunteers as published in The Chronicle of Philanthropy on April 20, 2009.

The average value of donated time by volunteers was $20.25 per hour in 2008, according to a new study by Independent Sector, in Washington, a coalition of major charities and foundations.

The study also broke down the average dollar value of volunteer hours by state and in Washington, based on 2007 figures, the most recent available. Labor by volunteers in the District of Columbia was deemed the most financially valuable, at a worth of $31.55 per hour, followed by New York volunteers, whose work was valued at $28.04 per hour.

For the complete article, please go to http://philanthropy.com/news/updates/index.php?id=7915

New Haven Register May 14, 2009

By Angela Carter, Register Staff

Foreclosure filings jumped 32 percent nationally to 342,000 in April, compared to the same month a year ago, and Connecticut ranked 19th among all states, with 2,174 filings last month.

The Connecticut statistic represents a 25 percent increase in filings for April 2008, according to a report released Wednesday by RealtyTrac, an online service in Irvine, Calif., that lists properties in various stages of foreclosure and collects related data.
 

http://nhregister.com/articles/2009/05/14/business/d1-_foreclose14.txt

New Haven Register: May 11, 2009

By Ann DeMatteo, Assistant Metro Editor

HAMDEN — More than 200 youngsters in public schools are improving their literacy skills thanks to people like Ann Butler and Esther A. Smith.

The retired teachers visit Bear Path School in Hamden a few days a week and help primary pupils with the basics.

Butler and Smith are among a cadre of retired adults who locally make up the “work force” of Connecticut’s only Experience Corps program, an offshoot of AmeriCorps.

Experience Corps matches older adults with kindergarten through third-graders who need academic tutoring and support, according to Sheila Greenstein, manager for the program, which is affiliated with the Area Agency on Aging and the United Way of Greater New Haven.

Lester Strong, the new CEO of Experience Corps, based in Washington, D.C., recently visited the staff and tutors of Experience Corps in advance of AmeriCorps Week, which runs through Saturday. AmeriCorps is a national program that provides volunteer opportunities for people to give back to their communities.

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/05/11/news/metro/b1-haexperiencecorps-art.txt

New Haven Register; May 10, 2009

By Steve Higgins, Special to the Register

More than 250 individual and corporate donors contributed $642,400 to Neighbor-to-Neighbor LifeLine, an emergency fundraising effort to help organizations that provide food and shelter to area families and individuals who faced economic challenges over the winter.

As the nation’s economic downturn began driving more people into soup kitchens and homeless shelters last fall, United Way of Greater New Haven and The Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven joined forces to give residents a way to help their fellow citizens and ease the strain on social services agencies.

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/05/10/news/a4-uwayfinale.txt

By Angela Carter, Register Staff

In all 50 states and the District of Columbia, adults with less education are more likely to be in “less than very good health” than college graduates — across all racial and ethnic groups — and adults in all states fall short of the level of good health that should be achievable for all Americans.

According to a report released today by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America, almost half of adults ages 25 to 74 report being in less than very good health, and that rate differs depending on level of education.

INTERACTIVE: Health and Education Calculator

First Lady Michelle Obama outlined education, health care and economic opportunity as three focus areas for the administration’s efforts to promote social innovation and entrepreneurship as a means to solve some of the nation’s problems.

By Mark Hrywna

http://nptimes.com/09May/bnews-090506-1.html

By Mary E. O’Leary, Register Topics Editor

NEW HAVEN — These days, with increasing numbers of evictions, home foreclosures and health insurance cases, the New Haven Legal Assistance Association is busier than ever.

The problem is, Patricia Kaplan’s staff is trying to deal with the increased workload at the same time she is down four lawyers and three paraprofessionals.

“Our resources are really seriously stretched,” said Kaplan, executive director of New Haven Legal Assistance, as she attended a recent New Haven County Bar Association event honoring court personnel.

The three legal aid programs — Connecticut Legal Services, Greater Hartford Legal and New Haven Legal Assistance Association — handle about 15,000 cases each year for very low-income people in the state.

For 20 years, a mechanism set up by the legislature called “Interest on Lawyer Trust Accounts” had been a steady source of revenue for the attorneys.

The program required that interest on funds held in escrow by lawyers be used to fund legal aid when those funds were too small or held for too short a period to produce a benefit to clients. It is administered by the Connecticut Bar Foundation.

When the housing market collapsed, however, and interest rates dropped sharply, IOLTA revenues fell 80 percent, forcing the aid lawyers to take 20 percent pay cuts since January, as well as see benefits reduced in order to minimize layoffs in their offices.

Read More at http://nhregister.com/articles/2009/05/04/news/a3-caplegal.txt

By Mary E. O’Leary, Register Topics Editor

NEW HAVEN — In general, nonprofits are having a hard time raising money, but arts organizations and youth groups seem to be particularly challenged, according to a recent local study.

The Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, in a report issued this month, said it found that funding is the main concern of agencies, particularly larger organizations who are dependent upon state grants.

The General Assembly and Gov. M. Jodi Rell are now beginning budget negotiations that need to reconcile a $2.7 billion deficit over the next two years.     ....

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2009/04/30/news/a3-nenonprofits.txt